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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Western Michigan Saturday
February 05, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Game Notes (12 pages) in PDF Format
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BGSU (12-7, 5-3)
vs.
WESTERN MICHIGAN (13-7, 8-1)
Game #20Sat., Feb. 7, 2004
1:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Bowling Green, Ohio
Radio: WBGU-FM (88.1)
Series: BGSU leads, 24-20
Last meeting: at WMU 75, BGSU 51 (Jan. 29, 2003)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, in the midst of back-to-back games against the Mid-American Conference's divisional leaders, returns home for a Saturday afternoon (Feb. 7) contest ... the Falcons of third-year head coach Curt Miller will face defending MAC Tournament champion Western Michigan University, with tipoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... the game will be broadcast on student station WBGU-FM (88.1).
Following the WMU game, the Falcons will embark upon a two-game road swing ... BGSU will play a Wednesday (Feb. 11) game at Ohio University, before heading to Central Michigan University three days later (Feb. 14) ... the OU game begins at 7:00 p.m. at the Convocation Center in Athens, Ohio, with the CMU contest starting at 2:00 p.m. at Rose Arena in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
ANDERSON ARENA SET FOR "ORANGE-OUT," ALUMNAE DAY
The Falcons are looking for an "Orange-Out" at the Western Michigan game ... BGSU is encouraging all fans to wear orange to the game ... additionally, the game also marks Alumnae Day, with a number of former Falcon women's basketball greats expected to be on hand to watch the current squad take on the division-leading Broncos ... following the game, there will be a reception for all alumnae to meet with the current team and family members.
AUSTIN SETS SINGLE-GAME STEALS RECORD
Senior Lindsay Austin set the BGSU single-game record with 10 steals in Tuesday's (Feb. 3) game at Miami ... 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.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU enters the Western Michigan game with a record of 12-7, and the Falcons are 5-3 in MAC play after Tuesday's (Feb. 3) 92-81 loss at Miami ... despite that setback, BG has won eight of the last 11 games, with the most recent win coming by a 64-63 count over visiting Buffalo (Jan. 31) ... the Falcons have won five of the last seven 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 14.5 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 11.7 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds ... Mann has four double-doubles on the year ... another frosh, Liz Honegger, has 10.7 points and is second on the team in rebounding, with 7.2 boards per game ... Honegger leads the Falcons with 1.6 blocked shots per outing.
Senior Lindsay Austin has 10.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and team-leading totals of 5.5 assists and 2.8 steals ... Austin, who had a school-record 10 steals at Miami, now has a team-high five double-doubles this year (three points-rebounds, one pts.-assists and one pts.-steals) ... freshman Megan Thorburn has 7.9 points and 3.7 caroms on the year, while classmate Carin Horne is averaging 5.9 points ... junior Kelly Kapferer and sophomore Casey McDowell average 4.5 and 2.8 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, aong 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 18 games, while frosh Honegger and Mann have started 18 and Thorburn 17 ... Horne and Kapferer each have made a pair of starts, with Horne having started the last two contests.
The Falcons are shooting .409 from the field this season, including a .339 rate from three-point land, and .751 from the free-throw line ... the opponents have shot .396 from the floor, .330 from the arc and .681 from the line to date.
BGSU is 6-2 at home, 4-5 in road games and 2-0 in neutral-site contests this year ... in league play, the Falcons are 3-1 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 WESTERN MICHIGAN
Western Michigan enters the BGSU game with an overall record of 13-7, and the Broncos lead the MAC's West Division and have the league's best record, 8-1, in conference play ... WMU began MAC action with seven consecutive wins before an 85-74 loss to Eastern Michigan Saturday (Jan. 31) ... Western bounced back with a 79-69 win at Northern Illinois Tuesday (Feb. 3) ... the Broncos are 7-5 in road games this year, including a perfect 5-0 record in MAC road contests ... individually, junior guard Casey Rost leads the team, and the league, with 20.6 points per game ... freshman guard Carrie Moore has 12.3 points, while junior forward Kelly Koerber has 12.0 points per outing ... junior guard Maria Jilian has 9.2 points and team-high averages of 5.2 assists and 3.4 steals ... the fifth probable starter, senior forward Lori Crisman, has averaged 8.8 points and a team-high 6.9 rebounds to date ... Crisman, Jilian, Koerber and Rost have started all 20 games, while Moore has made 19 starts for head coach Ron Stewart ... Stewart welcomed back nine letterwinners, including three starters from last year's team that finished 20-12 overall and 10-6 in MAC play ... the 2002-03 Broncos were third in the West Division, but won the league tournament and advanced to the NCAA tourney ... Stewart has an overall head-coaching record of 102-94 in his seventh season, all in Kalamazoo ... the school's athletics web site is www.wmubroncos.com.
THE BGSU-WMU SERIES
The Falcons hold a 24-20 lead over Western Michigan in the all-time series between the teams, but the Broncos have won seven of the last eight meetings ... WMU captured the only meeting last season, with a 75-51 win in Kalamazoo (Jan. 29, 2003) ... in the last meeting in Anderson, the Broncos rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit for a 67-58 win (Feb. 14, 2002) ... BGSU holds a 12-9 lead in home games in the series ... the 2003-04 season marks the fifth consecutive year that the Falcons and Broncos have had just one regular-season meeting.
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
Host Miami overcame early turnover troubles with efficient shooting, and held off the Falcons, 92-81, Tuesday night (Feb. 3) at Millett Hall ... the hosts shot .613 from the field in the first half and .596 for the game ... after making 12 turnovers in the first 14 minutes, the RedHawks made only eight more the rest of the game ... senior Lindsay Austin was a big reason for MU's turnover woes ... Austin set a school record with 10 steals in the game, with nine of those coming in the first half ... all five Falcon starters scored in double digits, led by freshman Liz Honegger's 19 points ... classmate Carin Horne had 16 points, while senior Stefanie Wenzel added 15 ... Austin had 13 and freshman Ali Mann 12 ... in addition to her points-steals double-double, Austin had seven rebounds to tie Honegger for the team lead ... Austin also had a game-high six assists and did not commit a turnover in 37 minutes of action ... the Falcons' five double-digit scorers, however, were not enough to offset Miami's presence in the post ... RedHawk senior Kim Lancaster was 10-of-15 from the field on the way to game-high totals of 24 points and 11 rebounds ... the RedHawks held a 42-28 advantage in points in the paint ... Amanda Jackson had 22 points for the hosts, while Colleen Day had 14 points ... Cindi Merrill added 13 points and 10 rebounds, as Miami held a slim 36-34 rebounding edge ... the 'Hawks got off to a quick start, making the first five shots of the game ... after a Horne layup opened the scoring, MU scored 11 of the next 13 points ... the Falcons rallied back moments later, using a 7-0 run to take a 15-14 lead ... during that stretch, a Honegger three-point play was followed by a Kelly Kapferer basket to put the Falcons in front with just over 13 minutes left in the first half ... the lead changed hands eight times in a five-minute span, before the RedHawks went ahead on a Day jumper at the eight-minute juncture ... Nicki Motto followed with a three-point field goal, and buckets by Jackson and Lancaster upped the margin to seven points ... another Jackson score completed an 8-0 run, giving the RedHawks a 36-27 lead at the four-minute media timeout ... BG got within six points on a Wenzel trey, but Lancaster and Day ended the half with hoops, giving the RedHawks a 46-34 lead at the intermission ... the hosts still held a 12-point lead early in the second half, and Miami maintained a 10-point lead after a Merrill layup with 16:20 left ... then, however, the Falcons began to rally ... Horne hit a three-pointer, and Mann followed with a layup ... Kapferer was fouled inside and hit a pair of free throws, and the Falcons trailed by only three points, 53-50 ... but, the host school scored the next 10 points, with six coming from the charity stripe, to take a 13-point lead ... the lead remained in double figures until the late going ... a Horne free throw just before the final media timeout cut the MU lead to 10, and Honegger hit a triple with 3:29 left, bringing BG within 81-74 ... Miami scored the next three points, but Wenzel split a pair of tosses
with 1:55 left, and a Honegger layup cut the lead to 84-77 with 1:33 remaining ... but, Miami got layups from Lancaster and Jackson, and the hosts were 4-of-4 from the line in the final 22 seconds to seal the victory.
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, for which the matchups were recently determined.
BGSU MATCHES LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTALS
The Falcons have matched the team's win totals for all of last season ... BGSU enters the Western Michigan game at 12-7 overall and 5-3 in MAC play ... last year, the Falcons finished with a 12-16 record, and tied for sixth in the West Division with a 5-11 league ledger.
CHANGE IN THE LINEUP
Last Saturday (Jan. 31), for the first time since November, coach Curt Miller altered his starting lineup ... freshman Carin Horne made her first collegiate start against Buffalo, while junior Kelly Kapferer made her second start of the year ... the two replaced frosh forwards Ali Mann and Megan Thorburn ... Mann had missed several days of practice prior to the game, due to a family funeral, while Thorburn had battled a case of food poisoning ... Mann, Thorburn, freshman Liz Honegger and seniors Lindsay Austin and Stefanie Wenzel had comprised the starting lineup for 16 consecutive games prior to the UB contest ... Horne made her second-straight start in Tuesday's (Feb. 3) Miami game, and was joined by Austin, Honegger, Mann and
Wenzel.
THAT LINEUP SCORES POINTS
In the Miami game (Feb. 3), all five BGSU starters scored in double digits for the first time in over eight years ... freshman Liz Honegger led the way, with 19 points, while classmate Carin Horne had 16 ... seniors Stefanie Wenzel and Lindsay Austin had 15 and 13 points, respectively, while freshman Ali Mann added 12 ... the last time all five starters hit double digits was Jan. 27, 1996 ... on that date, Bridget Andrews, Chrissy Billiter, Charlotta Jones, Sara Puthoff and Michelle Terry all scored 10 or more points in a Falcon win over Akron, 86-66.
START ME UP (THE CAREER STARTS LIST)
Senior Lindsay Austin's starting assignment at Miami was the 98th of her career, moving her into sole possession of fifth place on that Falcon career list ... with at least nine games remaining (eight 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 Western Michigan game with career totals of 885 points, 441 assists and 210 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 ... she could become the 17th Falcons 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 WMU game with a career total of 918 points, ranking her 19th on the BGSU career scoring list ... 882 of those points have come since her freshman year, an average of 11.8 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, Wenze 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 16 of BGSU's 19 games.
JANUARY IS KIND TO THE FALCONS
BGSU finished the month of January with a 6-2 record, making it the most successful month in the Curt Miller Era ... BG had had winning records in two previous months during that time, in each of the last two Decembers ... the Falcons were 5-3 in December of 2002, and BG went 4-2 in the final month of 2003 ... the Falcons' reward for such a successful month? Back-to-back games vs. the MAC's divisional leaders, Miami and Western Michigan, to begin the month of February.
DOUBLY GOOD
Senior Lindsay Austin had the first points-steals double-double in school history, with 13 points and 10 thefts in Tuesday's (Feb. 3) Miami game ... Austin now has a team-high five double-doubles on the year ... freshman Ali Mann is second with four double-doubles, and BGSU players have totalled 13 double-doubles on the season ... last year, Falcon players had a season total of four double-doubles.
HOLDING SERVE AT HOME...
The Falcons have a record of 6-2 at home, including a MAC mark of 3-1 at Anderson Arena this year ... BGSU has not won more than six home games since the 1998-99 season, and the Falcons have not had a winning MAC home record in three years.
...AND STEALING SOME ON THE ROAD
After just two games, the Falcons had surpassed last season's total of MAC road victories ... BGSU has 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.
GOOD START
The Falcons enter the Western Michigan game with an overall record of 12-7 and a MAC mark of 5-3 ... that poses the question: how long has it been since a BG team had such a solid start to the season?
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 19 contests ... the Falcons have outboarded the opponent 12 times, battling to a draw in two other games ... BG has a +2.7 rebounding margin this season to date.
BOARDWORK PAYING OFF, PART II
BGSU, as mentioned, has had more rebounds than the opposition 12 times in 19 games in 2003-04, and the Falcons are 9-3 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).
THAT'S A(NOTHER) CLOSE ONE
BGSU fans looking for exciting games are certainly getting their money's worth this season ... six of the Falcons' eight MAC games have been decided by eight points or fewer ... prior to the 11-point setback at Miami, three consecutive Falcon outings were decided by three points or less ... the last time BGSU played three-straight games decided by three points or fewer came over two decades ago, during the 1983-84 season.
