Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Open MAC Play at Buffalo Wednesday
January 04, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2005
Falcon Game Notes (18 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
GAME #12
BGSU at BUFFALO
Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005
7:00 p.m.
Alumni Arena (6,100)
Buffalo, N.Y.
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Paul Braverman
SERIES: Tied, 5-5
LAST MEETING: at BGSU 64, Buffalo 63 (Jan. 31, 2004)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after concluding another successful non-conference schedule, looks to continue that success in Mid-American Conference play ... the Falcons (7-4) of fourth-year head coach Curt Miller begin the MAC slate with a pair of road games, starting with a Wednesday (Jan. 5) contest at the University at Buffalo ... the Falcons and Bulls will meet in a 7:00 p.m. start at UB's Alumni Arena (6,100) ... following Wednesday's game, the Brown and Orange will take on Western Michigan University in Saturday (Jan. 8) action in Kalamazoo, Mich. ... the Falcons' next home game will be on Wed., Jan. 12, vs. Eastern Michigan in a rematch of the 2004 Kraft MAC Tournament's championship game.
MILLER BACK TO .500, EYES THE 50 MARK
Head coach Curt Miller, in just over three seasons at the reins, has begun the process of restoring the Falcons' status as a perennial MAC contender ... Miller currently has a record of 49-49 in his fourth season at the BGSU helm ... Thursday's (Dec. 30) 80-60 win over Bucknell has given him a .500 record for the first time since his first week of competition with the Falcons ... the last time Miller was at the .500 mark was just two games into his BG tenure, as the Falcons beat Youngstown State in his head-coaching debut (on Nov. 17, 2001) before losing to Detroit three days later ... the Falcons' next victory will be the 50th of Miller's career.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
The Falcons' win over Bucknell extended one of the most successful non-league stretches in school history ... since the beginning of the 2002-03 season, BGSU has posted a 21-12 mark in regular-season, non-league games, the best of any MAC school ... BGSU'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 with a 7-4 record ... the Falcons had not had three consecutive winning non-conference 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 non-conference, regular-season wins from 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.
FALCONS LOOK TO EXTEND WINNING STREAK
The Falcons will head to Buffalo riding a four-game winning streak ... through nine games this season (including the team's lone exhibition), the 2004-05 Falcons 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 have downed Utah State, Saint Francis (Pa.), Robert Morris and Bucknell ... prior to the current 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.
FALCONS ON RADIO THE REST OF THE WAY
The Falcons are on the air for the rest of the season ... a total of 24 of the Falcons' 27 regular-season games, plus all postseason games, are scheduled to be on the air in 2004-05 ... that list of games includes the entire MAC schedule ... student station WBGU-FM (88.1), the flagship station for the women's basketball Falcons, is scheduled to air all but three regular-season contests (the two Lobo Shootout games and the Bucknell contest) ... the 2004-05 academic year marks the third season of an agreement between the BGSU department of athletics and the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO) to have WBGU serve as the flagship station for both hockey and women's basketball.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons will take an overall record of 7-4 to Buffalo ... BGSU is riding a four-game win streak after picking up an 80-60 win over Bucknell Thursday (Dec. 30) in a rare home game ... prior to that win, the Falcons closed a six-game road swing with a 4-2 record, after posting victories at Saint Francis (80-74 in overtime; Dec. 18) and Robert Morris (66-51; Dec. 20) prior to breaking for the holidays ... that swing through Western Pennsylvania came on the heels of a split at the previous weekend's Lobo Shootout ... 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 72.2 points per game, currently have four players -- three sophomores and a freshman -- with double-digit averages in that department ... soph Liz Honegger paces the Brown and Orange in scoring (14.8 ppg), and also leads the team in rebounding (8.7), steals (2.1 - tied for team lead) and blocks (2.0) ... classmate Ali Mann has 12.5 points and 7.3 boards per game to rank second on the team in each category, while another soph, Carin Horne, has 10.6 points per outing ... freshman Kate Achter is averaging 10.2 points and a team-high 4.5 assists per game, and is third on the team with 4.0 rebounds ... sophomore Megan Thorburn has 7.7 points per contest, while redshirt junior Casey McDowell has 6.0 points ... Honegger and Mann are the only players to have started all 11 games this year, while McDowell has made 10 starts and Thorburn and senior co-captain Tene Lewis seven apiece ... Lewis is tied with Honegger for the team lead in steals ... 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 five for the last three 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, 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 BUFFALO
Buffalo enters MAC play with an overall record of 2-9 ... the Bulls snapped a seven-game losing streak with Sunday's (Jan. 2) 50-48 victory over visiting East Carolina ... UB is currently 1-2 at Alumni Arena on the season ... junior guard Brooke Meunier leads the team in scoring, with 11.4 points per game, while freshman forward Heather Turner joins her in double digits (10.6 ppg) ... Turner has a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game ... senior guard Allison Bennett and sophomore forward Viorica Badinici average 7.7 and 6.3 points, respectively ... sophomore guard Belinda Gibb (6.0 ppg) and freshman guard Stephanie Bennett (5.0 ppg) joined Allison Bennett, Meunier and Turner in Sunday's starting lineup for head coach Cheryl Dozier ... a year ago, the Bulls went 6-21 overall and finished fifth in the MAC's East Division with a 4-12 league mark ... Dozier is 87-92 in her seventh year as a collegiate head coach, all with the Bulls ... the school's athletics web site is www.buffalobulls.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons and Buffalo are tied, 5-5, in the all-time series between the teams ... BGSU won last year's lone meeting, a 64-63 nail-biter in Anderson Arena (Jan. 31, 2004) ... the host Bulls won the last game at Alumni Arena, 72-60, two years ago (Feb. 12, 2003), and UB holds a narrow 3-2 lead in home games vs. the Brown and Orange ... seven of the last eight meetings have been decided by 10 points or less, including six by four points or fewer.
THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons lead the all-time series with 10 of the 12 MAC opponents, and one other series (the Buffalo series) is tied ... the Falcons trail only one MAC school, as Northern Illinois holds a 12-10 series lead over BGSU.
BGSU-BUFFALO TIES
FACING OFF AGAINST THE KEYSTONE STATE
The Bucknell game marked the Falcons' fifth contest this season against a team from the state of Pennsylvania ... prior to the 2004-05 campaign, BGSU had played seven games against Pa. schools in the history of the program.
HONEGGER, MANN ARE DOUBLE TROUBLE
Sophomore Liz Honegger had a double-double in the win over Bucknell, with game-high totals of 19 points and 10 rebounds ... Honegger now has four double-doubles this season, matching her total for all of last year ... classmate Ali Mann had double-doubles in back-to-back games, wins over Utah State and Saint Francis ... Mann now has nine career double-doubles, the most among active Falcons, while Honegger is right behind with eight.
ALI SURPASSES 500-POINT MARK; LIZ IS CLOSING IN
Forward Ali Mann, just a sophomore, is BGSU's active career scoring leader ... with her 19-point performance at Saint Francis, Mann surpassed the 500-point mark for her career ... after scoring 15 points vs. Bucknell, she now has 538 points in a total of 42 games as a Falcon ... classmate Liz Honegger is closing in on the 500-point plateau, with 480 career points.
CROWDED AT THE TOP
Sophomore Liz Honegger, for the time being at least, is the Falcons' active career rebounding leader ... but, several teammates are right on her heels ... with her 10 boards vs. Bucknell, Honegger moved her career total to 330 boards ... Ali Mann has a total of 325 boards, while senior Kelly Kapferer has 318 in her career.
A POINT A MINUTE
Sophomores Liz Honegger and Carin Horne made the most of their time on the court in the Bucknell game, each averaging a point per minute ... Honegger scored 19 points in 19 minutes of action ... Horne came off the bench to score 16 points in 16 minutes on the court.
DEFENSE!
The Falcons held Bucknell without a field goal for a span of 8:17 in the first half of Thursday's game ... after BU's Lindsey Hollobaugh made a shot to tie the game at 4-4, the Bison had only three free throws before the team's next field goal, at the 10:17 mark ... by that time, the Falcons led by a 25-7 count.
183 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 183 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 22 rejections through 11 games this season - currently averages 2.0 per game ... she already has 72 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) with her four rejections in the win over Winthrop ... Honegger's next target is third-place Joelyn Shoup, who had 83 blocks from 1982-86.
FALCONS IN THE MAC
A number of Falcons are represented in the latest Mid-American Conference individual statistics, as of Monday (Jan. 3) ...
HONEGGER, MANN HIT DOUBLE DIGITS
Sophomore Liz Honegger had a game-high 19 points vs. Bucknell ... she has scored in double digits a team-high nine times this season, including in each of the last eight games ... Honegger now has reached the double-figure mark 23 times in her 42 career contests, and has surpassed the 20-point mark three times ... classmate Ali Mann has scored in double digits in each of the last four games, and in a total of seven 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 26 times in 42 career games.
QUITE A SERIES
The Falcons now lead Bucknell, 2-0, in the all-time series, and BGSU has averaged 90.0 point per game vs. the Bison ... last season (Dec. 3, 2003), the Falcons became the first visiting team to reach the century mark in Lewisburg, Pa., posting a 100-77 victory over host BU.
PATRIOT GAMES
The Falcons now have an all-time record of 5-1 against current members of the Patriot League ... BG is 2-0 against Bucknell and 1-0 vs. both American and Colgate, and the Falcons are 1-1 vs. Lehigh after a three-point loss earlier this season.
DURING THE WINNING STREAK
Over the last four games, sophomore Liz Honegger has averaged 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds, while classmate Ali Mann has averaged 15.5 points and 8.3 boards ... freshman Kate Achter has averages of 12.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game during that time, while soph Carin Horne has averaged 11.8 points and 5.0 rebounds ... senior Tene Lewis has 2.5 assists and 3.5 steals per contest during the streak.
FIRST STREAK IN THIS CATEGORY
BG has outrebounded the opponent in each of the last two contests, the first time this year that the Falcons have held the advantage in that category in back-to-back games ... BGSU has had more rebounds than the opponent in six games this season.
LAST TIME OUT
All 12 healthy players on the roster found the scoring column as the Falcons posted a 20-point victory, 80-60, over Bucknell Thursday night (Dec. 30) ... the Falcons' top-four scorers on the season were at it again, as all four hit double figures ... sophomore Liz Honegger led all players with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while classmate Carin Horne had 16 points off the bench ... soph Ali Mann had 15 points, while freshman Kate Achter had 12 points and a game-high five assists ... the Falcons never trailed in the game, and went on a 19-2 run early in the first half to take a 25-7 lead ... Horne scored 12 points in a 3:05 span in that opening half ... BG led by as many as 31 points in the second half, before a late Bucknell run narrowed the gap to 20 ... Lindsey Hollobaugh led the Bison with 15 points.
PAINT BY NUMBERS
The Falcons have enjoyed success inside this year ... BGSU has outscored the opponents in the paint in nine of the first 11 games, and the Falcons have had more 'points in the paint' in each of the last six contests ... BG 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.
IT TAKES A THIEF
The Falcons have turned up the intensity during the team's current four-game win streak, with the top-two steal totals of the season during that stretch ... BG had a season-high 18 steals in the win over Saint Francis, and had 12 more at Robert Morris (BG also had 12 in the Winthrop game) ... senior co-captain Tene Lewis had five steals, setting a new career best, in the win at SFU ... then, she had five more at RMU ... Lewis picked up her astonishing total of 10 thefts in a total of just 30 minutes of action, and has moved into a tie with sophomore Liz Honegger for the team lead.
SHUTTING 'EM DOWN
The Falcons have held two of the last four opponents to a field-goal percentage of less than 30.0% ... in the Utah State game, BGSU held the Aggies to just 29.0% shooting from the field, including only a 22.2% success rate in the first half ... the Falcons forced 10 USU turnovers and outrebounded the Aggies by a 33-13 count in that opening 20 minutes, en route to building a 39-15 halftime lead ... then, BG limited Robert Morris to a FG pct. of 21.9% in the second half and 29.7% for the game ... for the season, BGSU opponents have shot just 39.2% from the floor.
IT HELPS TO SHOOT WELL
Not surprisingly, the Falcons have enjoyed success in games in which they have shot well ... BGSU is 7-0 this season, and 39-6 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.
BGSU-OHIO GAME PART OF MAC TV PACKAGE
The Falcons' home game vs. Ohio University, scheduled for Feb. 5, 2005, will be televised as part of the league's seven-game package on Fox Sports Net Ohio ... start time for the game has been moved to 2:00 p.m. ... this is a change from the previously published start time listed in the media guide and on schedule cards, posters and season ticket information ... Comcast Local will also air the game, with additional clearances possibly being announced at a later date.
START TIME CHANGED FOR WMU GAME
The starting time for the Falcons' game on Jan. 22, 2005, has been changed ... that game, vs. Western Michigan, has been moved to a 3:00 p.m. start at Anderson Arena ... the move sets up a Falcon basketball doubleheader that day ... the BGSU men's basketball team will host Toledo in a 6:00 p.m. game that is part of the MAC's television package for 2004-05.
