Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Butler Wednesday
December 03, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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BUTLER (1-3)
AT
BGSU (1-1)
GAME #3
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002
5:45 p.m.
ANDERSON ARENA
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1)
SERIES: BUTLER LEADS, 2-1
LAST MEETING: AT BUTLER 78, BGSU 73 (OT) (DEC. 4, 2001)
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after a week-and-a-half hiatus between games, completes a season-opening three-game homestand with a Wednesday (Dec. 4) game against Butler University. Head coach Curt Miller's team will face the Bulldogs in a 5:45 p.m. game at BGSU's venerable Anderson Arena (4,700). The Falcons and BU are meeting exactly one year to the day after the last meeting, in Indianapolis. The game is the first half of a Falcon basketball doubleheader at Anderson, as the men's team hosts Buffalo in the nightcap.
Following the Butler game, the Falcons will leave the next morning for the Radisson Suites Roundball Classic in Boca Raton, Fla. BGSU will face the host school, Florida Atlantic University, in Friday (Nov. 6) action, with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Then, the next evening, the Brown and Orange will meet either the University of Pittsburgh or the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Saturday's (Nov. 7) games are slated to begin at 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. All games will be played at the FAU Gymnasium (5,000).
WBGU RADIO TO BROADCAST AT LEAST 25 GAMES
WBGU-FM (88.1) is scheduled to air 24 regular-season games, including the Butler contest, plus any postseason action ... the BGSU department of athletics and the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO) have reached an agreement to have WBGU serve as the flagship station for both hockey and women's basketball for the 2002-03 academic year ... the broadcasters for women's hoops will vary on a game-to-game basis ... games produced by BGRSO are scheduled to be heard on the Internet at bgrso.org and via the Real One Package available through bgsufalcons.com.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU 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) ... senior Francine Miller led the Brown and Orange with 16 points and eight rebounds in the YSU game, while classmate Kim Griech added 11 points and junior Stefanie Wenzel 10 ... freshman point guard Molly Martin, getting the start in her collegiate debut, had four points and seven assists in 21 minutes.
Against Iona, Miller again led the Falcons in scoring, with 25 points, while Wenzel added 20 ... Griech had 11 for the second-straight game, while senior Megan Jerome had six points and set career highs in rebounds (nine) and assists (five) ... Martin had six assists in the win.
Miller leads the team in both scoring (20.5 ppg) and rebounding (7.5 ppg) this year, while Wenzel is averaging 15.0 points per contest ... Griech and senior Karen Stocz have 11.0 and 7.5 ppg, respectively, and Jerome has 7.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest.
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 Lindsay Austin, Pam Brown and Wenzel ... Austin suffered a sprained ankle in practice the day before the opener (Nov. 21), and missed the first two contests ... Brown, who also had been suffering from an injury, suited up but didn't see action vs. YSU ... she played four minutes against Iona, scoring two points.
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 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.), Martin (Noblesville, Ind.), Marisa Smith (Arnold, Pa.) and Jill Lause (Dublin, Ohio) join the squad ... all four frosh played in each of the first two contests ... additionally, Casey McDowell (Hudson, Ohio), a transfer from Indiana State University, is on campus, but will sit 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 shooting .383 from the field through the first two games, to the opponents' .389 FG pct. ... the Falcons have made 13 three-point field goals and are shooting .289 from behind the arc ... but, the foes have made 19 treys and have a long-distance pct. of .432 ... the Brown and Orange converted 44 free throws to the foes' 15 over the first two contests ... BGSU is shooting .863 from the stripe, compared to .536 for the opponents.
SCOUTING BUTLER
Butler will bring a 1-3 record to BGSU after a pair of losses at last weekend's Fresno State Tournament ... the Bulldogs lost to the host school (63-60, Nov. 29) as well as Murray State (73-59; Nov. 30) ... BU opened the year with a loss to visiting Bradley, 72-65 (Nov. 22) ... but the Bulldogs rebounded for a 59-57 road win over Illinois State (Nov. 25) ... sophomore Angel Mason leads the team with 11.8 points per game off the bench, while junior Tiffany Smith has 10.0 points ... sophomore Cortney Urquhart averages 9.0 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game, and junior Nancy Bowden has 7.8 points and 8.3 assists per contest ... head coach Beth Couture is in her first season at Butler ... she has a record of 259-120 in her 14th season overall ... Couture inherited 10 letterwinners, including four returning starters, from last year's team which went 3-26 overall and 1-15 in Horizon League play ... Bowden, Smith, Urquhart and senior Colleen Munro-Leighton each have started all four games ... sophomore Maria Marchesano and junior Lisa Pryor each have started two contests to date ... the school's athletic web site is www.butlersports.com.
THE SERIES
Butler holds a 2-1 lead in the all-time series between the teams, and the Bulldogs have won the last two meetings, including an overtime contest in Indianapolis last year ... exactly one year prior to this season's meeting, BU won a 78-73 decision behind a school record-tying 37 points from Sarah Bolten (Dec. 4, 2001) ... the other two series meetings came in the 1997-98 season ... the Falcons pulled away late for an 85-67 win in the first round of the UCF Turkey Shootout in Orlando, Fla. (Nov. 28, 1997) ... but, the Bulldogs exacted revenge, coming to Anderson Arena and posting a 95-90 win in the first round of the WNIT (March 13, 1998) ... that season marks the last time either team had a taste of national postseason action.
THIS MIGHT (OR MIGHT NOT) BE NOTEWORTHY
As mentioned, the Falcons' lone win over Butler came in the UCF Turkey Shootout in late November of 1997 ... BGSU's first-round win over the Bulldogs advanced the Falcons into the semifinal round of that eight-team tournament, where BG lost a 71-67 decision to Syracuse ... that SU team, which went on to post a blowout win over host UCF in the championship, featured an assistant coach by the name of Curt Miller.
