Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Begin Two-Game Homestand Vs. Akron Wednesday
January 13, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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BGSU (8-5, 1-1)
vs.
AKRON (5-8, 0-2)
Game #14
Wed., Jan. 14, 2004
7:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Bowling Green, Ohio
FACULTY APPRECIATION NIGHT
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: BGSU Leads, 31-2
Last Meeting: BGSU 65, at Akron 62 (Feb. 22, 2003)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, coming off a Mid-American Conference road win, returns home for a pair of games this week ... the Falcons of third-year head coach Curt Miller will face the University of Akron in Wednesday (Jan. 14) action, with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... the game will be broadcast on student station WBGU-FM (88.1).
Following the UA game, the Falcons will host Central Michigan University in a Saturday (Jan. 17) contest, slated for a 1:00 p.m. start at Anderson.
HONEGGER GRABS 17 REBOUNDS AT NIU
BGSU freshman Liz Honegger had a game-high 17 rebounds in the Falcons' 66-58 win at Northern Illinois Saturday (Jan. 10) ... Honegger's total was the highest by a BGSU player in nearly eight years, since Charlotta Jones had 22 in a Falcon win over Miami on Jan. 31, 1996 ... a pair of freshmen, Honegger and Ali Mann, lead the Falcons and rank among the MAC leaders in rebounding ... Mann has 7.7 rebounds per game, the seventh-highest total in the league, while Honegger is 12th in the conference with an average of 7.4 boards.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU enters the Akron game with a record of 8-5 on the season ... the Falcons are 1-1 in MAC play ... BG saw a season-best three-game winning streak come to an end with last Wednesday's (Jan. 7) 72-70 home loss to Ball State, but the Falcons bounced back with a 66-58 road win over Northern Illinois three days later ... the previous week, the Falcons posted a trio of double-digit wins, downing host Eastern Kentucky (70-57) and Morehead State (65-51) at the EKU Comfort Suites Classic, and Cleveland State (82-67) to close the non-league schedule.
Senior Stefanie Wenzel leads the Falcons with 14.6 points per game, and is averaging 4.3 rebounds per contest ... four freshmen are ranked among the top-six in the Falcons' balanced scoring attack ... freshman Liz Honegger has 11.2 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, ranking second in each category, and she leads the Falcons with 1.7 blocked shots per game ... senior Lindsay Austin has 10.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and a team-leading 5.8 assists per contest, and also has a BGSU-high four double-doubles on the year ... freshman Ali Mann has 10.0 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds per contest, and has three double-doubles ... freshman Megan Thorburn has 9.2 points and 3.5 caroms on the year, while classmate Carin Horne is averaging 5.5 points ... junior Kelly Kapferer and sophomore Casey McDowell average 4.8 and 3.8 points off the bench, respectively.
BG ended the 2002-03 season with a record of 12-16, and the Falcons finished the MAC campaign with a 5-11 league record ... the Falcons tied with Central Michigan for sixth in the MAC's West Division ... in 2003-04, head coach Curt Miller's Falcons returned six letterwinners from that team, including a pair of starters in seniors Austin and Wenzel ... in addition, the Falcons also welcomed back two juniors, Tene Lewis and Sakima Smith, along with a pair of sophomores in Jill Lause and Marisa Smith.
The Falcons also have nine newcomers, including Kapferer and McDowell ... Kapferer earned two letters at BGSU before sitting out last season, while McDowell sat out last year at BG after transferring from Indiana State ... the freshman class consists of Amber Flynn (Cincinnati, Ohio), Julie Gompers (Wheeling, W.Va.), Honegger (Lafayette, Ind.), Horne (Lima, Ohio), Mann (Chelsea, Mich.), Kim Nowakowski (Butler, Pa.) and Thorburn (Mason, Mich.) ... Nowakowski has been sidelined due to injury, and will redshirt the 2003-04 season.
On the sidelines, Miller is joined by third-year assistants Jennifer Roos and Brandi Poole ... Kevin Eckert is in his second season on the staff.
Austin, Mann, Thorburn and Wenzel each have started all 13 games ... Honegger has started each of the last 12 contests.
The Falcons are shooting .408 from the field this season, including a .359 rate from three-point land, and BGSU has a .731 free-throw conversion percentage ... the opponents have shot .392 from the floor, .344 from the arc and .679 from the line to date.
BG is 3-2 at home, 3-3 in road games and 2-0 in neutral-site contests this year ... last season, the Falcons went 6-6 at home, 5-9 on the road and 1-1 on neutral courts ... in MAC contests, BGSU finished 4-4 at home and 1-7 away from Anderson Arena in 2002-03.
SCOUTING AKRON
Akron enters the BGSU game with an overall record of 5-8, and the Zips are 0-2 in the MAC after Saturday's 88-57 loss to visiting Miami ... UA already has surpassed last year's win total two-and-a-half times over ... individually, junior guard Lori Krezeczowski, a transfer from Kent State, leads the team in both scoring (12.1 ppg) and assists (3.7 apg) ... two other junior guards, Lindsay Hemmelgarn and Jae Conn, average 9.7 points apiece ... freshman forward Mandy Holzer has 5.2 points and a team-high 5.2 rebounds per game ... sophomore forward Angie Hutchinson (4.6 ppg) and junior forward Cydney Overton (5.1 ppg) join Conn, Hemmelgarn and Krezeczowski in the probable starting lineup for head coach Kelly Kennedy ... Kennedy welcomed back eight letterwinners, including one starter, from last year's team that went 2-26 overall and 1-15 in MAC action ... Kennedy has an overall head-coaching record of 7-34 in her second season, both with the Zips ... the school's athletics web site is www.GoZips.com.
THE BGSU-AKRON SERIES
The Falcons lead Akron, 31-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU is 16-0 in home games vs. the Zips ... overall, the Falcons won the first 26 series meetings, before UA's initial win, in the 1999 MAC Tournament's first round (Feb. 26, 1999) ... the Zips' other win was an 88-63 decision in the Rubber City on Feb. 10, 2001 ... the teams have met only once in each of the last two seasons ... BGSU won the last meeting in Anderson Arena, 85-73, exactly two years prior to this season's game (Jan. 14, 2002) ... last season, the Falcons' lone MAC road win of the year came at JAR Arena, as BG held off a late UA comeback bid in a 65-62 victory (Feb. 22, 2003).
MAC SERIES INFORMATION
The Falcons lead the all-time series with 10 of the 12 MAC opponents, and trail the other two series by the slimmest of margins ... Northern Illinois holds an 11-10 series advantage over BGSU, after the Falcons' win on Saturday (Jan. 10) ... Buffalo has a narrow 5-4 lead in that series.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons picked up a big victory to open the road portion of MAC play, with a 66-58 win over Northern Illinois Saturday afternoon (Jan. 10) ... freshman Ali Mann led four double-digit scorers for the Falcons, with 18 points ... classmate Liz Honegger had 17 rebounds as BGSU held a 47-36 advantage in that category ... read all about the NIU game here.
FALCONS MATCH '02-03 TOTAL OF MAC ROAD WINS
The Falcons have matched last season's total of MAC road victories ... BGSU is 1-0 in conference road games this season ... last winter, the Brown and Orange went 1-7 in MAC games away from home, with only a three-point win at Akron (65-62) going in the plus column for the Falcons ... overall, the Falcons are 3-3 in road games this year, and BG is 5-3 in all games played away from home.
BGSU-BALL STATE GAME TO BE TELEVISED
The MAC announced an 18-game men's and women's basketball league television package, and the Falcons are included on the schedule ... BGSU's game at Ball State on Sunday, Feb. 29, will be aired as part of the league's three-game regular-season TV schedule ... the Falcons and Cardinals will do battle from BSU's University Arena at noon on Fox Sports Net ... the MAC's women's basketball schedule, in addition to the three regular-season games, includes the Kraft MAC Tournament semifinal and championship games ... a summary of televised games, along with updated information re: affiliates and satellite coordinates, can be found at the MAC's web address, mac-sports.com.
NOWAKOWSKI TO REDSHIRT 2003-04 SEASON
Freshman Kim Nowakowski will sit out the 2003-04 season as a redshirt, head coach Curt Miller announced Tuesday (Jan. 13) ... Nowakowski will retain four seasons of eligibility ... a native of Butler, Pa., she broke her foot over the summer, and reaggravated the injury in individual workouts at BGSU prior to the start of the 2003-04 season ... she had surgery on Oct. 27, and only recently began practicing with the team ... Nowakowski, a three-year letterwinner at Butler Senior H.S., was a third-team all-state selection after averaging 16.6 points and 7.6 rebounds as a senior last winter ... she was named one of the top-50 senior centers in the country by the All-Star Girls Basketball Report.
20-POINT SCORERS ABOUND
Through less than half of this season, the Falcons have already had six different players - including four freshmen - score 20 points in a game ... senior Stefanie Wenzel has had three such games, while freshman Liz Honegger has surpassed the 20-point barrier twice ... senior Lindsay Austin and freshmen Carin Horne, Ali Mann and Megan Thorburn all have had one such game to date.
OUTREBOUNDING THE HUSKIES
Last season, Northern Illinois swept two games with the Falcons, outrebounding BGSU in both contests ... NIU held a decisive 44-24 advantage in a 20-point win in DeKalb (Jan. 11, 2003), then used a 32-29 rebounding edge in a one-point win at Anderson Arena the next month (Feb. 1, 2003) ... on Saturday (Jan. 10), the Falcons outrebounded the Huskies, 27-16, in the second half, en route to a 47-36 margin for the game ... BGSU got 20 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points en route to an eight-point win.
BGSU'S BOARDWORK PAYING OFF
Last year, the Falcons held a rebounding advantage just four times in 28 game ... in 2003-04, BG has BEEN outrebounded only three times in 13 games ... the Falcons have outboarded the opponent eight times, battling to a draw in two other contests ... the Falcons are outrebounding the opponents by a margin of 2.3 boards per game.
FALCONS AMONG MAC LEADERS
Through Saturday's (Jan. 10) games, the Falcons lead the MAC in one team category, assist/turnover ratio (1.01) ... individually, senior Stefanie Wenzel currently is fourth in the league in scoring (14.6 ppg) and fifth in both three-pointers per game and free-throw pct. ... Wenzel is sixth in three-point pct. and 15th in field-goal pct. ... classmate Lindsay Austin is second in the MAC in both assist/TO ratio (2.00) and assists (5.85 apg), and is fourth in steals and 25th in scoring ... freshman Liz Honegger ranks third in the MAC in blocked shots, and is fifth in field-goal pct., 12th in rebounding, 13th in three-pointers made and 19th in scoring ... another frosh, Ali Mann, ranks seventh in rebounding and is tied for 14th in free-throw pct. and deadlocked for 29th in scoring.
