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Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Ends Season At 21-10
April 28, 2004 | Women's Basketball
April 28, 2004
Complete end-of-season packet:
Release & Stats (pp. 1-25) in PDF Format
Player Bios (pp. 26-50) in PDF Format
2003-04 Boxscores (pp. 51-58) in PDF Format
Radio/TV Roster (p. 59) in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after posting three wins in the Kraft Mid-American Conference Tournament, saw the 2003-04 season come to an end in the tourney's championship game ... the Falcons of third-year head coach Curt Miller, the fourth seed for the 13-team tournament, picked up last-second wins over fifth-seeded Western Michigan and top-seeded Miami at Cleveland's Gund Arena, before losing to #2 Eastern Michigan in the championship game ... BGSU ended the season with a 21-10 record.
A MAGICAL RUN
The Falcons had quite a magical run in 2003-04 ... BGSU, picked to finish sixth in the MAC's West Division, tied for second, just a game out of first ... after a 12-point home win over Central Michigan in the first round of the Kraft MAC Tournament, the Falcons headed to Cleveland's Gund Arena for the first time in three years ... in the quarterfinal round (March 10), senior Lindsay Austin's jumper at the buzzer lifted the Falcons to a 63-62 win over Western Michigan ... two days later, lightning struck for a second time, as another Austin buzzer-beater led to another one-point win ... this time, the victim was top-seeded Miami, as the Brown and Orange picked up a 75-74 win to advance to the championship game ... but, in that championship, Eastern Michigan ended BG's run with a 65-56 win over the Falcons ... BGSU's total of 21 wins marked a nine-win improvement over the previous season.
ONE OF THE NATION'S TOP TURNAROUNDS
With nine more wins than in the 2002-03 season, the Falcons have made one of the nation's top turnarounds in 2003-04 ... the Brown and Orange went 12-16 last season ... BGSU's nine-win improvement ties the Falcons for the 11th-best turnaround in NCAA Division I this season ... the complete list can be found in the pdf version of this release.
ONE OF THE SCHOOL'S TOP TURNAROUNDS, TOO
The Falcons' nine-win improvement is tied for the second-best turnaround in school history ... the 1991-92 team posted a 10-win improvement, with a 24-5 mark after the previous team had gone 14-15 ... the 1986-87 team (27-3) won nine more games than the previous year's Falcon team.
OF COURSE, ONE OF THE MAC'S TOP TURNAROUNDS
A case can be made that the Falcons are the MAC's most improved team ... the Falcons finished at 21-10 overall, and 11-5 in MAC play ... BG topped the overall win total from last season by nine games, tied for the highest improvement in the league ... last year's squad went 12-16 overall and 5-11 in the MAC ... BGSU, six games better than last season in league play, was the only team to improve by more than three games over last season in MAC action.
SHE'S CLUTCH
Other players have scored more points in their BGSU careers ... a few others have dished out more assists, or recorded more steals (actually, no one has had more steals) ... but, has any player in school history hit as many game-winning, buzzer-beating shots as Lindsay Austin? The Falcon senior made three such shots in the span of just over a month ... all three came from nearly the same spot on the floor, were released just before the buzzer, and gave the Brown and Orange a win.
The first came with the score tied in the home regular-season meeting with Western Michigan (Feb. 7) ... with time running down on the game clock, 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 as the buzzer sounded ... the ball hit the rim, glanced off the backboard, hit the rim again and dropped through, sparking a wild celebration among the BGSU players and Falcon faithful.
In the BGSU-WMU rematch in the MAC Tournament (March 10), the finish was nearly identical ... one difference was that the Falcons trailed by a point after a pair of WMU free throws with 11.8 seconds left ... BG did not call a timeout, instead bringing the ball upcourt, and Austin found it in her hands with time running out ... Austin, at the top of the key, drove to her left and got just inside the three-point line ... with a Bronco defender guarding her closely, she rose and shot just before the horn sounded, and the ball hit the front rim and caromed in.
Two days later, Austin continued her late-game success ... this time, she did not use the rim ... Austin again found the ball in her hands with the clock winding down, this time vs. top-seeded Miami ... after the RedHawks had missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity with 7.0 seconds left, BGSU headed the other way ... with time running out, she took a 14-foot jumper from just to the left of the free-throw line, and her shot found nothing but net.
BIG WEEK FOR AUSTIN
In the span of less than a week, senior Lindsay Austin achieved quite a few milestones ... from Monday, March 8, to Friday, March 12, Austin...
THAT'S IMPROVEMENT!
The Falcons, as mentioned several times already, won 21 overall games in 2003-04, including 11 MAC contests ... in each case, BG's win total matches the totals for Curt Miller's first two seasons combined ... Miller's first team went 9-19 overall and 6-10 in league action ... last year's squad was 12-16 overall and 5-11 in the conference.
BGSU'S MAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Falcons participated in the MAC Tournament for the 20th time in the tourney's 23-year history ... BG has now posted a 24-14 record since the MAC Tournament was instituted in 1982 ... the Falcons' complete game-by-game tourney history can be found on page 9 of these notes ... BGSU's win total ranks the Falcons third among league teams, and the .632 winning pct. is also the third-best of any school (Toledo is 34-13 [.723], Kent State 26-14 [.650]) ... the Falcons' total of six tournament titles trails only Toledo (seven) ... BG participated in the tourney for the 19th-straight year, the longest current streak among MAC schools ... since all 13 schools make the tourney under the current format, the Falcons' streak is likely to continue ... BGSU is now 9-0 all-time in MAC Tournament home games, 2-5 in road games and 13-9 in neutral-site contests ... BG improved to 3-2 in the first round since the league adopted the current 13-team tourney format, and the Falcons are 8-6 in quarterfinal-round games and 7-5 in semifinal contests ... BGSU's loss to Eastern Michigan was the school's first-ever championship-game setback, and the Falcons are now 6-1 in the final game.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU ended the season with an overall record of 21-10, and the Falcons finished with a mark of 11-5 in MAC play ... BG surpassed last year's overall win total by nine games, and head coach Curt Miller and staff orchestrated a complete reversal of last year's league record (5-11 in 2002-03) ... the Falcons finished with a winning record for the first time in six years ... BG, picked to finish sixth in the West Division in the MAC News Media Association's preseason poll, tied for second, a game out of first ... the Falcons posted three consecutive wins to close the regular season, then picked up three-straight wins in the MAC Tournament to cap a season-high six-game winning streak ... BG's run came to an end in the MAC Tournament Championship vs. Eastern Michigan ... prior to that loss, BG had won 14 of the last 18 games ... the Falcons captured 17 of 23 contests after Christmas ... BGSU's total of 11 league wins included six road victories in eight tries.
Senior Stefanie Wenzel led the Falcons with 14.7 points per game, and averaged 4.4 rebounds per contest ... four freshmen were ranked among the top-six in the Falcons' balanced scoring attack ... one of those frosh, Ali Mann, had 12.9 points and 7.9 rebounds, leading BG in rebounding and ranking second in scoring ... Mann had a BGSU-high seven double-doubles on the year, en route to being named the MAC Freshman of the Year ... another freshman, Liz Honegger, averaged 10.2 points and was second on the Falcons in rebounding, with 7.5 boards per game ... Honegger led the Brown and Orange with 1.6 blocked shots per outing ... she tied the BGSU record with 50 blocks on the season, and set a school record with 27 rejections in MAC games.
Senior Lindsay Austin had 10.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and team-leading totals of 5.5 assists and 2.8 steals ... Austin had five double-doubles (three points-rebounds, one pts.-assists and one pts.-steals) and three game-winning shots at the buzzer (have we mentioned that yet?) this year ... freshman Carin Horne had 7.3 points on the year, while classmate Megan Thorburn averaged 6.8 points ... both Horne and Thorburn averaged 3.4 rebounds per contest ... junior Kelly Kapferer and sophomore Casey McDowell averaged 4.4 and 2.2 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 suffered an injury prior to the season, and sat out the 2003-04 season as a redshirt.
On the sidelines, Miller was joined by third-year assistants Jennifer Roos and Brandi Poole ... Kevin Eckert completed his second season on the Falcon staff.
Austin and Wenzel each started all 31 games, while frosh Honegger and Mann started 30 and Thorburn 23 ... Horne started eight contests, while Kapferer made a pair of starts this winter.
The Falcons shot .410 from the field this season, including a .335 rate from three-point land, and .722 from the free-throw line ... the opponents shot .388 from the floor, .331 from the arc and .685 from the line to date.
BGSU went 9-4 at home, 8-5 in road games and 4-1 in neutral-site contests this year ... in league play, the Falcons finished with a 5-3 mark at Anderson Arena and went 6-2 away from home ... last season, BG was 6-6 at home, 5-9 on the road and 1-1 on neutral courts ... in MAC contests, the Falcons were 4-4 at home and just 1-7 away from Anderson in 2002-03.
SENIOR PRIDE
The Falcons lose only two seniors off of the 15-member roster ... but, those two players certainly made their mark ... co-captains Lindsay Austin and Stefanie Wenzel each will leave BGSU with their names all over the record books ... Austin scored the 1,000th point of her career in the MAC Tournament's championship game, and ranks 18th on the BGSU career scoring list ... she finished her career ranked fourth in assists, and is the school's all-time steals leader ... as noted elsewhere in this release, she showed a penchant for making game-winning shots, sinking three buzzer-beaters in 2003-04, including a pair in the MAC Tournament ... Wenzel, the lone Falcon to average double digits in scoring in each of the last three years, paced the team with 14.7 points per game in '03-04 ... she made a team-high 65 three-point field goals on the year, the second-highest single-season total in BG annals, and she is ranked on all of the school's three-point charts ... Wenzel ended her career with 1,099 career points, the 14th-highest total in BGSU history, and was named an Academic All-American.
A 'MODERN-DAY' RECORD
The Falcons have greatly improved defensively during the Curt Miller Era ... in fact, BGSU set a 'modern-day' record by allowing opponents to shoot just .388 from the field in 2003-04 ... that marks the third-lowest opponent field-goal pct. in school history, and the lowest since 1977-78 ... the 1976-77 team set the school record, allowing foes to shoot only .348 ... that '76-77 season is the first year that such statistics are available ... Miller-coached teams have posted two of the top-five totals in that category in school history.
IT AIN'T OVER 'TIL IT'S OVER
The saying 'it ain't over 'til it's over,' whether uttered by Yogi Berra or crooned by Lenny Kravitz, was never more appropriate than during the Falcons' season-long six-game winning streak ... during that streak, which began on Feb. 25 and extended into mid-March, BGSU demonstrated the ability to come back from late and/or large deficits ...
Interestingly, BGSU never trailed in the other three wins during that six-game streak, leading from wire to wire against Marshall (Feb. 25), Toledo (March 2) and Central Michigan (March 6).
20 WINS (PLUS ONE) FOR THE FALCONS
BGSU put together a 20-win season for the ninth time in school history, but the first since the 1997-98 campaign ... that '97-98 squad, coach Jaci Clark's last BGSU team, went 21-8 en route to a berth in the WNIT.
STATE PRIDE
The Falcons' 21 wins tied BGSU for second among the 13 NCAA Division-I schools in the state of Ohio ... BG trailed only Miami (22-9) ... Ohio State matched the Falcons' 21-10 record.
TWO ON THE TOURNEY TEAM
The Falcons had a pair of players named to the MAC's All-Tournament Team ... senior Lindsay Austin and freshman Ali Mann were named to the team by the members of the media in attendance in Cleveland ... they were joined by Eastern Michigan's Ryan Coleman (tourney MVP) and Nikki Knapp and Miami's Colleen Day.
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.
BGSU VS. MAC TOURNAMENT FOES
The Falcons have played nine different schools in the MAC Tournament, with Toledo being the most common opponent ... BGSU has met the Rockets seven times, and the Falcons have now faced Central Michigan six times in tourney play ... BGSU has played Kent (State) and Western Michigan five times each, Ball State, Eastern Michigan and Ohio four times apiece, Miami twice and Akron once.
THAT'S A LOT OF GAMES
The Falcons tied a school record by playing a total of 31 games in 2003-04 ... both the 1988-89 (27-4) and 1989-90 (22-9) BGSU teams also had 31-game seasons ... senior co-captains Lindsay Austin and Stefanie Wenzel each started all 31 games this year, tying that school mark ... Angie Bonner and Megan McGuire each made 31 starts for the 1988-89 team, while four players -- Bonner, Traci Gorman, Wanda Lyle and Tecca Thompson -- each started every game for the 1989-90 squad.
TEAM AT A CROSSROADS
The Falcon players and coaches did not enter the Christmas holidays in the most festive of moods ... BGSU's final game before the break was a lopsided road loss at IUPUI (Dec. 22) that left the Falcons with a 4-4 record ... the team's trip to Indianapolis was extended by approximately 90 minutes, as the group had a lengthy lockerroom meeting following the game ... the team returned following the Christmas holiday, headed to Eastern Kentucky and won a pair of games at the EKU Classic ... that began a stretch which saw the Falcons win 17 of the next 22 games and advance all the way to the championship game of the MAC Tournament.
BGSU AT THE GUND
The Falcons now have a 2-2 record at Gund Arena ... prior to this season, BGSU had played just one game there, in 2001 ... after posting an upset win at Western Michigan in the first round of the MAC Tournament that year, BGSU headed to Cleveland to face top-seeded Toledo (March 6, 2001) ... the ninth-seeded Falcons held a 41-38 lead at the half, before the Rockets took the lead for good with 16 minutes left and posted an 81-63 win ... only three members of the current Falcon squad were on the roster at that time, and all were freshmen ... Lindsay Austin drew the start, scoring four points in 19 minutes, while Kelly Kapferer also scored four points, in 13 minutes off the bench ... Stefanie Wenzel did not see action in that contest, the Falcons' final game before the Curt Miller Era began.
AUSTIN NAMED MAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF YEAR
BGSU senior Lindsay Austin was named the MAC's Defensive Player of the Year ... Austin became the first-ever Falcon to earn the award, which is the result of balloting by the league's 13 head coaches ... the 2004 season marks the eighth year the award has been handed out.
MANN IS MAC FRESHMAN OF YEAR
The Falcons picked up several specialty awards at the league tournament banquet on March 9 ... Ali Mann was named the MAC's Freshman of the Year ... the F-O-Y award is the result of balloting by members of the MAC News Media Association ... Mann became the fourth Falcon to earn the award, and the first in nearly a decade ... she joined Jackie Motycka (1986), Lori Albers (1990) and Sara Puthoff (1995) ... those three players rank first (Motycka), second (Puthoff) and sixth (Albers) on the BGSU career scoring list.
WENZEL, AUSTIN, MANN ON ALL-MAC TEAMS
Seniors Stefanie Wenzel and Lindsay Austin and freshman Ali Mann were named to the All-MAC Team, the league office announced on March 8 ... Wenzel picked up second-team honors, while Austin and Mann each earned honorable mention ... all three players earned all-league honors for the first time in their respective BGSU careers ... the 2003-04 season marks the first time BGSU has had more than one all-league selection since the 1997-98 (Charlotta Jones and Sara Puthoff on the first team, Jacki Raterman on the second team) squad that finished 21-8 and advanced to the WNIT ... over the years, the Falcons have had more all-conference selections that any other MAC team.
MANN ON ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Not surprisingly (since we already told you of her Freshman-of-the-Year award), Ali Mann was selected to the MAC's All-Freshman Team ... that announcement was made on March 8, a day before she picked up the league's F-O-Y award ... the team is the result of voting by the league's 13 head coaches ... Mann is the eighth player in school history to be named to the MAC's All-Freshman Team, and the first since Francine Miller in 1998-99.
AUSTIN IN AN EXCLUSIVE CLUB
Senior Lindsay Austin, as mentioned, scored her 1,000th career point in the MAC Championship game ... earlier in the week, she had recorded her 500th career assist ... Austin is the first player in school history to record both 1,000 points and 500 assists in a career ... she becomes only the seventh player in MAC history to have done so ... of those seven, only two - Ball State's Shala Crook and Miami's Heather Cusick - had more career steals than Austin's total of 244 ... only four players in MAC history (EMU's Stephanie Smiley joins Austin, Crook and Cusick) have had at least 1,000 points, 500 assists and 200 steals.
ON THE MAC CAREER CHARTS
The Falcons' two seniors, Lindsay Austin and Stefanie Wenzel, each end their careers ranked among the MAC's all-time leaders ... Austin is 12th in league history in assists, with a career total of 508 ... she is ranked 16th among all MAC players in steals, with a school-record 244 ... Wenzel, with 1,099 career points, is tied for 103rd on the MAC list, while Austin's total of exactly 1,000 points places her 130th.
WENZEL NAMED AN ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN
Stefanie Wenzel was named an Academic All-American ... the announcement was made on March 4 ... the senior was one of just five student-athletes named to the Academic All-America Women's Basketball University Division First Team presented by CoSIDA ... Wenzel becomes only the fifth Falcon to earn Academic All-America honors, and only the third women's basketball student-athlete in school history named to the first team ... on Feb. 19, Wenzel was named to the Academic All-District IV First Team, after earning all-district second-team honors as a junior ... to be eligible for Academic All-America honors, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore, a starter or important reserve, and must carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher (on a 4.0 scale) ... at the time of nomination, Wenzel maintained a 3.97 cumulative GPA as an integrated language arts major ... Wenzel is the first Falcon to earn Academic All-America accolades since Jacki Raterman in 1999, and joins Stephanie Coe (1987) and Talita Scott (1994) as the only first-team selections in school history.
WENZEL NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-MAC TEAM
Senior Stefanie Wenzel was named to the 2004 Academic All-MAC Team, the league office announced on March 16 ... the five-member team was the result of voting by the league's faculty athletic representatives ... Wenzel's inclusion on the team should come as no surprise, as she had been named to the Academic All-America First Team earlier in the month ... in addition to Wenzel, the Academic All-MAC team consisted of Miami's Colleen Day, Ball State's Kate Endress, Kent State's Lindsay Shearer and Toledo's Kelly Walker ... Wenzel has a 3.89 cumulative GPA as an integrated language arts major.
THE FALCONS...
SOME STRIKING SIMILARITIES
It can be argued, quite convincingly, that this year's Falcon team enjoyed the most success since 1997-98 ... BG won over 20 games for the first time since that 1997-98 team went 21-8 en route to a WNIT bid ... BGSU finished 11-5 in MAC play, the most league victories since Jaci Clark's final team ... and, BGSU finished the road portion of the 2003-04 conference season with a 6-2 record, the best since that same '97-98 squad had a 7-2 mark ... this year's Falcons had an overall road record of 8-5 and a mark of 12-6 in all games away from home, matching the 1997-98 squad's road total (8-4) while surpassing the latter figure (10-6 in road and neutral-site games combined).
