Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Central Michigan Saturday
January 19, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 19, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU-CMU Game Notes in PDF Format
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#17/18 BGSU vs. CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Sat., January 20, 2007 • 1:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700) • Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 15-2 (5-0 MAC) // Central Michigan 9-9 (1-4 MAC)
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Mike Soeder and Anthony Bellino
TELEVISION: BCSN - Dave Horger and Fran Voll
SERIES: BGSU leads, 38-12 // STREAK: BGSU - 5
LAST MEETING: BGSU 57, at Central Michigan 52 (Jan. 25, 2006)
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team has finished its first round against the rest of the Mid-American Conference's East Division ... now, the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller (15-2, 5-0 MAC), riding an eight-game winning streak, will turn their attentions toward the MAC's West Division ... BGSU, currently ranked 17th in the nation in the USA Today/ESPN poll and 18th by the Associated Press, returns home for a Saturday (Jan. 20) contest vs. Central Michigan University ... tipoff is 1:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... BG's next six MAC games are against West Division foes (with one non-conference game scheduled during that time as well) ... the Falcons, the defending back-to-back MAC champions, have won 49 of the last 55 overall games and the last 30 contests vs. MAC foes.
CLOSE CALL VS. CENTRAL A SEASON AGO
The Falcons have won 30 consecutive games against MAC opposition, including all 19 such contests in 2005-06 ... it could be argued rather convincingly, however, that Central Michigan gave BGSU its biggest scare in conference action a season ago ... when the teams met in Mount Pleasant last Jan. 25, the Chippewas made a 10-0 run to tie the game late in the second half, and the contest was still tied until Liz Honegger hit a three-pointer with just 9.2 seconds left ... BG stole the inbounds pass and hit a pair of late free throws for a 57-52 win.
STOP, YOU'RE FREAKIN' ME OUT
There are some similarities between last year and this year as the Falcons prepare to take on Central Michigan - eerie similarities, some might say ... last year, BGSU was 5-0 after sweeping the first round of play vs. East Division opponents, and opened cross-divisional action with the game vs. CMU ... the Chippewas were 1-4 heading into the contest ... this year, the Falcons are again 5-0 in league play, while Central is 1-4 in MAC action to date ... last season, BG was coming off a win over Miami, while CMU had just lost by 13 to Eastern Michigan ... this season, the Falcons are coming off a victory against Miami, while Central suffered a 15-point loss to EMU ... BGSU's win over the Chips last year gave the Falcons a 15-2 overall record, while the Brown and Orange will enter this year's meeting with CMU with a 15-2 mark.
SAY YES TO MICHIGAN
For the Falcons, Saturday's game begins a three-game stretch against the MAC's three schools from the state of Michigan ... BGSU will host CMU, then will head to Western Michigan (Jan. 24) and Eastern Michigan (Jan. 28) ... the Brown and Orange is currently 2-0 in games played against schools from Michigan this year, having won at Detroit and at home against Oakland in non-conference play ... BG has won eight consecutive games against Michigan-based schools.
HOT START
BGSU's overall record of 15-2 ties the school record for best start through 17 games ... the 1986-87 squad 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 ... last year's edition of the Falcons also began the season at 15-2 ... that club won 19-straight games to head into the NCAA Tournament with a 28-2 mark, before losing to UCLA in the first round.
THE WEST IS A BEAST
The Falcons' next six MAC games, as mentioned, are against teams from the West Division ... last season, BGSU went a perfect 19-0 against MAC foes ... seven of those games were decided by single digits ... no fewer than five of the six regular-season contests against West Division foes were settled by eight points or fewer.
MANN A LOWE'S SENIOR CLASS AWARD NOMINEE
The top 30 men's and women's candidates for the 2007 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award - the nation's premier tribune to college seniors - were announced Tuesday (Jan. 16), and BGSU senior Ali Mann is among the nominees ... the award is presented annually to an NCAA Division I male and female senior basketball player who excel both on and off the court ... an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the list of nominees will be narrowed to 10 finalists of each gender in February ... the winners will be announced during the men's and women's respective Final Four weekends ... Mann is the first-ever Falcon to be nominated for this award, which is now in its sixth season.
BGSU NOW RANKED 17/18 IN NATIONAL POLLS
The Falcons are ranked 17th in the latest USA Today/ESPN Top-25 Coaches poll, which was released Tuesday (Jan. 16) ... BGSU is 18th in the latest Associated Press Top-25 poll, released Monday afternoon (Jan. 15) ... those are the highest rankings in BGSU and MAC history.
BGSU SETS MAC RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE WINS
The Falcons will put an impressive streak on the line Saturday ... BGSU's 64-56 win at Miami on Tuesday (Jan. 16) was the Falcons' 30th consecutive victory against MAC opposition, dating to the 2004-05 season ... that total extends the school and conference records ... BG suffered a loss at Eastern Michigan on Feb. 19, 2005, then won three consecutive games to close the regular season ... the Falcons went 3-0 in the 2005 Kraft MAC Tournament to win the tourney title and advance to the NCAA Championships ... the '05-06 edition of the Brown and Orange reeled off 16 consecutive victories in conference play, and captured three more wins vs. league foes in the MAC Tournament ... and, BGSU has opened the 2006-07 conference campaign with five consecutive wins.
JUST OUT OF CURIOUSITY, WHAT WAS THE OLD RECORD?
BGSU, as mentioned, has won 30 consecutive games (regular-season and tournament) against MAC foes ... the Falcons have broken the school and conference records for consecutive victories ... the mark was originally set by Fran Voll's Falcon teams which won 27-straight games vs. league opposition from Feb. 18, 1988 to Jan. 3, 1990 ... of the six such streaks over 20 games in league history, four have been compiled by Bowling Green.
LEADERS OF THE MAC
The Falcons are at the top of numerous team categories in the latest Mid-American Conference statistics (as of Jan. 19) ... BGSU leads all league schools in no fewer than seven categories - scoring defense (53.9), scoring margin (+19.4), field-goal percentage defense (36.6), three-point FG pct. (39.8), three-point FG pct. defense (28.3), turnover margin (+6.12) and assist/turnover ratio (1.14) ... the Falcons are second in the league in field-goal pct. (46.4), assists (16.12), steals (11.00 - tied for second) and three-pointers made (7.59) ... individually, senior Ali Mann is second in the league in field-goal pct., shooting 54.2% from the floor ... classmate Amber Flynn (62.0%) would be leading the league, but she falls just one field goal shy of the minimum needed to qualify ... senior Liz Honegger is second in the league in three-point pct. (46.0), fourth in three-pointers made (2.35) and sixth in blocks ... Mann is tied for fifth in scoring (15.7), while junior Kate Achter is tied for fourth in assists (5.06) and fourth in assist/TO ratio (1.59) ... in MAC games only, the Falcons lead the league in six team categories.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
* The Falcons enter the CMU contest with a 15-2 overall record and a 5-0 MAC mark on the season, and BGSU has won the last eight games ... BG is coming off a 64-56 win at Miami Tuesday (Jan. 16) ... the Falcons, who emerged unscathed through the first East Division swing, are 7-0 at home, 5-1 in road games and 3-1 in neutral-site contests ... BGSU's only losses have come at Notre Dame in overtime (85-81, Nov. 13) and to fourth-ranked Duke by only nine points (55-46, Dec. 19) in Cancun, Mexico ... the loss to Duke (now the top-ranked team in the nation) snapped a six-game winning streak for head coach Curt Miller's squad ... following that game, BG bounced back with a win over Texas-Arlington, before topping Delaware, Robert Morris and the five MAC foes to date.
* Three BG players are averaging double digits in scoring, with two others recording over eight points per game ... senior Ali Mann has 15.7 points to lead the way, while classmates Carin Horne (11.2) and Liz Honegger (10.9) are also in double figures ... senior Amber Flynn (9.6) and junior Kate Achter (8.8) are fourth and fifth, respectively, on the team in scoring ... Honegger paces the Falcons in rebounding, with 5.9 per game, while Horne has 4.8 rebounds and Mann 4.6 per outing ... Achter has a team-high 5.1 assists per contest, and Mann is second with 2.6 apg ... Horne (1.9 spg) leads the team in steals, and the Falcons' team defensive play has led to seven total players averaging at least one steal per game ... Honegger paces BG with 1.2 blocked shots per outing, and also has a team-high 40 three-point field goals made (in 87 attempts) this year.
* Flynn is shooting a team-best 62.0 percent from the field, while Mann is shooting 54.2% ... senior Megan Thorburn has 6.1 ppg, and has a 42.6% three-point field-goal rate ... she ranks third on the team in that category, trailing Mann (52.5%) and Honegger (46.0%).
* In addition to Flynn, sophomore Jasmine McCall has seen action in all 17 games off the bench, while classmate Lindsey Goldsberry has played in 16 ... McCall has 3.1 points and 1.9 assists per outing, and is second on the team with 1.5 steals per game ... Goldsberry has 3.4 ppg on the year ... junior Whitney Taylor played in nine of the season's first 10 games, averaging 3.1 ppg, but is likely out for the season due to injury.
* BGSU is averaging 73.2 points per game, while allowing just 53.9 ... the Falcons are shooting 46.4 percent from the field, and have made 129 three-point field goals - 7.59 per game - in 324 tries (39.8%) ... BG has limited the foes to just a 36.6% field-goal rate and a 28.3% effort from long range (76-for-269 from beyond the arc) ... BGSU has made 53 more triples (126 to 72) and 66 more free throws (248 to 182) than the opponents ... the Falcons have a 68.3% success rate from the free-throw line, while the opposition is shooting 67.4% from the stripe.
* Miller and Company returned all five starters, and nine total letterwinners, from last year's team that finished 28-3 and won the MAC with a perfect 16-0 league ledger ... freshmen Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper round out the active roster ... Clapper has played in 12 contests and Breske and Bugher 11 apiece.
* Last year's 28-win total set school and conference records for victories in a season ... BGSU, after winning the league's regular-season title for the second year in a row, went on to win the Kraft MAC Tournament for the second-straight March ... the returning players combined for 92.9 percent of the team's scoring and 90.7% of the Falcons' rebounding total.
HEAD COACH Curt Miller
BGSU head coach Curt Miller has turned the Falcon program around, to say the least, during his time in Northwest Ohio ... Miller has been named the MAC Coach of the Year in each of the last two seasons, and was the 2006 Russell Athletic/WBCA Region Four Coach of the Year as well ... his career record currently stands at 108-58, in his sixth year ... over the last three-plus seasons, Miller and the Falcons are 87-23 ... BGSU has gone 45-8 in MAC regular-season play in that time, and 54-9 in all games vs. league foes during that span (9-1 in league tourney play).
THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons have a proud history in the MAC ... BG enters Saturday's game vs. Central Michigan with an overall league record of 283-135 (.677), the best of all conference institutions ... additionally, BGSU leads the all-time series with all 11 MAC opponents ... BG, obviously, is the only team in the league with a winning series mark against every other MAC school.
FALCONS VS. THE MAC II
In addition to leading the all-time series with every other MAC school, BGSU is the lone MAC team to currently hold a winning streak against each of the other 11 league institutions ... the Falcons went 13-3 in MAC regular season play in '04-05, 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 2005 championship game ... and, BG picked up wins in all 19 games vs. league foes in 2005-06 before starting '06-07 with five consecutive conference victories.
HOME SWEET HOME
BGSU has had a great deal of success at Anderson Arena over the past few seasons ... the Falcons went a perfect 11-0 in home games last season, and - after downing Kent State, 74-52, on Jan. 10 - have won 25 consecutive games at "The House That Roars" ... BG's homecourt winning streak is the second longest in the nation, trailing only LSU's 40-game streak.
ROAD SWEET ROAD?
The Falcons have achieved a measure of success away from home as well ... BGSU has won 18 of the last 20 road games, dating to late in the 2004-05 season ... BGSU's only two road losses in that span each came in overtime, at Kentucky (66-62; Jan. 2, 2006) and Notre Dame (85-81; Nov. 13, 2006) ... since the start of the 2003-04 season, the Falcons are 23-4 on the road in league action and 34-12 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 ... after the win at Miami, the Falcons have won 12-straight league road contests.
A RARE HOME GAME
The Falcons's 64-56 win at Miami Tuesday (Jan. 16) marked BG's second-straight road game ... the Ohio game (Jan. 13) began a stretch in which BGSU plays five of six games on the road ... for the Brown and Orange, Saturday's (Jan. 20) game vs. Central Michigan will mark the team's lone action at Anderson Arena in a span of over three weeks.
BGSU HAS HIGHEST-EVER RANKING IN BOTH NATIONAL POLLS
The Falcons have reached uncharted waters in terms of national rankings ... BGSU is ranked 17th in the nation in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll, as of Tuesday (Jan. 16) ... and, the Falcons are ranked 18th in the latest Associated Press Top-25 poll, released Monday (Jan. 15) ... those are the highest rankings for a MAC team in league history ... the Falcons have been ranked in the USA Today/ESPN poll for eight consecutive weeks, and BGSU has been listed in the AP poll in each of the last five weeks ... a few more facts about BGSU, the MAC and the polls ...
* BGSU's current rankings, as mentioned, are the highest ever by a MAC institution ... prior to this season, the Falcons's highest ranking had been 19th, in the AP poll on March 16, 1993.
* The Falcons' current run of eight consecutive weeks in the USA Today/ESPN poll has shattered the school and MAC longevity records ... the old mark of five weeks was set by last year's BGSU club, which was ranked in the USA Today/ESPN poll from Feb. 14 to March 13, 2006.
* The current runs (in each poll) mark only the fourth and fifth times in MAC history that a league school has had a run of three consecutive weeks in the top 25 ... three of those instances have been in the USA Today poll, with the other two in the Associated Press poll, but the Falcons have been that MAC team on all five occasions.
* BGSU was ranked in each of the two polls last year, marking the program's first appearance in a national poll in 12 years, and the first appearance for a MAC program in over four years.
* The Jan. 16 USA Today/ESPN poll marked the 20th week in MAC history that a league institution has been listed in that poll, and BGSU has been that team in 17 of the 20 weeks, including 13 weeks under Curt Miller.
* The Jan. 15 ranking in the Associated Press marked the 17th week that a MAC club has been listed in that poll ... BG has been that team in 13 of those 17 weeks (seven during Miller's tenure).
SCOUTING CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Central Michigan will enter Saturday's action with an overall record of 9-9, and the Chippewas are 1-4 in MAC play to date ... CMU began the conference season with a 91-78 win over Western Michigan, but has dropped the last four games ... three of those losses have been by eight points or fewer, with the eight-point loss coming in overtime to West-leading Ball State ... most recently, the Chips fell on the road to Eastern Michigan, 77-62, on Wednesday (Jan. 17) ... Central is 3-5 on the road this season to date ... individually, senior forward Ann Skufca leads the team in scoring, with 12.4 points per game, and she leads the MAC in blocked shots, with 2.1 per outing ... Skufca also averages 4.6 rebounds and is shooting nearly 50 percent from three-point range (48.9%, 22-of-45) ... the Chippewas' other senior, guard Sharonda Hurd, is the team's other double-digit scorer, with 10.6 points and a team-leading 6.2 rebounds per contest ... junior guard Candace Wilson and freshman G/F Britni Houghton are averaging 8.9 and 8.4 ppg, respectively, and three other players are scoring at least 6.7 ppg ... Wilson paces the Chippewas with 3.4 assists per outing ... Skufca is averaging 18.6 points and 3.0 blocks per game in the five MAC contests to date ... Hurd, Skufca, Wilson and junior guard Stacey Verhoff (7.3 ppg) have started all 18 games, while Houghton has started each of the last four for head coach Eileen Kleinfelter ... Kleinfelter welcomed back seven letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 16-12 overall and 7-9 in MAC action ... Kleinfelter, in her sixth season in Mount Pleasant, has a 61-97 record with the Chippewas ... the school's athletics web site is cmuchippewas.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Central Michigan, 38-12, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won each of the last five meetings ... last season, as mentioned earlier, the Falcons won a tight 57-52 game at Mount Pleasant (Jan. 25, 2006), in the teams' lone meeting of the year ... BGSU is 20-4 in home games vs. the Chippewas, including a 72-58 decision the last time the teams tangled at Anderson Arena, two seasons ago (Feb. 15, 2005) ... the Falcons have won the last nine home games vs. Central, since a 60-58 CMU win on Feb. 8, 1995 ... Central's last overall series win was a 42-30 decision in Mt. Pleasant (Feb. 5, 2003), a game known in some circles as 'The Ugliest Game in Women's Basketball History' ... the list of game-by-game series results is in the pdf version of these notes.
PLAY THE D
The Falcons have allowed only 47.4 points per game in the five MAC games, and the BGSU defense has yet to surrender more than 56 points in any of those conference contests ... overall, the Falcons have held the opponent to fewer than 60 points in 14 of 17 games this year ... BG has limited foes to under 50 points on seven occasions, including two games of fewer than 40 points.
THAT'S GOOD D!
In the five MAC games to date, BGSU has allowed the opponents to shot just 34.8 percent from the field, and conference foes have made just 23.2% of their three-point attempts ... BG's opponents have made just 89 field goals and committed 106 turnovers (21.2 per game) in conference play.
UP NEXT
Following the Central Michigan game, the Falcons will head right back out on the road, playing three consecutive games away from Anderson Arena ... BGSU will head to Kalamazoo for a Wednesday (Jan. 24) game against Western Michigan, before meeting Eastern Michigan next Sunday (Jan. 28) ... then, the Brown and Orange will end the month of January with a non-conference game at Chicago State (Jan. 30).
