.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Return Home to Face Western Michigan
January 27, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2006
BGSU Notes & Statistics in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
GAME #18
BGSU vs. WESTERN MICHIGAN
Sat., January 28, 2006
1:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700)
Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 15-2, 6-0 MAC // Western Michigan 7-10, 2-4 MAC
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Rob Trautman and Ryan Gasser
TELEVISION: BCSN (live)
SERIES: BGSU leads, 28-20
LAST MEETING: at BGSU 80, Western Michigan 58 (Jan. 22, 2005)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, coming off a narrow road victory, returns home for the next two games ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller conclude the month of January with a Saturday (Jan. 28) afternoon game vs. Western Michigan University in a matchup of two of the top-four teams in the current Mid-American Conference standings ... tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700).
HONEGGER JUST THREE POINTS FROM 1,000
Junior Liz Honegger is very close to reaching the 1,000-point mark for her BGSU career ... Honegger enters the Western Michigan game just three points shy of the milestone ... she moved into the BGSU Top-20 in career scoring in the Falcons' Jan. 18 win over Ohio ... last Saturday (Jan. 21), she scored a game-high 19 points in the win over Miami ... Honegger added eight points in the victory at Central Michigan to increase her career total to 997 points ... Honegger is looking to become the 20th player in BGSU history to score 1,000 points, but only the seventh to do so prior to her senior season ... Honegger's classmate, Ali Mann, joined the 1,000-point club earlier this month.
SAY YES TO MICHIGAN
For the Falcons, Saturday's game is the second of a three-game stretch against the MAC's three schools from the state of Michigan ... BGSU picked up a 57-52 win at Central Michigan Wednesday (Jan. 25), and now hosts Western and Eastern ... the Brown and Orange is currently 3-0 vs. schools from the state of Michigan this year, having won at Detroit and Oakland in non-conference play.
HOT START
BGSU's 15-2 record ties the school record for best start through 17 games ... only one other Falcon team has begun a season with a 15-2 mark ... the 1986-87 BG squad also had 15 wins in the first 17 games ... that Falcon team won 21 consecutive games to enter the NCAA Tournament with a 27-2 record.
HOT START II
BGSU's 6-0 start in conference play is the Falcons' best in 17 years ... this year's team is the third in school history to begin MAC action with six victories ... the other two teams, the 1986-87 and 1988-89 squads, ran the table, going a perfect 16-0 in MAC action.
HOT STREAK
Dating to last season, the Falcons have won 12 consecutive games against MAC opposition ... BGSU suffered a loss at Eastern Michigan last Feb. 19, then won three consecutive games to close the regular season ... the Falcons went 3-0 in the Kraft MAC Tournament to win the tourney title and advance to the NCAA Championships ... this year, the Brown and Orange have reeled off six consecutive victories to begin conference play.
LOOKING FOR A RARE DOUBLE
The Falcons currently lead the MAC in scoring defense (55.0 ppg), and BGSU is second in the MAC in scoring offense (68.9 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 ... this year's BG team is currently 22nd in the nation in scoring defense and 18th in scoring margin (through games of Monday, Jan. 23) ... the Falcons also rank among the nation's top-25 in W-L percentage (14th) and turnovers per game (17th).
HEAD COACH Curt Miller
BGSU head coach Curt Miller picked up the 75th victory of his career vs. Akron on Jan. 7, and garnered win number 80 Wednesday (Jan. 25) at Central Michigan ... his career record currently stands at 80-55, in his fifth year ... over the last two-plus seasons, however, Miller and the Falcons have a record of 59-20 ... BGSU has gone 30-8 in MAC regular-season play over the last two-plus seasons, and 36-9 in all games vs. conference foes during that span (6-1 in league tournament play).
NOT BAD, NOT BAD AT ALL
Despite this year's losses to Delaware (by four points) and Kentucky (in overtime), the Falcons have won 21 of the last 24 games, dating to Feb. 19, 2005 ... the only other loss in that time was to Kansas State in the NCAA Championships in March ... Delaware is 13-3 on the year, despite playing without a key starter for the last six-plus games, while Kentucky is 15-4 after a win over #1/3 Tennessee on Thursday night (Jan. 26).
FALCONS SIX-AND-OH AT ANDERSON
BGSU's win over Miami (Jan. 21) moved the Falcons to 6-0 in home games this season, and the Falcons have won 13 consecutive games at Anderson Arena, tied for the eighth-longest current homecourt winning streak in the nation ... the 6-0 start is the best for BG at home 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.
MILLENNIUM FALCONS: MANN IS THE LATEST ...
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 ... heading into the Western Michigan game, Mann has a career total of 1,080 points.
... AND HONEGGER'S GOT NEXT
As mentioned, junior Liz Honegger is looking to become just the 20th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career ... Honegger enters the WMU game just three points shy of the milestone ... Honegger's classmate, Ali Mann, ranks 15th on the BG career list, 19 points shy of her former teammate, 14th-place Stefanie Wenzel ... only six players (Mann, Jackie Motycka, Sara Puthoff, Francine Miller, Lori Albers and Chris Tuttle) have reached the 1,000-point plateau prior to their senior seasons ... both Mann (fifth) and Honegger (ninth) rank among BGSU's top 10 in career points per game ... and, junior Carin Horne is rapidly moving up the list as well ... Horne currently has 778 points, good for 31st on the BGSU career scoring list.
THEY'RE FAST, TOO
Junior Ali Mann has reached the 1,000-point plateau, and classmate Liz Honegger is now just three points away ... Mann was the fourth-fastest Falcon to amass 1,000 points, and Honegger is on pace to be one of the seven fastest players to do so as well.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
SCOUTING WMU
Western Michigan enters the BGSU game with an overall record of 7-10 on the season, and the Broncos are 4-2 in MAC play to date, good for second place in the West Division ... if the season ended today, WMU and BGSU each would earn first-round byes for the league tournament ... Western is 3-4 on the road this season to date, including a 1-1 mark in MAC away games ... the Broncos have won three-straight games, including Wednesday's (Jan. 25) 88-77 win over visiting Ohio, a game in which all five WMU starters hit double digits in scoring ... individually, the Broncos have three of the MAC's top-six scorers ... juniors Carrie Moore and Lindsey Brown each are averaging 15.8 points per game, while senior guard Casey Rost has 15.4 points per outing ... Moore has 269 total points, while Brown has scored 268 and Rost 261 ... in the OU game, Rost, a fifth-year senior, became the school's all-time leading scorer ... she now has 1,827 career points ... Brown leads the team with 8.1 rebounds, while Moore has 6.9 ... sophomore forward Amanda Parker and fifth-year senior guard Maria Jilian each have scored 7.3 points per contest ... those five players comprise the probable starting lineup for head coach Ron Stewart ... the Broncos returned 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's 10-18 team that went 7-9 in league action ... Stewart has a record of 125-128 in his ninth season as a collegiate head coach, all in Kalamazoo ... the school's athletics web site is www.wmubroncos.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Western Michigan, 28-20, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has captured the last four meetings ... the Falcons swept last season's two meetings, including an 80-58 decision at Anderson Arena (Jan. 22, 2005) ... BGSU holds a 13-9 advantage in series meetings in Anderson, and BG has won the last two home games vs. the Broncos.
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 all six league foes this year to date.
LAST TIME OUT
Junior Liz Honegger hit a three-point field goal with just 9.2 seconds left, snapping a tie game and giving the Falcons a 57-52 win at Central Michigan Wednesday (Jan. 25) ... junior Carin Horne led the Falcons with 14 points, while sophomore Kate Achter had 10 ... Honegger's trey was the Falcons' only field goal in the game's final 6:41 ... BGSU had led, 50-40, before the Chippewas scored 10-straight points to tie the game with 4:23 left ... each team scored just two points apiece over the next four-plus minutes, leaving the contest tied and setting the stage for Honegger's heroics ... on the winning play, Achter drove left and headed down the lane ... in traffic, she fired a pass to freshman Lindsey Goldsberry, stationed at the three-point arc at the right wing ... Goldsberry made the 'extra pass,' finding Honegger at the right elbow for the decisive three-pointer ... after Honegger's trey and a timeout, the Chippewas tried a long pass, but Goldsberry intercepted the ball just over midcourt ... the frosh was fouled with 6.6 seconds left and hit both free throws to provide the final margin ... the game featured a total of only 19 turnovers and 22 fouls, as the hosts used nearly the entire 30-second clock on nearly every possession ... Chasidy Myers led three double-digit scorers for Central, with 12 points, while Stacey Verhoff and Candace Wilson scored 10 apiece.
SEASON-HIGH SCORING TOTAL
The Falcons' total of 80 points in the last home game, vs. Miami, set a season high ... BGSU also matched a season best with nine three-point field goals made vs. the RedHawks ... the Brown and Orange had also hit nine treys in the previous game, last Wednesday's win over Ohio.
HAND IT OVER
The Falcons forced Miami into a total of 33 turnovers in last Saturday's 80-58 BG win ... that turnover total was the highest by a BGSU opponent in almost 12 years, since the Brown and Orange forced Eastern Michigan to commit 36 in a game at Anderson Arena on Feb. 2, 1994 ... the BG defense has forced 134 turnovers (22.3 per game) in the six MAC games to date, hounding opponents into 26 or more miscues in four of those six conference contests.
KEEPING THEM DOWN
In the last three games, the Falcons have been successful at putting the clamps on the opponents' leading scorer ... the BGSU defense held Ohio's Simone Redd, averaging 14.5 points per game entering last Wednesday's (Jan. 18) contest, to just one point, and Redd was 0-for-10 from the field ... three days later, Miami's Cindi Merrill, averaging 17.3 points per game, was limited to a 2-for-14 shooting performance and six total points ... at Central Michigan, the Brown and Orange held the Chippewas' Ann Skufca (seven points) to just over half of her 12.5-ppg average.
THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS
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.
RARE DEFICIT II
The Ohio game (Jan. 18) marked the first time the Falcons had trailed at halftime of a home game since last Jan. 12 ... that date marked BGSU's last home loss, to Eastern Michigan ... in the interim, the Falcons had been tied at the half once at home, in last year's Toledo game (Feb. 26, 2005).
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 17 games, the BG defense has allowed foes to shoot just 38.1% from the floor.
GET A STOP
The Falcons have played some solid defense in the early portion of the season, as evidenced by opponents' 55.0 points-per-game average through 17 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 14 of the 17 games (and, in the other three games, held the foes - Saint Francis, Kent State and Central Michigan - without a point for over three-and-a-quarter minutes during at least one segment) ... through those 17 games this season, BGSU has ...
HOME SWEET HOME
As mentioned, the Falcons' win over Miami moved the team's record to 6-0 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 ... the Falcons have won 13 in a row at home, and have captured 16 of the last 17 at 'The House That Roars,' dating to late in the 2003-04 campaign ... BG has outscored the opponents by an average of 21.3 points in the six 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 the only blemish being 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 15-4 on the road in conference play, and 24-10 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.
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 29 blocks through 17 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, AND COUNTING
The Jan. 14 game at Kent State marked BGSU's 400th Mid-American Conference regular-season contest ... the Falcons now have an all-time MAC record of 268-135, good for a winning percentage of .665, through the first 403 such games.
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 15 of the 17 games, including a span of 13-straight double-figure games ... she had 24 double-figure games last year, and has 58 in her 79 career games ... Honegger has 11 double-digit games this winter to date, after 25 such games last season ... she has hit twin figures in 50 of her 79 career contests.
HONEGGER, MANN HAVE DOUBLE-DOUBLE VISION
Junior Liz Honegger recorded a double-double at Buffalo (Jan. 10), her third 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 five additional games this season.
THE FALCON 500 (PLUS 14)
The Falcons' win over IPFW in the season opener (Nov. 18) was the 500th victory in the history of the program ... BGSU enters the Western Michigan game with an all-time record of 514-340 (.602) ... 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 514 wins and UT 506 ... the 2005-06 season marks the Falcons' 33rd as a varsity program.
