Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Begin Two-Game Road Swing At Ohio
February 10, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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BGSU (13-7, 6-3)
at
OHIO (9-11, 3-6)
Game #21Wed., Feb. 11, 2004
7:00 p.m.
Convocation Center (13,000)
Athens, Ohio
Radio: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: BGSU leads, 36-18
Last meeting: at BGSU 73, Ohio 72 (Jan. 8, 2003)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after a big win at home against the Mid-American Conference's West Division leader, now returns to the road for a pair of games, beginning Wednesday (Feb. 11) ... the Falcons of third-year head coach Curt Miller will head to Athens to face Ohio University, , with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Convocation Center (13,000) ... the game will be broadcast on student station WBGU-FM (88.1).
Following the Ohio game, the Falcons will travel to Central Michigan for a Saturday (Feb. 14) contest vs. Central Michigan University ... the Valentine's Day game is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. at Rose Arena (5,200) ... the Falcons' next home game will be Wednesday, Feb. 18, vs. Northern Illinois in a 7:00 p.m. start at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700).
AUSTIN'S BUZZER BEATER BESTS BRONCOS
Senior Lindsay Austin hit a jumper in the lane as time expired, giving the Falcons a 69-67 win over MAC-leading Western Michigan Saturday afternoon (Feb. 7) ... with the game tied and the clock winding down, Austin got the ball at the top of the three-point arc ... she drove to her left, got herself into the lane and took a jumper from approximately 10 feet away ... the ball hit the rim, glanced off the backboard, hit the rim again as the buzzer sounded, and dropped through, sparking a wild celebration among the BGSU players and Falcon faithful ... Austin has been named MAC Player of the Week.
BGSU TOPS LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTALS
The Falcons have surpassed the team's victory totals for all of last season ... BGSU enters the Ohio game at 13-7 overall and 6-3 in MAC play ... the 2002-03 version of the Brown and Orange finished with an overall record of 12-16 and a MAC mark of 5-11 ... last year, the Falcons tied for sixth in the West Division ... BGSU has not had a winning record since the WNIT team of 1997-98 (21-8 overall), and the Falcons have not finished MAC play on the positive side of .500 since 1998-99 (9-7).
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU enters Wednesday's Ohio game with a record of 13-7, and the Falcons are 6-3 in MAC play ... the Falcons are coming off of a two-game stretch against the league's divisional leaders ... after Tuesday's (Feb. 3) 92-81 loss at Miami, the Falcons rebounded for a 69-67 win over visiting Western Michigan Saturday (Feb. 7) ... BG has won nine of the last 12 games, and the Falcons have won six of the last eight games, all in MAC play ... those five league wins include a pair of road victories, at Northern Illinois (66-58; Jan. 10) and Toledo (57-54; Jan. 21).
Senior Stefanie Wenzel leads the Falcons with 14.9 points per game after her game-high 23 points vs. WMU, and is averaging 5.0 rebounds per contest ... four freshmen are ranked among the top-six in the Falcons' balanced scoring attack ... one of those freshmen, Ali Mann, has 12.1 points and a team-high 7.6 rebounds after posting a double-double against the Broncos ... Mann now has five double-doubles on the year ... another frosh, Liz Honegger, has 10.9 points and is second on the team in rebounding, with 7.2 boards per game ... Honegger leads the Falcons with 1.7 blocked shots per outing.
Senior Lindsay Austin has 10.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and team-leading totals of 5.5 assists and 2.8 steals ... Austin, who had a school-record 10 steals at Miami, has five double-doubles this year (three points-rebounds, one pts.-assists and one pts.-steals) to tie Mann for the team lead ... freshman Megan Thorburn has 7.6 points and 3.5 caroms on the year, while classmate Carin Horne is averaging 5.8 points ... junior Kelly Kapferer and sophomore Casey McDowell average 4.4 and 2.7 points, respectively, off the bench.
Austin and Wenzel each have started all 20 games, while frosh Honegger and Mann have started 19 and Thorburn 17 ... Horne has started the last three contests, while Kapferer has made a pair of starts this winter.
The Falcons are shooting .409 from the field this season, including a .336 rate from three-point land, and .750 from the free-throw line ... the opponents have shot .397 from the floor, .326 from the arc and .688 from the line to date.
BGSU is 7-2 at home, 4-5 in road games and 2-0 in neutral-site contests this year ... in league play, the Falcons are 4-1 at Anderson Arena and 2-2 away from home ... last season, BG went 6-6 at home, 5-9 on the road and 1-1 on neutral courts ... in MAC contests, the Falcons finished 4-4 at home and 1-7 away from Anderson in 2002-03.
SCOUTING OHIO
Ohio enters the BGSU game with an overall record of 9-11, and the Bobcats are 3-6 in MAC play ... OU has won the last two games, however, including a road win over Central Michigan (53-48; Feb. 3) ... on Saturday (Feb. 7), one week after BGSU beat visiting Buffalo by one point, Ohio posted a 20-point victory over the Bulls, 65-45 ... the 'Cats are 3-5 at home this year, including 1-3 in MAC play at the Convocation Center ... individually, senior forward Latreece Bagley leads a balanced Bobcat scoring attack with 11.8 points per game, and also has 6.6 rebounds ... senior wing Candace Bates has 9.2 points, while both junior forward Erin Isbell and freshman guard Angel Hornsburger have 7.4 points per outing ... Isbell averages a team-high 7.5 rebounds, while Hornsburger leads the team with 2.5 assists ... senior guard Andrea Gay (5.4 ppg), who has started all 20 games, rounds out the probable starting five for head coach Lynn Bria ... four other players are averaging over 4.8 points per contest ... Bria welcomed back 10 letterwinners, including all five starters, from last year's team that finished 9-19 overall and 5-11 in the MAC ... Bria has a record of 51-83 in her fifth season in Athens ... she is 127-173 in her 11th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is ohiobobcats.com.
THE BGSU-OHIO SERIES
The Falcons hold a 36-18 lead over Ohio in the all-time series between the teams, but the teams have battled to a 12-12 deadlock in games played in Athens ... BGSU won last year's lone meeting, 73-72 at Anderson Arena (Jan. 8, 2003) in the MAC opener for both teams ... despite the teams meeting only once last year, the Falcons and Bobcats have faced off a total of nine times in the last four seasons ... the hosts took the last game played at 'The Convo,' with a 74-68 win over the Falcons in a MAC Tournament first-round game (March 2, 2002) ... the teams have split the last four meetings, snapping a six-game Falcon series win streak ... 13 of the last 15 series meetings have been decided by 10 points or fewer.
SCHOOL TIES
BGSU assistant coach Kevin Eckert is a graduate of Ohio University, holding several degrees from the school ... he earned his bachelor's degree in 1996, and got his master's degree in athletic administration in 1998 ... Eckert spent two seasons as a graduate assistant for Larry Hunter's Bobcat men's team.
MAC SERIES INFORMATION
The Falcons lead the all-time series with 10 of the 12 MAC opponents, and are tied with one other foe ... BGSU's win over Buffalo (Jan. 31) evened that series at 5-5 ... the Falcons trail only one MAC school, by the slimmest of margins ... Northern Illinois holds an 11-10 series advantage over BGSU, after the Falcons' road win on Jan. 10.
LAST TIME OUT
Senior Lindsay Austin's buzzer-beating basket gave the Falcons a 69-67 win over Western Michigan Saturday afternoon (Feb. 7), as BGSU knocked off the West Division leaders ... the Falcons' other senior, Stefanie Wenzel, led all players with 23 points, while freshman Ali Mann had a double-double with 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds ... another freshman, Liz Honegger, had 13 points for the Brown and Orange ... for the Broncos, Maria Jilian led four double-digit scorers with 20 points, while Carrie Moore had 15.
AUSTIN NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior Lindsay Austin has been named the MAC Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday (Feb. 9) ... Austin earns the honor for the first time this season and the second time in her Falcon career ... she averaged 10.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 6.0 steals as the Falcons split a pair of games against the MAC's two divisional leaders last week ... Austin began the week by setting a school record with 10 steals in the Falcons' 92-81 loss at Miami Tuesday (Feb. 3) ... then, she hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer, giving the Falcons a 69-67 win over Western Michigan Saturday afternoon (Feb. 7) at Anderson Arena ... Austin's honor marks the third time a Falcon player has been named MAC P-O-W this season ... freshman Liz Honegger earned the award on both Dec. 15 and Jan. 5 ... Austin took West Division honors, while Miami's Amanda Jackson was this week's East Division recipient.
HOME COOKIN': BGSU HOLDING SERVE AT HOME ...
The Falcons have a record of 7-2 at home, including a MAC mark of 4-1 at Anderson Arena this year ... BGSU's home win total is the highest since the 1998-99 season, when the Falcons went 8-4 ... the Falcons are looking for the first winning MAC home record in three years.
...AND LOOKING TO STEAL SOME ON THE ROAD
After just two games, the Falcons had surpassed last season's total of MAC road victories ... BGSU has since lost at Eastern Michigan and Miami, but the Falcons are 2-2 in conference road games this season ... last winter, the Brown and Orange went 1-7 in MAC games away from home, with only a three-point win at Akron (65-62) going in the plus column for the Falcons ... overall, the Falcons are 4-5 in road games this year, and BG is 6-5 in all games played away from home.
A FEW MORE NOTES FROM THE WMU GAME
THAT'S A(NOTHER) CLOSE ONE
BGSU fans looking for exciting games are certainly getting their money's worth this season ... seven of the Falcons' nine MAC games have been decided by eight points or fewer (with four of the last five decided by no more than three points) ... prior to the 11-point setback at Miami, three consecutive Falcon outings were decided by three points or less ... the last time BGSU had played three-straight games decided by three points or fewer came over two decades ago, during the 1983-84 season.
AUSTIN SETS SINGLE-GAME STEALS RECORD
Senior Lindsay Austin set the BGSU single-game record with 10 steals at Miami (Feb. 3) ... Austin had nine of her steals in the first half to tie the old record (set by Melissa Chase vs. Northern Illinois on Nov. 28, 1980) ... she stripped MU's Amanda Jackson of the ball midway through the second half to make the record her own ... she now has 210 career steals to move into third place on the BGSU career list.
FALCONS' GAME VS. KENT STATE TO START AT 1:00 P.M.
The starting time for the Falcons' game vs. Kent State has been set ... BGSU will face the Golden Flashes on Sat., Feb. 21, in a 1:00 p.m. tipoff at Anderson Arena ... the game will be part of a doubleheader at Anderson - the fifth DH this season - with the Falcon men taking on Youngstown State at 3:30 p.m. ... the latter game is a part of ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday.
START ME UP (THE CAREER STARTS LIST)
Senior Lindsay Austin's starting assignment vs. Western Michigan was the 99th of her career, ranking her fifth on that Falcon career list ... with at least eight games remaining (seven regular-season games plus the MAC Tournament's first round), Austin has a chance to move into second place on the all-time list, currently held by Susie Cassell (106 games) ... Jackie Motycka holds the BGSU record with 115 games started.
AUSTIN COULD ENTER UNCHARTED WATERS
Senior Lindsay Austin is on a number of other BGSU career lists, and has a chance to go where no Falcon has gone before ... she enters the Ohio game with career totals of 892 points, 447 assists and 212 steals ... Austin became just the fourth player in school history to reach the 400 career assists barrier, and -- after her school-record total of 10 steals in the Miami game (Feb. 3) -- now ranks third in career steals at BG ... Austin is just six steals behind second-place Dee Knoblauch (218 from 1979-83), and is 29 away from school record-holder Lori Albers (241 from 1989-94) ... Austin could become the 17th Falcon to score 1,000 career points, although teammate Stefanie Wenzel could beat her there (see following note) ... no Falcon ever has totalled 1,000 points and 400 assists in a career, much less 200 steals as well ... only one BGSU player, Judit Lendvay (1989-93), had 1,000 points (1,078) and as many as 300 assists (304) ... Austin is one of only two players (joining Susie Cassell) to be ranked among the top-five on the career games started, assists and steals charts at BG.
WENZEL EYES THAT CENTURY MARK, TOO
Both of the Falcon seniors have a chance to reach the 1,000-point barrier for their careers ... Stefanie Wenzel enters the Ohio game with a career total of 941 points, ranking her 18th on the BGSU career scoring list ... 905 of those points have come since her freshman year, an average of 11.9 points per game over the last two-plus seasons ... the lone returnee to have averaged double digits in scoring in each of the last two years, Wenzel had 15 games of 10 or more points last year, the most among returning Falcons ... already, she has topped that total this season, with double-digit efforts in a team-high 17 of BGSU's 20 games ... her 23-point effort vs. Western Michigan upped her career scoring average into double figures, with 10.2 ppg in her 92 career contests.
GOOD START
The Falcons enter the Ohio game with an overall record of 13-7 and a MAC mark of 6-3 ... that poses the question: how long has it been since a BG team had such a solid start to the season?
DOUBLY GOOD
Freshman Ali Mann had a double-double vs. Western Michigan Saturday (Feb. 7), with 18 points and 12 rebounds ... that came four days after senior Lindsay Austin had the first points-steals double-double in school history, with 13 points and 10 thefts at Miami ... Austin and Mann each have five double-doubles on the year, and BGSU players have totalled 14 double-doubles on the season ... last year, Falcon players had a season total of four double-doubles.
BGSU'S BOARDWORK PAYING OFF
Last year, the Falcons held a rebounding advantage just four times in 28 games ... in 2003-04, BG has BEEN outrebounded only five times in 20 contests ... the Falcons have outboarded the opponent 13 times, battling to a draw in two other games ... BG has a +3.1 rebounding margin this season to date, both overall and in MAC games.
BOARDWORK PAYING OFF, PART II
BGSU, as mentioned, has had more rebounds than the opposition 13 times in 20 games in 2003-04, and the Falcons are 10-3 in such contests ... the Brown and Orange had held the rebounding advantage only nine times (in 56 games) over the previous two years, going 7-2 in such games (4-0 in 2002-03, 3-2 in 2001-02).
