Bowling Green State University Athletics
Putting the Wraps on the 2004-05 Season
June 28, 2005 | Women's Basketball
June 28, 2005
The Season That Was (in pdf):
Pages 1-32: Release & Statistics
Pages 33-57: Updated Player Bios
Pages 58-76: Game Boxscores
Download Free Acrobat Reader
What's going on with the Falcons in the offseason? Check out Curt Miller's blog
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after making an appearance on the national stage, saw the 2004-05 season come to an end in Seattle, Wash. ... the Falcons of fourth-year head coach Curt Miller finished the campaign with an overall record of 23-8 and a Mid-American Conference mark of 13-3 ... BGSU won both the MAC's regular-season and tournament titles, and the Falcons advanced to the NCAA Championships for the first time in over a decade.
BACK TO THE BIG DANCE
The Falcons, for the first time since 1994, qualified for the NCAA Championships ... the Falcons, the MAC regular-season and tournament champions, earned the league's automatic bid to the national tourney ... BGSU was the #13 seed in the Kansas City Regional, and dropped a 70-60 decision to fourth-seeded and nationally-ranked Kansas State University in the first round (March 19) ... the game was played at Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion (9,394) in Seattle, Wash.
FALCONS IN THE NCAA
BGSU qualified for the NCAA Championships for the seventh time in school history ... the Falcons are now 1-7 in tourney appearances, with a 1-2 mark at home and a record of 0-4 on the road ... the Kansas State game marked the first neutral-site game in NCAA play in school history ...
Year (BGSU's seed) Opponent / Score
1987 (#9 Mideast) at #8 Illinois / L, 64-80
1988 (#10 Mideast) at #7 St. Joseph's / L, 66-68
1989 (#9 West) #8 CINCINNATI / W, 69-59
at #1 Maryland / L, 65-78
1990 (#12 West) at #5 South Carolina / L, 50-93
1993 (#10 East) #7 FLORIDA / L, 67-69
1994 (#7 Midwest) #10 CREIGHTON / L, 73-84
2005 (#13 Kansas City) #4 Kansas State / L, 60-70
THE MAC IN THE NCAA
Following the Falcons' appearance in the 2005 NCAA Championships, Mid-American Conference schools have posted a combined record of 5-26 in NCAA tourney play ... no MAC school has won an NCAA tournament game since 1996, when both Kent State and Toledo picked up first-round wins.
FALCONS WIN MAC REGULAR-SEASON AND 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 80.3 points per game in the MAC Tournament.
STORYLINES - THE YEAR THAT WAS
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"They approached me and asked me not to change the starting lineup. They said that this game was too important, and that just goes to show you what these seniors are all about. The team, and winning a championship, come over the glory of starting in their last home game." |
BGSU POINTS OF PRIDE
PLAYING THE BEST
The Falcons' 2004-05 season was bookended by games against teams featuring All-America selections ... BGSU opened the year with a game at Ohio State ... the Buckeyes, led by Associated Press First-Team All-America pick Jessica Davenport, won a school-record 30 games and advanced to the regional semifinals of the NCAA Championships ... BG concluded the season against Kansas State ... the Wildcats' Kendra Wecker also earned AP All-America First-Team honors ... both players also were named to the Kodak/WBCA All-America team.
BGSU'S MAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Falcons participated in the MAC Tournament for the 21st time in its 24-year history ... after beating Kent State in the final, BG has posted a 27-14 record since the MAC Tournament was instituted in 1982 ... the Falcons' complete game-by-game tournament history can be found on page 32 of the pdf version of these notes ... BGSU's win total ranks the Falcons third among league teams, and the .659 winning percentage is the second-best of any school (Toledo is 35-14 [.714], Kent State is now 28-15 [.651]) ... the Falcons' total of seven tournament titles ties UT for the most in MAC history ... the Falcons earned a first-round bye for the first time since the league adopted the current 13-team tourney format prior to the 1999-2000 season ... BG was the #1 seed this year, for the first time since the 1993-94 team won both the regular-season and tournament titles.
FRESHMAN OF THE TOURNAMENT
BGSU freshman Kate Achter was the runner-up for MAC Freshman of the Year ... but, it's probably safe to say that she was the freshman of the tournament ... Achter was named the Kraft MAC Tournament MVP after the Falcons won the league tourney title ... Achter averaged a team-high 18.0 points and 5.7 assists per game in the three victories in Cleveland ... according to the MAC office, she became just the second freshman in league history to garner tournament MVP honors, joining Toledo's Dana Drew (1995).
HONEGGER, McDOWELL JOIN ACHTER ON ALL-TOURNEY TEAM
Sophomore Liz Honegger and junior Casey McDowell joined freshman Kate Achter on the MAC's All-Tournament Team ... McDowell had 16.3 points per game in the three games, highlighted by a 31-point outburst in the win over Miami ... Honegger averaged 14.7 points and a team-best 7.3 rebounds, making 8-of-16 three-point attempts (.500) in Cleveland.
FALCONS IN THE FINAL
In 2005, BGSU advanced to the championship game of the Kraft MAC Tournament for the eighth time in school history ... the Falcons are now 7-1 in the championship game.
BGSU'S MAC TOURNAMENT FACTS
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons ended the season with an overall record of 23-8, and BGSU finished with a record of 13-3 in MAC play ... the Falcons won the league's West Division, finished with the MAC's top record and earned the number-one seed for the Kraft MAC Tournament ... BGSU also won the league tourney and advanced to the NCAA Championships, before losing to nationally-ranked Kansas State in the first round, 70-60.
BG went 7-1 in the month of February, and the Falcons finished with a 4-1 record in March ... BGSU started March with a come-from-behind win at Northern Illinois (75-72, March 1) to clinch the league title, before beating Miami, 84-68, in the league tourney's quarterfinal round (March 9) ... two days later, the Brown and Orange topped Eastern Michigan, 77-57, in the semifinals, and the Falcons completed the tourney run with a six-point win, 81-75, over Kent State (March 12) ... the Falcons' only February loss came at EMU, 57-52 (Feb. 19), snapping a streak of five consecutive wins to begin the month ... but, BG won the next six games, bouncing back with home wins over East Division-leading Marshall (73-62, Feb. 23) and arch-rival Toledo (72-71, Feb. 26) ... BG won 11 of the last 14 games, and captured 15 of 18 and 20 of 24 contests to end the season ... the team's other MAC losses came at Kent State, 62-53 on Jan. 26, and in the first EMU meeting, 51-48 on Jan. 12, setbacks that the Falcons avenged in the conference tournament ... BGSU finished the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 7-4 mark for the third consecutive season.
BGSU finished with an average of 71.1 points per game, leading the MAC and ranking 29th in the country ... the Falcons were 49th in the nation in scoring margin (+8.4), and also ranked among the top-50 schools in the entire country in winning percentage (30th, .742), turnovers (43rd, 15.3) and three-point field goals per game (47th, 6.0) ... BGSU had four players -- three sophomores and a freshman -- with double-digit scoring averages on the year ... soph Liz Honegger paced the Brown and Orange in scoring (14.5 ppg), and also led the team in rebounding (8.1), blocks (1.6) and three-pointers made (1.9) ... classmate Ali Mann had 13.8 points and 7.4 boards per game to rank second on the team in each category, while another soph, Carin Horne, had 11.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per outing to rank third in both ... Horne led the team in steals (2.0), with Honegger close behind ... freshman Kate Achter averaged 11.0 points and a team-high 4.0 assists per game, and the point guard was fourth on the team with 4.0 rebounds ... redshirt junior Casey McDowell, who exploded for 31 points vs. Miami in the league tourney quarterfinal, had 6.8 points per contest, while sophomore Megan Thorburn and senior Kelly Kapferer averaged 3.5 and 3.3 points, respectively ... Honegger was the only player to start all 31 games this year, while Mann and McDowell made 30 starts apiece and Achter 24 ... Horne started 21 games and Thorburn 10 ... Achter, Horne and McDowell joined Honegger and Mann in the starting lineup for 12 consecutive games, before Kapferer replaced the injured Mann in the starting five at NIU ... Mann was back in the lineup for each of the three games in the Kraft MAC Tournament, as well as the Kansas State game.
BGSU shot 42.1 percent from the field and 71.1% from the free-throw line on the year ... the Falcons allowed opponents to shoot 39.1% from the floor, and the foes had a 70.8% success rate from the stripe ... BG drained 186 three-point field goals this season, and the Falcons averaged 30.9% from beyond the arc and made exactly 6.00 treys per game ... the opposition hit 5.42 triples per contest, and foes shot 31.6% from three-point land.
In MAC play, Mann led the Falcons with 15.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, while Honegger finished close behind, with 14.3 points and 7.4 boards ... Horne and Achter averaged 12.3 and 10.3 points per game, respectively ... BGSU had 69.2 points per game and a scoring margin of +11.0 in league action this winter ... BG shot 41.6% in MAC games, while allowing opponents to shoot just 37.8% 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, were Honegger, Mann and Thorburn ... Miller's 2004-05 team included three seniors in Kapferer, Tene Lewis and Sakima Smith ... a pair of juniors, Jill Lause and McDowell, also returned ... in addition to the three returning starters, the 04-05 sophomore class consisted of Amber Flynn, Julie Gompers and Horne ... Gompers did not see action due to injury ... two freshmen, guards Achter and Whitney Taylor, rounded out the Falcon squad.
MILLER NAMED MAC COACH OF THE YEAR
Fourth-year Falcon head coach Curt Miller has been named the MAC Coach of the Year for 2004-05 ... the announcement was made at the MAC Tournament banquet on March 8 in Cleveland ... the award is the result of balloting by members of the MAC News Media Association ... Miller guided the Falcons, picked to finish third in the West Division, to the league's best overall record, a MAC regular-season championship and the top seed for the Kraft MAC Tournament ... the Falcons finished 13-3 in MAC play, and BG had an overall mark of 23-8 ... Miller has an overall head-coaching mark of 65-53 and a MAC record of 35-29 ... BGSU is 44-18 overall and 24-8 in conference play over the last two seasons ... the 2004-05 season marks the fourth time in school history that a BGSU coach has earned the league's coach-of-the-year award, and the first time in 12 years ... Fran Voll picked up the award in both the 1986-87 and 1988-89 seasons, while Jaci Clark earned MAC C-O-Y honors in 1992-93.
HONEGGER, MANN, HORNE ON ALL-MAC TEAMS
Sophomores Liz Honegger, Ali Mann and Carin Horne were named to the All-MAC Team, the league office announced March 7 ... Honegger and Mann each were named to the second team, while Horne earned honorable mention ... Mann earned all-league honors for the second time, after being honorable mention as a freshman, while Honegger and Horne received the honor for the first time in their respective BGSU careers ... the 2004-05 season marks the second time in as many years that BG has had three all-league selections.
ACHTER ON ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
On March 7, Kate Achter was selected to the MAC's All-Freshman Team ... the team, as is the case with the All-MAC Team, is the result of voting by the league's 13 head coaches ... Achter is the ninth player in school history, and the second in as many years, to be named to the MAC's All-Freshman Team ... she was the runner-up for MAC Freshman of the Year.
TOPPING LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTAL
The Falcons finished 23-8 on the season, surpassing last year's win total by two games ... BGSU has won 20 or more games in back to back seasons for the first time in over a decade (1992-93 and 1993-94 teams) ... BGSU now has 10 seasons of 20 wins or more in the program's history ... the Falcons' total of eight losses was the fewest in a season since the 1997-98 team finished 21-8.
ANYTHING BUT A REGULAR SEASON
The Falcons, obviously, had quite a successful season ... BGSU was 23-8 overall, and finished MAC regular-season play with a 13-3 record ... BG's 2004-05 overall mark is the team's best since the 1993-94 squad went 26-4, and the Falcons' MAC record is the best since the 1997-98 team went 15-3 in league play ... probably not coincidentally, the '93-94 team was the last Falcon team to go to the NCAA Championships, while the '97-98 squad was the last to get a taste of the national postseason, earning an invitation to the WNIT.
THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
The Kansas State game marked the first time all season the Falcons lost after leading at halftime ... additionally, the game marked BGSU's first loss all year when a player posted a double-double ... despite a one-point lead at the intermission, and despite 15 points and 13 rebounds from sophomore Liz Honegger, the Brown and Orange fell to KSU by a 70-60 final ... BG finished the season with records of 17-1 when leading at halftime and 9-1 when a Falcon records a double-double.
A BALANCED LINEUP
The Falcons averaged 71.1 points per game this season, ranking 29th in the nation ... BGSU did so with balanced scoring, as four players finished in double digits, but no one averaged more than 14.5 points per game ... the team's fourth- and fifth-leading scorers, freshman Kate Achter and junior Casey McDowell, were the team's top-two scorers in the Kraft MAC Tournament ... in those three games, Achter averaged a team-leading 18.0 points per game, while McDowell scored 16.3 points per contest in Cleveland ... a trio of sophomores, Liz Honegger (14.5 ppg on the year, 14.7 in the MAC Ty.), Ali Mann (13.8, 12.7) and Carin Horne (11.4, 11.0), all had double-digit averages, both on the season and in the tourney.
MONKEYS OFF THE BACK
The Falcons have won a total of 44 games over the past two seasons, and BGSU is 30-9 against league opposition (regular-season and tournament results combined) since the start of the 2003-04 campaign ... on the morning of March 11, however, there were two conference schools that had not been BG victims during that time ... Eastern Michigan (twice) and Kent State had been the only MAC teams to beat the Falcons during a 13-3 league regular-season run this season ... but, the Brown and Orange picked up wins over both EMU (77-57) and KSU (81-75) to end losing streaks to the Eagles and the Golden Flashes.
WHAT STREAKS, YOU ASK?
The Falcons' win over Eastern Michigan snapped a five-game losing streak to the Eagles, dating to the final game of the 2002-03 season ... Eastern had knocked BGSU out of the MAC Tournament in two consecutive years, before the Brown and Orange turned the tables ... in fact, the Falcons had not scored more than 59 points in any of the five losses to EMU, but BG hit the 60-point mark with 10:30 left in the second half of the tourney game, on a jumper by senior Kelly Kapferer.
THAT'S NOT A STREAK; THIS IS A STREAK
While the Falcons had not beaten Eastern Michigan in two years, BGSU had gone more than eight seasons without beating Kent State ... the Falcons had lost 12 consecutive games, including five in the Curt Miller Era, since the last win over KSU (then going by 'Kent'), on Feb. 12, 1997 ... the Golden Flashes had won 17 of the last 18 meetings between the teams, and had won the last 11 games by an average of 19.5 points.
OBI-WAN HAS TAUGHT YOU WELL
The win over Kent State was special for Falcon head coach Curt Miller, for several reasons ... obviously, it gave BGSU the MAC Tournament title and a trip to the NCAA Championships ... but, it also marked Miller's first win over the man he credits for giving him his start in the coaching profession ... Miller spent a year at Kent State as a graduate assistant, and was a volunteer coach on Bob Lindsay's staff during the 1990-91 season ... the Flashes finished 17-12 that year, and enjoyed the second-best turnaround in the nation.
