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Bowling Green State University Athletics
One Last Look At 2002-03
May 03, 2003 | Women's Basketball
May 3, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Release, Stats and Player Notes in PDF Format (37 pages)
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FALCONS FINISH WITH 12-16 MARK
FRANCINE MILLER ENDS STELLAR CAREER RANKED THIRD IN SCORING; BROWN, GRIECH, JEROME, STOCZ ALSO END PLAYING CAREERSThe Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after closing the regular season with a one-point win at home, saw the 2002-03 season come to an end with a first-round loss in the 2003 Kraft Mid-American Conference Tournament ... the Falcons (12-16 [5-11 MAC]) of head coach Curt Miller, the 10th seed for the 13-team tournament, fell by a 66-54 score to seventh-seeded Eastern Michigan in a March 8 contest in Ypsilanti, Mich.
FRANCINE MILLER NAMED BGSU'S PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Senior Francine Miller was named the BGSU Player of the Year for the 2002-03 season ... the team was honored at the annual banquet on April 26 ... senior Megan Jerome earned the Falcon Award, presented to the player who exemplifies commitment, dedication and loyalty to the program ... senior Kim Griech was named the Impact Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, while junior Lindsay Austin was named the team's Playmaker of the Year for the second-straight year ... senior Karen Stocz was the Power Player of the Year, while freshman Jill Lause was named the Most Improved Player ... junior Stefanie Wenzel was named the Falcons's Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
THANKS, SENIORS
The final game of the regular season, the March 4 contest vs. Eastern Michigan, marked "Senior Night" at Anderson Arena, and the Falcon women's basketball program recognized six student-athletes for their contributions to the program over the past few years ... seniors Kim Griech, Megan Jerome, Francine Miller and Karen Stocz were recognized ... additionally, senior Giani Bowles, who was forced to end her career due to a series of knee injuries, as well as fourth-year Falcon Pam Brown, who missed most of this season due to injury, were honored ... Bowles, a transfer from St. John's University, never saw action for the Falcons, but the other five players combined for 3,473 points, 1,513 rebounds and 383 three-point field goals at BG.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU ended the 2002-03 season with a record of 12-16, and the Falcons finished the MAC campaign with a 5-11 league record ... BG tied with Central Michigan for sixth in the MAC's West Division, and the Falcons were seeded 10th for the 13-team Kraft MAC Tournament ... the Falcons' total of 12 wins is the most since the 1998-99 season.
Fifth-year senior Francine Miller led the Falcons in scoring, with 15.2 points per game ... Miller paced the Falcons in scoring in each of the last four games and in 10 of the final 11 contests ... Miller also topped the team in rebounding (6.3 rpg), blocked shots (0.68 bpg) and minutes played (29.9 mpg), and was second in steals (2.0 spg) and three-point field goals made (43) ... she moved from eighth to third place on the BGSU career scoring list in a two-game span in mid-February ... in MAC games only, Miller led the Brown and Orange with 15.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
Senior Kim Griech was second in scoring, with 10.3 points per game, and she led the Brown and Orange in three-point field goals made (53) ... Griech, who had a free-throw percentage of .882 (60-of-68), finished in a tie for second on the team in assists (1.61 apg) ... junior Stefanie Wenzel was third on the team in scoring, with 10.1 points per outing ... she made 37 three-point field goals on the year, good for third behind Miller and Griech.
Junior Lindsay Austin was fourth in scoring (9.0 ppg), and led the Falcons in assists (4.00 apg) ... Austin also led BG in steals (2.23 spg) and was second in minutes played (29.0 mpg) ... she ranked fourth among MAC players in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.73).
Seniors Megan Jerome and Karen Stocz averaged 4.3 and 4.1 points, respectively ... Jerome led the Falcons in asst./TO ratio (1.88) and was tied for second in assists (1.61 apg) ... she had a free-throw pct. of .891 on the season, making 41 of her 46 attempts ... Stocz shot .476 from the field on the year, and averaged 6.2 points and 3.9 rebounds over the season's final month.
Freshmen Jill Lause and Marisa Smith averaged 3.6 and 3.3 points per outing, respectively ... Lause shot .519 (40-of-77) from the field this year, and was second on the team with 0.67 blocks per game ... Smith had a team-best three-point FG pct. of .413 (19-of-46) on the year.
Sophomore Sakima Smith averaged 1.9 points ... her classmate and former high-school teammate, Tene Lewis, averaged 1.7 points and ranked third in steals (1.12 spg) and fourth in assists (1.40 apg), but missed the final three games of the season due to a broken nose.
Redshirt junior Pam Brown averaged 5.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in seven games, but missed the final 20 contests due to injury.
On the sidelines, Curt Miller was joined by second-year assistants Jennifer Roos and Brandi Poole ... Kevin Eckert, who came to BG after four seasons at the University at Buffalo, completed his first season on the staff.
The Falcons went 6-6 at home this season, and BG was 5-9 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games ... in MAC contests, BGSU finished 4-4 at home and 1-7 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 shot .394 from the field, while the opponents had a FG pct. of .415 ... BG made 188 three-point field goals, and the Falcons shot .335 from behind the arc ... the foes made 152 treys and had a long-distance pct. of .333 ... the opponents made 365 free throws to 364 for the Brown and Orange this year ... BGSU made free throws at a .760 rate from the stripe, compared to .709 for the opponents.
FRANCINE THE SCORING MACHINE
Senior Francine Miller certainly had a solid career at Bowling Green ... if possible, Miller stepped her game up yet another notch over the final few weeks of the season ... she scored a total of 176 points (19.6 ppg) over the last nine contests ... she hit double digits in 79 of her 110 career games, including 29 outings of 20-plus points ... Miller started a total of 101 games in her Falcon career.
FRANCINE THE SCORING MACHINE II: THE CAREER TOTALS
Senior Francine Miller ended her storied BGSU career with a total of 1,574 points, and ranks third on the school's career scoring list ... in mid-February, she went from eighth place to third place on that list in a two-game span ... Miller passed Lori Albers (1989-94), Charlotta Jones (1994-98) and Talita Scott (1990-94) in the Buffalo game on Feb. 12 ... 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 14.31 points per game ... 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) ... Miller led the Falcons in scoring in 10 of the final 11 games in 2002-03, and surpassed 20 points in seven of those contests.
THATS A NICE FINISH!
At the midpoint of the Falcons' MAC schedule, senior Francine Miller was averaging 13.1 points per game, ranking her 13th in the conference ... at that time, Miller had 12.5 points per contests in MAC games, and did not rank among the conference's top-15 scorers ... over the final nine games, however, Miller raised her ranking considerably ... she increased her scoring average by 2.1 points overall, and upped her average a whopping 3.4 points per contest in MAC games ... Miller finished the season ranked seventh in the league in scoring, with 15.2 ppg in all games ... in MAC games only, Miller was fifth among all individuals, with 15.9 points per outing.
MILLER EARNS ALL-MAC HONORABLE MENTION
Falcon senior Francine Miller was an honorable-mention selection to the All-MAC Team ... the team is the result of voting by the league's 13 head coaches ... Miller, the lone Falcon to start all 28 games in 2002-03, finished the season with a team-best 425 points ... she also led the Brown and Orange in scoring, with 15.2 points per game, rebounding (6.3 rpg), blocked shots (0.68 bpg) and minutes played (29.9 mpg), and was second in steals (2.0 spg) and three-point field goals made (43) ... Miller led the Falcons in scoring in 16 games this season, including in 10 of the last 11 contests ... in conference games only, Miller finished fifth in the league in scoring and 12th in rebounding, with 15.9 points and 6.7 boards per game ... Miller was one of just three players to finish in the top-12 in the league in both categories (Ball State's Tamara Bowie and Eastern Michigan's Ryan Coleman were the other two) ... in MAC-only statistics, Miller also was among the leaders in FT pct. (eighth), blocks (T-ninth), three-pointers made (T-11th), and steals (15th) ... Miller has earned some sort of conference honor during each of her five years at BGSU ... she was named to the MAC's All-Freshman Team during her initial season of 1998-99 ... the next year, she became just the second sophomore in school history to be named to the All-MAC First Team ... Miller was named to the all-conference second team as a junior in 2000-01, then played in only four games due to injury a season ago ... she was a Preseason All-MAC Team selection by the MAC News Media Association in each of the past three years.
A PROLIFIC SCORER
Senior Francine Miller averaged 15.2 points per game in 2002-03, despite seeing her minutes limited due to injuries, especially in the early part of the season ... Miller had an average of 20.29 points per 40 minutes this season ... that average ranks her fifth among the 17 players that earned All-MAC honors ... only Ball State's Tamara Bowie (26.93), Western Michigan's Kristin Koetsier (22.67), Toledo's Tia Davis (21.42) and WMU's Casey Rost (21.09) had more points per 40 minutes this year ... each of those four players was selected to the All-MAC First Team.
MILLER A GO-TO PLAYER
Yet another statistic that demonstrates Francine Miller's value to the Falcons is this ... in 2002-03, Miller scored 25.45 percent of BGSU? total points in MAC games ... only one other player in the league, Buffalo's Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe (25.72%), scored a higher percentage of her team's points in conference contests.
WENZEL NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-MAC TEAM
BGSU junior Stefanie Wenzel was named to the Academic All-MAC Team, it was announced March 21 ... Wenzel was one of six student-athletes named to the team, which is the result of voting by the league's faculty athletic representatives ... to be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must have a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's contests ... first-year students and junior college transfers in their first year of residence are not eligible for the award ... the honor marked the second academic award for Wenzel in less than a month ... in late February, she was one of just three MAC student-athletes named to the Verizon Academic All-District IV Team, earning second-team honors ... on the court, Wenzel averaged 10.1 points and 4.2 rebounds this season, ranking third on the Falcons in scoring and second in rebounding ... Wenzel, who played in all 28 games and made 24 starts, shot .356 from three-point land, making 37 treys on the year.
ABOUT THAT VERIZON AWARD...
BGSU junior Stefanie Wenzel was named to the Verizon Academic All-District Team, it was announced on Feb. 21 ... Wenzel, who was named to the second team, earned academic all-district honors for the first time in her Falcon career ... the district team is made up of student-athletes from Division I schools in Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee ... to be nominated, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve, and must carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher ... Wenzel was one of just four MAC student-athletes, and three in District IV, to be named to the team ... she maintains a 3.96 GPA in language arts education.
WHO'S LEAVING?
As mentioned, the Falcons lose the services of five players -- seniors Kim Griech, Megan Jerome, Francine Miller and Karen Stocz, plus redshirt junior Pam Brown -- as well as senior Giani Bowles, from the 2002-03 squad ... Bowles, who was forced to end her career due to a series of knee injuries, never saw game action for the Falcons ... Brown missed much of her final two seasons due to injuries as well ... Miller's exploits are well-documented throughout this release ... Griech ends her career ranked 18th in school history in scoring ... she had a total of 923 career points as a Falcon, and set the school record with 491 three-point field goals attempted ... Jerome had two of her finer games of the season in the last two contests, both against EMU ... she started both games, averaging 34.5 minutes, and had a total of 14 points and 10 boards ... Stocz, after averaging just 1.6 points per game over the first half of the MAC schedule, averaged 6.2 points and 3.9 rebounds over the final nine games of the year, including 8.5 ppg and 4.0 rpg in the two games vs. EMU.
WHO'S RETURNING?
BGSU head coach Curt Miller will look to seven underclass players on this year's squad to lead the team in 2003-04 ... those returnees include two rising seniors (Lindsay Austin and Stefanie Wenzel), two players who will be juniors (Tene Lewis and Sakima Smith), and three soon-to-be sophomores (Britt Anderson, Jill Lause and Marisa Smith) ... Miller also will have the services of one transfer, Casey McDowell, who sat out the 2002-03 season under NCAA transfer rules ... Miller and his staff signed six players to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period in November, and added an additional signee during the late period.
WHO ARE THOSE SIGNEES?
In November of 2002, BGSU head coach Curt Miller announced the signing of six student-athletes to National Letters of Intent ... Amber Flynn (Cincinnati, Ohio), Julie Gompers (Wheeling, W. Va.), Liz Honegger (Lafayette, Ind.), Carin Horne (Lima, Ohio), Kim Nowakowski (Butler, Pa.) and Meghan Thorburn (Mason, Mich.) will join the Falcons for the 2003-04 academic year ... Alison Mann (Chelsea, Mich.) inked with the Brown and Orange during the late period, in mid-April ... all seven players have received all-state honors of some kind, including three in multiple sports, and six of the seven recruits stand 5-10 or taller.
(Additional information can be accessed in the pdf version of this release)
