Bowling Green State University Athletics
Lindsay Austin Named MAC Defensive Player Of Year
March 09, 2004 | Women's Basketball
March 9, 2004
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Bowling Green State University coach Curt Miller has talked about the importance of solid defensive play since his arrival three years ago. And, he has also extolled the virtues of senior Lindsay Austin's play at the defensive end of the court. It appears that Miller is not the only Mid-American Conference coach who has taken notice.
On Tuesday night (March 9), Austin was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Year. The announcement came at the MAC Tournament banquet, held at the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade.
Austin, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio (Sycamore H.S.), becomes the first-ever Falcon to earn the award, which is the result of voting by the league's 13 head coaches. The 2004 season marks the eighth year of the award.
Austin, who earned honorable mention to the All-MAC Team on Monday (March 8), is averaging 9.9 points and 5.1 rebounds heading into the quarterfinal round of the MAC Tournament. Austin leads the Falcons in both assists (5.5 apg) and steals (2.9 spg), and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.05.
Austin currently has 80 steals this season, the third-highest single-season total in school history. She set a BGSU single-game record with 10 steals in a Feb. 3 game at Miami, and had nine thefts at Ball State (Feb. 29), to go along with nine points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in BG's overtime win.
Austin enters Wednesday's (March 10) game vs. Western Michigan with a career total of 237 steals, just four shy of the BGSU record. She also ranks second in school history in games started (107), and is fourth on the BG assists list (491). Austin is one of only two Falcons in history to be ranked among the school's top-five on the career games started, assists and steals charts at BG.
Austin leads the Falcons with an average of 33.6 minutes per game this season. Down the stretch, she has spent even more time on the court, averaging 37.5 minutes over the last six contests. Austin has played 40 minutes or more in three of those games.
She hit the winning shot at the buzzer in the Falcons' regular-season meeting with Western Michigan (Feb. 7), and was named both the MAC Player of the Week and Scholar-Athlete of the Week for her efforts that week.
The Falcons, 19-9 overall, will face WMU in Wednesday's quarterfinal round of the Kraft MAC Tournament. That game begins at approximately 3:00 p.m. at Gund Arena in downtown Cleveland.
