Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU-Toledo, Saturday Night
January 14, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2005
Falcon Game Notes (19 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
GAME #15
BGSU at TOLEDO
Saturday, Jan. 15, 2005
7:00 p.m.
John F. Savage Hall (9,000)
Toledo, Ohio
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Chris Schieman and Brian Scullin
TELEVISION: BCSN (tape delay)
SERIES: BGSU leads, 31-25
LAST MEETING: at BGSU 71, Toledo 62 (March 2, 2004)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, having fallen from the ranks of the Mid-American Conference unbeaten, returns to the road for a matchup of arch rivals ... the Falcons (9-5, 2-1 MAC) of fourth-year head coach Curt Miller, after losing for the first time in over a month, play a Saturday (Jan. 15) game against the University of Toledo ... tipoff is 7:00 p.m. at UT's John F. Savage Hall (9,000) ... then, BG will return home for the next two contests, beginning with a Wednesday (Jan. 19) game vs. Miami University ... that game will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Anderson Arena (4,700), and begins a stretch which will see the Falcons play four-of-five games at home.
FALCONS-ROCKETS
The Falcons lead Toledo, 31-25, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has captured the last three meetings ... the Rockets, however, hold a 15-10 lead in games played at Savage Hall ... last year, the Falcons snapped a four-game road losing streak to UT, with a 57-54 win at Savage (Jan. 21, 2004) ... then, host BG posted a 71-62 win over the Rockets to close the regular season (March 2, 2004) ... prior to BGSU's three-game winning streak, Toledo had won three-straight meetings, and seven of eight games, over the Falcons ... five of the last seven series contests, including each of the last four games, have been decided by single digits.
FALCONS HOPE THIS TREND CONTINUES
BGSU is 2-1 in the MAC, with a 2-0 mark in conference road games ... heading into Saturday's games, MAC West Division schools have combined to go 9-2 on the road in league play.
FALCONS IN THE RPI
Bowling Green is currently ranked 96th in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), according to the CollegeRPI.com website ... the rankings are as of Friday morning, Jan. 14 ... among MAC schools, only Eastern Michigan (59) and Miami (93) are ranked higher than BG ... BGSU is second among MAC teams in the latest Sagarin ratings, behind only EMU ... the top MAC teams are listed below...
School (RPI, Sagarin) Eastern Michigan (59, 52) Miami (93, 111) Bowling Green (96, 99) Kent State (152, 109) Marshall (176, 171)
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).
DEJA VU? ALL OVER AGAIN?
The Falcons went 21-10 overall last season, and finished 11-5 in MAC regular-season play before advancing all the way to the championship game of the league tournament ... in mid-January of 2004, after 14 games, the Falcons were 9-5 overall and 2-1 in MAC action ... this year, once again, the Brown and Orange sits at 9-5 and 2-1.
HONEGGER NAMED MAC PLAYER OF WEEK, AGAIN
On Monday (Jan. 10), sophomore Liz Honegger was named MAC Player of the Week, the league office announced ... Honegger earned 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).
FALCONS LOOK TO START NEW WINNING STREAK
For the second time in less than a year, the Falcons saw a six-game winning streak snapped by Eastern Michigan ... 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 six-game string ... other victims in that streak included Saint Francis (Pa.), Robert Morris, Bucknell, Buffalo and Western Michigan, before the Eagles dealt the Falcons their first loss in over a month ... the last six-game streak began last Feb. 25, with a win at Marshall ... that victory kick-started a six-game win streak that took BG all the way to the championship game of the Kraft MAC Tournament.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, INDEED
The Falcons, despite Wednesday's loss to Eastern Michigan, have gone 3-1 since Christmas ... since Christmas of 2003, BGSU has posted a record of 26-11, including a 16-7 mark vs. MAC schools ... Eastern Michigan has dealt the Falcons three of the losses during that time, however.
STRONG OPPOSITION
The Falcons have played 11 of the season's first 14 games away from home, and have a record of 9-5 ... the losses have come to some strong opposition, as the teams that have beaten BGSU have a combined record of 55-18 (.753) through Thursday night's (Jan. 13) action ... three of those teams are ranked or receiving votes in the national polls, including Ohio State, rated fifth in both the Associated Press and the ESPN/USA Today coaches rankings.
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.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons take an overall record of 9-5 into Savage Hall, and BGSU is 2-1 in MAC play after a 51-48 loss to visiting Eastern Michigan Wednesday (Jan. 12) ... that game was a rematch of last year's MAC Tournament championship ... the loss snapped a six-game winning streak which had included pair of double-digit league wins on the road to open league play ... the Falcons' MAC victories came 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.
The Falcons, averaging 70.9 points per game, currently have four players - three sophomores and a freshman - with double-digit scoring averages ... soph Liz Honegger paces the Brown and Orange in scoring (14.6 ppg), and also leads the team in rebounding (8.4), steals (2.4) and blocks (2.1) ... classmate Ali Mann has 12.2 points and 7.3 boards per game to rank second on the team in each category, while another soph, Carin Horne, has 11.0 points per outing ... freshman Kate Achter is averaging 10.1 points and a team-high 4.2 assists per game, and is third on the team with 4.6 rebounds ... sophomore Megan Thorburn has 6.4 points per contest, while redshirt junior Casey McDowell has 5.9 points ... Honegger and Mann are the only players to have started all 14 games this year, while McDowell has made 13 starts and Thorburn 10 ... eight of the 12 healthy Falcons have started at least one game this season ... Achter has started seven games this winter, and she, McDowell and Thorburn have joined Honegger and Mann in the starting lineup for the last six 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 TOLEDO
Toledo enters the weekend with an overall record of 6-8, and the Rockets have a 2-1 MAC mark ... UT had won two consecutive games and five of seven contests before suffering a 63-60 home loss to Northern Illinois Tuesday night (Jan. 11) ... the Rockets played the bulk of that game without senior center Karin Hoogendam, who left with an injury just two minutes into the first half ... the Rockets began MAC play with wins vs. Ball State and at Akron ... individually, Hoogendam leads the Rockets in scoring (12.9 ppg), rebounding (7.6 rpg), steals and blocks, and is the lone player to have started all 14 games ... sophomore forward Danielle Bishop has 12.5 points and 5.3 rebounds on the year, while freshman guard Olivia Terry and junior guard Crystal Young have 8.0 and 5.6 points, respectively ... Young leads the Rockets with 3.1 assists per outing ... each of the 11 players that have seen action this year have started at least two games for head coach Mark Ehlen ... sophomore center Allison Lindborg (3.1 ppg) and freshman guard Aaron Richmond (4.2 ppg) joined Bishop, Hoogendam and Young in the starting five vs. NIU ... a year ago, the Rockets went 13-16 overall and finished fourth in the West Division with a league mark of 8-8 ... Ehlen has a record of 196-89 in his 10th year in the Glass City ... he is 318-219 in his 19th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.utrockets.com.
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
Visiting Eastern Michigan scored five-straight points in the late stages of the second half and held on for a 51-48 win over the Falcons Wednesday night (Jan. 12) ... the loss snapped a six-game winning streak for the Brown and Orange ... the game, a rematch of the 2004 Kraft MAC Tournament, came down to a shot at the final horn, a BG three-point try that did not drop ... the Falcons never led after a 3-2 margin early, but Eastern never led by double digits ... the Eagles held the Falcons' top-three scorers - sophomores Liz Honegger, Ali Mann and Carin Horne - to a combined two points in the first half ... trailing for most of the second half, the Falcons tied the game on two occasions, the last one with 2:55 left ... but, EMU's Ryan Coleman found Melis Ulker for a layup, then Coleman hit a three with 1:20 left ... Mann sank a jumper with 40 seconds remaining, and, after a defensive stop, the Falcons got the ball back with 11 seconds left ... freshman Kate Achter's pass was deflected, but found Mann in the left corner ... Mann was able to grab the ball and fire a hurried three-point shot just before the horn, but the shot was off the mark ... Achter led the Falcons with 13 points, while Coleman had 13 and Nikki Knapp 12 for the Eagles.
186 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 186 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.
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 ... Honegger had a game-high 23 points vs. the Broncos, and enters the Toledo game with a total of 521 points in 45 games as a Falcon ... Ali Mann, also just a sophomore, is BGSU's active career scoring leader, with 571 points in 45 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 496 in her BGSU career.
KAPFERER KONNECTS IN K-ZOO, KOULD BE NEXT TO 500
As mentioned, senior Kelly Kapferer is closing in on the 500-point mark for her career, with 496 points as a Falcon ... she had her finest game of the season in the Falcons' win at Western Michigan (Jan. 8), and followed that performance with another solid effort vs. Eastern Michigan (Jan. 12) ... at WMU, Kapferer came off the bench to score 11 points in 18 minutes of action ... 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 ... against Eastern, Kapferer went 2-of-3 from the floor, hitting her only long-distance attempt, en route to five markers in 11 minutes.
KAPFERER IN KONFERENCE KONTESTS
Senior Kelly Kapferer has stepped up her game against MAC foes ... after totalling 17 points during the entire non-conference slate, she has scored 20 points in the three MAC contests to date ... Kapferer is a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range in the last two games.
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 29 rejections through 14 games this season - currently averages 2.07 per game ... she already has 79 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.
BATTLE OF THE BOARDS
BGSU was outrebounded by Eastern Michigan Wednesday (Jan. 12), snapping a four-game streak in which the Falcons had won the battle of the boards ... BG has had more rebounds than the opponent in eight of the 14 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 0-5 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.
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.
FALCONS IN THE MAC
A number of Falcons are represented in the latest Mid-American Conference individual statistics, as of Friday (Jan. 14) ...
DOUBLE-DIGIT STREAKS SNAPPED FOR HONEGGER, MANN
Sophomore Liz Honegger was held to a season-low four points against Eastern Michigan ... that snapped a double-digit scoring streak of 10 games, a career best ... Honegger still has scored in double digits a team-high 11 times in this season's 14 games ... Honegger has reached the double-figure mark 25 times in her 45 career contests, and has surpassed the 20-point mark four times ... classmate Ali Mann had nine points vs. Eastern, stopping her double-digit streak at six games ... Mann has scored in double figures in a total of nine games this year ... she has scored 20 or more points seven times in her career, the most of any current Falcon, and has hit double digits 28 times in her 45 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 351 and Mann 347 ... senior Kelly Kapferer has 322 rebounds in her career.
CAPTAINS KAPFERER AND LEWIS
Seniors Kelly Kapferer and Tene Lewis are the co-captains of the 2004-05 Falcons ... the two were selected in a vote of team members and the coaching staff ... Kapferer, a fifth-year senior from Jefferson, Ohio, was a unanimous choice for captain, the first in head coach Curt Miller's four-year tenure at BG.
