Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Western Michigan In Valentine's Day Tilt
February 14, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Game Notes Package in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BGSU (7-16, 4-8)
VS.
WESTERN MICHIGAN (12-12, 8-3)
GAME #24
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2002
ANDERSON ARENA
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO
7:00 p.m.
RADIO: WBGU-FM 88.1
SERIES: BGSU LEADS, 24-18
LAST MEETING: BGSU 78, AT WMU 75 (MARCH 3, 2001)
THE GAME: The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, looking to snap a two-game losing streak, returns home for a Mid-American Conference matchup Thursday (Feb. 14) ... the Falcons of first-year head coach Curt Miller will take on Western Michigan University ... the Valentine's Day contest is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (5,000).
Following the WMU game, the Brown and Orange will return to the road for two contests, beginning with a Saturday (Feb. 16) game at Marshall University ... tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at MU's Henderson Center (9,043) ... that game is the second half of a doubleheader which also sees Marshall's men's team take on Ohio at 4:00 p.m. ... the Falcons are in the midst of a seven-game stretch that sees BG play away from home five times.
WBGU RADIO: The BGSU-WMU game is scheduled to be broadcast by campus station WBGU-FM (88.1) ... the station's broadcast schedule called for a total of 15 women's basketball games (plus any postseason contests) this year, including all of the Falcons' home games.
ABOUT THE FALCONS: BGSU has an overall record of 7-16 on the season, and the Falcons are 4-8 in MAC play after Saturday's (Feb. 9) 72-61 loss at Miami ... that came on the heels of a home overtime loss to visiting Ohio, 78-69 (Feb. 5) ... BGSU is now in fourth place in the East Division ... prior to the OU loss, the Falcons posted a come-from-behind, 69-65 win at Buffalo (Feb. 2), the team's largest comeback in four years ... BGSU ended the month of January with the team's most decisive victory of the season for the Brown and Orange - a 76-52 home win over Marshall (Jan. 26) - followed by the largest loss of the MAC slate, an 82-51 setback at Toledo (Jan. 30).
The Falcons opened the season with a 71-61 win at Youngstown State (Nov. 17), but lost the next four games ... BG returned to the win column with a 73-57 victory over IPFW (Nov. 29) before dropping the next four contests ... the Falcons ended the non-conference portion of the schedule with a victory over Lehigh in a tournament hosted by Miami (Fla.).
BG began conference play with an 0-3 mark, but rallied to beat UB and Akron, before suffering road losses to Ball State and Kent State.
Senior Francine Miller has not played since Jan. 5, and will miss the remainder of the season ... she is in the process of appealing for a medical hardship ... Miller saw action in each of the first two MAC contests ... playing for the first time since Nov. 20, she had a game-high 29 points in just 25 minutes vs. KSU (Jan. 2) ... Miller had 15 points off the bench at CMU (Jan. 5) ... she was the team's top scorer in the three full games in which she saw action this year ... Miller had 17.5 points per contest in her four games played ... not counting the Detroit game (in which she played four minutes and attempted just one shot), she averaged 23.3 points per game.
Sophomore Stefanie Wenzel has assumed the team scoring lead, and is averaging 11.9 points per contest ... Wenzel, who had her sixth 20-point game of the season vs. Ohio, also averages 4.1 rebounds per outing ... junior Kim Griech is averaging 11.0 points per contest, and leads the Falcons with 39 three-point field goals on the year.
Sophomore point guard Lindsay Austin averages 9.0 points ... Austin leads the team in assists (5.0 apg), steals (2.0 spg) and minutes per game (34.4) ... she is third on the squad with 4.7 rebounds per game.
Redshirt sophomore Pam Brown has 7.1 points, and has a team-best 5.8 rebounds ... Brown, who missed seven consecutive contests in Nov.-Dec. with a knee (lateral meniscus) injury, had a BG season-high 14 rebounds vs. Ohio ... she had successful surgery on Dec. 6, and made her return in the MAC opener on Jan. 2 ... soph Kelly Kapferer has 7.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, and leads the Falcons in field-goal percentage (.427) ... senior Dana Western-Schuka averages 6.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game, ranking second on the team in the latter two categories.
A total of 10 different players have started at least one game this season ... the lineup has remained the same for three consecutive contests ... Griech and Western-Schuka each have been in the starting five for all 23 games to date, while Austin has made 22 starts ... Kapferer has started 17 games, while Wenzel has been in the starting lineup for the last 15 contests ... Brown has started seven games this year, including the last three ... the lineup had consisted of Austin, Griech, Kapferer, Wenzel and Western-Schuka for 12-straight games, before Brown replaced Kapferer for the game at Buffalo (Feb. 2).
BG finished the 2000-01 season with a record of 11-18, and the Falcons completed Mid-American Conference play with a league ledger of 6-10 ... BGSU ended conference action in fourth place in the MAC's East Division ... the Falcons posted a 78-75 win at Western Michigan in the first round of the 2001 Kraft MAC Tournament, before losing to Toledo in the quarterfinal round ... a total of 11 letterwinners returned from that squad.
On the sidelines, Curt Miller is joined by first-year assistants Jennifer Roos and Brandi Poole ... Roos spent the last eight years as an assistant at Davidson, while Poole was at West Virginia last year.
BGSU is shooting .360 from the field, while opponents are shooting .404 through the first 23 games ... the Falcons have made 140 three-point field goals and are shooting .295 from beyond the arc, while the foes have 130 treys and a .336 pct. ... BGSU has a free-throw pct. of .706 to the opponents' .698 ... the Falcons have been outrebounded by a 45.1 to 38.3 margin in the first 23 contests.
BGSU is shooting .376 from the field in MAC games, and the Falcons have made 84 three-pointers (7.00 per game) and are shooting .344 from behind the arc and .701 from the free-throw line in league contests.
BGSU is 4-6 at home, 2-8 on the road and 1-2 in neutral-site contests in 2001-02 ... BG is 3-3 at home and 1-5 on the road in MAC games ... last year, the Falcons went 6-5 at Anderson Arena, 3-12 on the road and 2-1 in neutral-site affairs ... in league play, the Brown and Orange went 5-3 at home and 1-7 on the road last season.
SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN: Western Michigan will enter Thursday's game with an overall record of 12-12 ... the Broncos will bring an 8-3 MAC mark into the contest ... WMU suffered an 89-78 home loss to Toledo Saturday (Feb. 9), breaking a two-game winning streak, but the Broncos bounced back to post a 95-88 win over visiting IPFW Monday (Feb. 11) ... WMU has won eight of the last 10 contests ... the team is 4-5 in road games, but 4-1 in MAC road contests, this year ... individually, redshirt sophomore Kristin Koetsier leads the team in scoring and rebounding, with 15.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game ... freshman guard Casey Rost has 14.3 points per game, and has made a team-best 52 three-point field goals ... senior forward Karen Deurloo has 14.2 points and 6.0 boards, while freshman guard Maria Jilian averages 7.5 points and leads the team in both assists (4.1 apg) and steals (1.8 spg) ... junior guard Curleta Harris has 6.4 points off the bench, while sophomore guard Emily Samuelson has 5.3 points per outing ... Deurloo, Koetsier and Rost each have started all 24 games on the year, while Jilian has made 22 starts ... Samuelson joins those four in the probable starting lineup ... last year, the Broncos went 9-19 overall and 6-10 in MAC action ... Ron Stewart has a record of 65-72 in his fifth year as a collegiate head coach, all in Kalamazoo ... the school's athletic web site is wmubroncos.com.
THE SERIES: The Falcons are the lone MAC team that does not have a losing record in an all-time series with a single conference opponent ... BG leads the all-time series with 10 of the 12 MAC foes (BGSU is tied with both Buffalo [4-4] and NIU [9-9]), and the Falcons hold a 24-18 advantage over Western Michigan ... BGSU is 12-8 all-time in home games vs. the Broncos ... WMU, however, has won the last two meetings in Anderson Arena, including an 88-67 victory in the team's last visit (Jan. 20, 2000) ... the Broncos had won five consecutive overall matchups between the teams, including last year's lone regular-season meeting, an 86-70 triumph in Kalamazoo (Jan. 31) ... but, the Falcons exacted a measure of revenge, returning to University Arena and posting a 78-75 victory in the first round of last year's MAC Tournament (March 3, 2001) ... only two of the last nine meetings have been decided by single digits.
LAST TIME OUT: The Falcons, trailing Miami by as many as 22 points early in the second half, closed to within five points, but could pull no closer ... the result was a 72-61 RedHawk win Saturday afternoon (Feb. 9) ... sophomore Stefanie Wenzel had 18 points to lead all scorers, while classmate Lindsay Austin had 14 points and led BG in both rebounds and assists, with six of each ... junior Kim Griech had 12 points to round out the Falcon double-digit scorers ... Heather Cusick had 17 points to lead four RedHawks in double figures ... the Falcons battled the RedHawks nearly even for the game's first few minutes, and took an 11-8 lead on a pair of Wenzel free throws at the 15:31 mark ... but, the RedHawks then went on a 25-5 run over the next 10 minutes, building a 33-16 lead with 5:48 left in the first half ... MU led, 42-27, at the intermission ... that BG deficit ballooned to 22 points, as a Kim Lancaster layup gave the RedHawks a 53-31 advantage with 15:32 to play ... Miami, which shot a blistering 57 percent from the field while maintaining a 22-9 edge on the boards in the first half, was up by 20 after a Kim Smith basket with 13:19 left ... that bucket would prove to be the team's last for quite a while ... MU still led by 18 points, 60-42, after a pair of Melanie Kozlowski free throws at the 11:58 mark ... then, however, neither team would score a point for the next 3:51 ... after an MU technical foul, though, the Falcons hit three free throws to start narrowing the gap ... Miami led by 14 with 4:57 left, but Wenzel hit a three-pointer, and an Austin layup at the 3:34 mark closed the gap to 64-56 ... then, after a defensive stop, Wenzel hit another trey at the 3:02 mark, and it was a five-point game ... the Falcon defense held the RedHawks without a basket for a whopping 10:36, but the hoop that broke that spell was crucial ... Cusick hit a three-point field goal with 2:43 remaining ... BG got a good look on the next possession, but the shot would not drop, and Day hit a triple on the RedHawks' next trip down the floor, giving the hosts an 11-point margin with 2:13 left ... the RedHawks held a 39-27 rebounding edge on the afternoon.
BGSU BENCH PLAYS A ROLE AT MIAMI: At Miami Saturday (Feb. 9), the Falcons received inspired bench play to keep the game from becoming a runaway in the second half ... coach Curt Miller used all 12 players who suited up for the contest, and had at least four reserves on the floor for several minutes early in the second stanza ... the backups played the RedHawks to a draw, enabling the BGSU starters to rest up for the comeback bid ... the performances by the Falcon bench players included a season-high four steals in 19 minutes of action from freshman Tene Lewis ... junior Megan Jerome had four points and ran the Falcon offense for the early second-half stretch, playing point guard for the first time in her collegiate career ... another junior, Rachel Hamilton, saw her first action in MAC play this season, and had a rebound in five minutes.
LEARNING HOW TO WIN: The Falcons struggled in the years before Curt Miller arrived on campus ... in the last three seasons, BGSU posted an overall record of 35-49 ... this season, despite losing the team's top scorer (senior Francine Miller) to injury, coach Miller's teams have put together some solid efforts, particularly at home ... but, the Falcons are still learning how to sustain that effort over the entire 40 minutes.
In the six MAC games at Anderson Arena, the Falcons have never trailed at the half ... but, BGSU has outscored the opponent in the second half just once (Marshall, Jan. 26) in those six contests, resulting in a 3-3 record in home conference games.
FIELD-GOAL PCT. DEFENSE IMPROVING: Under first-year coach Curt Miller, the Falcons have greatly improved in the area of field-goal percentage defense ... BGSU has a field-goal pct. defense of .404 this season ... that percentage, if the Falcons could maintain it, would be the fourth-best in school history, and the best since 1992-93 ... that '92-93 team limited opponents to a .399 FG pct. ... the school record is .348, set by the 1976-77 squad ... BGSU's current mark would be the second-lowest in the last 24 years.
FREE THROWS MAKE A DIFFERENCE: In the Ohio game (Feb. 5), each team shot .351 from the floor and had 47 rebounds ... the visiting Bobcats, however, went 30-of-38 (.816) from the free-throw line, while the Falcons went 12-of-20 (.600) from the stripe ... Ohio held a 27-to-9 advantage in FTM in the game's first 40 minutes, and the Bobcats' last toss of regulation, with 14.5 seconds left, forced the overtime.
PAM BROWN: RHYMES (SORTA) WITH REBOUND: Redshirt sophomore Pam Brown had a career-high 14 rebounds vs. Ohio (Feb. 5) ... that total also represented a BGSU season high, and the most by a Falcon in over two years (since Sherry Kahle also had 14 vs. Central Michigan on Jan. 6, 2000) ... Brown now has six double-digit rebounding games in her career.
BIG COMEBACK: The Falcons rallied from a 39-21 deficit late in the first half for the win at Buffalo (Feb. 2) ... the comeback, from 18 points down, is the largest for the Falcons in nearly four years ... BG overcame a 19-point deficit at Akron in an overtime win on Feb. 11, 1998 ... that comeback ranks as BG's biggest since at least the 1988-89 season ... the Falcons also erased an 18-point deficit in a Feb. 12, 1997, game against Kent State ... BG has twice come back from 17-point deficits to win during the last decade, turning the trick against the Flashes (Feb. 13, 1993) and vs. Ohio (Jan. 21, 1998) ... in that KSU game of 1992-93, BG trailed by a 75-58 score with 8:19 left ... the hosts scored the next 10 points, and 18 of the next 19, to tie the contest at 76 with 1:41 left en route to an 81-78 win.
TAKING CARE OF THE BALL SURE HELPS: The Falcons committed just 10 turnovers at Buffalo (Feb. 2), tying a season low ... BG also turned the ball over just 10 times in the season opener, at Youngstown State (Nov. 17) ... perhaps not coincidentally, that YSU game marks the Falcons' only other road win of the year to date.
WENZEL DOES WELL VS. UB: Sophomore Stefanie Wenzel had 21 points in the Falcons' win at Buffalo ... Wenzel tied her career high by making five three-point field goals, and set a new personal best with eight total FG made ... her previous records were amassed in the Falcons' first win over UB this year (71-69 at Anderson Arena, Jan. 12) ... Wenzel, who had a career-high 30 points in that first UB contest, averaged 25.5 points vs. the Bulls this year.
A CHANGE IN THE LINEUP: At Buffalo (Feb. 2), head coach Curt Miller altered his starting lineup for the first time since mid-December ... redshirt sophomore Pam Brown drew the start, and responded with nine points and six rebounds ... sophomore Kelly Kapferer, who had started the previous 16 contests, came off the bench to total six points, five rebounds (including three at the offensive end), an assist and a blocked shot in 14 minutes ... Brown remained in the lineup for the Ohio and Miami games ... vs. Ohio, she had six points and a BGSU season-best 14 boards ... Kapferer had four points vs. the Bobcats, going 2-of-2 from the floor.
ANOTHER DAZZLING DEFENSIVE DISPLAY: The Falcons held Miami without a basket for a span of 10:36 in the second half of Saturday's game (Feb. 9), helping the team reduce a 22-point deficit to five points ... that effort was the latest in a number of solid defensive stretches for the 2001-02 Falcons ... one week prior (Feb. 2), at Buffalo, BG held the Bulls without a point for exactly six minutes in one stretch ... UB sank only two baskets in the game's final 11:57 - at the 5:27 and 4:05 marks.
DEFENSIVE DISPLAY AT UB: The Falcons allowed Buffalo to make just six second-half baskets, tying a season low ... the Falcons also held IPFW (Nov. 29) to only six baskets in the first half of that game ... prior to the IPFW contest, BG had not limited an opponent to so few baskets in a half since Jan. 26, 1994, when the Falcons limited Central Michigan to five first-half hoops in a 63-48 road win.
GRIECH GETS POINTS, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER: Junior Kim Griech made only one field goal in the win at Buffalo, but still finished in double digits, with 12 points ... Griech shattered her previous single-game highs for free throws made and attempted, going 9-of-10 from the stripe ... Griech's lone field goal was a three-pointer, and she was fouled twice in the act of shooting from beyond the arc ... she had 13 points in the Ohio game, and leads the Falcons with 15 double-digit games this season.
BG SCORES VS. UB DEFENSE: Buffalo has been ranked among the national leaders in scoring defense for much of the year, but BG enjoyed success against the Bulls in each meeting ... the first time the teams met (Jan. 12), UB was ranked ninth in the nation in that category, and the Bulls came to BG allowing just 55.4 points per game ... the Falcons put 71 points on the board in a two-point win ... UB entered last Saturday's (Feb. 2) game allowing 57.0 points per game, and had entered the week ranked a season-best seventh in the country in the NCAA rankings ... in Saturday's game, the Falcons scored 69 points, 12 above UB's defensive average ... BG has had two of the five highest point totals against UB this year.
MJ FOR THREE: Junior Megan Jerome drained her only field-goal attempt, a three-pointer, at Buffalo ... after going 4-of-26 from three-point range on the season prior to the Toledo game (Jan. 30), Jerome was 3-of-3 from long distance in the next two games ... she missed her first long-range attempt vs. Ohio, but converted her other try ... Jerome missed her only try at Miami, and is now 4-of-6 from three-point land over the last four games.
GOOD SHOOTING + REBOUNDING = WIN: The Falcons shot a season-best .444 from the floor vs. Marshall (Jan. 26), and BGSU won the rebounding battle by nine, 44-35 ... it is probably not a coincidence, then, that the result was a 24-point win for the Brown and Orange, the largest margin of victory of the 2001-02 season ... that margin was the largest for BG in nearly two years, since an 86-50 home triumph over Northern Illinois on Feb. 7, 2000.
GOOD SHOOTING FOR OPPONENT + TURNOVERS = LOSS: In the next game following that win over Marshall, the Falcons allowed Toledo to shoot .537 from the field, a season-high pct. for a BG opponent ... BGSU also committed a season-high 27 turnovers ... also, the Falcons were not credited with a blocked shot for the first time this year.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Sophomore Stefanie Wenzel recorded the first double-double of her career in BG's win over Marshall (Jan. 26) ... Wenzel led the Falcons in scoring, with 19 points, and had a career-high 11 rebounds in the win ... the double-double was just the third of the year by a Falcon player ... sophomore Kelly Kapferer had the first two, with a 15-point, 10-rebound effort against Detroit (Nov. 20) and a 12-point, 10-board game vs. Yale (Dec. 27).
WENZEL AT HOME IN ANDERSON ARENA: Sophomore Stefanie Wenzel is averaging a team-best 17.0 points in the Falcons' 10 home games this year, and has an 18.7 average in the last nine games at Anderson Arena ... she has scored a total of 89 points in the last four home games, helping BG to a 3-1 mark during that span ... Wenzel now has five 20-point games at home this season ... Wenzel, who entered the year with a single-game best of seven points, has had games of 30 (vs. UB), 25 (vs. Wright State), 23 (vs. IPFW) and two games of 20 points (vs. UA and OU) in Anderson this year ... in BGSU's six MAC home games, Wenzel is averaging 17.5 points and 7.0 rebounds to lead the team in both categories.
STEF'S SOPHOMORE SEASON: Sophomore Stefanie Wenzel has scored a total of 273 points this season, after scoring 36 points during all of her freshman campaign.
SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM: Falcon women's basketball student-athletes traditionally are strong in the classroom, and the past semester was no exception ... BGSU posted a 3.22 GPA for the fall 2001 semester, and the team's cumulative GPA currently stands at 3.11 ... a total of eight student-athletes had a GPA of over 3.40 in the fall ... six Falcons have a cumulative GPA of 3.31 or higher, led by junior Megan Jerome's perfect 4.00 GPA ... Stefanie Wenzel has a 3.93 GPA through the fall, while Emily Pohl has a 3.88 GPA ... in addition to Wenzel, two other BGSU starters have a GPA in excess of 3.50, as both sophomore Lindsay Austin and junior Kim Griech maintain a 3.58 cumulative GPA ... in all, 10 of the 14 student-athletes on the current roster have a cumulative GPA of 2.75 or better.
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS: Sophomore point guard Lindsay Austin has had some of her top all-around games of the year in recent weeks ... she entered the week ranked fourth in the league with 5.04 assists per game ... in conference games only, she leads the MAC with 5.58 apg ... Austin had 14 points, six rebounds and six assists at Miami Saturday (Feb. 9) ... she scored just eight points at Buffalo (Feb. 2), but made two of her four baskets in the final few minutes to clinch the victory ... Austin led the Falcons in scoring (13), rebounding (five) and assists (three) at Toledo (Jan. 30) ... she had nine points, nine assists and seven rebounds at Ball State (Jan. 19), tying her career standards in each of the latter two categories ... in the first win over Buffalo (Jan. 12), the Cincinnati native had 15 points, just two away from her career high, seven rebounds and seven assists.
108 GAMES AND COUNTING: The Falcons have made at least one three-point field goal in every game during the past three-plus years ... in fact, BGSU now has drained a triple in each of the last 108 games, a school record ... the last time the Falcons were held without a trey was on March 1, 1998 ... the previous school record was 29-straight games on two occasions - most recently, in the 1993-94 (last five games) and 1994-95 (first 24 games) seasons.
ANDER-RIFFIC! For the first time in over three years, the he Falcons failed to make at least six three-pointers in a home conference game ... the Falcons made 'only' five treys in the (Feb. 5) Ohio game ... BGSU has, however, made at least five three-pointers in each of the last 26 home MAC matches ... the Falcons have hit 42 triples in this year's six conference games at Anderson ... BGSU made a total of 68 treys in eight home MAC games last year ... in 1999-2000, the Falcons made an average of 11.75 three-point field goals per contest ‚ adding in the 2000 MAC Tournament first-round contest vs. Ohio, BGSU is averaging 9.2 treys and shooting .410 (212-of-517) over the last 23 home games vs. MAC teams.
MILLER TO MISS REMAINDER OF SEASON: Senior Francine Miller is in the process of appealing to the Mid-American Conference office for a medical hardship, and will miss the remainder of the 2001-02 season ... if the appeal is accepted, Miller will be granted an additional year of eligibility, and will return to the Falcon team for the 2002-03 season ... the MAC office will not rule on the appeal before the end of the 2001-02 season ... for Miller to be eligible to receive the hardship waiver, she can not play in any of the Falcons' remaining games ... Miller saw action in four games this season, starting the first two contests of the year.
INJURY REPORT: The Falcons currently have one player sidelined, senior Preseason All-MAC pick Francine Miller ... Miller, who played in just four games this year, will miss the remainder of the season while appealing for a medical hardship ... she was injured early in the season's second game, and missed the next nine contests ... she returned to play in the first two MAC games.
Redshirt junior Rachal Hamilton missed seven games with a recurrence of her plantar fascia injury ... the injury, suffered in the summer, forced her to miss the first game of the season ... she suited up for the Ohio game, and saw action at Miami.
Redshirt soph Pam Brown missed seven-straight games with a lateral meniscus injury, but had successful surgery on Dec. 6, and has played in the last nine games.
EVERYONE'S A THREAT FROM LONG RANGE: A total of 11 different Falcons have made at least one three-point field goal this season ... junior Karen Stocz hit the first triple of her career vs. UWM (Dec. 8), four days after freshman Tene Lewis made her first collegiate trey at Butler (Dec. 4) ... also at Butler, junior Megan Jerome hit her first two three-pointers of the year ... last year, 11 different Falcons made at least one long-range shot, and 10 of those players had drained a 'three' by the fifth game of the year ... a total of 10 different players hit a trey in 1999-2000, as well as in 1998-99 ... prior to that time, the most players to hit a triple in the same season was seven.
FRANCINE THE SCORING MACHINE: MILLER ON BGSU CAREER CHARTS: Before being sidelined for the remainder of the season, Francine Miller continued her move up the BGSU career scoring chart ... with 1,149 career points, Miller now ranks 13th in school history ... she scored her 1,000th career point in a win over Marshall last Jan. 17 (as part of a school record-tying 35-point game) ... in that game, she became just the fifth player in BGSU annals to reach 1,000 career points as a junior ... Miller is ranked third all-time on the BGSU career scoring average list, with a points-per-game average of 14.01.
A TALE OF TWO HALVES: Through 23 games, the Falcons have held the opponent to a field-goal percentage of .368 (258-of-702) in the first half ... when the Colorado game is taken out, BG has limited the foes to a .355 rate (235-of-662) before the intermission ... in the second half, however, the opponents have made 302-of-691 shots from the floor (.437) ... the trend was reversed in the Miami game, however, as the RedHawks shot .567 in the first half and .375 in the final 20 minutes.
FG PCT. DEFENSE IS IMPROVED, PART II: The Falcons have held the opponent to a field-goal percentage of .303 or lower in a half nine times this season ... last year, BG limited the opponent to a FG pct. of .300 or less just five times in 58 halves ... in an entire game, BGSU has held six opponents to .350 shooting or worse this year, after doing so only once during the entire 29-game campaign last winter.
MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME: In the first 12 seasons after the three-point shot was adopted (1986-87 to 1997-98), Bowling Green teams made a total of 666 three-pointers in 1,890 attempts ‚ over the last three-and-a-half years, the Falcons have surpassed each of those totals for the first 12 years ... since the beginning of the 1998-99 season, Falcon teams have made 736 treys in 2,121 tries.
