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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Sharpshooter: Small-Town Girl Becomes Big-Time Scorer
March 16, 2003 | Women's Basketball
March 6, 2003
By DAMON BECK, Sentinel Sports Writer - There are hundreds of small towns dotting the Ohio landscape such as Convoy (pop. 1,200), Chickasaw (pop. 378) or Kalida (pop. 947).
According to the United States census bureau, only eight percent of the population of the Buckeye State lives in small villages like these.
Lots of people, including many coaches, would argue that the athletes that make it from the small Division IV high schools to big success at the Division I collegiate level are the rare exception. At Bowling Green, at least among the super achievers in the women's basketball program, these kids from the sticks happen to be the rule.
The top three all-time scorers at BG hail from the three out-of-the-way places mentioned above.
"I guess we girls from the little farm towns are just tough," Bowling Green senior Francine Miller joked. There were 58 students in her class at Kalida High School.
The 5-foot-11 sharpshooter recently became just the third Falcon to score more than 1,500 career points. Miller got her 1,000th point as a junior, and this season has passed 10 former players on the career charts to move into third place behind Convoy's Jackie Motycka (2,122 points, 1985-89) and Chickasaw native Sara Puthoff (1,678 points, 1994-98).
"When you come from a smaller place like we did, you don't have as many activities to choose from. I know when I was growing up, playing basketball was all we did," Miller said of her Putnam County community that is well known for its high school basketball. "All the kids in my neighborhood were boys, so I got together with them and we played hoops all day in somebody's driveway."
The youngest of six children, Miller had to watch others play before she became involved in her first organized basketball game as a junior high student.
"All my brothers and sisters played basketball at some level. As a little girl I remember watching my sisters," she said. "When I was in the second and third grade the Kalida girls won the state tournament back-to-back. Seeing those girls play, I decided that was something I wanted to do."
Saturday, when the Falcons travel to Eastern Michigan for the opening round of the Mid-American Conference tournament, Miller will be looking to take BG on a last run that she hopes will provide some good memories to carry with her into the future.
"We can still catch some of our dreams and finish out on a good note. We want to make it to Cleveland," Miller said. After Saturday's games, the surviving eight teams play next week at Cleveland's Gund Arena for the MAC championship. "Regardless of what our record says, we have played some good basketball and we have proven we can play with any team in the league."
A slashing driver who has never been afraid to mix it up in the lane if her deadly 3-point shot is covered, Miller has paid with injuries for her fearless style of play.
First it was a broken nose as a high school sophomore. After leading her Kalida team to a state championship in 1997 as a junior, Miller's team was undefeated in the stretch run of her senior season, ranked No. 1, and was the odds-on favorite to repeat for another state title. Miller broke her wrist before the 16th game of her senior season. Her team made it as far as the regional finals before losing and Miller spent the spring before coming to BG in a cast.
Ranked by some of the scouting services as one of the Top 100 prospects coming out of high school in 1998, Miller was signed by former BG coach Jaci Clark.
"My dream was to play for Ohio State, but that didn't happen," Miller said. "BG is a little over an hour from where I grew up, so it was perfect. It was far enough that I was going away for college, but if anybody wanted to come up and watch me play they could."
Miller has been the beset player on the floor in almost all of her college games. However, the wins and championships she enjoyed in high school never materialized at Bowling Green.
The turmoil surrounding two coaching changes (Clark left to coach at Dayton before Miller arrived for her freshman season and her replacement Dee Knoblauch was fired in the spring of 2001), a knee injury which knocked Miller out of action almost all of last season, and playing in pain at a new position this year, have been hurdles that Miller has had to overcome during her five years at BG.
"I could have transferred when Jaci left and gone to places that have seen more success, but I decided to stick it out," Miller, who has never seen a winning season at Bowling Green, said. "We ended up with a really great coach and it's too bad (second-year coach Curt Miller) wasn't here the whole time because we would have been successful by now."
Currently student teaching, Miller said her education is her biggest reward. She is thrilled with her career choice.
"I love the kids and teaching them new things every day," she said, beaming. "Seeing their faces smiling back at me every day is a lot of fun. Coaching and teaching are really something I want to do. I love everything about it."
The Miller File
Francine Miller Position: Guard Year: Senior Height: 5-11 Born: Jan. 8, 1980 Hometown: Kalida, Ohio Major: Physical education
Three-dot data: Francine Miller has had an outstanding career at Bowling Green and is third on the school's scoring list with 1,553 points and third in average at 14.2 points per game ... she has scored in double digits in 78 of 109 career games, including 28 games of 20-points plus ... in the last eight games, Miller is averaging 19.4 points a game, scoring 20 or more points in six of them ... Miller has 100 career starts at BG ... Miller is also among BG's career leaders in free throws made, attempted and percentage; and 3-point field goals made, atempted and percentage. She needs just five 3-pointers to become BG's career leader ... Miller was on the MAC All-Freshman Team in 1998-99 and was a first-team All-MAC pick in 1999-2000 after averaging 17.1 points a game ... she was a second-team All-MAC pick in 2000-01 ... at Kalida High School, Miller earned first-team All-Ohio honors and is the school's career scoring leader (boys or girls) with 1,442 points.
