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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face CMU Wednesday
February 04, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 4, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Game Notes (30 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN (9-9, 2-5 MAC)
at
CENTRAL MICHIGAN (8-11, 2-6 MAC)
Game #19
Wednesday, February 5, 2003
7:00 p.m.
Rose Arena (5,200)
Mount Pleasant, Michigan
Radio: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: BGSU leads, 33-11
Last Meeting: at BGSU 63, CMU 45 (Jan. 18, 2003)
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, looking to snap a season-long three-game losing streak, closes the first half of the Mid-American Conference schedule with a midweek road contest. The Falcons (9-9, 2-5 MAC) of head coach Curt Miller head to Mount Pleasant to face Central Michigan University in Wednesday (Feb. 5) action. The game is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. start at Rose Arena (5,200).
Following the CMU game, the Falcons will return home for a Saturday (Feb. 8) matine‚ against the arch-rival University of Toledo. That contest is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start at BGSU's venerable Anderson Arena (4,700).
The CMU game marks the Falcons' fifth road contest -- all against West Division teams -- in a seven-game stretch. Following Wednesday's game, BGSU's remaining three regular-season road games will come against East Division squads.
FALCONS LOOKING TO TOP LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTAL
With nine wins on the season, the Falcons have tied the win total for all of last season ... despite the current three-game losing streak, BGSU has an overall record of 9-9 with at least 10 games remaining this year ... last year's team posted an overall mark of 9-19 ... this year's 18-game record is the best for a Falcon club since the 1997-98 team went 14-4 ... that 1997-98 squad went on to post 21 wins and earn a WNIT berth.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU, as mentioned, will take a 9-9 record into the CMU game ... the Falcons, after a 63-45 home win over the Chippewas on Jan. 18, have lost the last three games ... 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) in the teams' first meeting of the year ... BGSU also fell at Toledo, 70-62 (Jan. 15), before rebounding to beat Central ... 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 13.4 points per game ... she also paces the team in rebounding (5.6 rpg), steals (2.3 spg), and is second in blocked shots (0.72 bpg).
Senior Kim Griech is second in scoring, with 10.9 points per game, and leads the Brown and Orange in three-point field goals made (34) and free-throw percentage (.898; 44-of-49) ... Griech also leads BGSU in minutes played (28.1 mpg), and is second in assists (1.6 apg) ... she is averaging 11.4 points per game in MAC contests, second behind Miller's team-leading 13.1-ppg average.
Junior Lindsay Austin is third on the team in scoring (10.3 ppg), and leads the Falcons in assists (4.2 apg) ... Austin is second on the team in steals (2.2 spg) and ranks fourth in the MAC with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.31.
Junior Stefanie Wenzel has 9.4 points per outing and a three-point field goal percentage of .345 (19-of-55) on the year ... freshman Marisa Smith scored a team-high 14 points at WMU, and has upped her scoring average to 4.9 ppg ... Smith has a team-best three-point FG pct. of .514 (18-of-35) on the year.
Senior Megan Jerome and freshman Jill Lause average 4.3 and 4.1 points per game, respectively ... Jerome leads the Falcons in asst./TO ratio (2.00) and is third in assists (1.56 apg) ... Lause is shooting .529 (27-of-51) from the field this year, and has made 18 of her last 26 field-goal attempts.
Redshirt junior Pam Brown has averages of 5.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in seven games, but has missed the last 10 contests due to injury and is likely out for the foreseeable future.
Griech, Miller and Wenzel have started all 18 games to date for the Falcons ... Lause made her first collegiate start vs. NIU, after senior Karen Stocz (3.2 ppg) had started the first 17 games of the season ... 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 14 games.
The Falcons are 4-3 at home, 4-5 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... in MAC contests, BGSU is 2-1 at home and 0-4 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 .407 from the field, while the opponents have a FG pct. of .404... BG has made 120 three-point field goals, and the Falcons are shooting .342 from behind the arc ... the foes have made 109 treys and have a long-distance pct. of .333 ... the Brown and Orange converted 246 free throws to the foes' 217 this year to date ... BGSU is shooting .764 from the stripe, compared to .668 for the opponents.
SCOUTING CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Central Michigan enters Wednesday's game with an overall record of 8-11, and the Chippewas are 2-6 in MAC play after splitting a pair of conference overtime games last week ... CMU posted an OT victory over Kent State, 65-58 (Jan. 28), before falling at Marshall, 53-49, in the extra session (Feb. 1) ... Central is 5-4 at home, including a 2-2 mark in MAC games at Rose Arena ... individually, senior forward Desiree Eidson leads the team in scoring, with 13.9 points per game ... Eidson, a Bowling Green native, is the Chippewas' lone double-digit scorer, and also leads the team in rebounding (6.9 ppg) ... freshman guard Erin Kuhl has 8.9 points and a team-high 3.0 assists per contest, while classmate Lindsay Mecoli has 7.8 points ... sophomore guard Lindy Hatfield has 6.2 ppg, while freshman guard Casey Manning is averaging 6.5 points, but is scoring 10.3 points per game in MAC action ... Eidson and Mecoli have started all 19 games this year, while Erin Kuhl has made 18 starts this season to date ... senior guard Laurie Henderson has started 13 contests this season, while Manning has started eight games, all in MAC action ... a year ago, CMU went 10-18 overall and 2-14 in the MAC ... head coach Eileen Kleinfelter has a record of 18-29 in her second year in Mount Pleasant ... she is 240-110 in her 12th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletic web site is www.cmuchippewas.com.
THE BGSU-CMU SERIES
The Falcons hold a 33-11 lead over Central Michigan in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU captured this year's initial meeting, 63-45 at Anderson Arena (Jan. 18, 2003) ... the Chippewas captured the last meeting in Mount Pleasant, 81-71 (Jan. 5, 2002), to snap a five-game Falcon series winning streak ... BGSU has won nine of the last 11 contests overall, and the Falcons hold a 14-5 advantage in road games vs. the Chippewas ... only one of the last eight overall series meetings has been decided by fewer than 10 points.
SOME MAC SERIES INFORMATION
The Northern Illinois victory over the Falcons on Jan. 11 gave the Huskies a narrow advantage in the all-time series between those teams ... NIU, after Saturday's (Feb. 1) win at Anderson Arena, remains the only MAC school to hold a series advantage over BGSU ... the Falcons lead the all-time series with 10 of the 12 MAC opponents, but NIU holds an advantage of 11-9 [the Falcons and Buffalo are tied, 4-4, in that series].
LAST TIME OUT
Jennifer Youngblood's three-point play with 7.5 seconds left lifted Northern Illinois to a 73-72 win over the Falcons Saturday afternoon (Feb. 1) at Anderson Arena ... Youngblood's decisive free throw capped off an entertaining contest which saw two ties and two lead changes in the final two-and-a-half minutes ... Francine Miller led the Falcons with 21 points and eight rebounds.
EVERYONE'S A THREAT FROM LONG RANGE (AND WE MEAN EVERYONE)
Sophomore Sakima Smith made her first two three-point field goals of the season in the Western Michigan game (Jan. 29) ... in the process, Smith became the 12th different Falcon to sink at least one trey this season, a new school record ... the 2002-03 campaign marks the fifth-straight season that 10 or more players have hit a three-pointer ... in both the 2001-02 and 2000-01 seasons, 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.
STELLAR SHOOTING BY SAKIMA SMITH
Sophomore Sakima Smith scored eight points in only seven minutes vs. Northern Illinois Saturday (Feb. 1) ... Smith, who was 0-for-2 from three-point range on the season (and 5-of-27 in her career) prior to the WMU game, has gone 4-of-5 from beyond the arc in the last two games ... Smith made four consecutive three-point tries before missing her final long-range effort of the NIU contest.
SMITH'S SCORING
Sophomore Sakima Smith scored a total of 18 points in her first 13 games of the season ... in the last two games, however, she matched that total ... Smith had a season-high 10 points at Western Michigan before scoring eight points in only seven minutes vs. Northern Illinois ... she averaged 9.0 points in just 13.0 minutes per game on the week.
STELLAR SHOOTING BY SMITH (THIS TIME, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT MARISA)
Freshman Marisa Smith went 2-for-3 from three-point land in the Western Michigan contest, en route to a team-high 14 points ... Smith is now 18-of-35 from long range on the year ... with a three-point FG pct. of .514, Smith is on pace to set a new school single-season record ... teammate Francine Miller currently holds the record, having shot .453 (43-of-95) from beyond the arc in 1999-2000 ... the MAC record is .497, by WMU's Kelly DeLong in 1995-96 ... Smith has drained 12 of her last 18 long-range shots dating to the second half of the Savannah State game (Dec. 22).
THAT'S A RECORD (WELL, IT TIES A RECORD, ANYWAY)
The Falcons tied the school's single-game record for free-throw percentage, going a perfect 12-of-12 from the line in the Northern Illinois game Saturday (Feb. 1) ... ironically, the original record was also set against the Huskies, as BGSU made all 12 free-throw tries in a Feb. 23, 1999, contest in DeKalb, Ill. ... the Falcons lost that game, too, 64-61, on a 35-foot prayer by Charbea Haller at the buzzer ... this season, the Falcons are now shooting .764 from the free-throw line ... that percentage increases to .794 in MAC games.
CHARITY BEGINS AT THE STRIPE
Bowling Green has had a measure of success at the free-throw line this season ... the NIU game at Anderson marked the third time the Falcons were perfect from the stripe in a game this season ... BGSU has made more free throws than the opponent in 10 of this year's 18 games, after doing so nine times during all of last season ... through this year's 18 games, the Falcons have a FT pct. of .764 ... that average includes the NIU game (Feb. 1), in which the Falcons tied the school record with a 12-for-12 performance, and the UNC Wilmington game (Dec. 7), when the Falcons were a perfect 11-for-11 at the line ... BGSU went 3-for-3 at Ball State on Jan. 22, a game after making 18-of-20 tosses, including 10-of-10 in the final 1:41, in the win over Central Michigan (Jan. 18).
A CHANGE IN THE LINEUP
Freshman center Jill Lause made her first collegiate start in the NIU game Saturday (Feb. 1) ... the lineup of Lause, Lindsay Austin, Kim Griech, Francine Miller and Stefanie Wenzel was just the third different starting combination head coach Curt Miller has employed this season, and it marked the Falcons' first lineup change in 13 games.
BG SHOOTS WELL...
The Falcons had a field-goal percentage of .491 in the Northern Illinois game (Feb. 1), BG's second-highest mark of the season, and the highest in MAC play ... the Falcons' best FG pct. of the year came in the win over Savannah State, when BG shot .571 en route to a season-high 89 points.
...BUT, OPPONENTS SHOOT FOR .500
On Saturday (Feb. 1), Northern Illinois became the third-straight Falcon opponent to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, after BGSU had not allowed a team to do so in nearly a year ... Ball State shot .522 from the field (Jan. 22), the first time in 24 games -- since the Toledo game of Jan. 30, 2002 -- that a Falcon foe had made over half of its field-goal attempts ... then, Western Michigan shot .519 in last Wednesday's (Jan. 29) contest, before NIU's .500 effort Saturday.
FRANCINE THE SCORING MACHINE: MILLER CURRENTLY IN 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 CMU contest with a total of 1,390 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 42 points away from that third-place spot ... Miller has averaged 13.90 points per game over the first 100 contests of her career, the third-best average in BGSU annals.
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 4-5 in true road games this season, after going 3-10 during all of 2001-02 ... BG is 5-6 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.
