Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Heads to Philadelphia for Hawk Classic
December 27, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 27, 2005
BGSU Game Notes in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
GAME #9
BGSU vs. DELAWARE
Wed., December 28, 2005
4:00 p.m.
Hawk Classic
Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse (3,200)
Philadelphia, Pa.
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Chris Schieman and Paul Braverman
SERIES: First Meeting
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team will spend part of the holiday season in the City of Brotherly Love ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller travel to Philadelphia, Pa., for a pair of games in the Hawk Classic, hosted by Saint Joseph's University ... the fun starts Wednesday (Dec. 28), as BGSU faces the University of Delaware in a 2:00 p.m. start ... actually, the fun starts two hours prior, as Iona College meets host SJU in the afternoon's opening game ... the consolation (2:00 p.m.) and championship (4:00 p.m.) games are set for Thursday (Dec. 29), with all four games played at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse (3,200).
SCHOOL-RECORD EIGHT-AND-OH FALCONS
The Falcons are off to an 8-0 start this season, the best in school history ... BGSU's win at Florida International (Dec. 10) broke the old mark of 6-0 set by the 1974-75 team ... that team finished with a mark of 15-5 ... the 1988-89 squad also went 6-0 to start the season, en route to a 27-4 overall record ... that Falcon team won the Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament titles for a third-straight year.
TWO TOUGH TEAMS
The Bowling Green-Delaware game matches a pair of 20-plus win teams from a year ago ... in fact, the Falcons and Fightin' Blue Hens finished with a combined record of 48-14 last winter, and the teams are an aggregate 15-1 this season to date ... BGSU went 23-8 last season, and the Falcons are off to an 8-0 start this year ... UD finished 25-6 a year ago, and the Hens have a record of 7-1 this season to date.
EXAMS, EXAMS, EXAMS ... WILL THEY NEVER END?
The Falcons had a stretch of over a week-and-a-half without a game, as the week of Dec. 12-16 marked exam week on the BGSU campus ... for the women's basketball Falcons, however, exam week has ended, but the tough tests are far from finished ... the Oakland contest began a four-game stretch in which the Falcons face three teams - OU (21-8), Delaware (25-6) and Kentucky (18-16) - that won at least 18 games last year ... this year, UK is 9-1 and UD is 7-1 ... BG's fourth game in that time could come against Saint Joseph's, a team that, at 7-2, already has matched its win total for all of last year ... SJU, like BGSU, has received votes in both national polls this season.
ABOUT THOSE POLLS...
The Falcons have received votes in each of this year's seven Associated Press Top 25 polls to date ... BGSU garnered one vote in each of the first two polls, received two votes in each of the next two, and the Falcons have picked up three votes in each of the last three polls ... that includes the latest AP poll, released on Monday (Dec. 26) ... on Dec. 13, BG was mentioned in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll for the first time this year, getting two votes ... last week (poll of Dec. 20), the Falcons were up to five votes in that poll.
FALCONS IN THE LEAD
It doesn't take a degree in rocket science to realize that the team in the lead at the end of the game is the winner ... through the first eight games, the Falcons have done their part to be the team in the lead nearly all of the time ... BGSU has held the lead for more than 90 percent of the time in the team's eight games to date ... the Falcons have trailed for less than 20 of this year's 320 minutes (6.1%), and BG has been tied for 3.5% of the time this winter ... the Falcons have trailed after halftime in only two games, Detroit and Florida International, this year, and BG has held the lead 97.4% of the time in the second half of 2005-06 games (155:52 of the 160 minutes).
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
BGSU's win against Duquesne ensured the Falcons a winning record in non-conference play for the fourth consecutive year ... BG is the only Mid-American Conference school to have turned that trick ... the win at Florida International four days later ensured the Falcons of at least seven wins in each of the last four non-conference seasons, and BG picked up an eighth victory at Oakland on Thursday (Dec. 22) ... since the start of the 2002-03 season, BGSU is 29-12 in regular-season, non-league games, for the most wins and highest winning percentage (70.7%) of any MAC school during that time.
A FEW MORE NON-CONFERENCE FALCON FACTS
In 2004-05, BGSU completed the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 7-4 record for the third consecutive season ... the Falcons had not had three consecutive winning non-league campaigns in over a decade (1991-92 to 1993-94) ... additionally, the Falcons' 21 non-league victories tied the school record for a three-year period ... BGSU also had 21 non-conference wins from the 1986-87 through 1988-89 seasons ... obviously, the Brown and Orange will have a fourth consecutive winning non-league record in 2005-06.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
Bowling Green enters the Hawk Classic with a record of 8-0 on the season ... the Falcons are 3-0 at home, 4-0 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site contests to date ... BG opened the year with home wins over IPFW (78-50; Nov. 18) Saint Francis (Pa.) (77-55; Nov. 21), then headed to Bloomington, Ind., and won the Hampton Inn Classic with wins over IUPUI (66-55; Nov. 25) and host Indiana (68-50; Nov. 26) ... the Falcons ended November with a 78-67 win at Detroit (Nov. 30), then began December with a home win over Duquesne (76-51; Dec. 6) ... BG picked up a 67-56 win at Florida International (Dec. 10), before ending the pre-holiday schedule with a 72-59 victory at Oakland (Dec. 22) ... head coach Curt Miller and his staff returned nine letterwinners, including all five starters, from last year's MAC Championship team ... junior Liz Honegger leads a balanced BG scoring attack, averaging a team-best 14.4 points per game ... Honegger also leads the Falcons with 15 blocked shots and 14 three-point field goals made ... she has 6.8 rebounds per contest ... classmate Ali Mann is averaging 14.0 points and a BG-best 8.3 rebounds, while sophomore Kate Achter and junior Carin Horne have 13.0 and 11.4 points per game, respectively ... Horne has a team-high 3.1 steals per game, while Achter leads the team with 5.3 assists per outing ... junior Amber Flynn is averaging 5.5 points and 4.4 boards off the bench ... the Falcons are shooting 44.2 percent from the field, while holding opponents to just a 36.9% success rate to date ... 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, Miller's team picked up three wins to earn the league tourney title ... Achter, Honegger, Horne, Mann and senior Casey McDowell are the returning starters, with each of the five having earned some sort of MAC honor in '04-05 ... Honegger and Mann 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 the MAC Tournament MVP, with Honegger and McDowell joining her on the all-tournament team ... other returning letterwinners include senior Jill Lause, juniors Flynn and Megan Thorburn and sophomore Whitney Taylor ... freshmen Lindsey Goldsberry and Jasmine McCall each have played in all eight games to date, with Goldsberry starting the last two contests ... the team's other freshman, Jessica McKenzie, has yet to play due to an injury suffered in practice just before the season opener.
SCOUTING DELAWARE
Delaware enters Wednesday's BGSU game with an overall record of 7-1 ... the Fightin' Blue Hens have won four consecutive games, the last being a 65-43 home win over Georgetown on Dec. 20 ... UD's only loss this year was a two-point verdict at Boston University (59-61; Nov. 27) ... junior forward Chrissy Fisher paces three Delaware double-digit scorers with 13.9 points per game, and also leads the team with 6.9 rebounds per contest ... junior guard Tyresa Smith has 13.5 points, 4.6 boards and a team-high 2.9 steals, while junior guard Alena Koshansky has 10.0 points and leads the Hens with 4.5 assists per outing ... sophomore guard Melissa Czorniewy has 9.8 points per game ... the aforementioned four players each have started all eight games this season, while senior center Arek Deng (3.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg) has started each of the last four ... a total of nine letterwinners, including three starters, returned from last year's team that went 25-6 overall and won the Colonial Athletic Association with a 16-2 league mark ... UD's' Tina Martin has a record of 174-97 in her 10th season as a collegiate head coach, all in Newark ... the school's athletics web site is www.udel.edu/sportsinfo.
THE SERIES
Prior to Wednesday's game, the Falcons and Delaware have never met in women's basketball.
LAST TIME OUT
Junior Liz Honegger paced all players in three categories as the Falcons remained unbeaten with a 72-59 win at Oakland Thursday (Dec. 22) ... the win improved BG's record to 8-0 on the year, extending the school record for best start to a season ... Honegger had a double-double, with 19 points and a whopping 16 rebounds, and also led all players with three blocked shots ... Honegger's rebound total fell just one shy of her career best ... juniors Ali Mann and Carin Horne had 17 and 15 points, respectively, with Horne scoring eight of BG's first 12 points on the night, and Mann scoring 15 first-half markers ... sophomore Kate Achter had 12 points to round out the double-digit scorers ... Anne Hafeli led the hosts with 16 points, while Jayme Wilson added 15 and April Kidd 13 ... Oakland got out to a quick start in each half, taking an early 5-0 lead and leading by an 8-2 margin ... a Horne trey tied the game, 12-12, and began an 8-0 run that gave BGSU the lead for good ... the Falcons scored the last 10 points of the first half to take a 40-28 lead at the break ... the Grizzlies scored the first six points of the second stanza to cut BG's lead in half, but freshman Jasmine McCall scored seven consecutive BGSU points midway through the half, as BG built the lead to 15 points ... OU got no closer than eight points thereafter.
THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS
BGSU has held seven of the season's first eight opponents, including each of the first four foes, to fewer than 60 points ... despite allowing 67 points to Detroit, the Falcons have limited opponents to a combined field-goal percentage of 36.9 percent and an average of just 55.4 points per game.
PACK THOSE BAGS (AND KEEP 'EM PACKED)
The Falcons are in a stretch which will see the team play eight of nine contests away from home ... the Dec. 6 win over Duquesne marked the Falcons' lone home action of the month of December ... the Falcons are now away from the friendly confines of venerable Anderson Arena for over a month, until the MAC opener vs. Akron on Jan. 7, 2006.
NOT BAD
The Falcons have won 14 of the last 15 games, dating to Feb. 19 ... the only loss in that time was to Kansas State in the NCAA Championships.
MANN, HONEGGER APPROACHING MILLENNIUM MARK
Juniors Ali Mann and Liz Honegger, in just over two seasons, already have added their names to the Falcon career scoring chart ... Mann surpassed the 900-point mark for her BGSU career in the win over Duquesne, and enters the Delaware game with a total of 941 points ... in BG's win at Oakland, Mann passed Kim Griech (1999-2003) to move into the BGSU top-20 ... Honegger currently stands at 882 points, in 26th place ... a total of 18 players have scored 1,000 points at BG, with only five (Jackie Motycka, Sara Puthoff, Francine Miller, Lori Albers and Chris Tuttle) reaching that plateau in their junior season ... both Mann (fifth) and Honegger (ninth) rank among BGSU's top 10 in career points per game.
McDOWELL RETURNS
Fifth-year senior Casey McDowell returned to action in the Oakland game (Dec. 22) ... McDowell missed the Florida International (Dec. 10) game due to an injury suffered late in the first half of the win over Duquesne (Dec. 6) ... the FIU game marked the first time BGSU had a starter miss a game due to injury since the 2002-03 season ... McDowell first entered the Oakland game with 16:41 left in the first half, and played 23 minutes in the win.
SOME SUCCESSFUL STATS
The Falcons have had a higher field-goal percentage than the opponent in all eight games this season to date ... additionally, BGSU has had fewer turnovers in seven of the eight games ... the Falcons have led at halftime in seven games this season, and BGSU has been outrebounded just twice.
HONEGGER, MANN HAVE DOUBLE VISION
Juniors Liz Honegger and Ali Mann have been in double digits in the scoring column much more often than not over their careers ... Honegger scored at least 10 points in 25 of last year's 31 games, while Mann had 24 double-figure games of her own ... each player has been at it again in 2005-06, as Mann has hit double digits in scoring in seven of the season's first eight games, while Honegger has scored at least 10 points six times this year ... Mann now has scored 10 points or more 50 times in her 70 career games, while Honegger - who has also played 70 games - has had 45 games of at least 10 points at BG.
HONEGGER, MANN HAVE DOUBLE-DOUBLE VISION
Junior Liz Honegger recorded her first double-double of the season at Oakland (Dec. 22), with game-high totals of 19 points and 16 rebounds ... for Honegger, the double-double was her 13th at BGSU, tying her with classmate Ali Mann for the career lead among active Falcons ... Mann came close to posting a double-double in three of the season's first five games, before turning the trick in the Duquesne game ... Mann had game-high totals of 14 points and 11 rebounds, for her 13th career double-double, the most among active Falcons ... she had fallen a single rebound shy of a double-double in each of the Falcons' first two games of the season, vs. IPFW (14 points, 9 rebounds) and Saint Francis (21p-9r) ... Mann had 13 points and eight caroms at Detroit ... another junior, Amber Flynn, very nearly had the first double-double of her BGSU career in the win at Indiana ... Flynn had nine points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds vs. the Hoosiers.
GET A STOP
The Falcons have played some solid defense in the early portion of the season, as evidenced by opponents' 55.4 points-per-game average through eight games ... BG has shown the ability to shut the opposing offense down for long stretches ... in fact, the Falcons have held the opponent to a scoreless stretch of at least four minutes in seven of the eight games (and, in the other game, held Saint Francis without a point for 3:48 during one segment) ... in the last three games, vs. Duquesne and Florida International, the Falcons have had several impressive streaks ... against DU, BGSU held the Dukes pointless for a span of nearly five minutes in the first half ... in the second half, the Falcons held DU without a field goal for a span of 8:33 ... then, after allowing a basket, the Brown and Orange went over five more minutes without allowing another hoop ... vs. FIU, the Brown and Orange went on a 19-1 run early in the second half, turning a three-point deficit into a 15-point lead ... at OU, BG scored the last 10 points of the opening half, holding the Golden Grizzlies without a point for the final 4:52.
STEPPING UP WHEN NEEDED
A hallmark of the 2005-06 Falcons this season to date has been the team's balanced scoring, as well as the ability of different players to step up at different times ... the win at Oakland is a perfect example ... junior Carin Horne scored eight of the Falcons' first 12 points of the night, while classmate Ali Mann's 15 first-half points included six consecutive points to spark a 10-0 run to end the half ... freshman Jasmine McCall scored seven-straight BG points midway through the second half, to put the Falcons' lead into double digits for good, and junior Liz Honegger and sophomore Kate Achter combined to score 12 of the team's final 14 points of the night.
MANN NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior Ali Mann was named the MAC's Player of the Week for the East Division, the league office announced on Monday, Dec. 12 ... Mann, a native of Chelsea, Mich. (Chelsea H.S.), earned the honor for the first time this season and the fourth time in her Falcon career ... she averaged 15.0 points and a team-high 8.5 rebounds as BG posted a pair of wins, over Duquesne (76-51; Dec. 6) and Florida International (67-56; Dec. 10).
