Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Open Season At Youngstown State
November 17, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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BOWLING GREEN
at
YOUNGSTOWN STATE
GAME #1SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2003
7:00 p.m.
BEEGHLY CENTER (6,500)
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: BGSU leads, 10-9
Last Meeting: Youngstown State 70, at BGSU 64 (Nov. 22, 2002)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team opens season number three of the Curt Miller Era in the arena where Miller's Falcon tenure began ... the Brown and Orange begins the 2003-04 regular season with a Saturday (Nov. 22) road game vs. Youngstown State University ... the Falcons finished the 2002-03 season with an overall record of 12-16, and BGSU posted a 5-11 Mid-American Conference record to tie for sixth in the West Division ... Miller and his staff welcome back six letterwinners, including a pair of starters, from that team ... the Falcons have a total of nine players who did not suit up for the Brown and Orange last year, including seven freshmen.
THE MOST NEWCOMERS SINCE...
This season, as mentioned, Curt Miller and his staff welcome seven frosh, and a total of nine players who did not see game action for the Falcons a year ago ... the total of nine newcomers is the Falcons' most in two decades ... the newcomers include junior Kelly Kapferer, who returns after sitting out last season, as well as sophomore Casey McDowell, who sat out the 2002-03 campaign after transferring from Indiana State University.
TWO SENIORS LEAD THE WAY
The coaching staff will look to a pair of seniors, Lindsay Austin and Stefanie Wenzel, to guide the youthful Falcons in 2003-04 ... Austin enters her fourth season having already made 79 career starts in the Brown and Orange ... she has 337 assists, good for sixth place on the BGSU career list ... Wenzel burst onto the scene as a sophomore, leading the MAC in scoring increase (she went from 2.3 points per game as a freshman to 11.6 ppg the following year) ... Wenzel is the lone Falcon to average double digits in scoring in each of the last two seasons ... Austin and Wenzel lead the active Falcons with 689 and 643 career points, respectively.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU ended the 2002-03 season with a record of 12-16, and the Falcons finished the MAC campaign with a 5-11 league record ... BG tied with Central Michigan for sixth in the MAC's West Division ... in 2003-04, the Falcons return six letterwinners from that team, including a pair of starters in seniors Lindsay Austin and Stefanie Wenzel ... in addition, the Falcons also welcome back two juniors, Tene Lewis and Sakima Smith, along with a pair of sophomores in Jill Lause and Marisa Smith.
The nine newcomers, as mentioned, include redshirt junior Kelly Kapferer and redshirt sophomore Casey McDowell ... Kapferer earned two letters at BGSU before sitting out last season, while McDowell sat out last year at BG after transferring from Indiana State ... the freshman class consists of Amber Flynn (Cincinnati, Ohio) Julie Gompers (Wheeling, W.Va.), Liz Honegger (Lafayette, Ind.), Carin Horne (Lima, Ohio), Ali Mann (Chelsea, Mich.), Kim Nowakowski (Butler, Pa.) and Megan Thorburn (Mason, Mich.) ... Nowakowski is sidelined indefinitely due to injury, but each of the other six frosh saw action in the Falcons' exhibition vs. the Premier All-Stars (Nov. 3).
On the sidelines, Curt Miller is joined by third-year assistants Jennifer Roos and Brandi Poole ... Kevin Eckert begins his second season on the staff.
The Falcons went 6-6 at home last season, and BG was 5-9 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... in MAC contests, BGSU finished 4-4 at home and 1-7 away from Anderson Arena.
FALCONS ON THE RADIO FOR AT LEAST 25 GAMES
A total of 24 of the Falcons' 27 regular-season games, plus any postseason action, will be on the air in 2003-04 ... student station WBGU-FM (88.1) is scheduled to broadcast all but three regular-season contests -- the home opener vs. Detroit (Nov. 25) and the two games at the Flint Hills Resources Islander Classic (Nov. 28-29) ... the 2003-04 academic year marks the second season of an agreement between the BGSU department of athletics and the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO) to have WBGU serve as the flagship station for both hockey and women's basketball ... games produced by BGRSO are heard on the Internet at bgrso.org and via the Real One Package available through bgsufalcons.com.
LAST TIME OUT
Lisa Cline's 45-foot shot as the buzzer sounded lifted the Premier All-Stars to a 72-71 win over BGSU in the Falcons' lone exhibition game (Nov. 3) ... the game featured 16 lead changes and the debut of head coach Curt Miller's 2003-04 squad ... Miller has nine players who did not play for the Falcons last year ... eight of those nine saw action in the exhibition, with three cracking the starting lineup ... one of the returnees, senior Stefanie Wenzel, led the Falcons with 18 points, including a 3-of-4 night from three-point range ... freshman Megan Thorburn, starting at forward in her first-ever collegiate game, added 12 points and five rebounds ... junior Kelly Kapferer, who sat out last season after earning two letters with the Falcons, had 11 points and a team-high seven boards ... senior Lindsay Austin and freshman Ali Mann rounded out Miller's starting five ... for the All-Stars, former Ohio State standout Jamie Lewis led the way with a game-high 20 points in 39 minutes ... Joni O'Connell added 16 points, while Cline had 12 points and a game-high five assists ... the home team held an eight-point edge with 5:38 left, 69-61, after a Wenzel layup, but that would prove to be the Falcons' final hoop of the game ... Lewis made a trey for the All-Stars, but Wenzel's two free throws just before the final media timeout gave BG a 71-64 lead ... out of the timeout, an O'Connell layup cut the lead to five ... two minutes later, Cline split a pair of free throws, and the visitors were within four at 71-67 ... after a BG offensive foul, Lewis hit a shot with 35 seconds left, cutting the lead in half ... BGSU worked the clock, but was forced to take a long shot as the shot clock expired, and the ball went out of bounds to the All-Stars with 3.1 seconds left ... the visitors inbounded the ball to Cline, who took a few dribbles and got off a shot just after crossing midcourt, banking it home ... Cline had made just 2-of-8 shots from the field prior to sinking that final hoop ... for the Falcons, sophomore Casey McDowell had six points in 10 minutes in her first action, while freshman Amber Flynn had five points and six rebounds in only eight minutes, and classmate Carin Horne had four points in just three minutes of action ... frosh Liz Honegger and Julie Gompers also made their BGSU debuts, as all 14 healthy players saw action ... the youthful, athletic Falcons held a 37-35 rebounding edge, and BG had 15 offensive rebounds ... BG held an 11-4 advantage in second-chance points and a 9-0 margin in fast-break points.
SCOUTING YOUNGSTOWN STATE
Youngstown State, like BGSU, opens the regular season on Saturday ... and, the Penguins also played a close game vs. the Premier All-Stars in the team's lone exhibition ... YSU lost a 96-84 decision to the All-Stars in overtime (Nov. 9) ... first-year head coach Tisha Hill inherits a team with 11 returning letterwinners, including four starters ... last year's squad went 6-22 overall and 3-11 in Horizon League play ... junior Jen Perugini headlines the returnees, after leading the Penguins with 12.7 points and 8.1 rebounds a year ago ... senior forward Jessica Forsythe (9.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg), senior guard Devin Novak (11.4 ppg) and junior guard Jessica Olmstead (10.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.8 assists per game) round out the returning starters ... YSU also regains the services of junior Cathy Hanek ... Hanek, a starter in 2001-02, missed all of last season due to illness ... the YSU job marks the first collegiate head-coaching gig for Hill, who spent the previous two seasons as an assistant at Ball State ... YSU's athletics web site is www.ysu.edu/sports.
THE BGSU-YOUNGSTOWN STATE SERIES
The Falcons hold a 10-9 advantage over Youngstown State in the all-time series between the teams ... BGSU has won nine of the last 11 meetings, but YSU snapped a two-game Falcon series win streak with last year's 70-64 triumph at Anderson Arena (Nov. 22, 2002) ... the Penguins hold a 4-3 advantage in games played in Youngstown ... two years ago, BG opened the Curt Miller Era with a 71-61 win at the Beeghly Center (Nov. 17, 2001) ... five of the last six meetings have been decided by 10 points or less.
IF IT'S THE PENGUINS, IT MUST BE THE OPENER
The Falcons will open the season against Youngstown State for the fifth consecutive year and the sixth time in the last seven seasons.
IN THE OPENER...
The Falcons are 13-17 all-time in season-opening games, and last year's YSU victory snapped BG's two-game win streak in openers ... BGSU is 9-20 in road openers over the years (the locations of most games in 1973-74, BG's first season, are unknown), but the Falcons are 2-0 in such games in the Curt Miller Era ... BGSU won at Youngstown, 71-61, two years ago (Nov. 17, 2001), then captured last year's road-opening game, 77-62, vs. Florida Atlantic (Dec. 6, 2002).
MAC PRESEASON POLL
The Falcons were picked to finish sixth in the West Division in the 2003-04 preseason poll, announced by the MAC News Media Association ... the complete poll follows, with first-place votes and points received:
West Division 1. Western Michigan (12 FPV), 167 Pts. 2. Toledo (8), 164 3. Ball State (4), 146 4. Northern Illinois (4), 109 5. Eastern Michigan, 102 6. Bowling Green, 52 7. Central Michigan, 44East Division 1. Kent State (12), 147 2. Miami (13), 143 3. Marshall, 110 4. Buffalo (4), 99 5. Ohio, 55 6. Akron, 34
Votes for MAC Tournament Champion: Kent State 6, Western Michigan 6; Ball State 5; Miami 3, Toledo 3; Northern Illinois 2; Eastern Michigan 1, Marshall 1.
AUSTIN COULD ENTER UNCHARTED WATERS
Senior Lindsay Austin has a chance to go where no Falcon has gone before ... she enters the 2003-04 campaign with career totals of 689 points, 337 assists and 157 steals ... with a successful senior season, Austin could become the 17th player in school history to score 1,000 career points, and just the fourth Falcon to reach the 400-assist mark ... Austin also could become only the fourth BGSU player to crack the 200-steals barrier ... no Falcon ever has totalled 1,000 points and 400 assists in a career ... only one BG player, Judit Lendvay (1989-93), had 1,000 points (1,078) and 300 assists (304).
WENZEL EYES THAT CENTURY MARK, TOO
Both of the Falcon seniors have a chance to reach the 1,000-point barrier for their careers ... Stefanie Wenzel enters the 2003-04 campaign with a career total of 643 points ... 607 of those points have come in the last two years, an average of 10.8 points per game ... the lone returnee to have averaged double digits in scoring in each of the last two years, Wenzel had 15 games of 10 or more points last year, the most among returning Falcons.
AUSTIN ADDS AN ASSIST (337 OF THEM, ACTUALLY)
Last February, Lindsay Austin moved past Judit Lendvay (304 assists from 1989-93) into sixth place on the BGSU career list ... entering her senior season, Austin now has a career total of 337 assists ... she is closing in on fifth-place Cathy Koch (1988-92), who had 347 assists in her Falcon career ... Dee Knoblauch holds the BG record with 673 career assists.
WENZEL MOVING UP ON THREE-POINT LISTS
Senior Stefanie Wenzel enters the season ranked on each of the school's career three-point lists ... Wenzel has made a total of 78 treys to date, tying her for eighth on the school list ... she also ranks eighth in career three-point percentage (.353; 78-of-221), and is ninth all-time in treys attempted.
FALCONS ON THE ROAD
BGSU finished with a 5-9 record in true road games last season, after going 3-10 in 2001-02 ... BG went 6-10 in all games played away from Anderson (both road and neutral-site contests) in 2002-03, after posting a 4-12 mark in such games the prior year.
141 GAMES AND COUNTING
The Falcons have made at least one three-point field goal in every game during the past five years ... in fact, BGSU has drained a triple in each of the last 141 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.
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 five years, the Falcons have surpassed each of those totals for the first 12 seasons ... since the beginning of the 1998-99 season, BG teams have made 950 treys in 2,774 tries.
STILL SHOOTING (AND MAKING) THE TREY
The three-point shot has been a staple of Falcon teams over the past few years ... four years ago, the Brown and Orange set a new NCAA Division I record for three-point field goals made per game ... BGSU sank 259 treys in 28 contests, for an average of 9.25 per game ... that record remains at the top of the NCAA list ... three years ago, the Falcons averaged 6.97 three-pointers made per contest ... Bowling Green made at least five treys in 25 of the 29 games that year ... in 2001-02, BGSU averaged "only" 5.93 triples per game ... last season, the Falcons averaged 6.71 treys overall and 7.19 in MAC play, good for second in the league in each case.
