Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head To Kalamazoo To Face MAC Leaders
January 28, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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Bowling Green (9-7, 2-3 MAC)
at
Western Michigan (10-5, 4-0 MAC)
Game #17
Wednesday, January 29, 2003
7:00 pm
University Arena (5,649)
Kalamazoo, Michigan
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: BGSU Leads, 24-19
Last Meeting: WMU 67, at BGSU 58 (Feb. 14, 2002)
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, playing on the road for the fourth time in a five-game span, has another tough test in Mid-American Conference play. The Falcons (9-7, 2-3 MAC) of head coach Curt Miller will complete a two-game stretch against the league's two unbeatens, heading to Kalamazoo, Mich., for Wednesday's (Jan. 29) game against Western Michigan University. The contest is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. start at University Arena (5,649).
Following the WMU game, the Falcons will return home for a Saturday (Feb. 1) contest vs. Northern Illinois University. That game is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start at BGSU's venerable Anderson Arena (4,700).
The WMU game completes a five-game stretch which sees the Falcons play road games against the MAC West Division teams picked to finish first through fourth. BG's first four conference road contests have come against Northern Illinois, Toledo, Ball State (unbeaten in the MAC at that time) and WMU.
FALCONS MATCH LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTAL
With the 63-45 win over Central Michigan on Jan. 18, the Falcons matched the team's victory total for all of last season ... BGSU, 9-19 last winter, has an overall record of 9-7 with at least 12 games remaining this season ... this year's 16-game record is the best for a Falcon club since the 1997-98 team went 12-4 ... that 1997-98 squad went on to post 21 wins and earn a WNIT berth.
TOUGH TESTS IN JANUARY
The Western Michigan game completes the Falcons' January schedule ... BGSU's seven January games saw the Falcons play on the road five times, facing the teams picked to finish first through fourth in the MAC West ... the team's fifth road game came against a 2002 NCAA Tournament participant (Oakland) ... BG has a 3-3 record this month, heading into the WMU contest.
WBGU RADIO TO BROADCAST AT LEAST 25 GAMES THIS SEASON
WBGU-FM (88.1) is scheduled to air 24 regular-season games, including all remaining contests, 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 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, as mentioned, will take a 9-7 record into the WMU game ... the Falcons, after a 63-45 home win over Central Michigan on Jan. 18, dropped a 96-71 decision at Ball State last Wednesday (Jan. 22).
The Falcons had opened the MAC schedule with a 73-72 win over Ohio (Jan. 8), the team's second one-point win in as many games ... then, however, the Falcons saw a four-game winning streak snapped with a 78-58 loss at Northern Illinois (Jan. 11), and BGSU also fell at Toledo, 70-62 (Jan. 15) before beating Central ... prior to the NIU game, the Falcons had won six of seven contests.
Senior Francine Miller continues to lead the Falcons in scoring, with 13.4 points per game ... she also paces the team in rebounding, with 5.5 per contest, steals (2.4 spg) and blocked shots (0.81 bpg).
Senior Kim Griech is second in scoring, with 11.4 points per game, and leads the Brown and Orange in three-point field goals made (32) and free-throw percentage (.902; 37-of-41) ... Griech also leads BGSU in minutes played (28.1 mpg), and is second in assists (1.6 apg) ... she is averaging a team-high 13.4 points per game in MAC contests, just ahead of Miller's 13.2 ppg average.
Junior Lindsay Austin is third on the team in scoring (10.8 ppg), and leads the Falcons in assists (4.0 apg) ... Austin is second on the team in steals (2.2 spg) and ranks third in the MAC with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.87.
Junior Stefanie Wenzel has 10.0 points per outing and a three-point field goal percentage of .380 (19-of-50) on the year ... redshirt junior Pam Brown has averages of 5.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in seven games, but has missed the last eight contests due to injury and will likely sit out for the foreseeable future.
Freshman Marisa Smith and senior Megan Jerome average 4.5 and 4.3 points per game, respectively, while freshman Jill Lause has 4.2 ppg ... Smith has a team-best three-point FG pct. of .500 (16-of-32) on the year, while Jerome leads the Falcons in asst./TO ratio (2.18) and is third in assists (1.5 apg) ... Lause is shooting .522 (24-of-46) from the field this year, and has made 15 of her last 21 field-goal attempts.
Griech, Miller, Wenzel and senior Karen Stocz (3.3 ppg) have started all 16 games to date for the Falcons ... freshman Molly Martin had started the first four contests at point guard ... Martin, however, left the team in late December for personal reasons ... Austin, slowed by a sprained ankle at season's outset, has started each of the last 12 contests, and the Falcons are 7-5 during that time.
BGSU finished the 2001-02 season with a 9-19 record, and the Falcons completed MAC play with a league ledger of 6-10 ... the Brown and Orange ended conference play in fourth place in the MAC's East Division ... a total of nine letterwinners returned for 2002-03 ... that list includes one player who did not letter last year, Miller ... Miller played in just four of the Falcons' 28 games last winter, and was granted an additional year of eligibility.
The freshman class now includes three players, from three different states ... Britt Anderson (Fort Collins, Colo.), Lause (Dublin, Ohio) and Marisa Smith (Arnold, Pa.) joined the squad for the 2002-03 campaign ... all three have seen action in 15 of the Falcons' 16 games ... 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 four seasons at the University at Buffalo, is in his first season on the staff.
The Falcons are 4-2 at home, 4-4 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... in MAC contests, BGSU is 2-0 at home and 0-3 away from Anderson Arena ... the Falcons went 5-7 at home last winter, and BG was 3-10 on the road and 1-2 in neutral-site contests in 2001-02 ... the Brown and Orange went 4-4 at home and 2-6 on the road in MAC games last year.
The Falcons are shooting .405 from the field, while holding the opponents to a FG pct. of .392 ... BG has made 103 three-point field goals, and the Falcons are shooting .332 from behind the arc ... the foes have made 99 treys and have a long-distance pct. of .331 ... the Brown and Orange converted 228 free throws to the foes' 191 this year to date ... BGSU is shooting .755 from the stripe, compared to .659 for the opponents.
SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN
Western Michigan is the lone remaining MAC unbeaten, with a 4-0 record in conference contests ... the Broncos are 10-5 overall after a narrow, 79-76 loss to #9/9 North Carolina ... that loss was WMU's first in seven home games this season and snapped a 10-game Bronco win streak at University Arena ... sophomore guard Casey Rost has a team-high 19.6 points per game, and also has 5.4 rebounds ... junior forward Kristin Koetsier averages 18.5 points and a team-high 6.7 boards, but Koetsier missed the UNC contest with a knee injury, and likely will miss the BGSU game ... senior guard Curleta Harris has 13.1 points per contest, while junior forward Lori Crisman has 9.7 points and 5.8 boards ... sophomore point guard Maria Jilian has 8.5 points and 4.0 rebounds, and leads the Broncos - and the MAC - in both assists (6.3 apg) and steals (3.6 apg) ... freshman guard Andrea Thelan leads the MAC in three-point field goal percentage (.531; 17-of-32) ... Rost and Harris have hit 39 and 36 treys, respectively ... Crisman, Harris, Jilian and Rost each have started all 15 games this year, while sophomore F/C Kelly Koerber has started three games in Koetsier's absence this year ... head coach Ron Stewart has a record of 79-80 in his sixth year, all with the Broncos ... he welcomed back seven letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's squad that went 16-15 overall and 11-5 in MAC play ... the school's athletic web site is www.wmubroncos.com.
THE BGSU-WMU SERIES
The Falcons hold a 24-19 lead over Western Michigan in the all-time series between the teams, but the Broncos have won six of the last seven meetings ... WMU captured the only meeting last season, rallying from an 18-point second-half deficit for a 67-58 win at Anderson Arena (Feb. 14, 2002) ... the Falcons won the teams' last meeting in Kalamazoo, with a 78-75 upset in the MAC Tournament's first round two years ago (March 3, 2001) ... BGSU holds a narrow 11-9 lead in series games played in Kalamazoo ... the 2002-03 season marks the fourth consecutive year that the Falcons and Broncos have had just one regular-season meeting.
LAST TIME OUT
Host Ball State rallied from a halftime deficit to post a 96-71 victory over the Falcons last Wednesday (Jan. 22) ... the Cardinals (11-4, 5-0 MAC) scored the game's first 15 points, but the Falcons (9-7, 2-3 MAC) rallied, ending the half on a 43-25 run for a three-point halftime lead ... in the second half, a Kate Endress layup gave the hosts a 57-55 lead with just over 13 minutes remaining, and the Cardinals did not trail again ... BSU's Tamara Bowie had a game-high 30 points, while Johna Goff added 25 ... for the Falcons, junior Stefanie Wenzel had a season-high 23 points.
NOT A LOTTA TURNOVERS...
The Falcons had only 12 turnovers in the Ball State game, the third time in the first five MAC games that BG has had only 12 miscues ... BGSU committed six turnovers in a span of just 2:05 early in the first half as Ball State built a 15-0 lead ... then, however, the Brown and Orange had only four TO's in the final 15:27 of the first half, and BG coughed up the ball only six times in the game's final 35:27.
...BUT NOT A LOTTA FREE THROWS
The good news: BGSU did not miss a free throw in the Ball State game ... the bad news: the Falcons attempted only three ... BG got a conventional three-point play from junior Lindsay Austin at the 13:33 mark of the first half, and Stefanie Wenzel went to the line and sank two tosses exactly seven minutes into the game ... then, however, the Falcons did not get to the line over the game's final 33 minutes ... the 3-for-3 effort marked BG's fewest free throws made since the final game last season (2 FTM at Ohio; March 2, 2002), and the fewest FT's attempted since the Falcons attempted just two at Western Michigan (1-for-2; Jan. 31, 2001) ... by contrast, Ball State went 19-of-24 from the stripe.
FOES' FIFTY-PERCENT FIELD-GOAL EFFORTS FEW AND (HOPEFULLY) FAR BETWEEN
Ball State shot .522 from the field last Wednesday, marking a season-high field-goal percentage for a Falcon foe ... the Cards' FG pct. was the first time in 24 games that the opponent has shot better than 50 percent from the field ... the last opponent to do so was Toledo (Jan. 30, 2002).
FRANCINE THE SCORING MACHINE: MILLER MOVES INTO EIGHTH PLACE
Senior Francine Miller continues her climb up the BGSU career scoring chart ... in the Ball State game, she moved past Stephanie Coe (1,363 pts.; 1983-87) into eighth place in school history ... Miller enters the WMU contest with a total of 1,364 points ... her next target is seventh-place Angie Bonner (1983-87), who had 1,412 career points ... only 20 points separate the third- through seventh-place scorers in school history, meaning that Miller is just 68 points away from that third-place spot ... Miller has averaged 13.92 points per game over the first 98 contests of her career, the third-best average in BGSU annals.
GO WEST
The Falcons are in their first season as a member of the MAC's West Division ... the Falcons, who have played in the East Division since the MAC went to a divisional format five years ago, moved to the West for the 2002-03 campaign ... the move was a result of the MAC's adding the University of Central Florida as a football-only member and placing UCF in the East Division.
TIME CHANGE FOR MIAMI GAME
The starting time for the Falcons' Feb. 15 game vs. Miami has been changed ... the game will now begin at 4:30 p.m. at Anderson Arena ... the time was changed because the BGSU men's game vs. Western Michigan has been included in the MAC's television package ... the men's game will begin at 2:00 p.m. at Anderson.
FALCONS ON THE ROAD
BGSU is 4-4 in true road games this season, after going 3-10 during all of 2001-02 ... BG is 5-5 in all 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.
EVERYONE'S A THREAT FROM LONG RANGE
Freshman Jill Lause made her first collegiate three-point field goal in the Ball State game (Jan. 22) ... that shot made Lause the 11th different Falcon to sink at least one trey this season ... the 2002-03 campaign marks the fifth-straight season that 10 or more players have hit a three-pointer ... in each of the past three years, 11 different players on the BG squad made at least one long-range shot ... 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.
NOTHING'S EASY IN THE WEST
The 2002-03 season marks the Falcons' first year as a member of the MAC's West Division ... in the early going in conference play, it would appear that the West is the tougher division this winter ... heading into Tuesday's (Jan. 28) games, West Division teams have a combined 12-3 record against their foes from the East ... in all league games, MAC West teams are 17-3 at home.
