Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Bucknell to Close 2004, Non-Conference Schedules
December 28, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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GAME #11
BGSU
vs.
BUCKNELL
Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004
7:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Bowling Green, Ohio
RADIO: None
TELEVISION: BCSN (tape delay) - Dave Horger and Fran Voll
SERIES: BGSU leads, 1-0
LAST MEETING: BGSU 100, at Bucknell 77 (Dec. 3, 2003)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, for the first time in exactly one month, will play a home game ... the Falcons (6-4) of fourth-year head coach Curt Miller, having concluded a six-game road stretch and the holiday break, now conclude both the Year 2004 and non-conference portions of the schedule with Thursday's (Dec. 30) game vs. Bucknell University ... the Falcons and the Bison will meet at 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... following Thursday's game, BGSU will take to the road once again, beginning the Mid-American Conference slate with games at Buffalo (Jan. 5) and Western Michigan (Jan. 8).
WHERE ARE WE?
The month of December has seen the Falcons play two games each in the states of Rhode Island, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, but none in the state of Ohio ... finally, the Brown and Orange return to Anderson Arena for a game ... in the month of December alone, the Falcons have logged over 5,202 miles of travel via airplane, bus and van ... that figure does not include trips from the airport to the hotel and vice versa, from the hotel to the arena and back for daily practices and shootarounds, or each individual's trip home for the holiday break.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
As the 2004-05 non-conference schedule winds down, the Falcons look to put an exclamation point on one of the most successful non-league stretches in school history ... since the beginning of the 2002-03 season, BGSU has posted a 20-12 mark in regular-season, non-league games, the best of any MAC school.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS II
Regardless of the outcome of the Bucknell game, the Falcons have clinched a winning record in non-conference play for the third year in a row ... BGSU is looking to end non-league action with a 7-4 record for the third-straight season ... the Falcons have not had three consecutive winning non-conference campaigns in over a decade (1991-92 to 1993-94) ... additionally, a BG win over Bucknell would give the Falcons 21 non-league victories in the last three years, tying a school record for a three-year period (21 non-conference wins from 1986-87 through 1988-89 seasons).
FALCONS LOOK TO EXTEND WINNING STREAK
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 came to an end, as the Falcons have won three consecutive games -- over Utah State, Saint Francis (Pa.) and Robert Morris -- heading into the Bucknell contest ... prior to the current run, 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.
MILLER EYES THE .500 MARK
Head coach Curt Miller, in just over three seasons at the reins, has begun the difficult process of restoring the Falcons' status as a perennial MAC contender ... Miller currently has a record of 48-49 in his fourth season at the BGSU helm ... a win over Bucknell would give him a .500 record after 98 games with the Falcons ... the last time Miller was at the .500 mark was just two games into his BG tenure ... after a road win over Youngstown State (71-61; Nov. 17, 2001), BGSU suffered a 67-62 loss at Detroit three days later, evening his record at 1-1 ... the Falcons then dropped a pair of games at the Coors Classic in Boulder, Colo., as part of a four-game losing streak.
IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME
As mentioned earlier, BGSU concluded a six-game road stretch with the win at Robert Morris (Dec. 20) ... the Falcons, after opening the Anderson Arena slate with a win over Youngstown State (Nov. 30), have gone an entire calendar month without another home contest ... 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 spent nine nights on the road ... BG played in tourneys at Brown and New Mexico on back-to-back weekends, and spent the next weekend in Western Pennsylvania to take on St. Francis (Dec. 18) and RMU.
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) ... 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.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons will enter the Bucknell game with an overall record of 6-4 ... BGSU is riding a three-game win streak after picking up road victories at Saint Francis (80-74 in overtime; Dec. 18) and Robert Morris (66-51; Dec. 20) prior to breaking for the holidays ... that swing through Western Pennsylvania came on the heels of a split at the previous weekend's 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 had 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 71.4 points per game, currently have five players -- four sophomores and a freshman -- averaging at least 8.0 points ... soph Liz Honegger paces the Brown and Orange in scoring (14.4 ppg), and also leads the team in rebounding (8.6), steals (2.1 - tied for team lead) and blocks (2.1) ... 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 10.1 points per outing ... freshman Kate Achter is averaging 10.0 points and a team-high 4.5 assists per game, and is third on the team with 4.2 rebounds ... sophomore Megan Thorburn has 8.0 points per contest, while redshirt junior Casey McDowell has 6.3 points ... Honegger and Mann are the only players to have started all 10 games this year, while McDowell has made nine starts and senior co-captain Tene Lewis seven ... Lewis is tied with Honegger for the team lead in steals ... eight of the 12 healthy Falcons have started at least one game this season ... Achter, McDowell and Thorburn have joined Honegger and Mann in the starting five for the last two games.
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 BUCKNELL
Bucknell enters the week with an overall record of 3-6 ... the Bison will play on back-to-back nights in Ohio, facing Akron in Wednesday (Dec. 29) action before tipping off vs. the Falcons 24 hours later ... BU is 3-0 at home, but 0-5 on the road (0-1 in neutral-site games), entering the trip ... most recently, the Bison picked up a 60-48 home win over Md.-Eastern Shore (Dec. 20) ... the team also has victories vs. Cornell and Buffalo, with losses to Florida International, Texas A&M, Saint Francis (Pa.), Manhattan, Albany and Coppin State ... sophomore guard Lindsey Hollobaugh is the lone double-digit scorer, with 13.1 points per game entering the UA contest ... five other players average between 5.6 and 8.9 points per game, including senior center Brooke Tomovich, with 8.9 points ... sophomore forward Rachel Hanley had 7.2 points and 5.5 rebounds, while freshman C/F Hope Foster has 7.1 points and a team-high 6.6 boards per game ... Foster also averages over two blocked shots per contest ... freshman guard Kesha Champion (5.6 ppg) and junior guard Lindsey Geosits (3.1 ppg, 3.4 apg) join Foster, Hanley and Hollobaugh in the probable starting lineup for head coach Kathy Fedorjaka ... a year ago, the Bison went 15-14 overall and finished fifth in the Patriot League with a 7-7 mark ... Fedorjaka enters the Akron game with a mark of 112-96 in her eighth year at the school, and a 179-134 slate in her 12th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.BucknellBison.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons hold a 1-0 lead over Bucknell in the all-time series between the teams ... the only prior meeting came last season (Dec. 3, 2003), and resulted in a 100-77 BGSU road win ... the Falcons became the first visiting women's basketball team ever to score 100 points in a game in Lewisburg.
BGSU-BUCKNELL TIES
FACING OFF AGAINST THE KEYSTONE STATE
The Bucknell game marks the Falcons' fifth contest this season against a team from the state of Pennsylvania ... prior to the 2004-05 campaign, BGSU had played seven games against Pa. schools in the history of the program.
BLOCK PARTY
In her first season on campus, Liz Honegger tied the school record with 50 blocked shots ... so, it is no surprise that the sophomore again leads the team in that category this season ... but, Honegger is blocking shots at an even more prolific pace this year ... she had 1.61 blocks per contest last winter, and -- with 21 rejections through 10 games this season -- currently averages 2.10 per game ... she already has 71 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.
