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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Lights, Camera, MAC-tion: Falcons Head To Ball State Sunday
February 27, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Notes (20 pages) in PDF Format
2003-04 Boxscores (7 pages) in PDF Format
Radio/TV Roster (1 page) in PDF Format
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BGSU (16-9, 9-5)
at
BALL STATE (12-13, 7-7)
Game #26Sunday, February 29, 2004
12:00 p.m.
Worthen Arena (11,500)
Muncie, Ind.
TV: FOX SPORTS NET (MAC TV)
Radio: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: BGSU leads, 33-12
Last Meeting: Ball State 72, at BGSU 70 (Jan. 7, 2004)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, having won three consecutive road games, completes the road portion of the Mid-American Conference schedule Sunday afternoon (Feb. 29) ... the Falcons of third-year head coach Curt Miller head to Muncie, Ind., to face Ball State University ... the game, which will begin at noon, will be televised on Fox Sports Net Ohio as part of the MAC TV package ... Fox Sports Net Detroit also will air the game on a tape-delayed basis ... Dave Weekley and Debbie Leonard provide the play-by-play and color commentary, respectively ... Sunday's game also will be broadcast on student radio station WBGU-FM (88.1).
Following the BSU game, the Falcons will return home to close the regular season with a contest vs. the arch-rival University of Toledo on Tuesday (March 2) at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... tipoff for the "Senior Night" game is at 7:00 p.m. ... BGSU has clinched at least a home game for the first round of the MAC Tournament, and the Falcons are still in contention for a first-round bye ... should the Falcons host a first-round game, tipoff would be at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 6, at Anderson.
MOST-IMPROVED TEAM IN THE MAC?
A case can be made that the Falcons are the MAC's most improved team ... the 77-67 win at Marshall Wednesday (Feb. 25) improved BGSU's records to 16-9 overall and 9-5 in MAC play ... in each case, the Falcons have topped the win totals from last season by four games ... last year's BG squad went 12-16 overall and 5-9 in the MAC ... heading into weekend action, the Falcons are the lone team to have four more league wins than a year ago ... overall, only two teams have a better improvement in the win column.
WIN DIFFERENTIAL, 2002-03 TO 2003-04 MAC Games Only All Games 1. Bowling Green, +4 1. Eastern Michigan, Akron, +5 2. Miami, Eastern Michigan, +2 3. Bowling Green, +4
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU enters Sunday's Ball State game with an overall record of 16-9, and the Falcons are 9-5 in MAC play ... BG, having surpassed last year's win totals by four games, has clinched a winning regular-season record for the first time in six years ... the Falcons, after beginning the month of February with a two-game stretch against the league's divisional leaders, then returned from a two-game road swing with a pair of wins ... after a 92-81 loss at East-leading Miami (Feb. 3), the Falcons rebounded for a 69-67 win over the other divisional leader, Western Michigan (Feb. 7) ... then, the Brown and Orange picked up victories at Ohio (76-55; Feb. 11) and Central Michigan (69-51; Feb. 14) ... the Falcons dropped a pair of home games -- a four-OT game to Northern Illinois (Feb. 18), 102-97, and a 71-62 loss to Kent Statethree days later -- but rebounded with another road win, 77-67 at Marshall Wednesday (Feb. 25) ... BG has won nine of the last 13 games, all in MAC play ... since Christmas, the Falcons have captured 12 of 17 contests ... the Falcons' total of nine league wins includes five road victories, at NIU (66-58; Jan. 10), Toledo (57-54; Jan. 21), Ohio, Central and Marshall.
Senior Stefanie Wenzel leads the Falcons with 15.2 points per game, and is averaging 4.7 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 7.9 rebounds, leading BG in rebounding and ranking second in scoring ... Mann has a BGSU-high seven double-doubles on the year ... another frosh, Liz Honegger, has 10.5 points and is second on the Falcons in rebounding, with 7.4 boards per game ... Honegger leads the Brown and Orange with 1.6 blocked shots per outing.
Senior Lindsay Austin has 10.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and team-leading totals of 5.4 assists and 2.5 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) ... freshman Carin Horne has 7.7 points and 3.5 caroms on the year, while classmate Megan Thorburn is averaging 6.9 points ... junior Kelly Kapferer and sophomore Casey McDowell average 4.4 and 2.6 points, respectively, off the bench.
BGSU ended the 2002-03 season with a record of 12-16, and the Falcons finished the MAC campaign with a 5-11 league record ... the Falcons tied for sixth in the MAC's West Division last year ... in 2003-04, head coach Curt Miller's Falcons returned six letterwinners from that team, including a pair of senior co-captains in starters Austin and Wenzel ... in addition, the Falcons also welcomed back two juniors, Tene Lewis and Sakima Smith, along with a pair of sophomores in Jill Lause and Marisa Smith.
The Falcons also had nine 'newcomers' when practice commenced in October, including Kapferer and McDowell ... Kapferer earned two letters at BGSU before sitting out last season, while McDowell sat out last year at BG after transferring from Indiana State ... the freshman class consists of Amber Flynn (Cincinnati, Ohio), Julie Gompers (Wheeling, W.Va.), Honegger (Lafayette, Ind.), Horne (Lima, Ohio), Mann (Chelsea, Mich.), Kim Nowakowski (Butler, Pa.) and Thorburn (Mason, Mich.) ... Nowakowski has been sidelined due to injury, and will redshirt the 2003-04 season.
On the sidelines, Miller is joined by third-year assistants Jennifer Roos and Brandi Poole ... Kevin Eckert is in his second season on the Falcon staff.
Austin and Wenzel each have started all 25 games, while frosh Honegger and Mann have started 24 and Thorburn 17 ... Horne has started the last eight contests, while Kapferer has made a pair of starts this winter.
The Falcons are shooting .409 from the field this season, including a .331 rate from three-point land, and .740 from the free-throw line ... the opponents have shot .388 from the floor, .333 from the arc and .699 from the line to date.
BGSU is 7-4 at home, 7-5 in road games and 2-0 in neutral-site contests this year ... in league play, the Falcons are 4-3 at Anderson Arena and 5-2 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 BALL STATE
Ball State enters Sunday's game with an overall record of 12-13 and a MAC mark of 7-7 ... the Cardinals are looking to snap a four-game losing streak ... all four losses came on the road, against the teams that currently comprise the top-four seeds ... BSU's most recent game was a 75-65 loss at Miami Wednesday (Feb. 25) ... the Cards have not played a home game since a 70-57 win over Northern Illinois back on Feb. 7 ... Ball State is 6-4 at home this year, including a 5-2 MAC record at Worthen Arena ... individually, junior forward Kate Endress leads the team with 19.1 points per game, and also has 6.2 rebounds per outing ... senior guard Johna Goff has 13.2 points and 4.8 assists per game, while senior forward Jessica Reiter averages 9.8 points and a team-high 10.4 boards ... sophomore guard Dana Collins has 7.0 points and 3.1 assists ... freshman guard Kelsey Corbin (4.9 ppg) joins the aforementioned four players in the probable starting lineup for coach Tracy Roller ... Roller welcomed back 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that went 21-10 overall and tied for the West Division title with a 12-4 MAC record ... Roller has a head-coaching record of 57-31 in her third season, all in Muncie ... the school's athletics web site is www.ballstatesports.com.
THE BGSU-BALL STATE SERIES
The Falcons lead Ball State, 33-12, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Cardinals have captured the last four meetings ... BSU won both of last year's meetings, a 96-71 verdict in Muncie (Jan. 22, 2003) and a 90-85 thriller at Anderson Arena (Feb. 19, 2003) ... the latter game was BSU's first-ever win in BG, and the Cardinals picked up another with a 72-70 triumph in this season's first meeting (Jan. 7, 2004) ... the Falcons have a 12-9 record in road games vs. the Cards, although BSU has won the last two games in Muncie by an average of 27 points ... overall, Ball State's last four wins came after a five-game BG series win streak, and the Falcons had won 17 of the 18 meetings prior to the current BSU streak.
MAC SERIES INFORMATION
The Falcons lead the all-time series with 10 of the 12 MAC opponents, and one other series is tied ... BG's win over Buffalo (Jan. 31) evened that series at 5-5 ... the Falcons trail only one MAC school, as Northern Illinois holds a 12-10 series lead over BGSU.
MAC TOURNAMENT PICTURE
If the regular season had ended after Wednesday's games, the Falcons would be the fifth seed for the MAC Tournament, and would open tourney play with a first-round home game vs. #12 Akron ... BGSU has clinched at least a top-eight seed and a home berth for the first round ... the Falcons, who can finish no lower than seventh, are still in the race for a bye ... the top-three seeds in the conference tourney will earn first-round byes, with the division winners earning the first and second seeds ... the team with the best record among the remaining 11 schools will earn the third seed and the final first-round bye ... the fourth through eighth seeds for the tournament will host first-round contests on Saturday, March 6 ... following the first round, the five winners will join the top-three seeds at Cleveland's Gund Arena for the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 10 ... the semifinals and championship are scheduled for March 12 and 13, respectively ... to follow is a look at the conference record of each school, along with their remaining regular-season games...
School W-L Saturday Tuesday Miami 13-1 vs. Buffalo vs. Kent State Eastern Michigan 11-4 idle @Central Michigan Kent State 10-4 @Akron @MiamiWestern Michigan 10-5 vs. Toledo idle Bowling Green 9-5 @Ball State (Sun.) vs. Toledo Toledo 8-6 @Western Michigan @Bowling Green Ball State 7-7 vs. BGSU (Sun.) @Northern Illinois Marshall 6-8 vs. Ohio vs. Akron
Ohio 6-8 @Marshall @Buffalo Northern Illinois 5-9 vs. Central Mich. vs. Ball State Buffalo 4-10 @Miami vs. Ohio Akron 2-12 vs. Kent State @Marshall Central Michigan 1-13 @Northern Ill. vs. Eastern Michigan
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons built a big lead, then held off a late Marshall rally for a 77-67 win over the Thundering Herd Wednesday night (Feb. 25) ... senior Stefanie Wenzel led all scorers with 21 points, including a 5-for-7 night from three-point land ... freshman Ali Mann had 20 points and a team-high eight rebounds, and made three treys in five long-range attempts ... senior Lindsay Austin and junior Kelly Kapferer each had 10 points in the win ... Austin, who played all 40 minutes, added seven assists, six rebounds and a blocked shot ... Kapferer came off the bench to shoot 5-for-6 from the field ... Sikeetha Shepard-Hall scored 18 points for the hosts, while Mary Pat Statler had 17 points off the bench ... the Falcons led from wire to wire, scoring 11 of the game's first 13 points ... Mann scored the first four points, and freshman Carin Horne later scored seven-straight points in a 51-second span ... the Herd battled back to within a single point on two occasions in the first half ... each time, however, a Wenzel trey restored a four-point Falcon lead ... BGSU used a 9-0 run late in the first half to open up an 11-point lead, and the Falcons took a 37-25 advantage into the intermission ... in the second half, a Wenzel triple opened up the lead to 18 points, at 50-32 ... the Herd scored four-straight points before the Falcons responded ... after a Kapferer hoop gave BG a 52-36 lead, Mann hit back-to-back three-pointers ... then, Austin drove and found Kapferer for a wide-open layup, and the Falcons led, 60-38, with 10:55 remaining ... but, the Herd wasn't finished ... MU scored the game's next seven points, in a span of only 28 seconds, to cut the lead to 15 at the midway point of the second half ... that began a 13-2 run that cut the BG margin to 62-51 ... Wenzel scored four-straight points, but seven consecutive points by the Herd got the hosts within single digits, 66-58, with 4:51 left ... Statler then hit a triple, and a Modupe Ishola layup cut BG's lead to 67-63 with 3:34 on the clock ... with the Falcons still up by four, Marshall had the ball with under two minutes left, but the Herd missed several layup opportunities ... Austin fed Wenzel for a back-breaking trey with 1:23 left, and the Herd could get no closer than five points down the stretch ... BG struggled from the free-throw line in the late going, but the Falcons made enough to secure the win ... the Falcons shot .500 from the floor in the first half and .445 for the game, while holding the Herd to a .362 field-goal pct., including .290 in the opening half ... the Falcons' 10-of-21 three-point night (.476) included a 6-for-9 long-range effort in the second half, while Marshall made five treys in 24 tries (.208) ... BGSU went 17-of-29 from the free-throw line, while MU was 10-of-16 ... the Herd held a 46-40 rebounding advantage ... Mann and Horne tied for game honors with four steals apiece, while junior Tene Lewis had seven rebounds in 10 minutes of action off the bench ... the Herd's Catie Knable had 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
THE FALCONS...
WENZEL REACHES 1,000-POINT PLATEAU
In the Kent State game (Feb. 21), Falcon senior Stefanie Wenzel became the 17th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau for her career ... Wenzel hit the millennium mark by converting a three-point play with 11:09 left in the second half of that game ... after scoring a game-high 21 points at Marshall, Wenzel now has a career total of 1,022 points, ranking her 17th on the BGSU career scoring list ... 986 of those points have come since her freshman year, an average of 12.2 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 ... she has topped that total this season, with double-digit efforts in a team-high 22 of BGSU's 25 games, including in each of the last eight contests ... over the last month, Wenzel has upped her career scoring average into double figures, and she now averages 10.5 ppg through 97 career games.
HOME, AND LOOKING TO STAY THERE
Since the beginning of the 2003-04 season, Falcon head coach Curt Miller has stated that a primary goal of his team is to finish among the top-eight teams in the MAC, thereby earning a home game for the first round of the league tournament ... mission accomplished ... Miller and the Falcons have clinched a winning record, both overall and in MAC play, and BGSU will not have to go on the road when MAC Tournament play begins on March 6 ... BGSU currently holds down the fifth spot in the seedings, and the Falcons still are in the hunt for a top-three seed and a first-round bye ... BG was picked to finish sixth in the West in the MAC News Media Association's preseason poll.
HOME COOKIN': TRYING TO HOLD SERVE AT HOME ...
Despite two losses last week, the Falcons have a record of 7-4 at home, including a MAC mark of 4-3 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 is currently 5-2 in conference road games this season, and will finish with the best league road record since 1997-98 ... last winter, the Brown and Orange went 1-7 in MAC road games, with only a three-point win at Akron (65-62) going in the plus column for the Falcons ... overall, the Falcons are 7-5 in road games this year, and BG is 9-5 in all games played away from home in 2003-04.
'TENE' STANDS FOR 'TENACIOUS'
Junior Tene Lewis has provided a spark off the bench in the last two games ... against Kent State, Lewis had four points, two rebounds and a game-high four steals in just nine minutes of action ... additionally, she had an assist and took a charge ... Lewis' point total tied a season high, while her steals total matched her career best ... then, at Marshall, Lewis had three points and hauled down a season-high seven rebounds (tying a career best) in 10 minutes ... she also had an assist and a steal vs. the Herd, and has gotten herself to the foul line eight times in each of the last two games.
SMART ... VERY SMART
On Feb. 19, the Falcons' two senior co-captains were named to the Academic All-District IV Teams presented by CoSIDA ... Stefanie Wenzel was named to the first team, while Lindsay Austin was chosen to the third team ... for Wenzel, the honor marked the second-straight season she has been named to the all-district team, after earning second-team honors last year ... she is the first Falcon to earn first-team accolades since Jacki Raterman in 1999 ... as a first-team selection, Wenzel will have her name placed on the Academic All-America ballot ... Austin earns Academic All-District honors for the first time in her Falcon career ... the team is made up of student-athletes from Division I schools in the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee ... to be nominated, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore, a starter or important reserve, and must carry a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or higher ... Wenzel was one of four MAC student-athletes named to the five-member first team ... at the time of nomination, she maintained a 3.97 cumulative GPA as an integrated language arts major ... Austin carried a 3.57 cumulative GPA as a visual communication technology (VCT) major ... BG was one of just three schools (along with Cleveland State and Kent State) to have two student-athletes named to the team.
DIALING LONG DISTANCE
In the Marshall game, the Falcons hit double digits in three-point field goals made for the third time this season, and the first in MAC play ... BGSU's MAC season-high 10 triples made vs. the Herd marked the first double-figure performance in that category since a Dec. 6 win over IPFW (also 10 treys) ... the Falcons' season high is 12, recorded at Bucknell three days prior to that IPFW game.
BIGGEST MAC ROAD WIN SINCE...
The Falcons' 76-55 win at Ohio (Feb. 11) was the team's biggest MAC road victory in over seven years ... the 21-point margin was the largest on the road vs. a league opponent since a 68-44 triumph at Western Michigan on Feb. 1, 1997.
BIGGEST BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK ROAD WINS SINCE...
BGSU has won three consecutive MAC road games by double-digit margins ... after winning by 21 points at Ohio, the Falcons headed to Central Michigan and posted an 18-point win over the Chippewas three days later (Feb. 14) ... then, BG won by 10 over Marshall on Wednesday (Feb. 25) ... to put those wins into perspective, consider that...
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE...
A trio of freshmen -- Liz Honegger, Carin Horne and Ali Mann -- had double-doubles in the Northern Illinois game ... the last time three Falcon players had double-doubles in the same game was Jan. 25, 1995 ... the NIU game is believed to be the first time three freshmen have had double-doubles in the same game ... Horne's double-double was her first of the year, making a total of six different BGSU players that have had at least one double-double this year to date ... entering the Ball State game, Mann now has seven, while senior Lindsay Austin has five ... Honegger now has four double-doubles, while Horne has two and freshman Megan Thorburn and senior Stefanie Wenzel each have one in 2003-04.
...DOUBLE YOUR FUN
Falcon freshmen Carin Horne and Ali Mann each had double-doubles in the Kent State game, marking the second consecutive game each had turned the trick ... Mann had a career-high 16 rebounds vs. the Flashes, and averaged 14.0 points and 14.0 boards on the week (NIU and KSU games) ... Horne averaged 21.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in the two games.
DOUBLY GOOD
As mentioned, Ali Mann has seven double-doubles on the year to date ... that total is the highest for a BGSU player in a season in four years, since Francine Miller had nine in 1999-2000 ... as a team, the Falcons have a whopping 20 double-doubles, after totalling four during all of last season ... the team total is BGSU's highest since at least the 1987-88 season.
START ME UP (THE CAREER STARTS LIST)
Senior Lindsay Austin's starting assignment at Marshall was the 104th of her career, tying her with Sara Puthoff (1994-98) for third place on that Falcon career list ... with at least three games remaining (two 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) ... the legendary Jackie Motycka holds the BGSU record with 115 games started.
AUSTIN HIGH ON OTHER BGSU CAREER LISTS AS WELL
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 surpassed the 900-point mark at CMU (Feb. 14), and enters the BSU game with career totals of 938 points, 473 assists and 220 steals ... Austin became just the fourth player in school history to reach the 400 career assists barrier, and in the Kent State game (Feb. 21), she moved past Dee Knoblauch (218 from 1979-83) into second place on the steals list ... Austin is 21 away from school record-holder Lori Albers (241 from 1989-94) ... she also has an outside chance to crack the 1,000-point plateau ... 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.
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 eight times in 25 contests ... the Falcons have outboarded the opponent 15 times, battling to a draw in two other games ... BG has a +2.2 rebounding margin this season to date (+1.6 in MAC games).
