Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head to Saint Francis, Robert Morris
December 16, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 16, 2004
Falcon Notes (17 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
GAME #9
BGSU
at
SAINT FRANCIS (PA.)
Sat., December 18, 2004
4:00 p.m.
Maurice Stokes Athletic Center (3,500)
Loretto, Pa.
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Brian George and Greg Gania
SERIES: First Meeting
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team takes a break for final exams this week, before hitting the road yet again ... the Falcons (4-4) of fourth-year head coach Curt Miller, after participating in back-to-back tournaments in the states of Rhode Island and New Mexico, conclude a six-game road stretch with a pair of contests in Western Pennsylvania ... the Brown and Orange will head to Loretto, Pa., for a Saturday (Dec. 18) game vs. Saint Francis University ... tipoff for the Falcons and the Red Flash is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the Maurice Stokes Athletics Center (3,500) ... then, BG will play a Monday (Dec. 20) morning contest at Robert Morris University ... the Falcons and Colonials will get things started at 10:00 a.m. at the Charles L. Sewall Center (3,056).
HELLO, MY NAME IS...
The Falcons have never met either Saint Francis or Robert Morris in women's basketball ... this weekend's action will mark the fourth and fifth consecutive contests in which BGSU will meet an opponent for the first time ... the Brown and Orange had never faced Winthrop, New Mexico or Utah State prior to this season.
HONEGGER NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM, AGAIN
Sophomore Liz Honegger was named to an all-tournament team for the second consecutive weekend ... Honegger averaged 14.0 points and 9.5 rebounds as the Falcons split two games at New Mexico's Lobo Shootout last weekend (Dec. 10-11) ... Honegger also earned all-tourney team honors at the Brown Classic in Providence, R.I., the previous weekend (Dec. 4-5) ... that had marked the first all-tourney honor at BG for Honegger.
YOU WIN SOME, YOU LOSE SOME
The 2004-05 Falcons have yet to put together any kind of a streak ... BGSU has alternated wins and losses through nine games (including the team's lone exhibition game) ... the last BG streak of any kind began last Feb. 25, with a win at Marshall ... that victory kick-started a six-game winning streak that took the Falcons all the way to the championship game of the Kraft Mid-American Conference Tournament.
ROAD WARRIORS
As mentioned earlier, BGSU is in the midst of a six-game road stretch ... the Falcons, after opening the Anderson Arena slate with a win over Youngstown State (Nov. 30), will go an entire calendar month without another home contest (Dec. 30 vs. Bucknell) ... in fact, when the Falcons left for the Providence, R.I., on Friday morning, Dec. 3, it marked the start of a 17-day stretch in which the team will spend nine nights on the road ... BG played in tourneys at Brown and New Mexico on back-to-back weekends, and will spend this weekend in Western Pennsylvania to take on St. Francis (Dec. 18) and Robert Morris (Dec. 20).
FALCONS ON RADIO FOR AT LEAST 25 GAMES
A total of 24 of the Falcons' 27 regular-season games, plus all postseason action, are scheduled to be on the air in 2004-05 ... student station WBGU-FM (88.1), the flagship station for the women's basketball Falcons, is scheduled to air all but three regular-season contests (the two games at the Lobo Shootout, as well as the Bucknell game [Dec. 30]) ... the 2004-05 academic year marks the third season of an agreement between the BGSU department of athletics and the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO) to have WBGU serve as the flagship station for both hockey and women's basketball ... games produced by BGRSO can be heard on the web, both at bgrso.org and via the Real One Package available through BGSUFalcons.com.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons will take a 4-4 overall record to Saint Francis, after splitting a pair of games at last weekend's Lobo Shootout ... BGSU dropped a 73-43 decision to host New Mexico Friday night (Dec. 10), then bounced back for a 75-54 win over Utah State the next evening ... the week before, BG opened the home schedule with an 83-61 win over Youngstown State (Nov. 30), then split a pair of games at the Brown Classic ... the Falcons suffered a narrow loss to Lehigh, 77-74 (Dec. 4), before rebounding with a 74-52 win over Winthrop the next day ... after suffering an 89-41 loss at nationally-ranked Ohio State (Nov. 12) to open the season, BGSU bounced back with a 115-84 victory at IPFW a week later (Nov. 19) ... but, the Brown and Orange then fell at Duquesne by a 68-63 count (Nov. 27) ... the OSU game was a first-round contest in the Sportsview.tv WNIT.
The Falcons, averaging 71.0 points per game, currently have five players -- four sophomores and a freshman -- averaging at least 8.5 points ... soph Liz Honegger paces the Brown and Orange in scoring (14.0 ppg), and also leads the team in rebounding (9.1), steals (2.3) and blocks (2.1) ... classmate Ali Mann has 11.5 points and 7.4 boards per game to rank second on the team in each category, while another soph, Carin Horne, has 9.8 points per outing ... still another sophomore, Megan Thorburn, has 8.6 points per contest, while freshman Kate Achter is averaging 8.5 points and a team-high 4.1 assists ... redshirt junior Casey McDowell has 6.9 points ... Honegger and Mann are the only players to have started all seven games this year, while McDowell and senior co-captain Tene Lewis each have made seven starts ... eight of the 12 healthy Falcons have started at least one game in the early going this season ... Horne, Lewis and McDowell joined Honegger and Mann in the starting five for each of the two games in New Mexico.
BGSU ended the 2003-04 season with a record of 21-10, and the Falcons finished the MAC campaign with an 11-5 slate ... BG tied for second in the West Division, then posted a pair of buzzer-beating wins in the league tourney to advance to the championship game ... head coach Curt Miller welcomed back 11 letterwinners, including three starters, from that team ... the returning starters, all sophomores, are Honegger, Mann and Thorburn ... Miller's team includes three seniors in Kelly Kapferer, Lewis and Sakima Smith ... a pair of juniors, Jill Lause and McDowell, also return ... in addition to the three returning starters, the sophomore class consists of Amber Flynn, Julie Gompers and Horne ... Gompers has yet to see action this season due to injury ... two freshmen, guards Achter and Whitney Taylor, round out the Falcon squad.
SCOUTING SAINT FRANCIS
Saint Francis has a record of 2-4 entering Saturday's BGSU game ... the Red Flash are 2-1 at home on the young season, with wins over Bucknell and Central Connecticut State and a loss to Howard ... the team's other losses all have come on the road, against Vanderbilt, West Virginia and Virginia Tech, with the latter setback coming Sunday (Dec. 12) by a 77-62 count ... senior center Beth Swink, the 2003-04 Northeast Conference Player of the Year, leads the '04-05 team in both scoring and rebounding, with 20.3 points and 8.3 rebounds ... senior forward Christin Black has 10.5 points and 5.0 boards on the year, while senior guard Sarah Bolten has 6.5 points ... junior guard Amber Hein (6.0 ppg) and senior forward Regina Schlichter (4.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg) round out a veteran lineup that has started all six games to date for head coach Jill Poe ... a year ago, the Red Flash finished 25-6 overall and a perfect 18-0 in NEC play ... SFU has won the last three league titles and eight of the last nine NEC crowns ... Poe is 27-10 in her second season as a head coach, both at SFU ... the school's web site is www.francis.edu, and contains a link to the athletics site.
THE SERIES
The Falcons have never met Saint Francis in women's basketball.
BGSU/SAINT FRANCIS TIES
THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
As mentioned earlier, BGSU is in a stretch of five consecutive games vs. first-time opponents ... last weekend's games at the Lobo Shootout marked the first time the Falcons had ever played a game in the state of New Mexico, as well as the first time BGSU had ever faced either UNM or Utah State ... additionally, Friday's game was the Falcons' first-ever contest against a member of the Mountain West Conference ... then, on Saturday, USU became the first-ever BG opponent among current Big West Conference schools.
ONE YEAR LATER...
Eight games into the 2003-04 season, the Falcons had a 4-4 record ... the eighth game was a lopsided loss at IUPUI (Dec. 22) in the team's final game before the Christmas holidays ... that trip to Indianapolis was extended by approximately 90 minutes, as the group had a lengthy lockerroom meeting following the game ... the team headed to Eastern Kentucky after Christmas, and won a pair of games at the EKU Classic ... that began a stretch which saw the Falcons win 17 of the next 22 games and advance all the way to the championship game of the MAC Tournament ... this season, the Falcons are again 4-4 after eight games ... currently, the team is coming off a solid performance at the Lobo Shootout, where BGSU hung with host New Mexico for over a half, then posted a 21-point win over Utah State.
DEFENSE!
The Falcons had struggled defensively at times over the first six games, but BGSU showed glimpses of greatness during the Lobo Shootout ... trailing New Mexico by a 30-14 count, the Falcons proceeded to blank the Lobos over the final 4:53 of the first half ... BGSU forced UNM into three turnovers and six missed shots, while cutting the Lobo lead to just six points, 30-24, at the break.
DEFENSE! PART TWO
In the Utah State game, BGSU held the Aggies to just 29.0 percent shooting from the field, including only a 22.2% success rate in the first half ... the Falcons forced 10 USU turnovers and outrebounded the Aggies by a 33-13 count in that opening 20 minutes, en route to building a 39-15 halftime lead.
DEFENSE! PART THREE
The Falcons held Utah State to just 15 first-half points while opening up a 24-point lead ... that USU point total was the lowest for a BGSU opponent since the Falcons took a 31-15 lead into the lockerroom at Akron two years ago (Feb. 22, 2003) ... BGSU held on for a 65-62 win that afternoon ... the Falcons have not held an opponent to fewer than 15 points in the opening half since two months before that UA game ... BG led Savannah State, 49-11, at the break, en route to an 89-39 win.
EVERYONE'S IN THE MIX
Of the 12 healthy Falcon players, no fewer than eight have made at least one start this year ... 11 of those 12 players have seen action in all eight games, while the 12th, sophomore Amber Flynn, has played in seven of the eight contests.
CSU COACHING COLLEAGUES COLLIDE
Falcon head coach Curt Miller won the first matchup with one of his former colleagues ... Miller and Utah State head coach Raegan Pebley coached together for two years at Colorado State ... Miller was an associate head coach for three seasons under BGSU graduate (and current Louisville coach) Tom Collen at CSU ... Pebley was on the staff during the latter two of those years, the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons, during which time the Rams went a combined 48-17.
ALI NEARS THE 500-POINT MARK
Forward Ali Mann, just a sophomore, is BGSU's active career scoring leader ... Mann is just eight points away from reaching the 500-point mark for her career.
NO STREAKING
After eight games, the Falcons have yet to put together any kind of a streak -- winning or losing ... BGSU dropped the season-opening game, then rebounded with a win ... the Falcons have followed that pattern (loss, win, loss, win) through the next six contests as well.
CROWDED HOUSE
BGSU set a single-game attendance record in Friday's night's game at New Mexico, as a total of 9,212 were on hand ... prior to that game, the biggest crowd ever to witness a game involving the Falcons was 7,639, in BGSU's season opener at Wisconsin six years ago (Nov. 15, 1998) ... then, on Saturday, a total of 9,656 came to 'The Pit' for the doubleheader ... it should be noted, however, that the latter total was a two-game attendance, and the crowd during the BGSU-Utah State game appeared to be smaller than for the UNM-San Diego game.
BLOCK PARTY
Liz Honegger, just a sophomore, has moved into the top-five on the BGSU career list for blocked shots ... Honegger now has 67 blocks in her Falcon tenure, ranking her fourth on that list ... she moved past both Michelle Terry (62 from 1994-97) and Sue Pokelsek (63 from 1979-83) with her four rejections in the win over Winthrop ... Honegger's next target is third-place Joelyn Shoup, who had 83 blocks from 1982-86.
WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?
Six NCAA Division I schools feature brown as an official color, and three of those six schools -- BGSU, Lehigh and Brown -- were in Providence for last weekend's Brown Classic ... the Falcons will face another of those schools, Western Michigan, when MAC play begins in January ... the other two such schools are St. Bonaventure and Wyoming (SOURCE: Lehigh Sports Information).
FALCONS IN THE MAC
Sure, it's early in the 2004-05 season, but a number of Falcons are represented in the latest Mid-American Conference individual statistics, as of Monday (Dec. 13) ...
DOUBLE-DOUBLES FOR HONEGGER AND MANN
Sophomore Liz Honegger had a double-double in the win over Utah State, with a game-high 18 points along with 11 rebounds ... Honegger now has three double-doubles this season and seven in her career ... classmate Ali Mann had 16 points and 12 boards in that win, for her first double-double of the season ... Mann now has eight career double-doubles, the most among active Falcons.
MANN SCORES IN DOUBLE DIGITS, AGAIN
Sophomore Ali Mann had a game-high 23 points at Duquesne, and followed that performance with 14 points (on 7-of-9) shooting vs. Youngstown ... she had another 14-point game vs. Lehigh, and 16 more vs. Utah State ... Mann has scored 20 or more points seven times in her career, the most of any current Falcon, and has hit double digits in scoring 23 times in 39 career games.
HONEGGER HITS THE BOARDS
Sophomore Liz Honegger grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds vs. the Penguins, just two away from her career best ... that came on the heels of a 13-rebound performance in the Duquesne contest ... and, she added 11 boards vs. both Winthrop and Utah State ... Honegger now has 12 double-digit rebounding games in her career, the most among active Falcons (classmate Ali Mann has nine).
180 GAMES AND COUNTING
The Falcons have made at least one three-point field goal in every game during the past six-plus years ... in fact, BGSU has drained a triple in each of the last 180 games, a school record by far ... the last time the Falcons were held without a trey was on March 1, 1998 ... the previous school record had been 29-straight games on two occasions - most recently, in the 1993-94 (last five games) and 1994-95 (first 24 games) seasons.
BGSU-OHIO GAME PART OF MAC TV PACKAGE
The Falcons' home game vs. Ohio University, scheduled for Feb. 5, 2005, will be televised as part of the league's seven-game package on Fox Sports Net Ohio ... start time for the game has been moved to 2:00 p.m. ... this is a change from the previously published start time listed in the media guide and on schedule cards, posters and season ticket information ... Comcast Local will also air the game, with additional clearances possibly being announced at a later date.
START TIME CHANGED FOR WMU GAME
The starting time for the Falcons' game on Jan. 22, 2005, has been changed ... that game, vs. Western Michigan, has been moved to a 3:00 p.m. start at Anderson Arena ... the move sets up a Falcon basketball doubleheader that day ... the BGSU men's basketball team will host Toledo in a 6:00 p.m. game that is part of the MAC's television package for 2004-05.
