.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Eastern Michigan Tuesday
January 26, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 26, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Game Notes (28 pp.) in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BOWLING GREEN (11-5, 4-1)
at
EASTERN MICHIGAN (10-6, 3-3)
Game #17Tuesday, January 27, 2004
7:00 p.m.
Convocation Center (8,824)
Ypsilanti, Mich.
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: BGSU Leads, 37-10
Last Meeting: at EMU 66, BGSU 54 (March 8, 2003)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, winners of four consecutive games and seven of the last eight contests, completes a tough two-game Mid-American Conference road swing with a Tuesday (Jan. 27) contest ... the Falcons of third-year head coach Curt Miller will face Eastern Michigan University, with starting time set for 7:00 p.m. at EMU's Convocation Center (8,824) ... the game will be broadcast on student station WBGU-FM (88.1).
Following the EMU game, the Falcons will return home for a Saturday (Jan. 31) game vs. the University at Buffalo ... tipoff for the BGSU-UB game, the first half of a hoops doubleheader at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700), is 1:00 p.m. ... following the women's game, the Falcon men will take on Marshall University at 3:30 p.m.
FALCONS WIN AT TOLEDO
The Falcons increased the current winning streak to a season-high four games with Wednesday's (Jan. 21) 57-54 win at Toledo ... the victory was the first at John F. Savage Hall for Falcon seniors Lindsay Austin and Stefanie Wenzel, and marked BGSU's first win at Savage since Jan. 8, 1998 ... since Austin and Wenzel arrived at BGSU, however, the Falcons are now 3-3 vs. the Rockets in overall meetings.
HOT SHOOTING HELPS MAKE IT HAPPEN
The Falcons shot .609 from the field in the second half of the win at UT, tying a season best ... BGSU also shot .609 in the first half of the home-opening win over Detroit, going 14-for-23 from the floor in both cases.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU enters the Eastern Michigan game with a record of 11-5 on the season, and the Falcons have won a season-best four consecutive games ... the Falcons are 4-1 in MAC play, and have won seven of the last eight games ... the only setback since Christmas was a 72-70 home loss to Ball State in the MAC opener (Jan. 7) ... since that game, BGSU has picked up a pair of road wins, sandwiched around two home victories ... BGSU bounced back with a 66-58 road win over Northern Illinois (Jan. 10), then topped Akron (85-48, Jan. 14) and Central Michigan (68-60, Jan. 17) at home, before picking up the win at Toledo.
Senior Stefanie Wenzel leads the Falcons with 14.5 points per game, and is averaging 4.4 rebounds per contest ... four freshmen are ranked among the top-six in the Falcons' balanced scoring attack ... freshman Ali Mann has 11.4 points and 7.4 rebounds, ranking second on the team in the former category and tying for the lead in the latter ... Mann has three double-doubles on the year, and had a season-best 24 points in the win over CMU ... another frosh, Liz Honegger, has 10.8 points and is tied with Mann for the rebounding lead, with 7.4 boards per game ... Honegger leads the Falcons with 1.8 blocked shots per outing.
Senior Lindsay Austin leads the Falcons with four double-doubles, and has 10.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and team-leading totals of 5.7 assists and 2.4 steals per contest ... freshman Megan Thorburn has 9.0 points and 4.1 caroms on the year, while classmate Carin Horne is averaging 5.4 points off the bench ... junior Kelly Kapferer and sophomore Casey McDowell average 4.1 and 3.3 points, 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 had nine 'newcomers' when practice commenced in October, 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 16 games ... Honegger has started each of the last 15 contests.
The Falcons are shooting .416 from the field this season, including a .352 rate from three-point land, and BGSU has a .745 free-throw conversion percentage ... the opponents have shot .386 from the floor, .323 from the arc and .668 from the line to date.
BG is 5-2 at home, 4-3 in road games and 2-0 in neutral-site contests this year ... in league play, the Falcons are 2-1 at Anderson Arena and 2-0 away from home ... 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 in 2002-03.
SCOUTING EASTERN MICHIGAN
Eastern Michigan enters the BGSU game with an overall record of 10-6, and the Eagles are 3-3 in the MAC after a home loss to East Division-leading Miami, 71-63, Saturday ... EMU has dropped three of the last four games after a 9-3 start to the season ... the Eagles have home wins over Akron and Central Michigan in league play, and also won at Ball State, 100-83, Wednesday (Jan. 21) ... Eastern's league losses have come on the road to Toledo and at home vs. Western Michigan and Miami ... the Eagles are 6-2 at home to date ... individually, junior guard Ryan Coleman leads the team in scoring, with 13.8 points per game, and also averages 6.6 rebounds and a team-high 2.4 steals per game ... Coleman is scoring 17.7 ppg in MAC games ... sophomore forward Nikki Knapp has 12.3 points and 7.3 rebounds, while freshman G/F Sarah VanMetre averages 12.2 points and a team-leading 7.8 boards per game ... junior guard Erika Ford has 7.6 points and a team-best 6.0 assists per game, while sophomore center Melis Ulker averages 6.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and an EMU-high 1.4 blocked shots ... Coleman, Ford and Ulker each have started all 16 games this year for head coach Suzy Merchant, while Knapp has made 15 starts ... freshman guard Canea Williams (5.4 ppg) joined those four players in the starting lineup vs. Miami, just her second start of the year ... Merchant welcomed back six letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that went 13-16 overall and 9-7 in MAC action ... Merchant has a record of 87-72 in her sixth season in Ypsilanti ... she is 141-101 in her ninth season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.emich.edu/goeagles.
THE BGSU-EMU SERIES
The Falcons lead Eastern Michigan, 37-10, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Eagles have won four of the last seven meetings since a 16-game BGSU win streak from 1991-98 ... the Falcons hold a 15-7 advantage in road games vs. the Hurons/Eagles, but Eastern is a perfect 3-0 vs. BG in the Convocation Center, including two of the Falcons' four worst MAC losses in school history ... EMU downed BGSU by 31 points (84-53) in the teams' first-ever meeting at the Convocation Center (Jan. 9, 1999), then upped the winning margin to 36 (86-50) on Feb. 21, 2001 ... in last season's two meetings, which came five days apart, the home team won each time ... BGSU downed Eastern on 'Senior Night' for the second consecutive year, with a 70-69 decision at Anderson Arena (March 4, 2003) ... then, the Falcons were sent to EMU for the first round of the MAC Tournament, and the host Eagles pulled out a 66-54 win (March 8, 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 Jan. 10 ... Buffalo has a narrow 5-4 lead in that series.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons shot nearly 61 percent from the field in the second half to rally for a 57-54 road victory over Toledo Wednesday (Jan. 21) at John F. Savage Hall ... senior Stefanie Wenzel scored 16 points, including 12 in the second half, while freshman Ali Mann added 13 ... Mann's layup off a Wenzel pass with 18.7 seconds left was the lone scoring in the game's final three minutes ... the win was the Falcons' first at Savage Hall since January of 1998 ... Kelly Walker had a game-high 21 points for the Rockets ... after shooting just .313 in the first half of the contest, the Falcons made 14 of 23 shots (.609) in the second half ... Wenzel and Mann combined to go 10-for-12 after the break, with Wenzel a perfect 5-for-5 ... the senior scored 12 of the Falcons' first 18 points of the second stanza ... the Falcons got off to a slow start in the opening half, missing the first six shots of the game ... UT was not much better from the field, as the Rockets could score only four points in that time ... when Lindsay Austin hit a three-point field goal at the 14:23 mark, for BG's first field goal, the Falcons held a 5-4 lead ... then, Austin had a steal and layup, and Wenzel followed with a steal and layup of her own, giving the Brown and Orange a 9-4 lead ... UT's Julie Hillis hit a layup at the 12:12 mark, ending an 0-for-9 shooting drought for the home team ... the teams traded baskets over the next few minutes, before a Liz Honegger layup gave the Falcons a 17-10 lead with 7:30 left in the half ... BGSU still led by seven, 19-12, when the Rockets went on a 9-0 run to take the lead ... Walker scored five of the nine points, and had assists on the other two baskets during that time ... the Rockets completed a 16-3 run to take a six-point lead, and UT held a four-point edge, 30-26, at the half ... in the second half, Wenzel scored 12 points, all in the first 6:07 ... the Falcons, after amassing 26 points in the first 20 minutes, scored 18 points in the first frenzied 6:40 before the initial media timeout in the second half ... after the Rockets' Danielle Bishop opened the second half with a basket to restore a six-point lead, Wenzel hit a three-pointer, then a jumper, to cut the lead to one ... Walker hit a pair of free throws, but another Wenzel trey tied the score at 34-34, the first of five ties in the half ... several minutes later, Wenzel and Mann broke a 38-38 deadlock with back-to-back layups, and BG led by four points with 14:48 remaining ... the Rockets battled back again, however, going on a 7-2 run ... when Crystal Young scored at the 12:30 mark, UT led by a 45-44 count ... Austin hit a layup to give BG the lead again, then both teams went scoreless for nearly three minutes, until a Mann layup upped the Falcon margin to three points with 9:27 left ... Amanda Davis responded with a hoop for the home team, and Walker hit a triple, giving UT a 50-48 lead with 8:29 remaining ... the Rockets would score just four points the rest of the evening ... a Mann layup tied the game, but Walker hit her fifth triple of the game with 6:29 left, giving UT a 53-50 lead ... that trey would prove to be UT's final field goal ... the teams traded turnovers and defensive stops until fewer than four minutes remained ... with 3:50 left, Wenzel found Honegger for a right-side three-pointer to tie the score ... Karin Hoogendam split a pair of free throws with 3:26 left, giving UT a one-point lead, but, out of the final media timeout, freshman Megan Thorburn hit a driving layup to give the Falcons the lead for good, 55-54, with 3:02 remaining ... BGSU then forced a shot-clock violation on the Rockets' next possession, but UT rebounded a Falcon miss and called time with 1:53 remaining ... the Brown and Orange got a defensive stop,, and Mann got the defensive rebound with a minute-and-a-half left ... but, UT held again, and got the ball back with just over a minute remaining in the game ... once again, the Falcons had a solid defensive stand ... the Falcons nearly came up with a steal, with players diving all over the court in an effort to grab the loose ball ... the Rockets retained possession, but - with the shot clock running down - UT's Amanda Davis forced up a shot ... after a scramble for the rebound, Thorburn grabbed the ball, and the Falcons called time with 45.8 seconds left ... on the ensuing possession, the Falcons worked the clock, and Wenzel's bounce pass found Mann for a layup and a three-point lead ... Toledo still had a chance to tie ... with approximately nine seconds left, a Walker three-point attempt was off the mark ... the Rockets grabbed the rebound, but Hillis was forced to hurry a three-point attempt, which fell short and went out of bounds with 1.8 seconds left ... BGSU inbounded the ball to Honegger, who held on as the clock ran out ... the Falcons, outrebounded by a 27-14 margin in the first half, held a 19-13 advantage in that category in the second half ... for the game, BGSU held a 30-22 advantage in points in the paint, including an 18-6 margin in the final 20 minutes ... BGSU shot .436 from the floor, to the Rockets' .355 ... each team made five three-pointers, with the Falcons going 5-for-17 (.294) and UT 5-of-22 (.227) ... Walker was 5-for-11 from behind the arc, while the rest of the team was a combined 0-for-11 ... in addition to Walker's 21 points, Hillis had a double-double, with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds ... Mann and Thorburn each had eight rebounds to tie for the team lead for the Falcons ... Mann also had three steals in 38 minutes.
FALCONS TOP '02-03 TOTAL OF MAC ROAD WINS
After just two games, the Falcons have surpassed last season's total of MAC road victories ... BGSU is 2-0 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 4-3 in road games this year, and BG is 6-3 in all games played away from home.
DEFENSE WINS GAMES AT CRUNCH TIME
As the last two games came down to crunch time, the BGSU defense rose to the occasion ... the Falcons held Central Michigan (Jan. 17) to just six points on 3-of-11 shooting over the final 7:53 of the second half ... BGSU scored the game's last nine points, holding CMU scoreless for the final 2:33 ... in that last 7:53, the Falcons outscored the Chippewas, 20-6 ... then, at Toledo, BG held the host Rockets to only four points over the final 8:29 ... the Falcons did not allow a field goal in the last 6:29 ... during the 8:29 stretch, UT went 1-of-11 ... over the final stretches of those two games, the opponents shot a combined 4-for-22 from the field (.182) and 1-of-5 from the free-throw line.
SECOND-HALF OFFENSE
The Falcons made 14-of-23 shots from the field (.609) in the second half at Toledo ... that marked the third consecutive game in which BGSU shot .500 or better from the floor after halftime ... BG is a combined .548 (40-of-73) from the field in the second half of those games, all wins ... overall, the Falcons have shot .500 or better in a half eight times this year, after doing so six times during all of last season.
STEF STEPS UP IN SECOND HALF
Senior Stefanie Wenzel had never won a game at Toledo's Savage Hall during her career prior to Wednesday (Jan. 21) ... that evening, however, Wenzel scored a team-high 16 points to help the Falcons to a 57-54 win ... she made 6-of-10 shots from the field, including a 5-for-5 performance (with two three-point FGs) in the second half ... she scored 12 of BG's first 18 second-half points to help BG rally from a four-point halftime deficit ... her two assists came on key baskets, with a pass to freshman Liz Honegger for a game-tying three-pointer with 3:50 left, and an entry pass to frosh Ali Mann for a layup - the game's final points - with only 18.7 seconds to go.
FROSH NOT PLAYING LIKE FROSH
When the Toledo game came down to the wire, the Falcons got key contributions from the freshmen ... with the Brown and Orange trailing by three points, BGSU's final three baskets of the game came from three different frosh ... Liz Honegger hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 53-53 with 3:50 left ... then, after a media timeout, Megan Thorburn's driving layup gave the Falcons the lead for good, 55-54, at the 3:02 mark ... Ali Mann provided the final hoop of the game, posting up her defender and hitting a layup with 18.7 seconds left.
GOOD START, EH?
The Falcons enter the Eastern Michigan game with an overall record of 11-5 and a MAC mark of 4-1 ... the burning question, then, is: how long has it been since a BG team had such a solid start to the season?
HOLDING THEM UNDER 60
The Falcons have held each of the last four opponents to 60 points or fewer ... in the first 72 games of the Curt Miller Era, BGSU has held the opponent below 60 points on 19 occasions ... prior to Miller's arrival, the Falcons had held foes to less than 60 points in only eight games over the previous four seasons combined ... in the history of the program, the Falcons now have a record of 180-14 when holding the opponent to less than 60 points ... nine of those 14 losses came prior to the 1980-81 season ... BG is 126-5 (.962) in such games over the last 22-plus seasons ... one of those five losses came last year (5-1), and three more the previous season (4-3) ... the Falcons are 6-0 this year when holding the opponent under 60 points.
