Bowling Green State University Athletics
Monday Morning Hoops at Robert Morris
December 19, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2004
BGSU Game Notes (17 pages) in PDF Format
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MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -
GAME #10
BGSU at ROBERT MORRIS
Monday, Dec. 20, 2004
10:00 a.m.
Charles L. Sewall Center (3,056)
Moon Township, Pa.
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Brian George and Greg Gania
SERIES: First Meeting
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, riding a winning streak for the first time this season, finishes both a lengthy road swing and the pre-Christmas schedule ... the Falcons (5-4) of fourth-year head coach Curt Miller conclude a six-game road stretch with a Monday morning (Dec. 20) contest vs. Robert Morris University ... the Falcons and Colonials will get things started at 10:00 a.m. at the Charles L. Sewall Center (3,056) ... the Falcons, after playing in tournaments in the states of Rhode Island and New Mexico, won the first game of the Western Pennsylvania weekend trip, with an 80-74 overtime win at Saint Francis University Saturday (Dec. 18) ... following the RMU game, BGSU's next action will be a Dec. 30 home contest vs. Bucknell, the Falcons' first game at Anderson Arena (4,700) in exactly one month.
HELLO, MY NAME IS...
The Falcons have never met Robert Morris in women's basketball ... Monday will mark the fifth consecutive contest in which BGSU will meet an opponent for the first time ... the Brown and Orange had never faced Winthrop, New Mexico, Utah State or Saint Francis prior to this season.
GOOD MORNING, MOON TOWNSHIP
Monday's game at Robert Morris is believed to be the earliest tipoff time for a game in BGSU history ... in fact, with the possible exception of noon games that may have started a minute or two early, the Falcons have not had a morning start time since the 1991-92 season ... in the late 1980s and early '90s, when the Mid-American Conference still played women's/men's basketball doubleheaders, BGSU started a number of home Saturday games at 11:45 a.m.
YOU WIN SOME, YOU LOSE SOME
Through nine games (including the team's lone exhibition), the 2004-05 Falcons did not put together any kind of a streak ... BGSU had alternated wins and losses during that time ... finally, the non-streak streak has come to an end, as the Falcons have won two consecutive games heading into the Robert Morris contest ... prior to the wins over Utah State and Saint Francis, 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 MAC Tournament.
ROAD WARRIORS
As mentioned earlier, BGSU concludes a six-game road stretch Monday ... the Falcons, after opening the Anderson Arena slate with a win over Youngstown State (Nov. 30), go an entire calendar month without another home contest (Dec. 30 vs. Bucknell) ... in fact, when the Falcons left for Providence, R.I., Dec. 3, it marked the start of a 17-day stretch in which the team has spent nine nights on the road ... BG played in tourneys at Brown and New Mexico on back-to-back weekends, and is spending 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 5-4 overall record to RMU ... after splitting a pair of games at last weekend's Lobo Shootout, the Brown and Orange picked up an overtime win at Saint Francis (Pa.), 80-74, Saturday (Dec. 18) ... at the Lobo Shootout, BGSU dropped a 73-43 decision to host New Mexico (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 72.0 points per game, currently have five players -- four sophomores and a freshman -- averaging at least 8.1 points ... soph Liz Honegger paces the Brown and Orange in scoring (14.2 ppg), and also leads the team in rebounding (8.6), steals (2.3) and blocks (1.9) ... classmate Ali Mann has 12.3 points and 7.7 boards per game to rank second on the team in each category, while another soph, Carin Horne, has 10.7 points per outing ... freshman Kate Achter is averaging 9.1 points and a team-high 4.3 assists per game, while sophomore Megan Thorburn has 8.1 points per contest ... redshirt junior Casey McDowell has 6.8 points ... Honegger and Mann are the only players to have started all nine games this year, while McDowell has made eight starts and senior co-captain Tene Lewis seven ... eight of the 12 healthy Falcons have started at least one game this season ... Achter, McDowell and Thorburn joined Honegger and Mann in the starting five for Saturday's game at SFU.
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 ROBERT MORRIS
Robert Morris brings a 5-3 record into Monday's game, and the Colonials are a perfect 4-0 at home this year to date ... on Friday (Dec. 17), RMU picked up a home victory over Duquesne, 60-56 ... two of the team's five wins have come against MAC squads, Akron (75-58; Nov. 21) and Marshall (59-53; Nov. 28) ... the team's other wins have come over Quinnipiac and Longwood, while RMU has lost to Brown, Pittsburgh and Towson ... junior F/C Sugiery Monsac leads the team in scoring, with 21.5 points per game, and rebounding, with 13.1 per contest ... Monsac entered the week tied for eighth in the nation in scoring, and led the entire country in rebounding ... she has the only two 20-plus rebound games in the nation this year to date, with 23 vs. Quinnipiac and 21 against Pitt ... four other players are averaing 7.9 to 8.9 points per game ... sophomore guard Jenna Burkett has 8.9 points per game, while junior guards DeSheyna Perry and Le'Sheala Dawson each have 8.3 points per contest ... Perry leads the team in assists, with 3.3 ... junior forward Tess Cooley has 7.9 points per outing ... the aforementioned five players comprised the starting lineup for head coach Sal Buscaglia's team against Duquesne, with all but Cooley playing at least 34 minutes ... four of the five starters -- Cooley, Dawson, Monsac and Perry -- are junior-college transfers ... already, the Colonials have nearly doubled last season's win total, after going 3-24 overall and 2-16 in Northeast Conference play ... Buscaglia is in his second season at RMU, and is 495-218 in his 27th year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's web site is www.rmu.edu, and contains a link to the athletics site.
THE SERIES
The Falcons have never met Robert Morris in women's basketball.
BGSU-ROBERT MORRIS TIES
The Falcons have never met the Colonials, but Curt Miller and Sal Buscaglia have been on opposing benches before ... Buscaglia has Mid-American Conference ties (sort of), having spent eight years as the head coach at the University at Buffalo (UB entered the MAC the year after Buscaglia left) ... Buscaglia is the winningest coach in UB history, with a record of 155-71 there ... Miller was an assistant coach at Syracuse University for four years, and SU faced the Bulls in each of his last two seasons ... UB picked up a 94-76 win on Dec. 21, 1996, and a 67-58 victory on Dec. 20, 1997 ... the latter game came less than a month after both teams participated in the UCF Turkey Shootout in Orlando, Fla. ... one of the other teams in that eight-team tourney was Bowling Green ... the Falcons lost to Miller and Syracuse, 71-67, in the semifinal round (Nov. 29, 1997) before beating UB in the third-place game by a 74-54 count the following day ... the 1997-98 campaign marked the last for both Miller at SU and Buscaglia at RMU, as Miller took an assistant head-coaching position at Colorado State, while Buscaglia was named the head coach at Manhattan.
THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
As mentioned earlier, BGSU is in a stretch of five consecutive games vs. first-time opponents ... after playing only one game vs. a current member of the Northeast Conference in the entire history of the program, the Falcons now are meeting two NEC schools in a 42-hour span ... prior to BG's 80-74 win at Saint Francis (Pa.) on Saturday (Dec. 18), the only time the Falcons had faced an NEC member was on Dec. 9, 1995 ... on that date, BG picked up a 73-58 win over Mount St. Mary's, at the Dial Soap Classic in College Park, Md.
IT TAKES A THIEF
Senior co-captain Tene Lewis had five steals, setting a new career best, in the win at Saint Francis ... Lewis picked up those five thefts in just 14 minutes of action ... she had had four steals in a game on two occasions, including last year vs. Kent State (Feb. 21, 2004) ... her previous season best had been two steals, in four of BG's first eight games of the year.
TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS (AND WORKING OVERTIME)
The Saint Francis game was the Falcons' first overtime contest this season ... BG has now won two consecutive OT games, after losing the previous four ... the Brown and Orange went 1-1 in overtime games last season, with a four-OT loss against Northern Illinois (97-102; Feb. 18, 2004), and a win at Ball State (84-79; Feb. 29, 2004) ... prior to the BSU game, the Falcons' last OT triumph came on Feb. 20, 1999, against Eastern Michigan (98-93).
HONEGGER NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM, AGAIN
As New Mexico, 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 UNM'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.
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 at least eight of the season's nine games to date, while the 12th, sophomore Amber Flynn, has played in seven.
CSU COACHING COLLEAGUES COLLIDE
In the win over Utah State, Falcon head coach Curt Miller won the first matchup with one of his former colleagues ... Miller and USU 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.
HONEGGER NAMED MAC PLAYER OF WEEK
Sophomore Liz Honegger was named a Mid-American Conference Player of the Week on Dec. 6 ... Honegger earned the honor for the first time this season and the third time in her career, after averaging a double-double (14.3 points, 10.3 rebounds per game) as the Falcons went 2-1 on the week ... she also had 3.3 blocks and 3.3 steals per contest on the week, shooting .533 from the field and .889 from the line.
(IN-SEASON) TOURNEY TIME
BGSU went 1-1 at each of this year's two in-season tournaments, the Brown Classic and the Lobo Shootout ... last season, the Falcons posted a 2-0 record in the EKU Comfort Suites Classic, picking up wins over host Eastern Kentucky (70-57; Dec. 29, 2003) and Morehead State (65-51; Dec. 30, 2003) ... that marked the first time BGSU had gone undefeated in an in-season tourney setting in 15 years ... on Dec. 2-3, 1988, the Brown and Orange downed Villanova and Iowa State to win the Illini Classic ... that 1988 tourney is the last time the Falcons have won an in-season championship game, as the EKU Comfort Suites Classic featured predetermined matchups on each day (Georgia, the fourth team in the classic, matched the Falcons' 2-0 mark) ... since the Illini Classic, BGSU teams have gone 1-1 in 18 different in-season tournaments, 2-1 in one tourney and 0-2 three times, in addition to the 2-0 record last December ... it should be noted, however, that the Falcons have won the MAC Tournament four times during that span.
FINDING THE RIGHT COMBINATION
Through the season's first nine games, the Falcons have used five different starting lineups ... BGSU utilized four different starting lineups during all of last season, in a total of 31 games.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons, trailing by nine points in the second half, rallied back for an overtime win at Saint Francis (Pa.), 80-74, Saturday afternoon (Dec. 18) ... the win moved the Falcons to 5-4 on the year, while the Red Flash, a 2004 NCAA Tournament team, dropped to 2-5 ... sophomore Ali Mann led the Falcons with 19 points, pacing four double-digit scorers ... Mann also had a game-high 10 rebounds, while classmate Carin Horne scored 18 points ... another soph, Liz Honegger, had 16 points, while freshman Kate Achter scored 14 and also had seven rebounds and a game-high six assists ... senior co-captain Tene Lewis provided a spark off the bench, with a game- and career-high five steals in 14 minutes of action ... the Red Flash also had four players in double digits, led by Beth Swink's 26 ... BG led for much of the first half, but three triples in the final minute-and-a-half gave the hosts a 31-28 lead at the break ... in the second half, the Falcons trailed by as many as nine points before battling back ... BG took a five-point lead late, but SFU responded to force the overtime ... in the OT, a Honegger three-pointer opened the scoring and gave BG the lead for good ... the Falcons made 28 free throws in 39 attempts, both season highs.
TAKE SOME; THEY'RE FREE
The Falcons, as mentioned, attempted 39 free throws, making 28, in the win at Saint Francis ... both totals were the highest for BG in over four years, since BG made 35 charity tosses in 43 attempts in the 2000-01 season opener vs. Youngstown State, a 95-88 win at Anderson Arena (Nov. 18, 2000).
TAKE SOME, EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE NOT FREE
The Falcons' total of 18 steals at Saint Francis also was a season high ... BG last had 18 steals in last season's regular-season matchup with Miami (Feb. 3, 2004) ... no Falcon team has had more steals in a single game since BG had 20 in a win over Central Michigan on Jan. 10, 1996 ... the school record for steals in a game is 21 (vs. Youngstown State, Jan. 3, 1994; vs. Texas Southern, Dec. 4, 1993).
ALI SURPASSES THE 500-POINT MARK
Forward Ali Mann, just a sophomore, is BGSU's active career scoring leader ... with her 19-point performance at Saint Francis, Mann has surpassed the 500-point mark for her career ... she now has 511 points in a total of 40 games as a Falcon.
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.
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 followed that performance with another double-double in the next game, with 19 points and 10 boards at Saint Francis ... Mann now has nine 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 scored 16 more vs. Utah State and 19 at SFU ... 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 24 times in 40 career games.
181 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 181 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. ... 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.
