Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Miami Saturday At 4:30
February 14, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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Bowling Green (10-11, 3-7 MAC)
vs.
Miami (11-10, 6-4 MAC)
Game #22
Saturday, February 15, 2003
4:30 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Bowling Green, Ohio
Radio: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: BGSU leads, 29-21
Last Meeting: at Miami 72, BGSU 61 (Feb. 9, 2002)
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after playing six of the first 10 Mid-American Conference games on the road, will close the regular season with four-of-six games in the friendly confines of Anderson Arena. The Falcons (10-11, 3-7 MAC) of head coach Curt Miller begin a two-game MAC homestand with a Saturday (Feb. 15) contest vs. Miami University. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at Anderson (4,700). The game is the second half of a Falcon basketball doubleheader, as the BG men will meet Western Michigan in a 2:00 p.m. start.
Following the Miami game, the Falcons will welcome Ball State University to Anderson for the first time in over four years. BGSU will meet the Cardinals in a Wednesday (Feb. 19) game, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Anderson.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU, as mentioned, will take a 10-11 record into the MU game ... the Falcons snapped a four-game losing streak with last Saturday's win over Toledo ... but, four days later (Feb. 12), Buffalo kept the Brown and Orange winless on the road in MAC play, downing the Falcons, 72-60 ... BG 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) ... BGSU also fell at UT , 70-62 (Jan. 15), before rebounding to beat Central Michigan, 63-45, three days later ... prior to the initial NIU game, the Falcons had won six of seven contests.
Senior Francine Miller continues to lead the Falcons in scoring, with 14.0 points per game ... Miller, who had a game-high 23 points vs. UT and added 21 at UB, also paces the team in rebounding (6.0 rpg) and minutes played (28.5 mpg), and is second in both blocked shots (0.67 bpg) and steals (2.1 spg) ... she has moved from eighth to third place on the BGSU career scoring list in the last two games.
Senior Kim Griech is second in scoring, with 10.1 points per game, and leads the Brown and Orange in three-point field goals made (38) and free-throw percentage (.906; 48-of-53) ... Griech is tied for second on the team in assists (1.5 apg) ... she is averaging 9.6 points per game in MAC contests, tied for second behind Miller's team-leading 14.4-ppg average.
Junior Lindsay Austin is third on the team in scoring (9.8 ppg), and leads the Falcons in assists (4.0 apg) ... Austin leads the team in steals (2.21 spg) and is second in minutes played ... she ranks fourth in the MAC in assist-to-turnover ratio ... in MAC play, she is tied with Griech for second on the team in scoring.
Junior Stefanie Wenzel has 9.2 points per outing and has made 26 three-point field goals on the year, including a season-high five at Buffalo ... freshman Marisa Smith is averaging 4.3 ppg, and has a team-best three-point FG pct. of .450 (18-of-40) on the year.
Senior Megan Jerome and freshman Jill Lause average 4.2 and 3.9 points per game, respectively ... Jerome is second on the Falcons in asst./TO ratio (1.72) and is tied for second in assists (1.5 apg) ... Lause is shooting .526 (30-of-57) from the field this year, and has made 21 of her last 32 field-goal attempts ... sophomore Tene Lewis has started each of the last two games, and is part of a three-way tie for second on the team in assists (1.5 apg).
Miller has started all 21 games for the Falcons, while Griech has made 20 starts and Wenzel and senior Karen Stocz (3.5 ppg) 19 apiece ... Austin, slowed by a sprained ankle at season's outset, has started each of the last 17 games ... Falcon coach Curt Miller has utilized four different starting lineups in the last four games ... most recently, Lewis and Stocz joined Austin, Griech and Miller in the starting five at Buffalo ... a total of nine different players have made at least one start this season.
The Falcons are 5-3 at home, 4-7 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... in MAC contests, BGSU is 3-1 at home and 0-6 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 .397 from the field, while the opponents have a FG pct. of .404 ... BG has made 143 three-point field goals, and the Falcons are shooting .329 from behind the arc ... the foes have made 119 treys and have a long-distance pct. of .325 ... the Brown and Orange converted 271 free throws to the foes' 249 this year to date ... BGSU is shooting .759 from the stripe, compared to .671 for the opponents.
SCOUTING MIAMI
Miami heads to Bowling Green directly from DeKalb, Ill., where the RedHawks posted a 70-64 win over Northern Illinois Thursday (Feb. 13) ... MU is now 11-10 overall and 6-4 in MAC action ... the win at NIU broke a two-game losing streak, an overtime setback at Ball State and a one-point loss to Kent State ... individually, senior guard Heather Cusick, the 2002 MAC Player of the Year, paces the RedHawks in scoring (16.5 ppg), assists (4.6 apg) and steals (2.9 spg) ... in the NIU game, Cusick became Miami's career scoring leader, and she already held the school records for assists and three-point field goals ... junior forwards Colleen Day and Kim Lancaster each average 9.8 points ... Day also has a team-high 6.7 rebounds, while Lancaster has 5.0 boards per game off the bench ... junior guard Melanie Kozlowski has 7.6 points per game ... senior center Jana Butler (7.4 ppg) and senior guard Beth Roederer (5.8 ppg) joined Cusick, Day and Kozlowski in the starting lineup at NIU ... Miami is 6-6 on the road this season, including 4-2 in MAC road contests ... head coach Maria Fantanarosa has a record of 75-59 in her fifth season at her alma mater ... she has an overall head-coaching mark of 82-79 in her sixth year ... last season, the RedHawks went 19-11 overall and 11-5 in the MAC ... the school's athletic web site is www.muredhawks.com.
THE BGSU-MIAMI SERIES
The Falcons hold a 29-21 lead over Miami in the all-time series between the teams, but the RedHawks have captured the last three meetings ... Miami won the lone game last year, 72-61 in Oxford (Feb. 9, 2002), and the 'Hawks were victorious in the most recent meeting in Anderson Arena ... (Feb. 28, 2001) ... BGSU holds a 14-9 advantage in home games vs. MU, and the Falcons' most recent win was an 82-79 decision at home three years ago (Feb. 19, 2000) ... that was the lone contest among the last eight series meetings to be decided by fewer than 10 points ... MU has won four of the last five games since a four-game BG series win streak from 1997-99.
LAST TIME OUT
Host Buffalo broke a tie game with an 11-0 run midway through the second half en route to a 72-60 win over the Falcons Wednesday night (Feb. 12) ... senior Francine Miller scored over 20 points to lead the Falcons (10-11, 3-7 MAC) for the second consecutive game ... she had 21 points, and also paced the team with eight rebounds ... junior Stefanie Wenzel had 15 points off the bench, on 5-of-9 shooting from three-point land ... she tied her career high in three-pointers made.
FRANCINE THE SCORING MACHINE: MILLER MOVES INTO THIRD
With her 21-point performance in the Buffalo game (Feb. 12), senior Francine Miller moved up three more notches on the BGSU career scoring list ... Miller, who was in eighth place only two games ago, passed Lori Albers (1989-94), Charlotta Jones (1994-98) and Talita Scott (1990-94) in the UB game, and now has 1,442 career points as a Falcon ... Miller had passed Angie Bonner (1,412 pts.) and Chris Tuttle (1,420 pts.) in the Toledo game (Feb. 8), when she scored a game-high total of 23 points ... Miller also ranks third on the BGSU list for career scoring average, with an even 14.00 points-per-game average through her first 103 games ... the only players ahead of Miller (on each list) are Sara Puthoff (1,678 pts. from 1994-98) and Jackie Motycka (2,122 pts. from 1985-89).
WENZEL LIKES PLAYING THE BULLS
Junior Stefanie Wenzel had been struggling offensively, with a total of only nine points in last week's two games ... but, Wenzel hit a season-high five three-point field goals at Buffalo en route to 15 points Wednesday (Feb. 12) ... the output continued a trend of scoring success vs. the Bulls for Wenzel ... the Sussex, Wis., native, who led the Falcons with 11.6 points per game last season, has averaged 22.0 points over the last three meetings with UB ... she had a career-high 30 points in last year's first Buffalo game (Jan. 12, 2002), then had 21 markers in the rematch in New York (Feb. 2, 2002) ... Wenzel has hit five three-pointers three times in her career, all against Buffalo.
