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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Toledo on Senior Day
February 25, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2005
BGSU Game Notes (22 pages) in PDF Format
BGSU 2004-05 Boxscores (13 more pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
GAME #26
BGSU
vs
TOLEDO
Saturday, Feb. 26, 2005
1:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Bowling Green, Ohio
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Steve Jarnicki and Rob Troutman
TELEVISION: BCSN (tape delay) - Dave Horger and Fran Voll
SERIES: BGSU leads, 32-25
LAST MEETING: BGSU 69, at Toledo 66 (OT) (Jan. 15, 2005)
SENIOR DAY
Saturday's game marks 'Senior Day' for the Falcon women's basketball program ... the team's three seniors -- Kelly Kapferer, Tene Lewis and Sakima Smith -- will be recognized in pregame ceremonies.
CONTROLLING THEIR OWN DESTINY
With just two regular-season games remaining, the Falcons control their own destiny for both the West Division title and the number-one seed for the Kraft MAC Tournament ... if the tourney began today, BGSU would be the top seed, and the Brown and Orange would receive a first-round bye for the first time since the MAC went to the current tourney format in the 1999-2000 season ... wins over both Toledo and Northern Illinois would enable the Falcons to clinch the division, the first-round bye and the tourney's #1 seed, regardless of any other outcomes around the MAC ... BGSU has not won a MAC title of any kind since the 1993-94 team captured both the league's regular-season and tournament titles ... this year's Falcon team can finish no lower than the fourth seed for the Kraft MAC Tournament.
TOURNAMENT TIME APPROACHES
As mentioned, the Falcons control their own destiny in the MAC race ... the top-three seeds in the conference tourney earn first-round byes, with the division winners earning the first and second seeds ... the team with the best record among the remaining 11 schools earns the third seed and the final first-round bye, with seeds four through eight hosting first-round games on March 5 ... the five first-round winners join the top-three teams in Cleveland for the quarterfinals (March 9).
TIEBREAKERS?
The Falcons' 73-62 win over Marshall Wednesday (Feb. 23) gives BG the tiebreaker in the event the two teams end the regular season with identical records ... head-to-head competition is the first tiebreaker ... in the event of a two-team tie, BGSU would win a tiebreaker over either MU or Ball State, but would lose a tiebreaker with Eastern Michigan or Kent State ... the BG/UT tiebreaker is not yet determined.
MAC TOURNAMENT PICTURE
With just a few days remaining in the regular season, here is a look at the conference record of each school, along with remaining regular-season games...
School W-L (Remaining Games) Bowling Green # 11-3 [vs. Toledo (2/23), at Northern Ill. (3/1)] Marshall # 11-3 [at Eastern Mich. (2/26), vs. Akron (3/1)] Kent State # 10-4 [at Miami (2/26), vs. Buffalo (3/1)]Eastern Mich. # 10-4 [vs. Marshall (2/26), at Toledo (3/1)] Ball State # 9-5 [vs. Ohio (2/26), at Central Mich. (3/1)] Toledo # 8-6 [at BGSU (2/26), vs. Eastern Mich. (3/1)] Miami % 8-6 [vs. Kent State (2/26), at Ohio (3/1)] Ohio % 7-7 [at Ball State (2/26), vs. Miami (3/1)]
Western Mich. $ 6-9 [vs. Central Mich. (2/26)] Central Mich. $ 4-10 [at Western Mich. (2/26), vs. Ball State (3/1)] Northern Ill. $ 3-11 [at Buffalo (2/26), vs. BGSU (3/1)] Akron $ 3-12 [at Marshall (3/1)] Buffalo $ 2-12 [vs. Northern Ill. (2/26), at Kent State (3/1)]
# has clinched at least a first-round home game % will play a first-round home game $ will play on the road in the first round Note: The MAC Fast Break web site (www.geocities.com/mu1809) provides daily updates regarding seeds and strength of schedule of remaining games
POINTS OF PRIDE
GREAT START
For the second consecutive year, the Falcons are off to a solid start ... BGSU is 18-7 overall and 11-3 in MAC play, two games ahead of last year's pace in each case ... last winter, BGSU went 16-9 through the first 25 games, and the Falcons were 9-5 after 14 conference contests ... BG's 2004-05 overall record is the team's best since the 1997-98 squad was 19-6 after 25 games ... the Falcons' MAC record is the best since that '97-98 team went 13-1 to start league play.
FALCONS IN THE RPI
Bowling Green is currently ranked 79th and 82nd in two of the most up-to-date Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) related polls ... BGSU is the top-ranked team among MAC schools on three of the lists (collegerpi.com, Collegiate Basketball News and WBCA/Summerville).
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE
For the first time this season, the Falcons received a vote in a national poll on Feb. 15 ... BGSU received one vote in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches' Poll that week ... after beating the Falcons, 57-52, last Saturday (Feb. 19), Eastern Michigan received two votes in this week's poll ... Marshall garnered a vote in this week's Associated Press poll, before losing to the Falcons on Wednesday.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons take an overall record of 18-7 into Saturday's game, and BGSU is 11-3 in MAC play, atop the league's West Division ... the Falcons lost at Eastern Michigan, 57-52, Saturday (Feb. 19), snapping a streak of five consecutive wins to begin the month of February ... but, BG bounced back with Wednesday's (Feb. 23) 73-62 win over East Division-leading Marshall ... BG has won nine of the last 11 games and 15 of 18 contests ... BG's other MAC losses came at Kent State, 62-53 on Jan. 26, and in the first EMU meeting, 51-48 on Jan. 12 ... BGSU finished the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 7-4 mark for the third consecutive season.
BGSU is averaging 70.2 points per game, ranking second in the MAC and 40th in the country ... the Falcons are tied for 52nd in the nation in scoring margin, and currently have four players - three sophomores and a freshman - with double-digit scoring averages ... soph Liz Honegger paces the Brown and Orange in scoring (14.2 ppg), and also leads the team in rebounding (7.9), steals (2.1) and blocks (1.9) ... classmate Ali Mann has 13.7 points and 7.8 boards per game to rank second on the team in each category, while another soph, Carin Horne, has 11.5 points per outing ... freshman Kate Achter is averaging 10.3 points and a team-high 3.9 assists per game, and is third on the team with 4.2 rebounds ... redshirt junior Casey McDowell has 5.6 points per contest, while sophomore Megan Thorburn averages 4.0 points ... Honegger and Mann are the only players to have started all 25 games this year, while McDowell has made 24 starts and Achter 18 ... Horne has started 15 games and Thorburn 10 ... Achter, Horne and McDowell have joined Honegger and Mann in the starting lineup for each of the last 11 games.
BGSU is shooting 41.8 percent from the field and 70.0% from the free-throw line ... the Falcons have allowed opponents to shoot just 37.9% from the floor, and the foes have a 69.2% success rate from the stripe.
In MAC play, Mann leads the Falcons with 14.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, while Honegger is close behind, with 13.8 points and 7.2 boards ... Horne and Achter average 12.1 and 10.4 points per game, respectively ... BGSU has 68.6 points per game and a scoring margin of +12.3 in league action to date ... BG is shooting 41.1% in conference games, while allowing MAC opponents to shoot just 36.8% from the floor.
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 currently has an overall record of 12-13, and the Rockets check into Saturday's game with a MAC record of 8-6 ... UT is looking to snap a two-game losing streak, with an 81-60 loss at Ball State the last time out, on Wednesday (Feb. 23) ... the Rockets have identical home and road records of 5-6 overall and 4-3 in MAC play ... sophomore guard Danielle Bishop leads the team with 14.1 points per game, and has made a team-high 43 three-point field goals ... center Karin Hoogendam, the Rockets' lone senior, also is in double digits, with 12.6 points and a team-leading 7.8 rebounds per game, while freshman guard Olivia Terry has 7.7 points per contest ... junior guard Crystal Young has 6.5 points and team-leading averages of 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals, and sophomore forward Savannah Werner has 5.5 points per game off the bench ... sophomore C/F Allison Lindborg (3.7 ppg) joins Bishop, Hoogendam, Terry and Young in the probable starting lineup for head coach Mark Ehlen ... 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 202-94 in his 10th year in the Glass City ... he is 324-224 in his 19th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.utrockets.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Toledo, 32-25, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has captured the last four meetings ... the Falcons have a 17-7 mark in games played at Anderson Arena ... BGSU made the short trip north and won by a 69-66 count in overtime earlier this season (Jan. 15, 2005) ... in that game, BG trailed by four points with under two minutes left in the overtime, but scored the game's last seven points ... in the last meeting in BG, on last season's 'Senior Day,' the Falcons posted a 71-62 win over the Rockets to close the regular season (March 2, 2004) ... the Falcons have won the last three home games vs. the Rockets, and BG has taken four of the last five meetings in Anderson ... UT's last win in BG came on Jan. 13, 1999, a 79-65 decision ... overall, six of the last eight series contests, including each of the last five games, have been decided by single digits.
THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons lead the all-time series with 11 of the 12 MAC opponents, and are narrowing the gap with that 12th team ... after the 80-44 win over Northern Illinois on Feb. 2, BGSU trails that series by a slim 12-11 margin.
LAST TIME OUT
Freshman Kate Achter scored a career-high 27 points, and sophomores Ali Mann and Liz Honegger each had double-doubles as the Falcons picked up a 73-62 win over visiting Marshall Wednesday (Feb. 23), in a matchup of the MAC's two divisional leaders ... the BG win ended a 12-game winning streak for the Thundering Herd ... Mann had 19 points and tied her career high with 16 rebounds, as the Falcons held a 48-33 margin on the boards ... BGSU had a whopping 22 offensive rebounds to MU's 11 ... Honegger had 17 points and 11 rebounds, including an eye-popping nine offensive boards ... Sikeetha Shepard-Hall led the Herd with 16 points, while Teyonka Hodge scored 14 off the bench ... Kim Griffin rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points in the game ... the Falcons got off to a solid start, scoring the game's first five points, and BG led for the entire first half ... the Brown and Orange led by as many as 11 points on several first-half occasions, the last at 29-18 after a Honegger three-point play ... but, the Herd made a late first-half run, outscoring the Falcons by a 9-2 count before a BG free throw put the Falcons up by five at the intermission ... the Herd came out with guns blazing in the second half, and took the lead on a Shepard-Hall three-pointer at the 16:37 mark ... the lead changed hands six times over the next four minutes, before a Mann layup began an 8-0 BG run which gave the Falcons the lead for good ... a late MU run cut BG's margin to six points with 3:16 left, but the hosts weathered that storm ... after a foul and two MU technicals, Achter made six consecutive free throws with 38.7 seconds left to clinch the win.
SOMETHING HAD TO GIVE
BGSU snapped two Marshall winning streaks in Wednesday's game, and the Falcons extended a streak of their own ... MU came into Anderson Arena having won 12 consecutive contests, including five-straight road games ... the Falcons, however, picked up the win, giving BGSU six consecutive home victories.
FALCONS MATCH MAC WIN TOTAL
BGSU's win over Marshall lifts the Falcons' record to 11-3 in MAC play ... with two games remaining, BG has matched last year's conference win total ... last year's team went 11-5 and tied for second in the West Division, just a game out of first ... this year, of course, the Falcons currently lead the division ... and, speaking of the West Division, keep reading ...
BACK TO THE EAST
If the Falcons want to win a West Division title, they had better do it this season ... in early February, the MAC Council of Presidents approved the return of Bowling Green to the league's East Division in all sports, effective next academic year ... when the league began divisional play in 1997, BGSU was a member of the East Division ... in 2002, to accommodate the addition of UCF as a football-playing member of the league, BG was moved to the West ... UCF and Marshall are leaving the MAC at the end of the 2004-05 academic year.
KATE KONNECTS
Freshman Kate Achter had 27 points vs. Marshall, the most of her young career and tied for a BGSU season high ... Achter, who missed nearly half of the opening 20 minutes after picking up two fouls, scored 19 of her points in the second half ... she had her 27 points in just 28 minutes of action.
MORE ON KATE
While freshman Kate Achter has contributed to the Falcons' success in many ways, scoring had not been the primary way over the four games prior to Wednesday ... before scoring 27 points vs. Marshall, Achter had scored a total of 23 points in the previous four contests ... Achter's total of 13 free throws made vs. the Herd topped her previous best by five, and was the most by a BG player since Ali Mann made 13 charity tosses early last season vs. Southeast Missouri State (Nov. 28, 2003).
HOW'S THIS FOR BALANCE?
In the nine home games to date, the Falcons' top-four scorers all are averaging between 12.6 and 14.8 points per game ... after scoring 27 points vs. Marshall - the most by a BG player in a home game this year - Kate Achter now averages a team-best 14.8 points in games at Anderson Arena ... Ali Mann (14.1), Liz Honegger (14.0) and Carin Horne (12.6) all are close behind Achter ... each of the four players have scored between 113 and 133 points at Anderson this year to date.
FALCONS CLINCH HOMECOURT BERTH
On Saturday, March 5, the Falcons will either have a home game or be idle ... BGSU became the first team to clinch at least a top-eight seed, ensuring that the Falcons will not have to go on the road that day ... March 5 is the first round of the Kraft MAC Tournament ... the top-three seeds will get byes and proceed directly to Cleveland's Gund Arena for the quarterfinals (March 9) ... seeds four through eight will host first-round games on the 5th.
ROAD SWEET ROAD?
Despite last Saturday's loss at Eastern Michigan, the Falcons currently have a 5-2 road record in MAC play ... since the start of last season, the Falcons are 11-4 on the road in conference play, and 16-10 overall ... that comes on the heels of a four-year span in which BG was 15-39 on the road and 8-24 in MAC road games ... overall this season, BGSU is 8-5 in away games ... the Falcons' loss at Kent State (Jan. 26) was the first road setback in a month and a half, since a Dec. 10 loss at New Mexico.
HOME SWEET HOME!
The Falcons' win over Marshall (Feb. 23) moved BGSU's record to 8-1 at home this season ... BG has outscored the opponents by 17.6 points per game at Anderson Arena this season, and by over 20 points per outing (77.8 to 57.6) in the eight wins ... the lone home loss was by three points to defending champion Eastern Michigan.
BLOCK PARTY: HONEGGER MOVING UP THE LISTS
Liz Honegger, just a sophomore, is rapidly moving up the BGSU lists for blocked shots ... she is threatening to break the single-season marks ... Honegger, who tied the BG record with 50 blocks as a freshman, set a school mark with 27 rejections in MAC games a year ago ... this season, she is blocking shots at an even more prolific pace ... she had 1.61 blocks per contest last winter, and - with 48 rejections through 25 games this season - currently averages 1.92 per game ... in MAC play, Honegger has 26 blocked shots this year, just one shy of her own record ... overall, Honegger has moved into a second-place tie on the career list, with 98 blocks ... she is deadlocked with Megan McGuire (1985-89) ... Angie Bonner (1986-90) holds the BG career record with 155 rejections ... Honegger is on pace to obliterate the BGSU career record for blocks per game.
RPI = RATINGS PERCENTAGE IMPROVEMENT
As of Friday afternoon (Feb. 25), the Falcons were ranked 79th in the Ratings Percentage Index, according to CollegeRPI.com ... last year's BG team finished 104th in that web site's rankings ... those numbers represent a vast improvement over the prior four seasons, when the Falcons finished with RPI rankings of 246th, 272nd, 202nd and 199th.
MILESTONES FOR MILLER...
Falcon head coach Curt Miller picked up his 60th win in the Marshall game, and his career record stands at 60-52 heading into the Toledo contest ... he is eight games over .500 for the second time in his tenure (the first was after the Feb. 15 win over Central Michigan) ... BGSU's win at Buffalo (Jan. 5) in this year's MAC opener moved Miller's overall mark above the .500 mark for the first time since his head-coaching debut in November of 2001 ... one month later, the win over Ohio (Feb. 5) put the Falcons' MAC record over .500 for the first time since Miller arrived ... Miller, in his fourth year at the BGSU helm, currently has a ledger of 33-29 in league play.
...AND FOR THE PROGRAM
BGSU has been one of the most successful teams in MAC history over the years, and Curt Miller and staff are in the process of restoring the Falcons' place among the perennial league contenders ... the win at Buffalo (Jan. 5) was the 250th conference victory in program history ... entering the Toledo game, BGSU's all-time record in conference games is 260-135 (.658) ... only the Rockets (267) have more MAC wins than the Falcons over the years.
MANN MAKES MORE THAN SHE MISSES
After shooting 52.4% from the field en route to that player-of-the-week award, sophomore Ali Mann has shot 57.6% in the last three games, going 7-for-10 vs. Central Michigan, 6-of-12 at Eastern Michigan and 6-of-11 vs. Marshall ... over the last five games, Mann is shooting 55.6% from the floor, having made 30 of her 54 shots in that time ... she leads the Falcons in scoring (16.4), rebounding (9.2) and minutes per game (33.8), in addition to FG pct., during that span.
FALCONS IN THE MAC
The Falcons are well-represented in the latest Mid-American Conference statistics, as of Saturday morning (Feb. 26) ...
IT STANDS TO REASON
Not surprisingly, the Falcons have enjoyed success in games in which they have shot and rebounded well ... BGSU is 17-0 this season, and 49-6 in the Curt Miller Era, when the Falcons have a higher field-goal percentage than the opponent ... the win over Marshall was the Falcons' first this season with a lower FG pct. than the opponent ... BG is now 1-7 when the opposition has a higher FG pct. in 2004-05 ... this year, the Falcons have a record of 14-0 when outrebounding the opponent ... BGSU is 34-7 in such games in Miller's tenure ... the Brown and Orange also have gone 15-0 when leading at the half this season to date.
DOUBLE VISION
Sophomores Liz Honegger and Ali Mann have been in double digits in the scoring column much more often than not over their careers ... Honegger has scored at least 10 points in a team-high 20 of this year's 25 games ... Mann now has 19 double-figure games this winter to date ... Mann has hit double digits in scoring 38 times in her 56 career games, while Honegger - who has also played 56 games - has had 34 games of 10 points or more in a Falcon uniform.
MANN, HONEGGER ARE DOUBLE TROUBLE
Sophomores Liz Honegger and Ali Mann each recorded a double-double in the win over Marshall ... Mann had 19 points and 16 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season ... Honegger's 17-point, 11-rebound game marked her second double-double in MAC play this season, and her sixth of the year ... Mann now has 12 career double-doubles, the most among active Falcons, while Honegger has 10.
