Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Oakland Saturday
December 11, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 11, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Game Notes (20 pages) in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BOWLING GREEN (4-2)
vs.
OAKLAND (3-3)
Game #7
Saturday, Dec. 13, 2003
1:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Bowling Green, Ohio
Radio: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: Oakland leads, 2-1
Last Meeting: BGSU 70, at Oakland 69 (Jan. 3, 2003)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, coming off a pair of 23-point wins, completes a brief, two-game homestand with a second-straight Saturday afternoon contest (Dec. 13) ... the Falcons of third-year head coach Curt Miller will face Oakland University, with tipoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... the game will be broadcast on student station WBGU-FM (88.1).
Following the Oakland game, the Falcons will take a break for exams, then return to action with a game at IUPUI on Monday, Dec. 22 ... the Oakland game marks BG's final home contest in the month of December.
HIGH-FLYING (AND HIGH-SCORING) FALCONS
In a four-day span, the Falcons racked up the top-two scoring games in the Curt Miller Era ... BGSU's 100-point night at Bucknell (Dec. 3) marked the team's highest point total since January of 1999 ... then, BG had 91 points vs. IPFW (Dec. 6), as the Falcons posted a second consecutive 23-point win ... since the beginning of the 2001-02 season, when Miller arrived on campus, the Falcons' top offensive output had been 89 points vs. Savannah State (Dec. 22, 2002) ... BGSU averaged 95.5 points per game in last week's two wins.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU checks into the Oakland game with a record of 4-2 on the young season ... the Falcons are coming off back-to-back 23-point wins last week, including a win at Bucknell (Dec. 3) in which the Brown and Orange racked up 100 points, and Saturday's (Dec. 6) 91-68 home win over IPFW.
Senior Stefanie Wenzel leads the team with 15.5 points per game, and is averaging 4.0 rebounds per contest ... three freshmen are ranked second through fourth in scoring ... Ali Mann has 12.0 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds per contest after recording a double-double vs. IPFW, her third of the year ... Megan Thorburn has 10.2 points per contest, while Liz Honegger has 9.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, and leads BG with seven blocked shots (1.2 bpg) ... the team's fifth starter, senior point guard Lindsay Austin, has 9.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists per contest, having recorded a monster game at Bucknell ... sophomore Casey McDowell and junior Kelly Kapferer each average 6.2 points, respectively.
BG ended the 2002-03 season with a record of 12-16, and the Falcons finished the MAC campaign with a 5-11 league record ... the Falcons tied with Central Michigan for sixth in the MAC's West Division ... in 2003-04, head coach Curt Miller's Falcons returned six letterwinners from that team, including a pair of starters in seniors Austin and Wenzel ... in addition, the Falcons also welcomed back two juniors, Tene Lewis and Sakima Smith, along with a pair of sophomores in Jill Lause and Marisa Smith.
The Falcons also have nine newcomers, including Kapferer and 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.), Honegger (Lafayette, Ind.), Carin Horne (Lima, Ohio), Mann (Chelsea, Mich.), Kim Nowakowski (Butler, Pa.) and Thorburn (Mason, Mich.) ... Nowakowski is sidelined indefinitely due to injury, but five of the other six frosh have seen action in all six games to date (Gompers has played in four games).
On the sidelines, Miller is joined by third-year assistants Jennifer Roos and Brandi Poole ... Kevin Eckert is in his second season on the staff.
Austin, Mann, Thorburn and Wenzel each have started all six games ... Honegger has started at center in each of the last five games.
The Falcons are shooting .449 from the field this season, including a stellar .452 rate from three-point land, and BGSU has a .769 free-throw conversion percentage ... the opponents have shot .392 from the floor, .315 from the arc and .701 from the line to date.
BG is 2-0 at home, 1-2 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site games to date ... last season, the Falcons went 6-6 at home, 5-9 on the road and 1-1 on neutral courts ... in MAC contests, BGSU finished 4-4 at home and 1-7 away from Anderson Arena in 2002-03.
SCOUTING OAKLAND
Oakland enters Saturday's game with a 3-3 record ... the Golden Grizzlies are 1-1 at home, 1-1 on the road and 1-1 at neutral sites on the young season ... OU suffered a narrow loss to visiting Florida, 76-72, Tuesday night (Dec. 9), snapping a two-game win streak ... the Grizzlies have defeated Central Michigan, Columbia and Detroit this year, with losses coming vs. Boston College, Marquette and UF ... individually, sophomore guard Jayme Wilson is averaging a team-high 15.2 points per game, while junior center Petra Manakova and freshman forward Nicole Piggott each have 10.0 points per game ... Manakova also has 6.7 rebounds per contest ... sophomore guard Anne Hafeli and junior forward Amanda Batcha average 9.2 and 7.5 points, respectively ... Batcha leads the team with 7.8 rebounds ... Wilson, Hafeli, Batcha and junior guard Leigh Tully (1.8 ppg) each have started all six games, while Manakova has started four ... head coach Eileen Shea-Hilliard welcomed back 10 letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that went 13-16 overall and 7-7 in the Mid-Continent Conference ... Shea-Hilliard has a head-coaching mark of 16-19 in her second season, both with the Grizzlies ... OU's athletics web site is www.ougrizzlies.com.
THE BGSU-OAKLAND SERIES
The Falcons trail Oakland, 2-1, in the all-time series between the teams, but BGSU won the most recent meeting ... the Brown and Orange captured a 70-69 road win last year (Jan. 3, 2003) in a wacky contest (see below) ... that was the only meeting between the teams since 1982 ... Oakland won the lone prior meeting at BGSU, 61-59, on Feb. 7, 1981.
BGSU-OAKLAND: THE LAST MEETING
The Falcons built a double-digit lead, then withstood a furious Oakland rally to post a 70-69 win over the Golden Grizzlies (Jan. 3, 2003) ... BGSU led by 15 points at the half, then saw the Grizzlies cut the lead to three points, 59-56, midway through the second stanza ... the hosts were still within four points when BG went on an 11-3 run to take a 70-59 lead on a hoop by Lindsay Austin with 3:46 remaining ... the Falcons would not score again ... OU rallied, with Jayme Wilson scoring the next seven points, to pull within four ... then, after the Falcons threw the ball away with a minute remaining, OU's Romica Clint hit a three-point field goal with 40.1 seconds left, cutting the lead to 70-69 ... those three points were the final points of the game, but the heart-stopping action was far from over ... the hosts fouled, but BG missed the front end of two one-and-one free-throw opportunities in those final 40 seconds ... after the first miss, Oakland came the other way ... Wilson missed a shot, but the Grizzlies got the rebound ... then, however, an OU player was called for travelling, giving BG the ball with 18.6 seconds left ... after a BG timeout with 13.6 seconds remaining, Clint stole the Falcons' inbounds pass and raced downcourt ... but, Clint missed a breakaway layup attempt, and BG's Kim Griech rebounded the ball and was fouled with 7.6 seconds remaining ... Griech missed her free-throw try, however, and OU rebounded ... the hosts took the ball over midcourt and called time with exactly 4.0 seconds remaining ... after the timeout, Tene Lewis stole the OU inbounds pass and ran out the clock.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons, after scoring 100 points in the previous game, put up 91 more against IPFW Saturday (Dec. 6), moving to 4-2 on the season with a 91-68 win over the Mastodons ... senior Stefanie Wenzel and freshman Ali Mann each scored 20 points as the Falcons won for the fourth time in five games ... junior Kelly Kapferer came off the bench to score 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting ... for the visitors, Amy Gearlds and Verea Bibbs combined for 49 of the 68 points ... Gearlds had a game-high 25 points in 38 minutes, while Bibbs went 12-of-14 en route to 24 points ... Bibbs was 8-of-8 in the second half ... the Mastodons held a 7-6 lead after just two minutes, but a three-pointer by Lindsay Austin began an 11-0 run, and the Falcons never trailed again ... the Falcons went up by as many as 24 in the first half, and took an 18-point advantage into the intermission ... in the second half, the 'Dons got as close as 14 points on three occasions, the last at 61-47 with 15:45 left. IPFW was within 16 points with 13:11 remaining after a Gearlds trey, but Wenzel scored the game's next five points ... another Gearlds triple brought the visitors within 80-65 with 7:04 remaining, but the Mastodons scored only three points the rest of the way ... BGSU shot .455 from the field, including an even .500 from three-point land ... the Falcons went 10-of-20 from long range, as seven different players made at least one trey ... Wenzel led the way with four ... IPFW shot .417 for the game, and went 5-of-15 from three-point land ... Austin had nine points for the Falcons, while sophomore Casey McDowell and freshman Megan Thorburn had five apiece.
GOOD START
The Falcons are off to the best six-game start in six years ... BGSU last had a winning record after six games in 1997-98, when Jaci Clark's final Falcon team began 5-1 en route to a 21-8 record and a berth in the WNIT.
OFFENSIVE OUTBURST
BGSU has scored 191 points over the last two games ... that marks the Falcons' highest two-game total since January of 1999 ... in that month, BGSU also scored a total of 191 points in back-to-back wins over Ohio (97-89; Jan. 20) and Miami (94-84; Jan. 23).
ANOTHER DOUBLE-DOUBLE FOR MANN
In just six collegiate games, freshman Ali Mann has now had three double-doubles ... her latest such performance came vs. IPFW, when she had a season-high 20 points, and tied her seasonal best with 11 rebounds ... Mann also had double-doubles in two of her first three collegiate contests ... she scored 13 points and pulled down a game-high 11 boards in the Falcons' win over Detroit (Nov. 25) ... three days later, Mann had game-best totals of 19 points and 10 boards in a victory over Southeast Missouri State.
MANN, THAT'S A LOTTA DOUBLE-DOUBLES
As mentioned, freshman Ali Mann has had three double-doubles in just six games this season ... her total is the highest for a BGSU player in a season in four years, since Francine Miller had nine double-doubles in 1999-2000 ... as a team, the Falcons have six double-doubles, after totalling four during all of last season ... the last BG team to have more than six double-doubles was that 1999-2000 squad.
20/20 VS. IPFW
In freshman Ali Mann and senior Stefanie Wenzel, the Falcons had two players reach fhe 20-point mark in a game for the first time in over a year ... the last time came in a Nov. 25, 2002, home game vs. Iona, as Francine Miller scored 25 and Wenzel 20.
BOARDWORK
The Falcons had more rebounds than their opponents on only four occasions during all of last season ... this year, BGSU has held the rebounding advantage four times through six games, with that category ending up a draw in another contest ... the Falcons held a 41-33 edge vs. IPFW, with two freshmen -- Ali Mann (11) and Liz Honegger (10) -- hitting double-digits in that category ... the Falcons are outrebounding the opponents by a margin of 2.5 boards per game.
CHARITY BEGINS AT THE FOUL LINE
BGSU had great success at the foul line vs. IPFW, going 21-of-22 (.955) ... freshman Ali Mann was 7-of-7, while senior Stefanie Wenzel made all four of her free-throw tries vs. the Mastodons ... the Falcons had a free-throw percentage of 1.000 in the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi game ... in that game, BG was perfect from the line in eight tries, with freshman Amber Flynn making four charity tosses and senior Stefanie Wenzel three ... the Falcons now have been perfect in that category four times in the last year-plus ... BGSU tied the school record by going 12-of-12 against Northern Illinois last year (Feb. 1, 2003) ... the Falcons were 11-for-11 vs. UNC-Wilmington (Dec. 7, 2002) and 3-for-3 at Ball State (Jan. 22, 2003) last season.
A COLLECTIVE EFFORT LEADS TO TWO WINS
Six Falcons -- seniors Lindsay Austin and Stefanie Wenzel, junior Kelly Kapferer, sophomore Casey McDowell and freshmen Liz Honegger and Ali Mann -- averaged double digits in scoring last week (vs. Bucknell and IPFW), and all six shot .500 or better from the field ... the Falcons shot .511 from the field, .524 (22-of-42) from three-point land and .886 (31-of-35) from the free-throw line in last week's two games.
KAPFERER KONNECTS
Junior Kelly Kapferer had had a somewhat slow start to the season, with a total of eight points over the first four games ... but, Kapferer has certainly picked up the pace over the last two games ... she shot a blistering .786 (11-of-14) from the floor in the Bucknell and IPFW contests, averaging 14.5 points in only 20 minutes per game ... she came off the bench exactly six minutes into the BU game, and had scored 10 points before the next media timeout ... in fact, Kapferer went 5-for-5 from the field in a span of 3:36, with the last three baskets coming in a 53-second stretch ... for the game, Kapferer had 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor ... against IPFW, she was 5-of-6 from the field, and had 17 points, five rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes.
SENIORS TAKE CHARGE
Senior Stefanie Wenzel has averaged 21.0 points over the last three games ... Wenzel leads the Falcons with a 15.5 points-per-game average this year ... classmate Lindsay Austin averaged 15.0 points, 9.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds in the Bucknell and IPFW games ... Austin is the Mid-American Conference's active career leader in assists.
MORE ON THE SENIORS
A pair of senior co-captains, Lindsay Austin and Stefanie Wenzel, lead the youthful Falcons in 2003-04 ... and, the two certainly led the way in the win at Bucknell ... each player recorded a double-double in the win, and the two combined for 37 points, 12 rebounds and 19 assists ... Austin, in her fourth season, already has made 85 career starts in the Brown and Orange ... she has 374 assists, good for fifth 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 744 and 736 career points, respectively.
BG HITS CENTURY MARK FOR FIRST TIME THIS CENTURY
In the Bucknell game, the Falcons reached the 100-point mark for the first time in nearly five years ...
AUSTIN IS AWESOME AT BUCKNELL
Senior Lindsay Austin recorded career highs in both scoring (21) and assists (15) in the win at Bucknell ... her previous scoring best was 20 points, set in last year's game vs. IPFW ... Austin easily surpassed her previous career-high total of 10 assists (Jan. 8, 2003, vs. Ohio) ... her assist total at Bucknell fell just three shy of the BGSU record, set by Dee Knoblauch (18 vs. Central Michigan) on Feb. 2, 1983 ... Austin had tied her previous career-high assist total by halftime, with 10 helpers in the first 20 minutes at Bucknell ... in the game, Austin had her 15 assists and just one turnover in her 37 minutes of action.
THAT'S A FIRST
According to the Bucknell web site, BGSU became the first visiting women's basketball team ever to score 100 points in a game in Lewisburg.
HONEGGER, McDOWELL COME UP BIG
Freshman Liz Honegger and sophomore Casey McDowell had the top games of their brief BGSU careers in the Bucknell contest ... Honegger scored 15 points, a season high, and just missed a double-double with a season-best nine rebounds ... the center also had three assists, two steals and two blocks ... McDowell also had the finest game of her young Falcon career ... the Indiana State transfer had 19 points in 26 minutes off the bench ... McDowell went 4-of-8 from three-point range and added three steals in the win ... three days later, vs. IPFW, Honegger again just missed a double-double, with nine points and 10 rebounds ... she also had three assists ... McDowell had five points and tied for team honors in both assists (four) and steals (two) vs. the Mastodons.
THREE FRESHMEN IN STARTING LINEUP
The Falcons have had three freshmen -- Liz Honegger, Ali Mann and Megan Thorburn -- in the starting lineup in each of the last five games ... early BGSU women's basketball records are somewhat sketchy, but it is the first time in at least two decades that three frosh were in the same starting lineup ... prior to Tuesday's (Nov. 25) game vs. Detroit, the 1979-80 season would have been the last time three starters possibly could have been in the same starting lineup for BGSU.
