Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Toledo in Friday's Semifinal Action
March 09, 2006 | Women's Basketball
March 9, 2006
BGSU Notes & Statistics in PDF Format
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -
GAME #29
#22/24 BGSU vs. TOLEDO
Fri., March 10, 2006
2:30 p.m.
Quicken Loans Arena (20,500)
Cleveland, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 26-2, 16-0 MAC // Toledo 11-17, 4-12 MAC
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Rob Trautman and Chris Schieman
TELEVISION: MAC/ESPN+ - Jeff Phelps and Debbie Leonard
(Fox Sports Ohio, Comcast [Mich., Chicago], Adelphia 13 [Buffalo])
SERIES: BGSU leads, 34-25
LAST MEETING: BGSU 71, at Toledo 65 (Feb. 5, 2006)
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after a win in the quarterfinal round of the Kraft Mid-American Conference Tournament, have advanced to the semifinals for the third consecutive year and the 14th time in school history ... now, the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller will face a familiar foe ... BGSU, the top seed in the East Division and the defending MAC Tournament champions, will face the arch-rival University of Toledo in Friday's (March 10) second semifinal ... tipoff for the BG-UT game is set for 2:30 p.m. at Quicken Loans Arena (20,500) ... the winner will advance to Saturday's (March 11) championship contest vs. either Eastern Michigan University of Kent State University.
FAMILIAR FOES
The Falcons' Friday foe, Toledo, is the team's most common opponent in MAC Tournament annals ... the teams have met seven times in league tourney play, with BG holding a slim 4-3 advantage ... the Rockets, however, have won the last three MAC Tournament matchups between the schools ... while BGSU has won the last six overall series meetings, the Falcons have not captured a league tournament contest vs. the Midnight Blue and Gold since the championship game of the 1994 tourney.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, MAC-TION
For the second time this season, a BG-UT game will be televised on Fox Sports Net Ohio ... Jeff Phelps and Debbie Leonard will provide play-by-play and color analysis, respectively, for both semifinals as well as the championship game ... the games are also slated to air on Comcast Local (Michigan), Comcast Sports Net (Chicago) and Adelphia 13 (Buffalo).
FALCONS JOIN EXCLUSIVE CLUB
The 2005-06 Falcons are just the fifth team in MAC history, and the first in eight years, to complete the league regular-season schedule without a loss ... Curt Miller's club became the third BGSU team to go 16-0 in league play ... the two prior BG teams to turn the trick were coached by Fran Voll, as his 1986-87 and 1988-89 clubs each went 16-0 in league regular-season action ... Central Michigan was the first-ever MAC team to go undefeated in conference action, with a mark of 18-0 in 1983-84 ... the most recent league team to do so was the 18-0 Kent State squad in 1997-98 ... the list of the MAC's best regular-season records can be found in the pdf version of these notes.
CHAMPIONS AGAIN
For the second consecutive year and the seventh time in school history, Bowling Green has captured a MAC regular-season championship ... the Falcons won the East Division and posted the league's best overall regular-season mark, with a perfect 16-0 record against conference competition ... BGSU won league regular-season titles in three consecutive seasons from 1986-87 to 1988-89, and captured back-to-back crowns in the 1992-93 and '93-94 campaigns ... last year, the Falcons had the MAC's best overall record at 13-3, and won the West Division.
IT'S AN EAST-WEST THING
The Falcons have accomplished a rare double, one so rare that it has never happened in the history of MAC women's basketball, and likely will never happen again ... the Falcons have won the East Division title this season, after winning last year's West Division crown ... BGSU was moved from the West to the East prior to the 2005-06 campaign, after Marshall's departure from the conference.
MILLER REPEATS AS MAC COACH OF THE YEAR
BGSU coach Curt Miller was named the MAC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season ... the announcement was made at the Kraft MAC Tournament banquet in Cleveland on Tuesday night (March 7) ... Miller, who also captured the 2005 Coach-of-the-Year award, becomes the fourth coach in league history to win the league honor in back-to-back seasons ... he guided the Falcons to just the fifth undefeated record in MAC history, and enters the Toledo game with an overall head-coaching record of 91-55 in his fifth season ... Miller and the Falcons are 70-20 overall and 40-8 in conference play over the last three seasons.
FOUR FALCONS EARN ALL-MAC HONORS
For the first time in 12 years, the Falcons had four players named to the All-MAC Team ... the team, the result of voting by the league's 12 head coaches, was announced Monday (March 6) ... junior Ali Mann is the school's first All-MAC First-Team honoree in six years, while classmate Liz Honegger and sophomore Kate Achter each were named to the second team ... junior Carin Horne picked up third-team accolades ... BGSU's total of four all-league honorees ties for the most in school history.
THAT'S A LOT OF WINS
The Falcons' 73-61 victory over Northern Illinois on Wednesday (March 8) gives BGSU a total of 25 wins this season to date ... BG is one win shy of matching the school - and the Mid-American Conference - single-season record for victories ... a total of four teams have posted 27 wins in conference annals ... that group included the 1986-87 and 1988-89 Falcon teams, as well as the 1983-84 Central Michigan squad and the 1996-97 Toledo club.
STREAKS ON THE LINE
When the Falcons meet Toledo Friday, BGSU will be putting several lengthy streaks on the line ... BG has won 17 consecutive games overall and 23 games in a row (regular-season and tournament) vs. MAC opponents ... the Falcons currently boast several other impressive streaks that will not be in jeopady in Friday ... BG finished the regular season with a perfect 11-0 home record, and the Falcons have won 18-straight games at Anderson Arena, one of the longest homecourt winning streaks in the nation ... and, the Falcons closed the regular-season schedule with wins in eight consecutive road games.
DOUBLE-DIGIT WINNING STREAK
The Falcons' 17-game winning streak is the team's longest in nearly 12 years, since a 20-game streak in the 1993-94 season ... the current run by the 2005-06 team is the fifth double-digit winning streak in school history ... each of the first four double-figure streaks in BG annals took those Falcon teams all the way to the NCAA Tournament.
HOT START
BGSU's 26-2 record ties the school record for best start through 28 games ... only one other Falcon team has begun a season with that mark ... the 1986-87 BG squad also had 26 wins in the first 28 games ... that Falcon team, as mentioned earlier, won a school-record 21 consecutive games to enter the NCAA Tournament with a 26-2 record.
HOT STREAK
Dating to last season, the Falcons have won 23 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 reeled off 16 consecutive victories in conference play, and captured a league tourney quarterfinal win over Northern Illinois on Wednesday (March 10).
HOT STREAK II (AND III)
The Falcons have increased several other streaks over the last few games ... after the 71-59 win at Miami (Feb. 28), BGSU has now won 16-straight games overall ... the Feb. 22 win over Kent State means the Falcons have won 18 consecutive games at Anderson Arena ... according to the latest NCAA statistics, BG's homecourt winning streak is the third longest in the nation, while the overall win streak is fourth in the country.
HEAD COACH Curt Miller
BGSU head coach Curt Miller picked up the 75th victory of his career vs. Akron on Jan. 7, garnered win number 80 at Central Michigan on Jan. 25 and recorded win number 85 on Feb. 11 at Ball State ... Miller's career record currently stands at 91-55, in his fifth year ... over the last two-plus seasons, Miller and the Falcons are 70-20 ... BGSU has gone 40-8 in MAC regular-season play in that time, and 47-9 in all games vs. league foes during that span (7-1 in league tourney play).
BGSU BREAKS INTO NATIONAL RANKINGS ...
On Feb. 14, for the first time in nearly 12 years, BGSU broke into a national poll ... the Falcons were ranked 25th in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll, and BG was 25th again the next week (Feb. 21), before moving up to #24 in last week's poll (Feb. 28) and up two more spots to 22nd this week (March 7) ... BGSU's current run in the poll is the Falcons' first since March 15, 1994 ... the Falcons appeared in the USA Today poll in three consecutive weeks in March of 1993, peaking at #20, and the lone poll appearance in March of 1994 saw the Falcons ranked 24th ... the most recent ranking marks only the 11th week in MAC history that a league institution has been listed in the USA Today poll, and BG has been that team in eight of those 11 weeks ... the poll is released each Tuesday afternoon.
... IN BOTH POLLS
The Falcons, as mentioned, broke into the national polls for the first time in 12 years, earning a top-25 ranking in each of the last three USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches polls ... on Monday (March 6), the Falcons cracked the Associated Press poll as well ... BGSU is ranked 24th in that poll ... BG was ranked 26th (first team listed among 'also receiving votes') in each of the previous two weeks ... the Falcons got votes in each of the first seven AP polls of the 2005-06 season, and made a return in the Jan. 23 poll ... as is the case with the USA Today/ESPN poll, the Falcons are the MAC team that has been listed the most in the AP poll ... a league team has been ranked on 11 occasions, and BG has been that team in seven of the 11 weeks ... the AP poll is released each Monday afternoon.
HERE'S YOUR SIGN
Earning a national ranking is one sign that a team is having a successful season to date ... here's another ... this season, through 28 games, the Falcons have not allowed a single opponent to score 70 points ... meanwhile, BGSU is averaging nearly 70 points per game (69.6 ppg).
NOT BAD, NOT BAD AT ALL
Despite this year's losses to Delaware (by four points) and Kentucky (in overtime), the Falcons have won 32 of the last 35 games, dating to Feb. 19, 2005 ... the Falcons' only other loss in that time was to Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA Championships last March.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
SCOUTING TOLEDO
Toledo enters the BGSU game with an overall record of 11-17 on the season, and the Rockets finished MAC play with a 4-12 mark ... UT, the sixth seed in the West Division, has gone 2-0 in MAC Tournament action to date ... the Rockets went on the road in the first round, and came home with a 70-58 win over Buffalo on Saturday (March 4) ... then, for the second time in a week, UT and Western Michigan needed more than 40 minutes to decide a winner ... Toledo, after dropping a one-point, double-overtime decision at Western to end the regular season, picked up a 64-59 OT win at Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday night (March 8) ... individually, Danielle Bishop paces the Rocket scoring attack, with 14.2 points per game ... she also has 4.6 rebounds and is second on the team in assists ... Savannah Werner has 11.9 points and a team-high 6.0 boards per contest ... Crystal Young and Diana Reindl average 7.7 and 7.6 ppg ... Young paces the Rockets with 4.5 assists per outing, while Reindl is second on the squad in rebounding, at 5.3 ... Olivia Terry (4.4 ppg) and Amanda Davis (2.9 ppg) joined Bishop, Werner and Young in the starting lineup against WMU for head coach Mark Ehlen ... a total of 10 letterwinners, including four starters, returned from last year's team that went 14-15 overall and 9-7 in MAC play ... Ehlen has a record of 215-113 in his 11th season at the Rocket helm ... he is 337-243 in his 20th year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.utrockets.com.
A MATCHUP MADE FOR TV
If Friday's BGSU-Toledo game is anything like the teams' last three meetings, fans in Quicken Loans Arena and in front of their televisions are in for quite a treat ... last year, the Falcons swept the Rockets in the two meetings, but outscored UT by just a point in regulation ... in the game at UT (Jan. 15, 2005), the Falcons trailed by four points with under two minutes left in overtime, but scored the last seven points for a 69-66 victory ... in the return match (Feb. 26, 2005), the Brown and Orange trailed by six points with 1:22 left in the game ... but, then-senior Kelly Kapferer's three-point play with 9.1 seconds left lifted the Falcons to a 72-71 win on 'Senior Day' at Anderson Arena ... this year, the Falcons trailed by 15 points - BG's largest deficit of the season - before rallying for a 71-65 road win over the Rockets on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 5, 2006) ... each of the last seven meetings betweeen the arch-rivals has been decided by single digits.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Toledo, 34-25, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has captured six consecutive meetings ... the Falcons hold a narrow 4-3 advantage in neutral-site games between the arch-rival schools, and BGSU is also 4-3 in MAC Tournament meetings vs. the Rockets ... but, UT has captured each of the last three league tourney matchups ... the most recent game in conference tourney play came in 2001, an 81-63 UT victory in the Falcons' first-ever game at Quicken Loans (then Gund) Arena ... the teams have met four previous times in the MAC Tournament's semifinal round, with each team winning two of those games ... in this year's lone regular-season meeting, the Falcons rallied from 15 points down for a 71-65 road win over the Rockets (Feb. 5, 2006) ... as mentioned earlier, each of the last seven games have been decided by single digits ... prior to BGSU's current six-game winning streak, Toledo had won three-straight meetings, and seven of eight games, over the Falcons ... the boxscore from this year's regular-season meeting can be found in the pdf.
