Bowling Green State University Athletics
2004-05 Women's Basketball Schedule Announced
August 23, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Aug. 23, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball schedule has been announced for the 2004-05 season. The Falcons of fourth-year head coach Curt Miller will play a tough non-conference slate before diving into the 16-game Mid-American Conference schedule in January of 2005.
"I am excited about our challenging 2004-05 schedule," said Miller. "We look forward to building on our success from last season, and we are excited about showcasing our program in our fourth year."
BGSU opens the schedule with a trip to the state capital for a Nov. 12 game at Ohio State. That game is a first-round contest in the Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament. The winner of the BGSU-OSU game advances to second-round action on Nov. 14. The semifinals of the Preseason WNIT are set for Nov. 17, with the championship game to be played on Nov. 20 or 21.
"It is a big statement that an organization like the WNIT respects the progress of our program enough to choose us as the MAC's representative," said Miller. "One of the reasons that we didn't garner a postseason bid last year was that our non-conference schedule was not tough enough. We have certainly increased the strength of our non-conference schedule.
"We will be playing three NCAA Tournament teams, all on the road, and also have a road game against an Atlantic 10 team. On top of that, we continue a number of our regional rivalries, and will be tested in two tough tournaments.
"I am going to challenge our young team to learn to win on the road. We will play a minimum of 11 of our first 13 games of the season away from Anderson Arena. I felt we needed to go on the road for our program to gain more national exposure, and we will have some tough tests away from home early on."
The Falcons, who return three starters among 11 letterwinners, could play additional November games, depending upon the team's success in the WNIT. But, the team currently is scheduled to play at least nine of the first 10 games of the season away from home. BGSU's lone non-conference contests at Anderson Arena will come on Nov. 30 vs. Youngstown State and Dec. 30 against Bucknell.
The Brown and Orange will play in a pair of tournaments, jetting to Providence, R.I., and Albuquerque, N.M. on back-to-back weekends. BG will participate in the Brown Classic on Dec. 4-5, then will play in New Mexico's Lobo Shootout on Dec. 10-11. The Falcons will open the latter tournament by facing the host Lobos, who averaged nearly 12,000 fans per home game last year (ranking fourth in the nation) en route to the NCAA Tournament.
Ohio State and St. Francis (Pa.) (Dec. 18) are other NCAA Tournament teams on the Falcons' schedule, and BG could play additional NCAA Tourney squads, depending upon the team's success in the Preseason WNIT.
Other non-league road opponents include IPFW (Nov. 19), Duquesne (Nov. 27) and Robert Morris (Dec. 20).
The schedule gets no easier when the Falcons open MAC play. BG begins with a tough two-game road swing vs. Buffalo (Jan. 5) and Western Michigan (Jan. 8). Then, three of the next four games are at home, but invading Anderson Arena will be defending MAC West Division and MAC Tournament champion Eastern Michigan (Jan. 12), defending East Division winner Miami (Jan. 19) and WMU (Jan. 22), with a road game vs. arch-rival Toledo (Jan. 15) added for good measure.
The Falcons end the month of January with a trip to Northeast Ohio to face perennial MAC power Kent State (Jan. 26).
"Five of our first seven MAC games come against teams that were seeded fifth or better in the 2004 MAC Tournament," said Miller. "We will be challenged by some of the elite teams in the MAC in the month of January.
"If we can get out of January with our heads above water, though, we could contend for a MAC championship. No game will be easy - they never are in the MAC - but, if we can make a good showing in the early games, we will have a chance to be playing for something meaningful in February and March."
BG begins February with home games vs. Northern Illinois (Feb. 2) and Ohio (Feb. 5), before taking to the road to face Ball State (Feb. 8) and Akron (Feb. 12).
The Falcons will host Central Michigan on Feb. 15, before heading to Ypsilanti for the return match with EMU (Feb. 19). Then, the Brown and Orange will close the home regular-season slate with contests vs. Marshall (Feb. 23) and Toledo (Feb. 26), with the latter contest representing `Senior Day.'
March finds the Falcons heading to the MAC's `West Coast' to face Northern Illinois (March 1) on the final night of the regular season. The Kraft MAC Tournament begins on Saturday, March 5, with five games at campus sites, and the quarterfinals are set for March 9 at Gund Arena in downtown Cleveland. The semifinals (March 11) and championship (March 12) of the league tourney also will be held at Gund Arena.
Weekday home games will start at 7:00 p.m. and weekend contests at Anderson Arena will begin at 1:00 p.m. Starting times for road games will be announced in the future.
The complete 2004-05 schedule follows. For the most up-to-date schedule throughout the season, check the "schedule" link on the BGSU women's basketball home page.
BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY
2004-05 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
November Mon. 8 AAU PREMIER ALL-STARS (Exhib.), 7:00 Fri. 12 at Ohio State & Sun. 14 Preseason WNIT - Second Round ^ Wed. 17 Preseason WNIT - Semifinal ^ Fri. 19 at IPFW Sat. 20 Preseason WNIT - Championship ^% Sat. 27 at Duquesne Tue. 30 YOUNGSTOWN STATE, 7:00December Sat. 4 vs. Lehigh $ Sun. 5 vs. Winthrop / at Brown $ Fri. 10 at New Mexico ! Sat. 11 vs. San Diego / Utah State ! Sat. 18 at St. Francis (Pa.) Mon. 20 at Robert Morris Thu. 30 BUCKNELL, 7:00
January Wed. 5 at Buffalo * Sat. 8 at Western Michigan * Wed. 12 EASTERN MICHIGAN, 7:00 * Sat. 15 at Toledo * Wed. 19 MIAMI, 7:00 * Sat. 22 WESTERN MICHIGAN, 1:00 * Wed. 26 at Kent State *
February Wed. 2 NORTHERN ILLINOIS, 7:00 * Sat. 5 OHIO, 1:00 * Tue. 8 at Ball State * Sat. 12 at Akron * Tue. 15 CENTRAL MICHIGAN, 7:00 * Sat. 19 at Eastern Michigan * Wed. 23 MARSHALL, 7:00 * Sat. 26 TOLEDO, 1:00 *
March Tue. 1 at Northern Illinois * Sat. 5 MAC Tourn. First Round (campus sites) Wed. 9 MAC Tourn. Quarterfinals (Gund Arena) Fri. 11 MAC Tourn. Semifinals (Gund Arena) Sat. 12 MAC Tourn. Championship (Gund Arena)
HOME games at Anderson Arena * MAC game & Preseason WNIT First Round ^ Possible BGSU games (Preseason WNIT is a 16-team, single-elimination tournament, with all rounds played at campus sites) % WNIT Championship scheduled for Nov. 20 or 21 $ Brown Classic (Providence, R.I.) ! Lobo Shootout (Albuquerque, N.M.)
