Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Flashes Saturday Afternoon
January 13, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2006
BGSU Notes & Stats (26 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
GAME #14
BGSU at KENT STATE
Sat., January 14, 2006
2:00 p.m.
Memorial Athletic & Convocation Center (6,327)
Kent, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 11-2, 2-0 MAC // Kent State 9-4, 2-0 MAC
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Chris Schieman and Paul Braverman
SERIES: BGSU leads, 31-27
LAST MEETING: BGSU 81, Kent State 75 (March 12, 2005)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, off to a 2-0 start in Mid-American Conference play, takes to the road to meet the East Division's only other unbeaten team ... storylines abound as the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller head to Northeast Ohio to face Kent State University Saturday (Jan. 14) ... the Falcons and Golden Flashes will meet in a 2:00 p.m. tip at the Memorial Athletic & Convocation Center (6,327).
CHAMPIONSHIP-GAME REMATCH
Saturday's game is a rematch of the 2005 Kraft MAC Tournament's championship game ... in that contest, the Falcons posted an 81-75 win at Gund Arena (now Quicken Loans Arena) in downtown Cleveland on March 12 ... BGSU broke a 12-game series losing streak to the Golden Flashes in that game, but KSU still holds another streak ... see below.
SATURDAY THE 14TH
Bear with us here ... Saturday the 14th was a mediocre 1981 movie that spoofed the Friday the 13th series as well as other horror films ... the movie stars Richard Benjamin as a man whose family moves into a new house, only to find that the house is cursed and contains the usual evil things you'd expect in a mediocre spoof of the horror genre ... finally, we get to our point ... the Falcons play at Kent State on Saturday the 14th, and KSU's M.A.C. Center has been a house of horrors for the Brown and Orange in recent times ... BG has not defeated the Flashes in Kent in almost 12 years, since the team was still going by 'Kent' ... since BGSU's last win there, 102-92 on Feb. 5, 1994, Kent/Kent State has won the last 10 meetings at the M.A.C. Center, by an average of 20.0 points ... that streak includes a 62-53 win last season (Jan. 26, 2005), BGSU's worst MAC loss of the year.
OBI-WAN HAS TAUGHT YOU WELL
Saturday's game matches Falcon head coach Curt Miller against 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 ... BGSU's win over KSU in the MAC Tournament's championship game last march was the Falcons' first win in the series in over eight seasons ... BG had lost 12 consecutive games, including five in the Miller Era, and had dropped 17 of the previous 18 meetings between the teams, prior to the title-game win.
THOR, GODDESS OF THREE-POINTERS
Junior Megan Thorburn has given the Falcons an additional scoring option over the past few games ... the Mason, Mich., native, has scored 25 points in BG's two MAC contests to date, making seven three-point field goals in that time ... she hit double digits in scoring for the first time this season, scoring 11 points in Saturday's (Jan. 7) win over Akron ... three days later, Thorburn had 14 points in the win at Buffalo ... she tied her career best with three successful three-pointers vs. UA, then set a new career mark with four treys at UB ... Thorburn, 7-for-11 from three-point range in those two games, made seven triples during all of last season ... she has 25 points in this year's two MAC games, after scoring a total of 16 points in 16 league games last winter.
ROAD TRIP
BGSU's win over Akron last Saturday (Jan. 7) came in the Falcons' lone home game in a span of 42 days ... the Kent State game completes a stretch in which the Falcons play eight of nine games away from the friendly confines of venerable Anderson Arena ... prior to the UA game, BG had not played at home since Dec. 6 ... during that month (between Dec. 6 and Jan. 7), the Falcons logged over 4,800 miles by bus, airplane or van on trips to four different states ... of course, veteran members of the team are quite accustomed to such travel ... last season, the Falcons traveled over 5,200 miles during the month of December alone.
THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS
DEFENSE DOES IT AGAIN
The Falcons have greatly improved defensively during the Curt Miller Era ... in the 2003-04 season, Miller, 'defensive coordinator' Jennifer Roos and the rest of the Falcons allowed opponents to shoot just 38.8% from the field ... that marked the third-lowest opponent FG pct. in school history, and the lowest since 1977-78 ... the 2004-05 squad nearly matched that success, allowing foes to shoot just 39.1% from the floor ... the 1976-77 team owns the school record, allowing opponents to shoot only 34.8% ... that '76-77 season is the first year that such statistics are available ... since Miller and Roos arrived, the Falcons have posted three of the top-six totals in that category in school history ... this year, through 13 games, the BGSU defense has allowed opponents to shoot just 37.2% from the floor.
HEAD COACH Curt Miller
BGSU head coach Curt Miller picked up the 70th victory of his career at Detroit on Nov. 30, and garnered win number 75 last Saturday (Jan. 7) vs. Akron ... his career record currently stands at 76-55, in his fifth year ... over the last two-plus seasons, however, Miller and the Falcons have a record of 55-20 ... BGSU has gone 26-8 in MAC regular-season play over the last two-plus seasons, and 32-9 in all games vs. conference foes during that span (6-1 in league tournament play).
MANN REACHES MILLENNIUM MARK
Junior Ali Mann added another accomplishment to her already-impressive list ... last Saturday (Jan. 7) vs. Akron, Mann became just the 19th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career ... the Chelsea, Mich., native became only the sixth BGSU player to reach the millennium mark in her junior season.
MANN, HONEGGER MOVING UP SCORING CHART
Juniors Ali Mann and Liz Honegger, in just over two seasons, already have added their names to the Falcon career scoring chart ... Mann, as mentioned, surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her BGSU career in the win over Akron (Jan. 7), and now has a total of 1,024 points ... in the UA game, she moved past former teammate Lindsay Austin into 18th place on the BGSU chart, and Mann is now just three points behind 17th-place Cary McGehee ... Honegger currently stands at 948 points, in 21st place ... a total of 19 players have scored 1,000 points at BG, with only six (Mann, 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.
THEY'RE FAST, TOO
Junior Ali Mann has reached the 1,000-point plateau, and classmate Liz Honegger is just 52 points away ... only 19 players (counting Mann) in school history have scored as many as 1,000 points, and Mann was just the sixth to do so as a junior ... in fact, Mann was the fourth-fastest Falcon to amass 1,000 points, and Honegger is on pace to be one of the fastest players to do so as well ... the list ...
FASTEST FALCONS TO 1,000
Career Career
Player Gm. * Points PPG
1. Jackie Motycka (1985-89) 54th 2,122 18.1
2. Sara Puthoff (1994-98) 72nd 1,678 15.1
3. Francine Miller (1998-2003) 73rd 1,574 14.3
4. Ali Mann (2003-SA) 74th 1,024 13.7
5. Chris Tuttle (1979-83) 78th 1,420 13.3
6. Lori Albers (1989-94) 80th 1,424 12.9
7. Charlotta Jones (1994-98) 82nd 1,430 13.8
8. Stephanie Coe (1983-87) 84th 1,363 13.4
Melissa Chase (1979-83) 84th 1,223 11.6
10. Talita Scott (1990-94) 91st 1,432 12.3
11. Jacki Raterman (1995-99) 92nd 1,213 12.0
12. Angie Bonner (1986-90) 95th 1,412 11.6
13. Stefanie Wenzel (2000-04) 96th 1,099 10.7
14. Judit Lendvay (1989-93) 100th 1,078 10.3
15. Andrea Nordmann (1989-93) 101st 1,164 10.2
16. Michelle Shade (1991-95) 103rd 1,233 10.7
17. Cary McGehee (1980-84) 104th 1,027 9.8
18. Megan McGuire (1985-89) 114th 1,062 9.0
Lindsay Austin (2000-04) 114th 1,000 8.8
## Liz Honegger (2003-SA) 948 12.6
* game in which she got her 1,000th point
ABOUT THE FALCONS
SCOUTING KENT STATE
Kent State enters the BGSU game with an overall record of 9-4 on the season, and the Golden Flashes are tied with the Falcons atop the MAC's East Division, with a 2-0 league record ... KSU is 5-0 at home this season, including a 68-64 overtime win over Auburn on Nov. 20, and the Flashes are 67-7 at home since the start of the 1999-2000 season ... in league action this year, KSU has posted a road win over Ohio, 83-73, and a 62-38 home victory against Akron ... individually, senior forward Lindsay Shearer leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 18.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per outing ... five of Shearer's teammates are scoring between six and nine points per game, including junior guard Sarah Burgess (8.6 ppg) and freshman guard Rachel Bennett (7.6) ... Burgess, a transfer from South Carolina, became eligible at the end of fall semester classes, and has played in five games to date ... senior guard Malika Willoughby has averaged 6.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and team-best figures of 6.1 assists and 3.3 steals per outing ... a total of nine players have started at least one game this season to date ... head coach Bob Lindsay's lineup in the two MAC games has consisted of Burgess, Shearer, Willoughby, junior guard Kerrie James (6.1 ppg) and junior center Tiffany LaFleur (4.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg) ... a total of eight letterwinners, including four starters, returned from last year's team that went 21-9 overall and tied for the MAC's East Division title with a 12-4 league record ... Lindsay, the winningest coach in league history, has a record of 317-165 in his 17th season as a collegiate head coach, all in Kent ... the school's athletics web site is www.kentstatesports.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Kent State, 32-27, in the all-time series between the teams ... but, the Golden Flashes have had the upper hand in the series as of late ...Kent State has captured 12 of the last 13 games and 17 of the last 19 meetings ... Saturday's game is a rematch of the 2005 Kraft MAC Tournament championship ... in that game, the last meeting between the teams, the Falcons posted an 81-75 win (March 12, 2005) ... that game snapped a 12-game series winning streak for KSU ... however, the Golden Flashes have won the last 10 meetings at the M.A.C. Center, and KSU is 15-12 overall in series games in Kent ... that includes last year's lone regular-season meeting, a 62-53 win for the hosts which marked BGSU's most lopsided MAC loss of the season ... BGSU's last road win in the series came nearly 12 years ago, a 102-92 decision on Feb. 5, 1994 ... the boxscore from the most recent meeting, the league tourney championship game, can be found in the pdf version of these notes.
THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons have a proud history in the MAC ... BGSU leads the all-time series with 10 of the 11 MAC opponents, and the Falcons evened the series with that 11th team, with a win at Northern Illinois in the teams' last meeting (March 1, 2005) ... BG is the only team in the league with at least a .500 mark against every other MAC school.
FALCONS VS. THE MAC II
BGSU is the lone Mid-American Conference team to currently hold a winning streak against each of the other 11 league schools ... the Falcons went 13-3 in MAC regular season play last year, with the only losses coming to Eastern Michigan (two) and Kent State ... but, BGSU avenged those setbacks by beating EMU in the Kraft MAC Tournament's semifinal round and KSU in the championship game.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons used a balanced attack and solid team defense to post a 75-48 win over host Buffalo Tuesday night (Jan. 10) ... four juniors led the way at the offensive end, as Carin Horne scored 17 points and Liz Honegger and Megan Thorburn chipped in with 14 apiece ... Thorburn hit a career-high four three-point field goals, while Honegger had a double-double, with a team-best 10 rebounds ... Ali Mann added 10 points and nine rebounds, while the Falcons' fifth starter, sophomore Kate Achter, had eight points and four assists ... Heather Turner paced the Bulls with 14 points and eight rebounds ... the Falcon defense forced the hosts into 26 turnovers on the night, and BGSU held a 29-5 advantage in points off turnovers ... Horne had a game-best four steals as BG posted 15 as a team ... trailing, 13-8, midway through the opening half, the Falcons went on a 10-0 run to take the lead for good ... BGSU held a 12-point edge at halftime, then put the game away with a 10-2 run at the midpoint of the second half ... that run gave the Brown and Orange a 47-29 lead ... the lead got as high as 28 points with 2:37 left ... BG's starters scored 63 points in the win ... the Falcons had just 11 turnovers.
TURNOVERS TELL THE TALE
The Falcons have forced a total of 53 turnovers over the last two games ... BGSU hounded Buffalo into 26 turnovers in Tuesday's game (Jan. 10), three days after the Brown and Orange forced 27 Akron turnovers ... a few notes derived from those numbers ...
STEALING VICTORIES
BGSU had a season-high 17 steals vs. Akron, and followed that performance with 15 thefts at Buffalo ... those mark the top-two seasonal totals ... the Falcons had not had back-to-back games of 15 or more steals since early December of 2000 (15 vs. both Detroit and St. Bonaventure).
BACK TO THE EAST
The Falcons' game vs. Akron last Saturday (Jan. 7) was BGSU's first conference contest as a member of the MAC's East Division in four years ... BG 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 Division ... the Falcons spent three seasons in the West, winning the divisional title in 2004-05 ... 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.
EAST-WEST-EAST
With the departure of Marshall University, the MAC is down to a 12-team league for women's basketball ... the 2005-06 season is the first utilizing a new wrinkle in the MAC schedule ... each team will still play 16 league games, as has been the case in each of the last seven years ... but, each school will open league play with five intra-divisional games, followed by six cross-divisional contests, and five more intra-divisional games to close the regular season ... so, BGSU will play five games vs. East Division schools to begin and end the season, with six games vs. the West Division teams in the middle of the schedule.
FALCONS FOUR-AND-OH AT ANDERSON
BGSU's win over Akron moved the Falcons to 4-0 in home games this season ... the start is the best for BG at Anderson Arena in eight years ... the 1997-98 team started the year with an 8-0 home record ... BGSU's best-ever home start was in 1992-93, when the Falcons won the first 13 games of the year at 'The House That Roars' ... the 1974-75 (7-0) and 1975-76 (6-0) teams are the only BG squads to complete the season with an unblemished home record ... both the 1992-93 (13-1) and '93-94 (12-1) squads were undefeated through the regular season at Anderson, before losing an NCAA Tournament game at home.
HOME SWEET HOME
The Falcons' win over Akron, as mentioned, moved the team's record to 4-0 at Anderson Arena this winter, and continued the team's recent success at home ... last season, BGSU posted a record of 9-1 at Anderson Arena ... the Falcons have won 15 of the last 16 home games, dating to late in the 2003-04 campaign ... BG has outscored the opponents by an average of 23.0 points in the four home games this season, after posting a +15.9 scoring margin at Anderson last winter.
ROAD SWEET ROAD?
With a win at Indiana, the Falcons opened the road portion of the schedule on a successful note ... BGSU is now 5-1 in road games this year, with wins at Detroit, FIU, Oakland and Buffalo and an overtime loss to Kentucky ... last year, BG went 6-2 in MAC road games for the second-straight winter ... since the start of the 2003-04 season, the Falcons are 13-4 on the road in conference play, and 22-10 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 last season, BGSU went 9-5 in away games, the team's highest road win total since the 1993-94 team went 11-2.
GET A STOP
The Falcons have played some solid defense in the early portion of the season, as evidenced by opponents' 54.2 points-per-game average through 13 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 12 of the 13 games (and, in the other game, held Saint Francis without a point for 3:48 during one segment) ... through those 13 games this season, BGSU has ...
NOT BAD, NOT BAD AT ALL
Despite the losses to Delaware (by four points) and Kentucky (in overtime), the Falcons have won 17 of the last 20 games, dating to Feb. 19 ... the only other loss in that time was to Kansas State in the NCAA Championships in March.
MANN, HONEGGER HAVE DOUBLE VISION
Juniors Ali Mann and Liz Honegger have been in double digits in the scoring column much more often than not over their careers ... this season, Mann has scored at least 10 points in 12 of the 13 games, including each of the last 10 ... she had 24 double-figure games last year, and has 55 in her 75 career games ... Honegger has nine double-digit games this winter to date, after 25 such games last season ... she has hit twin figures in 48 of her 76 career contests.
HONEGGER, MANN HAVE DOUBLE-DOUBLE VISION
Junior Liz Honegger recorded a double-double at Buffalo Tuesday (Jan. 10) ... that was her third double-double of the season and the 15th of her BGSU career ... classmate Ali Mann is right behind, with two double-doubles on the year and 14 as a Falcon ... they are the top-two active Falcons in both categories ... Honegger recorded her first double-double of the season at Oakland (19p-16r), and was at it again in the Iona game, exploding for 24 points and adding 12 boards ... Mann came close to posting a double-double in three of the season's first five games, before turning the trick in the Duquesne (14p-11r) and Kentucky (24p-11r) games.
SHE BLOCKS SHOTS, TOO
With arms long enough to change the radio station from the second row of a van, it is no surprise that Liz Honegger, in less than two-and-a-half seasons, has placed her name all over the BGSU lists for blocked shots ... this season, Honegger has 23 blocks through 13 games to lead the Falcons ... she tied two of her own single-season marks in 2004-05, and is moving up the career list ... Honegger, who matched the BG record with 50 blocks as a freshman, had 50 more rejections last season ... she set a school mark with 27 blocks in MAC games as a frosh, and matched that record in league games last winter ... Honegger is in second place on the career list, and is on pace to obliterate the BGSU career record for blocks per game.
400 MAC GAMES
Saturday's game at Kent State will mark BGSU's 400th Mid-American Conference regular-season contest ... the Falcons have an all-time MAC record of 264-135, good for a winning percentage of .662, through the first 399 such games.
FALCONS IN THE MAC
Heading into Saturday's action, the Falcons are ranked among the top-four teams in no fewer than 13 statistical categories ... according to the latest MAC stats, BGSU leads the league in scoring defense, scoring margin, blocked shots, turnover margin and assist/turnover ratio ... the Falcons are second in scoring offense, three-point FG pct. defense and steals, and third in FG pct. defense, assists and three-point FG made ... BG ranks fourth in among MAC teams in FG pct. and FT pct.
