Falcons Host IPFW Friday to Open 2005-06 Season

Nov. 17, 2005

BGSU Game Notes (12 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -

GAME #1 - BGSU vs. IPFW
Fri., November 18, 2005 - 7:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700) - Bowling Green, Ohio

RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Paul Braverman and Andrew Goetz
TELEVISION: BCSN
SERIES: BGSU leads, 4-0
LAST MEETING: BGSU 115, at IPFW 84 (Nov. 19, 2005)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team opens season number five of the Curt Miller Era with a pair of home games, beginning Friday (Nov. 18) ... the Falcons begin the 2005-06 regular season by hosting IPFW at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

FALCONS PICKED TO WIN MAC CROWNS
Bowling Green has been picked to win the Mid-American Conference East Division title and repeat as MAC Tournament champions in 2006 ... the Falcons received 132 points and 17 of the 23 first-place votes cast in the MAC News Media Association poll, to finish 15 points ahead of Kent State ... a total of 13 voters chose the Brown and Orange to win the league tournament, with KSU (five), Eastern Michigan (four) and Western Michigan (one) also receiving votes ... in 2004-05, BGSU won the West Division title and captured the MAC Tournament crown ... the complete poll, with first-place votes and points received, can be found in the pdf version of these game notes, or by clicking on the Oct. 26 story, 'Falcons Picked to Win East Division, MAC Tournament Titles.'

BANNER UNVEILING
The Falcons will add another banner to the Anderson Arena rafters on Friday night ... prior to the BGSU-IPFW game, head coach Curt Miller and the Falcons will be part of a pregame ceremony in which the 2005 championship banner will be unveiled.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
Bowling Green returns nine letterwinners, including all five starters, from last year's MAC Championship team ... the 2004-05 Falcons finished 23-8 overall and 13-3 in league play, winning the West Division title and earning the number-one seed for the Kraft MAC Tournament ... then, Curt Miller's team picked up three wins to earn the league tourney title ... senior Casey McDowell, juniors Liz Honegger, Carin Horne and Ali Mann and sophomore Kate Achter are the returning starters ... each of the five earned some sort of MAC honor in 2004-05 ... Honegger and Mann each were named to the All-MAC Second Team, while Horne earned honorable mention and Achter was named to the MAC's All-Freshman Team ... Achter was named the MAC Tournament MVP, with Honegger and McDowell joining her on the all-tournament team ... other returning letterwinners include senior Jill Lause, juniors Amber Flynn and Megan Thorburn and sophomore Whitney Taylor ... the freshman class is comprised of Lindsey Goldsberry, Jasmine McCall, Jessica McKenzie and DePrice Taylor ... the Falcons did not play any exhibition games, but had a pair of closed scrimmages, vs. Xavier (Nov. 5) and Dayton (Nov. 13).

SCOUTING IPFW
IPFW, like BGSU, opens the 2005-06 season with Friday's game at Anderson Arena ... the Mastodons played a pair of home exhibitions vs. Indiana foes, beating Saint Joseph's (71-55, Nov. 5) and Marian (73-52, Nov. 12) ... a total of eight letterwinners, including three starters, return from last year's team that went 5-23 ... the returning starters include junior guards Ashley Johnson and Hilary O'Connell and sophomore forward Johnna Lewis-Carlisle ... soph guard Natalie Roberts and freshman center Juliane Hohne round out the probable starting lineup for head coach Bruce Patterson ... Lewis-Carlisle is the top returning scorer, having averaged 9.6 points per game a year ago, while Johnson scored 9.5 points per contest ... Patterson enters his fifth season with the Mastodons, with a record of 26-85 ... he begins his 16th year as a collegiate head coach with an overall record of 272-186 ... the school's official athletics web site is www.ipfw.edu/athletics.

THE SERIES
The Falcons lead IPFW, 4-0, in the all-time series between the teams, with two wins at Anderson Arena and two in Fort Wayne ... the Falcons and Mastodons are meeting for the fifth consecutive year ... last season, the Brown and Orange picked up a 115-84 win on the road, with Liz Honegger (27) and Megan Thorburn (26) combining for 53 points as the Falcons posted their highest point total in over a decade ... in the teams' first-ever meeting four years ago (Nov. 29, 2001), the Falcons recorded a 73-57 home win ... two years ago (Dec. 6, 2003), BG came away with a 91-68 win over the visiting 'Dons ... game-by-game series scores, as well as the boxscore from last year's BGSU-IPFW game, can be found in the pdf version of these notes.

FALCONS ON TELEVISION
At least eight games, including seven home contests, are slated to be televised ... the list includes Friday's (Nov. 18) game vs. IPFW ... the Falcons' Feb. 5 game at Toledo will be aired as the MAC TV Game of the Week, with anticipated affiliates including Fox Sports Net Ohio, Comcast Local (Michigan), CSN Chicago and Adelphia 13 (Buffalo) ... for the second consecutive season, the bulk of BGSU's home games will be televised in the Toledo area by the Buckeye Cable Sports Network (BCSN) ... the station, which is available to Buckeye Cablesystem subscribers, plans to air seven home games, with an eighth tentatively scheduled for broadcast.

TV PLANS FOR IPFW GAME
According to the BCSN web site, the station plans to air the BGSU-IPFW game on a tape-delay basis ... currently, the scheduled air times are Friday night at 11:00 p.m. and Saturday morning (Nov. 19) at 11:00 a.m. ... for schedule information, or to learn more about BCSN, the station's web address is www.bcsn.tv.

FALCONS ON THE RADIO
Nearly all of the Falcons' regular-season games, plus any postseason action, will be on the air again in 2005-06 ... student station WBGU-FM (88.1), the flagship station for the women's basketball Falcons, is scheduled to air nearly every regular-season contest, including the entire home schedule ... the 2005-06 academic year marks the fourth 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 ... games produced by BGRSO can be heard on the web, both at bgrso.org and via BGSU Falcons All-Access package available through BGSUFalcons.com.

LOOKING FOR NUMBER 500
The Falcons' next win will be the 500th victory in the history of the program ... BGSU enters the IPFW game with an all-time record of 499-338 (.596) ... according to the MAC media guide, BGSU is tied for second among league institutions ... Northern Illinois enters the season with a total of 507 wins, while Toledo is tied with BG with 499 ... the 2005-06 season marks the Falcons' 33rd season as a varsity program.

LAUSE, MANN, McDOWELL NAMED CAPTAINS
Seniors Jill Lause and Casey McDowell and junior Ali Mann have been named tri-captains of the 2005-06 Falcons ... the three were selected in a vote of team members as well as coaching staff ... in the last three seasons, since Lause began her collegiate career and McDowell transferred from Indiana State, the Falcons have averaged almost 19 wins per year ... over the last two seasons, since the start of Mann's freshman year, BG has gone 44-18 and twice advanced to the MAC Tournament's championship game.

BACK TO THE EAST
The Falcons return to the MAC's East Division in 2005-06 ... BGSU spent five seasons in the East after the MAC instituted divisional play prior to the 1997-98 academic year ... in 2002, BG was moved to the West ... in early February of 2005, the MAC Council of Presidents approved the return of Bowling Green to the league's East Division in all sports, effective in 2005-06 ... the Falcons spent three seasons in the West, winning the divisional title in 2004-05.

MANN NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-MAC SQUAD
Juniors Liz Honegger and Ali Mann were named to the MAC's preseason all-conference team for 2005-06 ... the team, a result of voting by members of the MAC News Media Association, consists of five student-athletes from each of the MAC's two divisions ... Mann, a native of Chelsea, Mich., earned the honor for the second consecutive October ... both players earned All-MAC Second-Team honors for their play in the 2004-05 season.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
For the third consecutive season, BGSU completed the non-conference portion of the schedule at 7-4 in 2004-05 ... 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.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS II
The Falcons' win over Bucknell last Dec. 30 closed the 2004-05 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.

BG WINS MAC REGULAR-SEASON, TOURNEY TITLES
Bowling Green entered the NCAA Championships as the MAC's automatic qualifier, after winning the Kraft MAC Tournament at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, the previous weekend ... the Falcons won the MAC West Division and captured the overall regular-season title with a league-best 13-3 record ... that earned the Brown and Orange the top seed for the conference tourney ... BG proceeded to beat #8 Miami (84-68) in the quarterfinals, #4 Eastern Michigan (77-57) in the semifinal round and #2 Kent State (81-75) in the championship game ... the Falcons averaged 80.7 points per game in the MAC Tournament.

STORYLINES - 2004-05: THE YEAR THAT WAS

In October of 2003, BGSU was coming off a 12-16 season, and the Falcons were picked to finish sixth in the MAC's West Division in 2003-04 ... a young BGSU team, featuring three freshman starters, finished second in the West, a game out of first place ... the Falcons earned the fourth seed for the Kraft MAC Tournament, then won back-to-back one-point games on buzzer-beating shots by senior point guard Lindsay Austin to advance all the way to the tourney championship game.

The Falcons lost two senior starters - both 1,000-point scorers - from that team, and were picked to finish third in the West Division in 2004-05 ... the Brown and Orange, playing a difficult pre-conference schedule, went 3-4 to begin the season ... in mid-December, coach Curt Miller changed his lineup, inserting freshman Kate Achter as the starting point guard ... Achter started 24 games, with senior Tene Lewis providing a spark off the bench, and the Falcons went 20-4 after that 3-4 start.

The Falcons' starting lineup featured a freshman (Achter), three sophomores and a junior ... four of the starters averaged at least 11.0 points per game, with the three sophs - Liz Honegger (14.5), Ali Mann (13.8) and Carin Horne (11.4) - leading the way ... Achter averaged 11.0 points on the year.

The fifth starter, redshirt junior Casey McDowell, averaged 6.8 points per game, and erupted for a career-high 31 points in the Falcons' league tourney quarterfinal win over Miami ... she tied the school record, as well as the MAC Tournament record, by making seven three-point field goals in that win.

Different players stepped up for the Falcons during the season's late going ... co-captain Kelly Kapferer, for example, averaged 3.3 points per game on the year, but came off the bench to score nine points in the win over arch-rival Toledo in the final home regular-season game (Feb. 26) ... in that game, Mann suffered a sprained ankle with 8:18 left in the second half, and Kapferer played nearly the rest of the way ... the fifth-year senior converted a three-point play with 9.1 seconds left, for what proved to be the game-winning points.

Mann was questionable for the next game, the final regular-season contest at Northern Illinois (March 1) ... not only did she play, however, she was the team's top offensive weapon down the stretch as the Falcons pulled out a 75-72, come-from-behind win to clinch the outright league championship ... Mann, coming off the bench for the only time all season, scored 20 points in 24 minutes against the Huskies.

In the league tournament, McDowell had her 31-point effort - more than double her previous season high - as BG dispatched Miami in the quarterfinal round.

BGSU avenged each of the three conference regular-season losses in the tournament ... the Falcons had lost twice to Eastern Michigan, and also fell to Kent State in the only regular-season meeting between those teams ... BG had scored at least 61 points in each of the 13 MAC wins during the season, including 68 or more in 12 of those victories ... but, the Falcons had scored no more than 53 points in any of the three losses.

In the final two tourney games, though, the Falcons averaged 79.0 points (80.7 for the entire tournament) ... BG scored 77 points against Eastern, before putting up 81 points vs. Kent State ... Mann led the way with 19 points against the Eagles, with Achter adding 17 and Honegger 15 ... the other two starters, Horne and McDowell, had nine apiece, while Lewis had six key points off the bench.

Against KSU, Mann - the team's leading scorer in the EMU game - was hampered by foul trouble nearly the entire afternoon, and scored just four points in 17 minutes ... but, Achter and Honegger scored 21 and 20, respectively ... Horne added 17, including two huge buckets in the late going ... the soph had a jumper at the 1:52 mark to put BG ahead, 76-70, then drained a three-pointer with 1:08 left to make the score 79-72 ... with Mann in foul trouble, Kapferer had eight first-half points off the bench.

Achter and McDowell, BG's fourth- and fifth-leading scorers on the season, led the Falcons in that department in the tournament ... Achter had 18.0 points in the three games at Gund Arena, while McDowell had 16.3 points per game and shot 60.9 percent from the field ... McDowell made 11-of-16 three-point field-goal tries, for an eye-popping 68.8% long-range rate.

BGSU POINTS OF PRIDE

The Falcons entered last season's NCAA Championships first-round game on a season-high six-game winning streak ... despite losing that contest to Kansas State, BGSU went 11-2 over the last 13 games ... the Falcons won 14 of the last 17 games and 20 of the final 24 contests last winter.

After winning 32 games over a span of three seasons, the Falcons surpassed that total in just over half the time ... BG won 21 games in 2003-04, and registered the 11th win of last season on Jan. 19 ... over the past two seasons, BGSU has a record of 44-18 ... the Falcons were 32-53 in the three years prior to '03-04.

Since the beginning of the 2003-04 season, the Falcons have a record of 30-9 against MAC schools ... BGSU finished 11-5 in league play that year, went 3-1 in the conference tournament, and the Falcons finished the 2004-05 regular season with a MAC ledger of 13-3 before downing Miami, Eastern Michigan and Kent State in tourney action at Gund Arena.

BGSU's total of 30 wins against MAC foes over the past two years is the most of any league school ... the Falcons' .769 winning pct. is also the best among MAC schools in that span ... four of BG's nine losses in that stretch came to Eastern Michigan, but the Brown and Orange snapped a five-game losing streak to the Eagles with the league tourney semifinal win.

The Falcons, with that 13-3 MAC record, won the league's 2005 regular-season title ... BGSU finished in first place in the West Division, two games ahead of EMU (11-5) ... the title was the Falcons' first league crown of any kind since the 1993-94 team won both the MAC regular-season and tournament titles ... BG's 13 MAC wins represent the school's highest total since the 1997-98 team went 15-3 in league action, in the final year before the conference reduced the schedule from 18 games to 16 ... BGSU earned a first-round bye for the league tournament, for the first time since the MAC went to the current tourney format in the 1999-2000 season.

BGSU's win over Toledo on Feb. 26 enabled the Falcons to complete the home portion of the schedule with a 9-1 record ... BG also won nine games at home the prior season, going 9-4 (.692) ... BGSU's home winning percentage of .900 was the team's best since the 1992-93 team finished 12-1 (.923) at home ... BGSU's 7-1 MAC home mark was the best since the 1997-98 team went 8-1 in league action at Anderson Arena.

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GAME #1 - BGSU vs. IPFW
Fri., November 18, 2005 - 7:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700) - Bowling Green, Ohio

RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Paul Braverman and Andrew Goetz
TELEVISION: BCSN
SERIES: BGSU leads, 4-0
LAST MEETING: BGSU 115, at IPFW 84 (Nov. 19, 2005)

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Bowling Green State University Athletics