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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head to 'The Pit' for Lobo Shootout
December 08, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2004
Game notes (16 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
GAME #7
BGSU at NEW MEXICO
Fri., Dec. 10, 2004
8:00 p.m. MT
Lobo Shootout
University Arena (18,018)
Albuquerque, N.M.
RADIO: None
SERIES: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: N/A
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after returning from a tournament out east, now heads west for another tourney ... the Falcons of fourth-year head coach Curt Miller continue a six-game road stretch with a pair of contests in this weekend's Lobo Shootout in Albuquerque, N.M. ... BGSU will meet the host University of New Mexico in Friday's (Dec. 10) first round, with that game scheduled for an 8:00 p.m. Mountain Time (10:00 p.m. Eastern) tipoff at University Arena (18,018) ... San Diego will face Utah State in the evening's first game ... on Saturday (Dec. 11), the four teams return to "The Pit" for second-day action, with the consolation game scheduled for 6:00 p.m. MT, followed by the championship at 8:00 p.m. MT.
University Arena - Albuquerque, N.M.
Friday, Dec. 10 San Diego vs. Utah State, 6:00 p.m. MT Bowling Green at New Mexico, 8:00 p.m. MTSaturday, Dec. 11 Consolation, 6:00 p.m. MT Championship, 8:00 p.m. MT
HONEGGER NAMED MAC PLAYER OF WEEK
Sophomore Liz Honegger was named a Mid-American Conference Player of the Week on Monday (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 last 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 ... on the year, she leads the team in scoring (14.0 ppg), rebounds (9.0 rpg), steals (2.8 spg) and blocks (2.3 bpg).
ROAD WARRIORS
As mentioned above, BGSU is in the midst of a six-game road stretch ... the Falcons will not play another home game for a calendar month, after opening the Anderson Arena slate with a win over Youngstown State (Nov. 30; next home game is Dec. 30 vs. Bucknell) ... in fact, when the Falcons left for the Providence, R.I., last 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 plays in tourneys at Brown and New Mexico on back-to-back weekends, then will spend the following weekend in Western Pennsylvania to take on St. Francis (Dec. 18) and Robert Morris (Dec. 20).
IT'S (IN-SEASON) TOURNEY TIME
BGSU went 1-1 at last weekend's Brown Classic ... 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 17 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.
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 (Dec. 10-11) 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 3-3 overall record to New Mexico, after a pair of 22-point wins sandwiched around a three-point loss last week ... 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 75.0 points per game, currently have no fewer than five players -- four sophomores and a freshman -- with double-digit averages ... soph Liz Honegger paces the Brown and Orange in scoring (14.0 ppg), and also leads the team in rebounding (9.0), steals (2.8) and blocks (2.3) ... classmate Ali Mann has 11.5 points and 7.2 boards per game to rank second on the team in each category, while freshman Kate Achter is averaging 10.5 points and a team-high 4.2 assists per outing ... sophomore Megan Thorburn has 10.2 points per game to date, while another soph, Carin Horne, is averaging an even 10.0 points ... redshirt junior Casey McDowell has 7.0 points ... Honegger and Mann are the only players to have started all six games this year, while McDowell and senior co-captain Tene Lewis each have made five starts ... eight of the 12 healthy Falcons have started at least one game in the early going this season ... Achter, Horne and McDowell joined Honegger and Mann in the starting five for the most recent game, vs. Winthrop.
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 ... two freshmen, guards Achter and Whitney Taylor, round out the Falcon squad.
 New Mexico's Mandi Moore (in white) fights for a loose ball with Texas' Kala Bowers during the second half of Saturday's (Dec. 4) game in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Jake Schoellkopf)  |
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New Mexico will take a 4-1 overall record into Friday's game vs. BGSU ... the Lobos opened the season with four-straight wins, over New Mexico State, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Gonzaga, before falling to No. 7 Texas, 73-56, on Saturday (Dec. 4) ... freshman forward Dionne Marsh currently paces UNM in scoring, with 10.0 points per game ... sophomore guard Katie Montgomery is averaging 9.4 points off the bench, while senior forward Lindsey Arndt has 9.2 points and a team-high 5.6 rebounds ... sophomore guard Fatima Maddox is averaging 7.2 points in the Lobos' balanced attack ... junior guard Abbie Letz (5.4 ppg) and senior guard Mandi Moore (4.8 ppg, 6.6 apg) joined Arndt, Maddox and Marsh in the starting lineup for head coach Don Flanagan against Texas ... the Lobos finished last season with a 23-8 record, and won the Mountain West Conference with a 12-2 league mark ... UNM won the conference tournament for the second consecutive year, and made a third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance ... Flanagan has a record of 195-90 in his 10th season as head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.golobos.com.
SCOUTING SAN DIEGO
San Diego will take a 3-4 record to Albuquerque, after dropping a 68-47 decision to visiting USC Tuesday (Dec. 7) ... the Toreros boast wins over San Diego State, Clemson and UC Riverside ... the team's other three losses came on the road, to Arizona State, Long Beach State and Fresno State, with the latter setback coming Sunday (43-68; Dec. 5) ... individually, freshman forward Amber Sprague leads USD with 14.9 points per game, while sophomore center Sabine Loewe averages 8.6 points and a team-leading 5.9 rebounds ... freshman guard Amanda Rego and junior guard Tiara Harris have 7.6 and 7.4 points per game, respectively ... redshirt junior guards Brandi Collato (6.8 ppg) and Polly Dong (2.7 ppg, 3.7 apg) joined Harris, Loewe and Sprague in the starting lineup vs. USC ... last year, the Toreros finished 7-22 overall, and had a 1-13 West Coast Conference record ... head coach Kathy Marpe has a record of 288-383 in her 25th year with the school ... the school's athletics web site is www.usdtoreros.com.
SCOUTING UTAH STATE
Utah State takes a 3-2 record into Friday's game vs. San Diego ... like the Falcons, the Aggies are in the midst of a six-game road stretch ... USU has won three of the four road games to begin that stretch, downing Utah Valley State, Southern Utah and Air Force ... the team's losses have come at home to Weber State and on the road vs. Northern Colorado ... six players are averaging at least 8.2 points per game, led by freshman guard Taylor Richards at 11.4 ... Richards also paces the Aggies with 4.6 assists ... sophomore forward Brittany Tressler has 11.2 points per game off the bench, while junior center Ali Aird has 10.4 points and a team-leading 6.4 rebounds ... junior forward Jessica Freeman (8.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg), junior guard Ashley Rutledge (3.4 ppg) and sophomore guard Camille Brox (2.4 ppg) join Aird and Richards in the starting lineup for second-year head coach Raegan Pebley ... last year, in the team's first season as a varsity program after a 16-year hiatus, the Aggies went 5-22 overall and 5-13 in the Big West Conference ... the school's athletics web site is www.UtahStateAggies.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons have never met New Mexico, San Diego or Utah State in women's basketball.
THE SERIES (SORT OF)
Not only has BGSU never met any of this weekend's three potential opponents, the Falcons have never played a school located in New Mexico, and BG has never played a game in the state of New Mexico, either ... in fact, the Falcons have played only one previous game against a member of any of the three schools' respective conferences ... BGSU defeated Portland, a member of the West Coast Conference, by a 97-74 score on Dec. 2, 1989 ... that game was played at the Domino's Classic in Missoula, Mont. ... the Falcons have never played any of the current schools in either the Mountain West Conference or the Big West Conference.
BGSU/LOBO SHOOTOUT TIES
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 six games.
FINDING THE RIGHT COMBINATION
Through six games, the Falcons have used four different starting lineups ... BGSU utilized four different starting lineups during all of last season, in a total of 31 games.
NO STREAKING
After six 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 four contests as well.
CROWDED HOUSE
BGSU very likely will set a single-game attendance record in Friday's game at New Mexico ... the biggest crowd ever to witness a game involving the Falcons is 7,639, in BGSU's season opener at Wisconsin six years ago (Nov. 15, 1998) ... UNM averaged 11,620 fans at 17 home games last year, and the Lobos are drawing fans at a rate of 10,493 per game through three contests at 'The Pit' this season.
BLOCK PARTY
Liz Honegger, just a sophomore, has moved into the top-five on the BGSU career list for blocked shots ... Honegger now has 64 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.
LAST TIME OUT
A 15-0 run early in the second half propelled the Falcons to a 74-52 victory over Winthrop Sunday afternoon (Dec. 5), in the consolation game of the Brown Classic in Providence, R.I. ... sophomore Liz Honegger paced the Brown and Orange with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while classmate Megan Thorburn had 16 points off the bench ... Arin Kress led WU with a game-high 19 points ... BGSU forced the Lady Eagles into 24 turnovers, and scored 31 points off those miscues ... the Falcons scored the game's first nine points, but Winthrop crept back into the game during a first half that featured 27 personal fouls and 31 free-throw attempts ... BG led by 10 at the intermission, 35-25 ... after Winthrop scored the first basket of the second half, the Falcons shut down the Lady Eagles over the next 6:08 while scoring the game's next 15 points to take a 50-27 lead ... sophomore Carin Horne had nine points in the game, while both freshman Kate Achter and junior Casey McDowell had seven ... Achter had a game-high seven assists.
HONEGGER NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Sophomore Liz Honegger was named to the all-tournament team at the Brown Classic in Providence, R.I., last weekend (Dec. 4-5) ... it marked the first all-tourney honor at BG for Honegger ... Brown's Holly Robertson was the tournament's MVP, while BU's Sarah Hayes, Lehigh's Jessica DePalo and Adrienne Blount and Winthrop's Arin Kress joined Honegger on the team.
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).
20-20-20-20-20 VISION
Sophomore Carin Horne scored 20 points in the Lehigh game (Dec. 4), BG's fifth game of the year ... Horne became the fifth different BGSU player to score at least 20 points in a game this season, as four sophs and a freshman have turned the trick ... Horne's classmates Liz Honegger, Ali Mann and Megan Thorburn each have reached the 20-point plateau at least once this year, as has freshman Kate Achter.
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. 7) ...
DOUBLE-DOUBLE(S) FOR HONEGGER
Sophomore Liz Honegger had two double-doubles last week, with 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds in the YSU contest, and an 18-point, 11-board game vs. Winthrop ... Honegger now has BG's only two double-doubles this season to date, and has six in her career.
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. Winthrop ... Honegger now has 11 double-digit rebounding games in her career, the most among active Falcons (classmate Ali Mann has eight).
KATE IS EIGHT-FOR-EIGHT VS. YOUNGSTOWN STATE
Freshman Kate Achter had the finest game of her young Falcon career against Youngstown State (Nov. 30), scoring a game-high 23 points in BG's win ... Achter was a perfect 8-for-8 from the field in the win ... that shooting performance was the finest by a Falcon since Michelle Terry's school-record 11-for-11 game nearly nine years ago (at Eastern Michigan; Feb. 14, 1996).
KATE'S FREE-THROW RATE IS GREAT
Freshman Kate Achter has shown an ability to get herself to the free-throw line, and also has demonstrated an ability to sink the charity tosses once she gets there ... Achter was 17-for-20 from the stripe in last week's three games ... she made 7-of-8 free-throw tries in the Youngstown State game, then went 5-for-6 in each game at the Brown Classic ... on the year, she is shooting .833 (25-of-30) from the stripe, leading the team and ranking seventh in the MAC ... she made her first collegiate start in the Winthrop game.
THAT'S AN ADVANTAGE
The Falcons held sizeable advantages in several categories in the Youngstown State game ... BGSU had a decisive 48-8 margin in points in the paint, including a 30-0 first-half advantage in that category ... BG's bench outscored the Penguin subs, 41-13, and the home team had 30 points off turnovers, to the visitors' nine.
SHARP-SHOOTING FALCONS
BGSU had a field-goal percentage of 52.5% in the win over YSU, the Falcons' best success rate of the young season ... BG now has shot at least 50 percent from the field twice in the first four games, matching the Falcons' total for all of last season.
DEFENSE!
The Falcons and Youngstown State were tied, 22-22, with 9:02 remaining in the first half of that game ... from that point, however, the Brown and Orange held the Penguins without a field goal for the remainder of the half ... BGSU's defense forced the visitors to miss 11 shots and commit five turnovers during that 9:02 stretch.
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 ... 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 22 times in 37 career games.
START ME UP
Redshirt junior Casey McDowell made the first start of her BGSU career in the IPFW game ... McDowell made a total of 20 starts as a true freshman at Indiana State in the 2001-02 season ... she sat out the 2002-03 campaign after transferring to BG, then came off the bench to play in 29 games last year ... McDowell has now started five consecutive games, having also been in the starting five vs. Duquesne, Youngstown State, Lehigh and Winthrop.
178 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 178 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.
