Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host IUPUI Next Monday (Dec. 30)
December 23, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 23, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
BGSU (5-4)
vs.
IUPUI (3-5)
GAME #10
MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2002
ANDERSON ARENA (4,700)
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1)
SERIES: FIRST MEETING
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after posting a 50-point win to close the pre-Christmas schedule, will return home after a six-game road swing. The Falcons of head coach Curt Miller will host IUPUI in a Monday (Dec. 30) game, with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700).
Following the IUPUI game, the Falcons will begin the 2003 portion of the slate with the final non-conference game. BGSU will play at Oakland University in a 7:00 p.m. contest on Friday, Jan. 3, 2003. The Athletic Center O'rena (3,005) will be the site of that contest.
SUCCESS ON THE ROAD
BGSU, as mentioned, just finished a six-game stretch away from Anderson Arena ... the Falcons were 4-2 in those six games, and BG has won three of the last four games ... the Brown and Orange is 3-1 in true road games this season, after going 3-10 during all of 2001-02 ... BGSU is 4-2 in games played away from Anderson (both road and neutral-site contests) this winter, after posting a 4-12 mark in such games a year ago.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU will take a 5-4 record into the IUPUI game ... the Falcons closed the pre-Christmas slate by splitting a pair of games at the Bearcat Invitational (Dec. 21-22) ... BG dropped an 88-57 decision to host Cincinnati, but bounced back in a big way, beating Savannah State by a 50-point margin, 89-39, in the consolation game ... freshman Marisa Smith exploded for 22 points, including six three-point field goals, in the latter game ... Cincinnati native Lindsay Austin was BGSU's lone representative to the all-tournament team.
Prior to the UC game, BG won at IPFW, 76-58 (Dec. 11), behind a career-high 20 points from Austin, and at Cleveland State, 62-59 (Dec. 14) ... senior Francine Miller had 23 points, including 17 in the first half, of the CSU game ... the Falcons had split a pair of games at the Radisson Suites Roundball Classic the previous weekend, defeating host Florida Atlantic, 77-62 (Dec. 6), before falling to UNC-Wilmington by a 72-55 count in the championship game the next evening ... senior Kim Griech was named to the all-tournament team at FAU.
The Falcons opened the season with a 70-64 loss to Youngstown State (Nov. 22), but rebounded for an 81-62 win over Iona two days later (Nov. 24) ... just prior to leaving for Florida, the Falcons dropped a 61-54 decision to visiting Butler (Dec. 4).
Miller leads the team in scoring, with 12.9 points per game ... she also paces the Falcons in rebounding, with 5.9 per contest, and steals, with 1.9 per outing.
Griech is second on the Falcons with 11.9 points per game ... she leads the Brown and Orange in three-point field goals made (18) and free-throw pct. (1.000; 21-of-21), and is second in three-point FG pct. (.429; 18-of-42) and field-goal pct. (.458) ... Griech leads the team in minutes played per game (26.8).
Austin is averaging 9.7 points, a team-high 3.4 assists and 2.0 steals per game, while junior Stefanie Wenzel has 8.8 points per outing ... redshirt junior Pam Brown has averages of 5.3 points and 3.4 rebounds, while Marisa Smith now has 5.3 points per game as well ... senior Megan Jerome has 5.3 points and is third on the team in both rebounding (3.9 rpg) and assists (2.2 apg).
Griech, Miller, Wenzel and senior Karen Stocz (4.1 ppg) have started all nine games to date for the Falcons ... freshman Molly Martin, who is second on the team in assists (2.6 apg), started the first four contests at point guard ... Austin, who was slowed by a sprained ankle at the start of the season, has started each of the last five contests.
In addition to Miller, the senior class includes Griech, Jerome and Stocz ... Griech, one of just two Falcons to start every game last year, was named the team's Impact Player of the Year for the 2001-02 campaign ... she averaged 10.4 points per game, good for second on the team ... Jerome was the Falcons' Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The junior class includes Austin, Brown and Wenzel ... last winter, Wenzel was named the BGSU Player of the Year after leading the Falcons in scoring with 11.6 points per game ... Austin was named the team's Playmaker of the Year after leading the team and ranking among the MAC leaders in assists and assist/turnover ratio ... Brown was named the Power Player of the Year, given to the top post player ... despite missing 10 games due to injury, she averaged 7.3 points and a team-high 6.0 rebounds.
The 2002-03 roster also includes two sophomores, Tene Lewis and Sakima Smith ... Lewis was named the Most Improved Player of the Year last season ... she played in 24 games, making three starts.
The freshman class includes four players, from four different states ... Britt Anderson (Fort Collins, Colo.), Jill Lause (Dublin, Ohio), Martin (Noblesville, Ind.) and Marisa Smith (Arnold, Pa.) join the squad ... Anderson has seen action in all nine games, while the other three frosh each have played in eight contests ... additionally, Casey McDowell (Hudson, Ohio), a transfer from Indiana State University, is on campus, but is sitting out the 2002-03 season per NCAA transfer rules ... McDowell will have three years of eligibility remaining.
On the sidelines, Curt Miller is joined by second-year assistants Jennifer Roos and Brandi Poole ... Kevin Eckert, who spent the last four seasons at the University at Buffalo, is in his first season on the staff.
The Falcons are 1-2 at home, 3-1 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... BGSU went 5-7 at home last winter, and the Falcons were 3-10 on the road and 1-2 in neutral-site contests in 2001-02 ... BG went 4-4 at home and 2-6 on the road in MAC games last year.
The Falcons are shooting .406 from the field, while holding the opponents to a FG pct. of just .357 ... BG has made 59 three-point field goals, and the Falcons are are shooting .331 from behind the arc ... the foes have made 56 treys and have a long-distance pct. of .313 ... the Brown and Orange converted 134 free throws to the foes' 105 over the first nine contests ... BGSU is shooting .766 from the stripe, compared to .607 for the opponents.
SCOUTING IUPUI
IUPUI is 3-5 after a 77-71 win over South Florida on Thursday (Dec. 19) ... the Jaguars will play a Dec. 28 game at Kansas before taking on BGSU two days later ... IUPUI suffered a pair of overtime losses to start the season, falling to Iowa and Murray State ... the team's other setbacks have come against Illinois State, Wake Forest and Indiana State, all on the road ... IUPUI, 3-0 at home, has beaten Eastern Illinois and Evansville, in addition to USF ... the Jaguars are 0-4 on the road and 0-1 in neutral-site games this year ... individually, senior forward Tiffany Kyser leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 18.1 points and 8.3 boards per game ... Kyser also has a team-best 3.0 steals per game ... freshman forward Brooke McAfee is second on the team with averages of 9.5 points and 6.6 rebounds, and she leads the team with 2.9 blocks ... junior forward Natalie Hendricks has 8.6 points and 5.3 boards per game ... freshman forward Kia Hayes and sophomore forward Jessica James average 8.3 and 7.1 points per game, respectively ... 10 different players have started at least one game this year, with Kyser the lone player to start all eight contests ... Kris Simpson is in her eighth season as a head coach, all at IUPUI, and has a record of 85-112 heading into the Kansas game ... Simpson has six letterwinners, including three starters, back from last year's 11-17 team ... that squad tied for fourth in the Mid-Continent Conference with a 6-8 league record... the school's athletic web site is www.iupui.edu/~jagsport.
THE SERIES
The Falcons have never met IUPUI in women's basketball ... both teams were part of the Kroger Thanksgiving Classic in Auburn, Ala., two years ago (Nov. 24-25, 2001), but the Falcons and Jaguars did not meet ... both BGSU and IUPUI defeated Charleston Southern, but lost to host Auburn, in that tournament.
