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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Play At Miami Saturday
February 08, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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BGSU (7-15, 4-7)
AT
MIAMI (12-10, 6-5)
GAME #23
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2002
MILLETT HALL
OXFORD, OHIO
2:00 p.m.
SERIES: BGSU LEADS, 29-20
LAST MEETING: MIAMI 72, at BGSU 59 (FEB. 28, 2001)
THE GAME: The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after suffering a tough overtime loss at Anderson Arena, returns to the road for a Mid-American Conference East Division matchup Saturday (Feb. 9) ... the Falcons of first-year head coach Curt Miller head to Oxford to meet Miami University ... tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at MU's Millett Hall (9,200).
Following the MU game, the Brown and Orange will return home for a Thursday (Feb. 14) game vs. Western Michigan University ... that Valentine's Day contest is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (5,000) ... the Falcons are in the midst of a seven-game stretch that sees BG play away from home five times.
ABOUT THE FALCONS: BGSU has an overall record of 7-15 on the season, and the Falcons are 4-7 in MAC play after Tuesday's (Feb. 5) overtime loss to visiting Ohio, 78-69 ... the Falcons were 14.5 seconds away from being alone in third place in the East Division, a game behind the second-place RedHawks ... instead, BGSU is now tied for fourth in the division ... the OU loss came on the heels of Saturday's (Feb. 2) come-from-behind, 69-65 win at Buffalo, the team's largest comeback in four years ... prior to that, the Falcons suffered the largest loss of the MAC slate, as Toledo dealt BG an 82-51 setback (Jan. 30) ... that loss followed the most decisive victory of the season for the Brown and Orange, a 76-52 home win over Marshall (Jan. 26).
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) efore 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 11.6 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 10.9 points per contest, and leads the Falcons with 37 three-point field goals on the year.
Sophomore point guard Lindsay Austin averages 8.8 points ... Austin leads the team in both assists (5.0 apg) and minutes per game (34.5), and is tied for the BG lead in steals (2.0 spg) ... she is fourth on the squad with 4.6 rebounds per game.
Another soph, Kelly Kapferer, has 7.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game ... Kapferer leads the Falcons in field-goal percentage (.427) ... redshirt sophomore Pam Brown also has 7.3 points, and has a team-best 5.9 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 ... senior Dana Western-Schuka averages 6.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game, tying for the team lead in the latter category.
A total of 10 different players have started at least one game this season ... the lineup remained the same for 12 consecutive contests, but coach Miller made one change for last Saturday's UB game ... Griech and Western-Schuka each have been in the starting five for all 22 games to date, while Austin has made 21 starts ... Kapferer has started 17 games, while Wenzel has been in the starting lineup for the last 14 contests ... Brown replaced Kapferer in the starting five for the Buffalo contest, and also got the starting nod for the Ohio game.
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 .358 from the field, while opponents are shooting .400 through the first 22 games ... the Falcons have made 134 three-point field goals and are shooting .295 from beyond the arc, while the foes have 123 treys and a .331 pct. ... BGSU has a free-throw pct. of .707 to the opponents' .703 ... the Falcons have been outrebounded by a 45.4 to 38.9 margin in the first 23 contests.
BGSU is shooting .373 from the field in MAC games, and the Falcons have made 78 three-pointers (7.09 per game) and are shooting .347 from behind the arc and .702 from the free-throw line in league contests.
BGSU is 4-6 at home, 2-7 on the road and 1-2 in neutral-site contests in 2001-02 ... BG is 3-3 at home and 1-4 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 MIAMI: Miami will enter Saturday's game with an overall record of 12-10 ... the RedHawks will bring a 6-5 MAC mark into the contest, after a 57-44 road loss to Toledo Tuesday (Feb. 5) ... MU has a 6-3 record at Millett Hall this year, including a 3-2 record in home conference contests ... the RedHawks began the MAC slate with a 5-0 record, capped by a home win over Kent State, but have dropped five of the six games since that time ... after the KSU game, MU lost four consecutive games before posting a 79-49 win at Marshall last Saturday (Feb. 2) ... individually, junior guard Heather Cusick leads the team, and the MAC, in scoring with 17.4 points per game ... she also has 5.6 assists to place second in the league ... sophomore forwards Colleen Day and Kim Lancaster are averaging 11.8 and 11.0 points, respectively ... Day leads the team with 6.8 rebounds per game, with Lancaster right behind at 6.7 ... sophomore guard Melanie Kozlowski has 8.6 points, while junior guard Beth Roederer averages 7.2 points per outing ... those five players started the UT game ... junior C/F Jana Butler (7.0 ppg) has made 18 starts on the season ... last year, the RedHawks went 18-11 overall and 10-6 in MAC action ... Maria Fantanarosa has a record of 57-48 in her fourth year at her alma mater ... she is 64-68 in her fifth year as a collegiate head coach ... Miami's athletic web site is www.MURedHawks.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 opponents (BGSU is tied with both Buffalo [4-4] and NIU [9-9]), and the Falcons hold a 29-20 advantage over Miami ... BGSU is 12-10 all-time in road games vs. the RedHawks ... Miami, however, has won the last two meetings, and three of the last four overall matchups ... the RedHawks swept last year's season series, winning by scores of 88-61 in Oxford (Feb. 12, 2001) and 72-59 in BG (Feb. 28, 2001 - boxscore on page 15) ... Miami also has a two-game winning streak in home games vs. the Brown and Orange ... BG's last series win came on Feb. 19, 2000 (82-79), and the Falcons' last victory at Millett Hall was a 94-84 triumph on Jan. 23, 1999 ... only one of the last seven meetings has been decided by less than 10 points.
LAST TIME OUT: Ohio's Cathy Szall made a conventional three-point play with 14.5 seconds left in regulation to force overtime Tuesday (Feb. 5), and the visiting Bobcats held BGSU without a field goal in the extra session ... the result was a 78-69 OU win ... the Falcons led, 37-28, at halftime and had a 45-35 lead with 15:52 remaining ... Ohio then went on a 15-2 run, however, to take a 50-47 lead with 10:45 left in regulation ... BGSU responded with a run of their own, scoring the next 12 points - including two three-pointers by sophomore Stefanie Wenzel - to lead by a 59-50 count with 7:50 left ... Ohio chipped away, but the Falcons held a 65-61 lead with 1:39 left on a Pam Brown layup ... in the final minute, after junior Kim Griech made one of two charity tosses to give the Falcons a 66-63 lead, Szall hit a driving layup and drew the foul ... she made her free throw to tie the game ... BG had several shots which missed the mark on the ensuing possession, and the teams went to OT ... the visitors took the lead for good, 68-66, on a layup by Lori Moorman with 4:16 left in the OT ... the Bobcats went 2-of-6 from the field in the OT, but scored eight points at the foul line ... the Falcons were 0-of-7 from the floor in the extra session ... Szall and Moorman each scored 22 to lead the Bobcats, while Wenzel led BGSU with 20 ... Griech and sophomore Lindsay Austin hit double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively ... Brown had 14 boards, a BG season high, to lead all players.
FREE THROWS MAKE A DIFFERENCE: In Tuesday's game vs. Ohio, 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.
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.
CENTURY MARK: Senior Dana Western-Schuka played in the 100th contest of her BGSU career in the Falcons' Tuesday (Feb. 5) game vs. Ohio.
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 .400 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.
PAM BROWN: RHYMES (SORTA) WITH REBOUND: Redshirt sophomore Pam Brown had a career-high 14 rebounds in the Ohio game Tuesday (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 last Saturday (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 her fifth 20-point game of the season with 21 points 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, 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 game, and had six points and a BGSU season-best 14 boards ... Kapferer had four points vs. the Bobcats, going 2-of-2 from the floor.
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.
BGSU held the Bulls without a point for exactly six minutes in one stretch, and UB sank only two baskets in the game's final 11:57 -- at the 5:27 and 4:05 marks.
A FEW MORE NOTES ON THE UB GAME: BGSU's 69-65 win at Buffalo was just the Falcons' second road win of the year, and the first in MAC play ... BGSU swept the season series with UB, and the overall series between the teams is now tied, 4-4 ... the Falcons are 2-2 in games at UB's Alumni Arena ... BGSU made a season-high 10 three-point field goals in the game, and the Falcons' .476 percentage from long range (10-of-21) is the team's second-highest of the season ... UB's Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe had 10 points in the first 4:51 of the game, but did not score a point in the final 35:09 ... teammate Virginia Jennings had eight points, eight assists and four rebounds at the half, but did not have a single rebound or assist in the final 20 minutes.
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 is now 4-of-5 from three-point land over the last three 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 255 points this season, after scoring 36 points during all of her freshman campaign.
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS: Sophomore point guard Lindsay Austin has had some of her top all-around games of the year in the last few weeks ... Austin scored just eight points at Buffalo (Feb. 2), but made two of her four baskets in the final few minutes to clinch the victory ... she led the Falcons in scoring (13), rebounding (five) and assists (three) at Toledo Wednesday (Jan. 30) ... Austin had six points, five rebounds and seven assists vs. Marshall (Jan. 26), and ranks among the MAC leaders in the latter category ... through the OU game, Austin is fourth in the league with 5.00 assists per game ... in conference games only, she is second, with 5.55 apg ... Austin 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 ... Austin hit a number of key baskets in the game, and also blocked a UB three-point attempt with just over a minute left in the game and the shot clock winding down ... she had 10 points, seven assists and five steals, tying her career best in the latter category, vs. Akron.
107 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 107 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 Tuesday's (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.
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.
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.
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 eight games.
Last year, the Falcons missed a total of 41 player-games due to injury or illness ... a total of seven players, including four who were or would have been starters, were sidelined at one point or another ... all three of last year's seniors - Jackie Adlington, Angie Farmer and Afra Smith - missed at least one game ... Miller missed all of six games and part of several others ... she had a meniscus injury that bothered her for much of the year.
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 22 games, the Falcons have held the opponent to a field-goal percentage of .359 (241-of-672) in the first half ... when the Colorado game is taken out, BG has limited the foes to a .345 rate (218-of-632) before the intermission ... in the second half, however, the opponents have made 293-of-667 shots from the floor (.439).
