Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Return Home, Face Ohio
January 17, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 17, 2006
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
GAME #15
BGSU vs. OHIO
Wed., January 18, 2006
7:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 12-2, 3-0 MAC // Ohio 5-9, 2-1 MAC
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Shawn Dunagan
TELEVISION: BCSN - Greg Franke and Fran Voll
SERIES: BGSU leads, 38-18
LAST MEETING: at BGSU 86, Ohio 59 (Feb. 5, 2005)
Bowling Green State University, alone in first place in the Mid-American Conference's East Division, returns home to face one of its closest pursuers ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller will begin a two-game homestand with a Wednesday (Jan. 18) game vs. Ohio University, with tipoff at 7:00 p.m. at BGSU's venerable Anderson Arena (4,700).
FALCONS WIN AT KSU FOR FIRST TIME IN 12 YEARS
BGSU is coming off a 61-58 win over Kent State on Saturday (Jan. 14) at KSU's M.A.C. Center ... the victory was the Falcons' first road win over the Golden Flashes in almost 12 years, since the foes were still going by 'Kent' ... BG had lost 10 road games, by an average of 20.0 points, vs. Kent/Kent State since a 102-92 Falcon victory back on Feb. 5, 1994.
UNPACK THOSE BAGS FOR A WHILE
The Falcons have played 10 of the season's first 14 games, including eight of the last nine contests, away from home ... finally, however, BGSU will play a few games within the friendly confines of venerable Anderson Arena ... the Falcons play the next two contests, and four of the next five games, at 'The House That Roars' ... the Jan. 7 win over Akron was BG's lone home game in a span of 42 days ... 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.
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 on Jan. 7 vs. Akron ... his career record currently stands at 77-55, in his fifth year ... over the last two-plus seasons, however, Miller and the Falcons have a record of 56-20 ... BGSU has gone 27-8 in MAC regular-season play over the last two-plus seasons, and 33-9 in all games vs. conference foes during that span (6-1 in league tournament play).
MANN NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK, AGAIN
Junior Ali Mann was named a MAC Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday (Jan. 16) ... Mann averaged 14.5 points and 9.0 rebounds as the Falcons posted a pair of road wins last week, over Buffalo and Kent State ... Mann earned a league P-O-W honor for the second time this season and the fifth time in her Falcon career ... Mann has averaged 19.5 points and 9.5 boards over the last four games, and has missed a double-double by just one rebound in each of the team's three MAC contests to date.
A RARE DOUBLE
The Falcons currently lead the MAC in both scoring offense (68.4 ppg) and scoring defense (54.4 ppg) ... only once in league history has a team led the MAC in both categories in the same season ... that team was the Falcons in 1987.
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 14 games, the BG defense has allowed foes to shoot just 37.3% from the floor.
SOMETHING ABOUT THAT HOME BENCH ...
BGSU's bench players have scored 20 or more points in a game four times this season to date ... those four games have been the four home contests ... BGSU has averaged 25.0 points off the bench in those games, wins over IPFW (29 bench points), Saint Francis (27), Duquesne (24) and Akron (20).
MANN REACHES MILLENNIUM MARK
On January 7, junior Ali Mann added another accomplishment to her already-impressive list ... in the Akron game, 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 1,043 points ... in the UA game, she moved past former teammate Lindsay Austin into 18th place on the BGSU chart, and Mann passed Cary McGehee in the KSU game, for 17th on that list ... Honegger currently stands at 957 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 43 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.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
SCOUTING OHIO
Ohio enters the BGSU game with an overall record of 5-9 on the season, and the Bobcats have gotten off to a 2-1 start in MAC play ... Ohio entered the week tied with Kent State for second place in the East Division, a game behind the Falcons ... the 'Cats enter Anderson Arena riding a two-game winning streak, with victories over Miami at home and Buffalo on the road, and Ohio has won three of the last five games ... individually, sophomore guard Simone Redd leads the team with 14.5 points per game, and ranks second in rebounding, with 5.0 boards per outing ... freshman G/F Rachel Frederick joins Redd in double digits, averaging 13.9 points per game ... Frederick leads the 'Cats in both rebounding (7.7 rpg) and steals (2.6 spg) ... sophomore F/C Lauren Revesz and senior G/F Ciara Iglehart are scoring 8.3 and 7.7 points per game, respectively, while junior guard Katie Reihmann averages an even 7.0 ppg and leads the MAC in three-point field-goal percentage ... Frederick and Redd are the only two players to have started all 14 games this year to date, and are joined in head coach Lynn Bria's probable starting lineup by Iglehart, sophomore guard Quintana Ward (5.4 ppg, 4.6 apg) and junior forward Domenica Silva (4.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg) ... a total of four letterwinners, including two starters, returned from last year's team that went 13-16 overall and 8-8 in MAC play ... Bria has a record of 73-112 in her seventh season with the Bobcats ... she is 149-202 in her 12th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is ohiobobcats.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Ohio, 38-18, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU holds a 23-5 advantage in home games vs. the Bobcats ... the Falcons have won two consecutive meetings at Anderson Arena, and BG has taken the last three overall series meetings ... both of those brief streaks include an 86-59 win at Anderson in the teams' last matchup, last Feb. 5 ... Ohio's last win came in Athens on March 2, 2002, in the first round of the MAC Tournament ... 13 of the last 17 series meetings have been decided by 10 points or fewer.
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 ... and BG has wins over three league foes this year to date.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons built a big lead and withstood a furious second-half rally by host Kent State, posting a 61-58 victory over the Golden Flashes Saturday afternoon (Jan. 14) ... the victory broke BGSU's 10-game losing streak to the Flashes ... the Falcons' last win at the M.A.C. Center came nearly 12 years prior, on Feb. 5, 1994 ... the game was the teams' first meeting since the 2005 MAC Tournament championship, also won by the Falcons, 81-75 ... BGSU led for most of the afternoon in the Jan. 14 contest, and the Falcons held an 18-point advantage with 10 minutes remaining in the second half ... but, the hosts battled back to tie the score with 1:32 left, on a pair of Lindsay Shearer free throws ... Shearer led all scorers with 20 points ... but, sophomore Kate Achter drew a foul with 48.0 seconds left and split a pair of charity tosses to give BG a 59-58 lead ... a BG foul with 21.1 seconds left sent KSU's Malika Willoughby to the line, but she missed both free throws, and the Falcons rebounded the second one ... the Flashes were forced to foul, and freshman Jasmine McCall hit two free throws with 10.2 seconds left ... Shearer's three-point attempt hit the rim and bounced away just before the final horn ... junior Ali Mann led the Brown and Orange with 19 points, while Achter had 11.
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 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 6-1 in road games this year, with wins at Detroit, FIU, Oakland, Buffalo and Kent State 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 14-4 on the road in conference play, and 23-10 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.
NOT BAD, NOT BAD AT ALL
Despite the losses to Delaware (by four points) and Kentucky (in overtime), the Falcons have won 18 of the last 21 games, dating to Feb. 19 ... the only other loss in that time was to Kansas State in the NCAA Championships in March.
GET A STOP
The Falcons have played some solid defense in the early portion of the season, as evidenced by opponents' 54.4 points-per-game average through 14 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 14 games (and, in the other two games, held the foes - Saint Francis and Kent State - without a point for over three-and-a-half minutes during at least one segment) ... through those 14 games this season, BGSU has ...
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 13 of the 14 games, including each of the last 11 ... she had 24 double-figure games last year, and has 56 in her 76 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 last 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 ... Mann has been a single rebound shy of a double-double in each of the last three games, vs. Akron, UB and Kent State.
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 24 blocks through 14 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.
A RARE DEFICIT
Iona's eight-point lead late in the first half of that game (Dec. 29) matched BGSU's largest deficit of the season to date ... Delaware also had an eight-point advantage over the Falcons, late in the second half of the teams' contest the day before.
THOR, GODDESS OF THREE-POINTERS
Junior Megan Thorburn has given the Falcons an additional scoring option as MAC play has begun ... the Mason, Mich., native, has scored 27 points in BG's three league 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 the win over Akron (Jan. 7) ... 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 ... her 27 points in this year's three MAC games have come after she scored a total of 16 points in 16 league games last winter.
TURNOVERS TELL THE TALE
The Falcons forced a total of 53 turnovers in the first two MAC games ... BGSU hounded Buffalo into 26 turnovers (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 team's 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 opens 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 plays 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.
HOT START
BGSU's 12-2 record ties the school record for best start through 14 games ... three other Falcon teams have begun a season with a 12-2 mark ... the 1974-75 squad was the first to do so, and the 1986-87 and 1991-92 teams also had 12 wins in the first 14 games ...
BGSU'S BEST RECORDS (through 14 games)
Year Record Notes 1974-75 12-2 Started 13-2 before suffering third loss 1986-87 12-2 Went 27-2, won 21 straight before losing in NCAAs 1991-92 12-2 Lost in 15th game to fall to 12-3 2005-06 12-2
THE FALCON 500
The Falcons' win over IPFW in the season opener (Nov. 18) was the 500th victory in the history of the program ... BGSU enters the Ohio game with an all-time record of 511-340 (.600) ... among current league schools, the Falcons became just the second to reach the 500-victory plateau (according to the MAC media guide) ... Northern Illinois picked up win number 508 on the same night BG got victory number 500, while Toledo earned the 500th win in that program's history two days after BG ... NIU currently has 513 wins and UT 505 ... the 2005-06 season marks the Falcons' 33rd as a varsity program.
400 MAC GAMES
Saturday's game at Kent State marked BGSU's 400th Mid-American Conference regular-season contest ... the Falcons now have an all-time MAC record of 265-135, good for a winning percentage of .663, through the first 400 such games.
FALCONS IN THE MAC
Heading into this week'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 a whopping seven team categories - scoring offense, scoring defense, scoring margin, three-point field-goal percentage defense, blocked shots, turnover margin and assist/turnover ratio ... the Falcons are tied for second in three-point FG made, and BG is third in FG pct. defense, steals and assists (T-third) ... BG ranks fourth among MAC teams in FT pct. and rebounding margin.
LAUSE, MANN, McDOWELL NAMED CAPTAINS
Seniors Jill Lause and Casey McDowell and junior Ali Mann are the 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 averaged almost 19 wins per year ... over the last two-plus seasons, since the start of Mann's freshman year, BG has gone 56-20 and twice advanced to the MAC Tournament's championship game.
