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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Arch-Rivals Meet Saturday At Anderson
February 07, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Game Notes (31 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN (9-10, 2-6 MAC)
vs.
TOLEDO (15-5, 8-1 MAC)
Game #20
Saturday, February 8, 2003
1:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Bowling Green, Ohio
Radio: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: BGSU leads, 28-25
Last Meeting: at Toledo 70, BGSU 62 (Jan. 15, 2003)
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, looking to snap a season-long four-game losing streak, opens the second half of the Mid-American Conference schedule against the league's hottest team. The Falcons (9-10, 2-6 MAC) of head coach Curt Miller return home to face the arch-rival University of Toledo in Saturday (Feb. 8) action. The game is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start at BGSU's venerable Anderson Arena (4,700).
Following the UT game, the Falcons will return to the road for a Wednesday (Feb. 12) game at the University at Buffalo. That contest is slated for a 7:00 p.m. start at UB's Alumni Arena (8,500).
The Rockets enter Saturday's game having won seven consecutive contests, the longest current streak among MAC teams. Toledo, like West Division foes Ball State and Western Michigan, has just one conference loss, and the Rockets already have defeated both the Cardinals and Broncos this year.
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 four-game losing streak, BGSU has an overall record of 9-10 with at least nine games remaining this year ... last year's team posted an overall mark of 9-19 ... this year's 19-game record is the best for a Falcon club since the 1997-98 team went 15-4 ... that 1997-98 squad went on to post 21 wins and earn a WNIT berth.
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 9-10 record into the UT game ... the Falcons, after a 63-45 home win over Central Michigan on Jan. 18, have lost the last four 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 13.1 points per game ... she also paces the team in rebounding (5.9 rpg), and is second in both steals (2.2 spg) and blocked shots (0.68 bpg).
Senior Kim Griech is second in scoring, with 10.5 points per game, and leads the Brown and Orange in three-point field goals made (35) and free-throw percentage (.898; 44-of-49) ... Griech also leads BGSU in minutes played (28.0 mpg), and is second in assists (1.5 apg) ... she is averaging 10.4 points per game in MAC contests, second behind Miller's team-leading 12.5-ppg average.
Junior Lindsay Austin is third on the team in scoring (9.9 ppg), and leads the Falcons in assists (4.1 apg) ... Austin leads 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 9.2 points per outing and has made 20 three-point field goals on the year ... freshman Marisa Smith is averaging 4.8 ppg, and has a team-best three-point FG pct. of .474 (18-of-38) on the year.
Senior Megan Jerome and freshman Jill Lause average 4.3 and 4.2 points per game, respectively ... Jerome is second on the Falcons in asst./TO ratio (1.75) and is third in assists (1.47 apg) ... Lause is shooting .556 (30-of-54) from the field this year, and has made 21 of her last 29 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 11 contests due to injury and is likely out for the foreseeable future.
Griech, Miller and Wenzel have started all 19 games to date for the Falcons ... Lause made her first collegiate start vs. NIU, after senior Karen Stocz (3.1 ppg) had started the first 17 games of the season ... Stocz returned to the lineup for the CMU contest Wednesday ... 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 15 games.
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 4-3 at home, 4-6 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... in MAC contests, BGSU is 2-1 at home and 0-5 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 .400 from the field, while the opponents have a FG pct. of .398 ... BG has made 123 three-point field goals, and the Falcons are shooting .323 from behind the arc ... the foes have made 113 treys and have a long-distance pct. of .328 ... the Brown and Orange converted 251 free throws to the foes' 229 this year to date ... BGSU is shooting .761 from the stripe, compared to .672 for the opponents.
SCOUTING TOLEDO
Toledo enters Saturday's game with an overall record of 15-5, and the Rockets moved into a tie for the West Division lead with Wednesday's (Feb. 5) 72-69 overtime win over Western Michigan ... UT is 8-1 in the MAC, and the Rockets are riding a seven-game win streak ... the Rockets suffered a big loss, however, when senior forward Tia Davis went down with a ruptured patella tendon in her right knee late in regulation of the WMU game ... Davis, who currently leads the team in both scoring (18.1 ppg) and rebounding (7.1 rpg), is out for the remainder of the season ... junior guard Kelly Walker averages 12.7 points and has made 51 three-point field goals on the year, while senior forward Teresa Kahle has 11.8 points and 6.7 boards ... both junior guard Mary Blessing and sophomore center Karin Hoogendam average 6.7 points, and Blessing leads the team with 5.1 assists and 1.8 steals ... Blessing, Kahle and Walker have started all 20 games to date for head coach Mark Ehlen, as had Tia Davis ... freshman G/F Amanda Davis (3.6 ppg) has made 13 starts and Hoogendam five ... Ehlen has a record of 172-60 in his eighth season with the Rockets ... he is 294-190 in his 17th season as a collegiate head coach ... last season, UT went 17-11 overall and 12-4 in the MAC ... the school's athletic web site is www.utrockets.com.
THE BGSU-UT SERIES
The Falcons hold a 28-25 lead over Toledo in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU holds a 15-7 advantage in home games vs. the Rockets ... but, UT captured this year's initial meeting, 70-62 at Savage Hall (Jan. 15, 2003) ... the Rockets have won the last three series meetings and seven of the last eight contests, but the Falcons triumphed in the last meeting at Anderson Arena, with a 63-58 win two years ago (Jan. 13, 2001) ... that game marked the Rockets' only loss of that season in MAC play ... only two of the last eight meetings have been decided by single digits.
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 a win at Anderson Arena in the teams' 2002-03 rematch (Feb. 1), 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
The Falcons struggled offensively, to say the least, as host Central Michigan held BGSU to a school record-low 30 points Wednesday night (Feb. 5) ... the Chippewas (now 9-11 overall, 3-6 MAC) scored 42 points to gain the win ... for more information on that game, click here.
UNFORTUNATELY, A NEW SCHOOL RECORD
BGSU was held to just 30 points, a school record-low, in the game at Central Michigan Wednesday (Feb. 5) ... the Falcons' previous single-game scoring low was 34 points, amassed against Western Illinois in the 1973-74 season ... the CMU game marked the fifth time in school history, and the first time in a MAC contest, that BGSU was held to fewer than 40 points ... the last time BGSU scored less than 40 points was on Feb. 11, 1981, vs. Detroit ... that game marked the only other time the Falcons had scored fewer than 40 points since the decade of the 1970's.
GOOD DEFENSE NOT ENOUGH
On no fewer than four occasions in Wednesday's game, the Falcons held Central Michigan scoreless for five minutes or longer ... CMU went without a point for stretches of 5:07, 6:09, 6:42 and 5:14 ... the middle two droughts came back to back, as Laurie Henderson's layup with 18 seconds left in the first half marked the only points for the Chippewas in a span of 12:51 ... but, BGSU went 12:14 without a field goal in the second half, and also had a 5:49 scoreless slump spanning the end of the first half and the start of the second ... BG's defense also forced CMU into no fewer than five shot-clock violations in the game.
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.
FRANCINE THE SCORING MACHINE: MILLER A HOOP AWAY FROM 1,400 POINTS
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 UT contest with a total of 1,398 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 34 points away from that third-place spot ... Miller has averaged 13.82 points per game over the first 101 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.
