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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Home at Last, Face Eastern Michigan Wednesday
January 11, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2005
BGSU Notes (18 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
GAME #14
BGSU vs. EASTERN MICHIGAN
Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005
7:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Bowling Green, Ohio
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1)
SERIES: BGSU leads, 37-12
LAST MEETING: Eastern Michigan 65, BGSU 56 (March 13, 2004)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, having played 11 of the season's first 13 games away from home, will play five of the next seven contests at venerable Anderson Arena ... the Falcons (9-4, 2-0 Mid-American Conference) of fourth-year head coach Curt Miller after two road wins to open MAC play, begin the home portion of the league schedule Wednesday (Jan. 12) evening ... the Brown and Orange hosts Eastern Michigan University in a rematch of the 2004 Kraft MAC Tournament's championship game ... tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Anderson (4,700) ... Eastern has eliminated BG from the league tournament in each of the last two seasons ... following Wednesday's contest, the Falcons will head north for a Saturday (Jan. 15) game against the arch-rival University of Toledo.
FACULTY/STAFF APPRECIATION NIGHT
Wednesday's game vs. Eastern Michigan has been designated as Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night ... all BGSU faculty and staff employees can pick up two free general admission tickets to the game ... tickets are available at the Athletic Ticket Office, located in Memorial Hall (Anderson Arena), from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ... employees must show their BGSU I.D. to receive tickets.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, INDEED
The Falcons currently are riding a six-game winning streak, and have gone 3-0 (with all three wins by double digits) since Christmas ... since Christmas of 2003, BGSU has posted a record of 26-10, including a 16-6 mark vs. MAC schools ... Eastern Michigan has dealt the Falcons two of the losses during that time, however.
HONEGGER NAMED MAC PLAYER OF WEEK, AGAIN
Sophomore Liz Honegger has been named MAC Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday (Jan. 10) ... Honegger earns the honor for the second time this season and the fourth time in her Falcon career ... the Lafayette, Ind., native averaged 18.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game as the Falcons posted a pair of road wins to open MAC play last week ... Honegger also averaged 3.0 assists, 3.0 steals and 2.0 blocked shots in the wins at Buffalo (Jan. 5) and Western Michigan (Jan. 8).
MILESTONES FOR MILLER...
The Falcons' 70-45 win at Buffalo last Wednesday (Jan. 5) was the 50th win of head coach Curt Miller's career ... the win moved his record over the .500 mark for the first time since his head-coaching debut (BG beat Youngstown State in Miller's first game with the Falcons, on Nov. 17, 2001) ... the game at Western Michigan Saturday (Jan. 8) was the 100th game of Miller's head-coaching tenure ... Miller, in his fourth year at the BGSU reins, now has a record of 51-49.
...AND FOR THE PROGRAM
Curt Miller is in the process of restoring the Falcons' place among the perennial MAC contenders ... BG has been one of the most successful teams in league history over the years, and last Wednesday marked yet another example of that fact ... the win at Buffalo was the 250th conference win in program history ... after winning at Western Michigan, BGSU's all-time record in conference games improves to 251-132 (.655) ... only Toledo (261) has more MAC wins than the Falcons.
FALCONS LOOK TO EXTEND WINNING STREAK
The Falcons will take a six-game winning streak into the Eastern Michigan game ... through nine games this season (including the team's lone exhibition), BGSU had not put together any kind of a streak, having alternated wins and losses during that time ... finally, the 'non-streak' streak came to an end, as the Falcons downed Utah State to begin the current six-game string ... prior to this run, the last BG streak of any kind began last Feb. 25, with a win at Marshall ... that victory kick-started a six-game winning streak that took the Falcons all the way to the championship game of the Kraft MAC Tournament before it was snapped by Eastern.
STRONG OPPOSITION
The Falcons have played 11 of the season's first 13 games away from home, and have a record of 9-4 ... the four losses have come to some strong opposition, as the teams that have beaten BGSU have a combined record of 38-14 (.704) as of Monday (Jan. 10) ... two of those four teams are ranked in the top 30 in the Associated Press poll, as Ohio State (14-2) is fifth and New Mexico (10-2) 27th ... OSU was ninth in the last ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, with UNM 26th (a new coaches poll will be released Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 11) ... additionally, Lehigh has a record of 9-4 on the season.
FALCONS IN THE RPI
Bowling Green is currently ranked 111th in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), according to the CollegeRPI.com website ... the rankings are as of Tuesday morning, Jan. 11 ... among MAC schools, only Eastern Michigan (71st) and Miami (72nd) are ranked higher than BG ... two of BG's early-season opponents, Ohio State and New Mexico, are ranked seventh and 31st, respectively ... BGSU is second among MAC teams in the latest Sagarin ratings (according to an unofficial MAC web site, www.geocities.com/mu1809).
ROAD WARRIORS
The Falcons began MAC play with a pair of double-digit road wins, at Buffalo and Western Michigan ... since the beginning of last season, BGSU has a record of 8-2 in MAC road games ... the Brown and Orange had had a total of eight league road victories in the previous four seasons combined ... this season, the Falcons are tied for 10th in the nation in road wins, with five (neutral-site games not included).
SMART ... VERY SMART
The Falcons had a successful start to the 2004-05 season, both on the court and in the classroom ... nine of the 13 student-athletes on the roster had a grade-point average above 3.00 for the fall semester ... additionally, nine student-athletes currently maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.97 or higher through the fall.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
The Falcons' win over Bucknell closed the non-conference season, and extended one of the most successful non-league stretches in school history ... since the start of the 2002-03 season, BGSU is 21-12 in regular-season, non-league games, the most wins of any MAC school ... BG's .636 winning pct. in such games also is the MAC's best.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS II
For the third consecutive season, BGSU has completed the non-conference portion of the schedule at 7-4 ... the Falcons had not had three consecutive winning non-league campaigns in over a decade (1991-92 to 1993-94) ... additionally, the Falcons have recorded 21 non-league victories in the last three years, tying a school record for a three-year period (BGSU also had 21 such wins from the 1986-87 through 1988-89 seasons) ... BG is the only MAC school to post winning non-league records in each of the last three seasons.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons take an overall record of 9-4 into the EMU game, and BGSU is 2-0 in MAC play after a pair of double-digit league wins on the road last week ... the Falcons are riding a six-game win streak after wins at Buffalo (70-45; Jan. 5) and Western Michigan (80-67; Jan. 8) ... prior to the UB game, the Brown and Orange had closed the non-conference schedule with an 80-60 win over Bucknell (Dec. 30) in a rare home game ... that came after the Falcons had closed a six-game road swing with a 4-2 record, including victories at Saint Francis (80-74 in OT; Dec. 18) and Robert Morris (66-51; Dec. 20) prior to breaking for the holidays ... two of the Falcons' four losses this season have come on the road to teams currently in the national rankings (Ohio State and New Mexico).
The Falcons, averaging 72.6 points per game, currently have four sophomores and a freshman comprising the team's top-five scorers ... soph Liz Honegger paces the Brown and Orange in scoring (15.4 ppg), and also leads the team in rebounding (8.3), steals (2.2) and blocks (2.0) ... classmate Ali Mann has 12.5 points and 7.2 boards per game to rank second on the team in each category, while another soph, Carin Horne, has 11.2 points per outing ... freshman Kate Achter is averaging 9.9 points and a team-high 4.3 assists per game, and is third on the team with 4.4 rebounds ... sophomore Megan Thorburn has 6.8 points per contest, while redshirt junior Casey McDowell has 5.9 points ... Honegger and Mann are the only players to have started all 13 games this year, while McDowell has made 12 starts and Thorburn nine ... eight of the 12 healthy Falcons have started at least one game this season ... Achter, McDowell and Thorburn have joined Honegger and Mann in the starting lineup for the last five games.
BGSU ended the 2003-04 season with a record of 21-10, and the Falcons finished the MAC campaign with an 11-5 slate ... BG tied for second in the West Division, then posted a pair of buzzer-beating wins in the league tourney to advance to the championship game ... head coach Curt Miller welcomed back 11 letterwinners, including three starters, from that team ... the returning starters, all sophomores, are Honegger, Mann and Thorburn ... Miller's team includes three seniors in Kelly Kapferer, Tene Lewis and Sakima Smith ... a pair of juniors, Jill Lause and McDowell, also return ... in addition to the three returning starters, the sophomore class consists of Amber Flynn, Julie Gompers and Horne ... Gompers has yet to see action this season due to injury ... two freshmen, guards Achter and Whitney Taylor, round out the Falcon squad.
SCOUTING EASTERN MICHIGAN
Eastern Michigan brings an overall record of 11-2 into Wednesday's game, and the Eagles have a 1-1 MAC record ... Eastern saw a three-game winning streak snapped with Saturday's (Jan. 8) loss to visiting Northern Illinois, 55-53 ... EMU opened the MAC season with a 36-point road win over Akron ... the Eagles started the season by winning eight consecutive contests, with the victims including Missouri and Michigan ... both of those wins came on the road, where Eastern is 6-1 ... individually, senior guard Ryan Coleman leads the team in scoring, with 16.0 points per game ... Coleman also has 6.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists per outing ... junior forward Nikki Knapp has 10.8 points and a team-high 7.0 boards, while senior forward Ryann Kilgore has 7.7 points ... junior center Kristen Kilgore (6.8 ppg) and senior guard Erika Ford (5.6 ppg, 6.3 apg) round out the probable starting lineup for head coach Suzy Merchant ... a year ago, the Eagles went 22-8 overall and won the MAC's West Division with a league mark of 12-4 ... EMU won the league tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history ... Merchant has a record of 110-76 in her seventh season at Eastern ... she is 164-105 in her 10th year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.emich.edu/goeagles.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Eastern Michigan, 37-12, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Eagles have won three-straight contests ... Eastern took each of last year's two meetings, with the latter game coming in the Kraft MAC Tournament championship, a 65-56 EMU win at Cleveland's Gund Arena (March 13, 2004) ... in the lone regular-season meeting, the Eagles picked up a 61-59 win in Ypsilanti (Jan. 27, 2004) ... the Falcons have captured the last two games at Anderson Arena, including a 70-69 win two seasons ago (March 4, 2003) ... Eastern has won six of the last nine series meetings, after the Falcons took 33-of-34 contests vs. the Hurons/Eagles from 1983 to 1998 ... BG is 20-3 all-time in home games vs. EMU.
THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons lead the all-time series with 11 MAC opponents ... BGSU trails only one MAC school, as Northern Illinois holds a 12-10 series lead over the Brown and Orange.
LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore Liz Honegger had 23 points to pace four double-digit scorers, and the Falcons battled through some foul trouble to post a road victory, 80-67, over Western Michigan Saturday afternoon (Jan. 8) ... in addition to Honegger's 23 points, classmates Carin Horne and Ali Mann added 15 and 11, respectively ... senior Kelly Kapferer came off the bench to score a season-high 11 points ... Carrie Moore had 22 points to lead three Western double-figure scorers ... the first half featured no fewer than seven ties and eight lead changes ... in the second half, BG took the lead for good on a Horne layup with 9:13 remaining, and an 18-4 Falcon run gave the visitors some breathing room.
HONEGGER SURPASSES 500-POINT MARK, JOINING MANN
Sophomore Liz Honegger surpassed the 500-point mark for her career in the game at Western Michigan ... she reached that plateau with a three-point field goal with 5:15 left in the first half ... after scoring a game-high 23 points vs. the Broncos, Honegger now has 517 points in a total of 44 games as a Falcon ... Ali Mann, also just a sophomore, is BGSU's active career scoring leader, with 562 points in 44 career games ... Mann passed the 500-point mark in the Falcons' win at Saint Francis (Dec. 18) ... senior Kelly Kapferer is closing in on 500 points, with 491 in her BGSU career.
KAPFERER KONNECTS IN KALAMAZOO
Senior Kelly Kapferer had her finest game of the season in the Falcons' win at Western Michigan Saturday (Jan. 8) ... Kapferer came off the bench to score 11 points in 18 minutes of action vs. the Broncos ... she hit her first two three-point field goals of the year, and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field in the 100th game of her Falcon career ... Kapferer's previous season bests had been five points and 11 minutes played.
BATTLE OF THE BOARDS
BGSU has outrebounded the opponent in each of the last four contests ... over the last three games, the Falcons have a rebounding margin of +11.0 ... BG has had more rebounds than the opponent in eight of the 13 games this season.
IT STANDS TO REASON
Not surprisingly, the Falcons have enjoyed success in games in which they have shot and rebounded well ... BGSU is 9-0 this season, and 41-6 in the Curt Miller Era, when the Falcons have a higher field-goal percentage than the opponent ... BG is 0-4 when the opposition has a higher FG pct. in 2004-05 ... this year, the Falcons have a record of 8-0 when outrebounding the opponent ... BGSU is 28-7 in such games in Miller's tenure.
BG BENCH COMES UP BIG
BG's bench outscored Western Michigan's, 30-3, in Saturday's win ... the Broncos used only two players off the bench, who played a combined nine minutes ... in that victory, the Falcon reserves shot a combined 12-for-17 (.706) from the floor.
FALCONS IN THE MAC
A number of Falcons are represented in the latest Mid-American Conference individual statistics, as of Monday (Jan. 10) ...
185 GAMES AND COUNTING
The Falcons have made at least one three-point field goal in every game during the past six-plus years ... in fact, BGSU has drained a triple in each of the last 185 games, a school record by far ... the last time the Falcons were held without a trey was on March 1, 1998 ... the previous school record had been 29-straight games on two occasions - most recently, in the 1993-94 (last five games) and 1994-95 (first 24 games) seasons.
BLOCK PARTY
In her first season on campus, Liz Honegger tied the school record with 50 blocked shots ... so, it is no surprise that the sophomore again leads the team in that category this season ... but, Honegger is blocking shots at an even more prolific pace this year ... she had 1.61 blocks per contest last winter, and - with 26 rejections through 13 games this season - currently averages 2.00 per game ... she already has 76 blocks in her Falcon tenure, ranking her fourth on that list ... she moved past both Michelle Terry (62 from 1994-97) and Sue Pokelsek (63 from 1979-83) earlier this season ... Honegger's next target is third-place Joelyn Shoup, who had 83 blocks from 1982-86.
HONEGGER, MANN HIT DOUBLE DIGITS
Sophomore Liz Honegger had a game-high 23 points at Western Michigan ... she has scored in double digits a team-high 11 times this season, including in each of the last 10 games ... Honegger now has reached the double-figure mark 25 times in her 44 career contests, and has surpassed the 20-point mark four times ... classmate Ali Mann has scored in double digits in each of the last six games, and in a total of nine games this year ... Mann has scored 20 or more points seven times in her career, the most of any current Falcon, and has hit double digits in scoring 28 times in 44 career games.
CROWDED AT THE TOP OF THE REBOUNDING LIST
Over the last few games, sophomores Liz Honegger and Ali Mann have traded places at the top of the BGSU active career rebounding list ... currently, the two are separated by just four boards, as Honegger has 342 and Mann 338 ... senior Kelly Kapferer has 322 rebounds in her career.
DURING THE WINNING STREAK
Over the last six games, sophomore Liz Honegger has averaged 17.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 steals per game, while classmate Ali Mann has averaged 14.3 points and 7.7 boards ... sophomore Carin Horne has averages of 12.5 points and 4.5 rebounds, while freshman Kate Achter is averaging 10.8 points, 6.2 boards and 4.7 assists during that time ... senior Tene Lewis has 2.3 assists and 2.7 steals per contest during the streak.
PAINT BY NUMBERS
The Falcons have enjoyed success inside this year ... BGSU has outscored the opponents in the paint in 10 of the first 13 games, and the Western Michigan game broke a streak of seven consecutive games in which BG had more 'points in the paint' ... the Falcons and Broncos each had 32 such points ... BGSU has enjoyed success in the lane in the two home games, outscoring opponents by a combined 88-24 in the paint at Anderson Arena ... those totals include BG's top-two points-in-the-paint efforts this year to date, with 48 such points vs. Youngstown State and 40 against Bucknell.
TIME CHANGES FOR WESTERN MICHIGAN, OHIO GAMES
The starting times for two BGSU home games have been changed since the start of the season ... the Jan. 22 game vs. Western Michigan has been moved to a 3:00 p.m. start at Anderson Arena ... the move sets up a Falcon hoops doubleheader that day, as the BGSU men's basketball team will host Toledo in a 6:00 p.m. game ... the Feb. 5 game vs. Ohio University will be televised as part of the MAC's package on Fox Sports Net Ohio ... the game will begin at 2:00 p.m. ... Comcast Local will also air the game, with additional clearances possibly announced at a later date.
