Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Travel To NIU To Open Road Portion Of MAC Schedule
January 09, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Game Notes (26 fact-filled pages) in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BOWLING GREEN (7-5, 0-1)
at
NORTHERN ILLINOIS (5-7, 0-1)
Game #13Saturday, Jan. 10, 2004
2:05 p.m. CT
Convocation Center (9,100)
DeKalb, Illinois
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: NIU Leads, 11-9
Last Meeting: Northern Ill. 73, at BGSU 72 (Feb. 1, 2003)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, having opened the Mid-American Conference schedule on Wednesday, embarks upon the road portion of the league slate Saturday (Jan. 10) ... the Falcons of third-year head coach Curt Miller head to the MAC's 'West Coast' to face Northern Illinois University ... tipoff is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. locally (3:05 p.m. Eastern) at the Convocation Center (9,100) ... the game will be broadcast on student station WBGU-FM (88.1).
Following the NIU game, the Falcons will return home for a pair of games next week, facing Akron Wednesday (Jan. 14) and Central Michigan Saturday (Jan. 17) at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700).
HORNE SCORES 34 VS. CARDINALS
BGSU freshman Carin Horne (pronounced CARR-in) had a game to remember in the Falcons' narrow loss to Ball State Wednesday (Jan. 7) ... Horne scored 34 points, just one off the school single-game record, in BG's 72-70 loss to the defending MAC West Division co-champion ... the Lima, Ohio, native made 11-of-19 shots from the floor, including four three-point field goals, and all eight of her free-throw tries ... Horne scored 22 consecutive BGSU points over a span of nearly 15 minutes in the second half ... she had her 34 points, along with seven rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots, in only 24 minutes of action ... Horne had entered the BSU game averaging 3.1 points per contest, with 31 total points on the year.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU enters the Northern Illinois game with a record of 7-5 on the season ... the Falcons are 0-1 in MAC play, having seen a season-best three-game winning streak come to an end with Wednesday's (Jan. 7) 72-70 home loss to Ball State ... last 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 14.9 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 11.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, ranking second in each category, and she leads the Falcons with 1.8 blocked shots per game ... senior Lindsay Austin has 10.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and a team-leading 6.2 assists per contest, and also has a BGSU-high four double-doubles on the year ... freshman Ali Mann has 9.3 points and a team-high 7.8 rebounds per contest, and has three double-doubles ... freshman Megan Thorburn has 9.2 points and 3.6 caroms on the year, while classmate Carin Horne has upped her scoring average to 5.9 ... junior Kelly Kapferer and sophomore Casey McDowell average 5.0 and 4.0 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 is sidelined indefinitely due to injury.
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 12 games ... Honegger has started each of the last 11 contests.
The Falcons are shooting .415 from the field this season, including a .374 rate from three-point land, and BGSU has a .745 free-throw conversion percentage ... the opponents have shot .394 from the floor, .333 from the arc and .678 from the line to date.
BG is 3-2 at home, 2-3 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.
HONEGGER NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the second time in her young BGSU career, freshman Liz Honegger was named the MAC's Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday (Jan. 5) ... a native of Lafayette, Ind., she averaged 18.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots as the Falcons went 3-0 on the week ... she had the first two 20-point games of her career, and set a school record with seven blocks in a 70-57 win at Eastern Kentucky (Dec. 29) ... she went 10-of-14 from the field vs. EKU and was 9-of-12 in the win over Cleveland State (Jan. 3) ... on the week, Honegger had a field-goal percentage of .611, including an 8-of-16 (.500) effort from three-point land.
SCOUTING NIU
Northern Illinois enters the BGSU game with a 5-7 overall record, and the Huskies are 0-1 in the MAC after Wednesday's narrow road loss to defending league tourney champ Western Michigan, 80-73 ... prior to the WMU game, Northern battled nationally-ranked DePaul within 10 points, dropping a 70-60 decision ... the Huskies bring a 3-2 home record into Saturday's game ... individually, senior forward Lindsay Secrest has a team-leading 11.0 points, while sophomore center Joi Scott has 10.3 points and 4.6 rebounds off the bench ... senior forward Jennifer Youngblood averages 8.6 points and a team-high 10.2 rebounds, while classmate Monique Davis, a guard, has 7.4 points and team-high averages of 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game ... a pair of freshman, guard Stephanie Raymond (7.2 ppg) and center Kristin Wiener (5.8 ppg), join Davis, Secrest and Youngblood in the probable starting lineup for head coach Carol Hammerle ... Hammerle welcomed back nine letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that went 12-16 overall and 8-8 in MAC action ... Hammerle, in her sixth season in DeKalb, has a record of 66-90 ... she is 522-316 in her 31st season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is niuhuskies.com.
THE BGSU-NIU SERIES
The Falcons trail Northern Illinois, 11-9, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Huskies have a four-game winning streak vs. BGSU ... NIU won both of last year's meetings, a 78-58 verdict in DeKalb (Jan. 11, 2003) and a 73-72 thriller at Anderson Arena (Feb. 1, 2003) ... the Huskies are 7-2 vs. the Falcons in games in DeKalb, with last year's initial meeting marking the teams' first in the Convocation Center ... five of the last nine games have been decided by seven points or fewer.
MAC SERIES INFORMATION
The Falcons lead the all-time series with 10 of the 12 MAC opponents ... as mentioned, Northern Illinois holds an 11-9 series advantage over BGSU, while Buffalo has a narrow 5-4 lead in that series.
LAST TIME OUT
Ball State survived a monster performance by BGSU freshman Carin Horne, posting a 72-70 victory Wednesday night (Jan. 7) at Anderson Arena ... Horne scored 34 points, just one off the school single-game record, on the night ...
click here for more information on the Ball State game.
NOW THAT'S A GO-TO PLAYER
When Ball State's Johna Goff hit a three-pointer with 15:26 remaining in Wednesday's game, Falcon freshman Carin Horne responded with a jumper to give BGSU a three-point lead ... little did anyone know that Horne would score 22 consecutive BGSU points over a span of 14:48 ... no other Falcon would score until the game's final minute ... Horne began that run by making six consecutive field-goal attempts, including two from three-point range ... that came after she had hit a triple just before the halftime buzzer ... after her six-straight makes in the second half, Horne hit four consecutive free throws in a 15-second span ... when she finally missed a shot from the field, she grabbed the rebound and hit a layup with just over six minutes remaining in the game.
MORE ON HORNE
Freshman Carin Horne entered Wednesday's game with a total of 31 points on the year ... she had been averaging 3.1 points per game in 10 contests off the bench ... her 34-point outburst vs. BSU nearly doubled her scoring average, to 5.9 ppg ... some other numbers of note ... Horne set career bests in points, rebounds (seven), field goals made (11) and attempted (19), free throws made (eight), steals (four), blocked shots (two), three-point field goals made (four) and minutes played (24) in the game ... Horne entered the game with season totals of 12 field goals made (she made 11 vs. BSU), four three-pointers made (four), 3-for-5 on free throws (8-for-8), 15 rebounds (seven), one block (two) and six steals (four).
NEARLY A SCHOOL RECORD
Carin Horne's total of 34 points set a school single-game record for a freshman, and fell just a point shy of tying the overall BGSU mark ... the record of 35 points was reached on four occasions ... Francine Miller, who was in attendance at Wednesday's game, had two of those games (Jan. 17, 2000, vs. Kent State, and Feb. 17, 2001, vs. Marshall), while Jacki Raterman (Feb. 9, 1999, vs. BSU) and Jackie Motycka (Dec. 12, 1987, vs. Washington State) each did so once.
20-POINT SCORERS ABOUND
Through just 12 games 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.
BGSU'S BOARDWORK (USUALLY) PAYING OFF
The Falcons were outrebounded by Ball State, marking just the third time in 12 games this season that the opponent had more boards than BG ... last year, the Falcons held a rebounding advantage just four times in 28 games ... in 2003-04, BGSU has held the advantage seven times, with a draw in two other contests ... the Falcons are outrebounding the opponents by a margin of 1.6 boards per game.
NON-LEAGUE SUCCESS
The Falcons' win over Cleveland State gave the team a 7-4 non-conference season for the second year in a row ... the last time the Falcons put together back-to-back winning records in non-MAC play came a decade ago, when BG had three-straight winning non-league records from 1991-92 to 1993-94 ... for what it's worth, the Falcons' total of 14 non-conference wins over the last two seasons is tops among MAC teams.
