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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Western Michigan Wednesday
January 23, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
#16/17 BGSU at WESTERN MICHIGAN
Wed., January 24, 2007 • 7:00 p.m.
University Arena (5,421) • Kalamazoo, Mich.
RECORDS: BGSU 16-2 (6-0 MAC) // Western Michigan 8-12 (1-5 MAC)
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Ryan Gasser and Tony Cannizzaro
SERIES: BGSU leads, 29-20 // STREAK: BGSU - 5
LAST MEETING: at BGSU 77, Western Michigan 69 (Jan. 28, 2006)
BGSU Game Notes in PDF Format
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, off to a 6-0 start in Mid-American Conference play, hits the road for the next three games ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller (16-2, 6-0 MAC), riding a nine-game winning streak, will head to Kalamazoo for a Wednesday (Jan. 24) game vs. Western Michigan University ... tipoff is 7:00 p.m. at WMU's University Arena (5,421) ... BGSU, currently ranked 16th in the nation by the Associated Press and 17th in the USA Today/ESPN poll, is in the midst of a six-game stretch in which five contests are on the road ... the Falcons, the defending back-to-back MAC champions, have won 50 of the last 56 overall games and the last 31 contests vs. MAC foes.
THE WEST IS A BEAST
The Falcons' 70-50 home win over Central Michigan on Saturday (Jan. 20) began BG's MAC cross-divisional play ... beginning with that CMU game, the Falcons' next six conference games are against West Division opponents ... 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 ... that includes the 2005-06 regular-season meetings with each of the Falcons' next three conference opponents; WMU (77-69 in last year's meeting), Eastern Michigan (76-69) and Toledo (71-65).
THE WEST IS A BEAST II
The good news for the Falcons ... West Division teams won five of Saturday's six intra-divisional games ... BGSU was the lone East Division winner, meaning that the Falcons now hold a two-game lead over second-place Kent State in the East.
THE WEST IS A BEAST III
The bad news for the Falcons ... West Division teams won five of Saturday's six intra-divisional games ... those five winners - Western Michigan, East Division, Toledo, Ball State and Northern Illinois - are BGSU's next five conference opponents.
ACHTER IS ON THE ATTACK
It is only appropriate that an anagram for 'Kate Achter' is 'Attacker, Eh?' (question mark added for effect) ... the Falcons are at their best when Achter, their floor general, is leading the attack and pushing the tempo ... the junior had eight points, five rebounds and seven assists in Saturday's (Jan. 20) win over Central Michigan ... she is averaging 8.8 points, 3.6 boards and 5.2 assists ... Achter is 29th in BGSU history in scoring, and ranks sixth in career assists ... another anagram for 'Kate Achter' is 'hack at thee,' which is also appropos, as Achter has shown a propensity for getting herself to the foul line during her career ... she is very close to adding her name to the BGSU career lists for both free throws attempted and made, having gone 313-for-416 from the stripe in her 80 games to date.
SAY YES TO MICHIGAN
For the Falcons, Saturday's CMU game began a three-game stretch against the MAC's three schools from the state of Michigan ... this week, BGSU will head to Western Michigan (Jan. 24) and Eastern Michigan (Jan. 28) ... the Brown and Orange is currently 3-0 in games played against schools from Michigan this year, having won at Detroit and at home against Oakland in non-conference play before the CMU win ... BG has won nine consecutive games against Michigan-based schools.
HOT START
BGSU's overall record of 16-2 ties the school record for best start through 18 games ... the 1986-87 squad had 16 wins in the first 18 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 16-2 ... 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.
BGSU SETS MAC RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE WINS
The Falcons will put an impressive streak on the line Wednesday ... BGSU's 70-50 win vs. Central Michigan Saturday (Jan. 20) was the Falcons' 31st 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 six consecutive wins.
BGSU NOW RANKED 16/17 IN NATIONAL POLLS
The Falcons are ranked 16th in the latest Associated Press Top-25 poll, which was released Monday afternoon (Jan. 22) ... BGSU is 17th in the most recent USA Today/ESPN Top-25 Coaches poll, released last Tuesday (Jan. 16) ... those are the highest rankings in BGSU and MAC history ... of course, by the time you read this, odds are good that a new USA Today/ESPN poll will have been released, making these notes totally obsolete.
LEADERS OF THE MAC
The Falcons are at the top of numerous team categories in the latest Mid-American Conference statistics (as of Jan. 23) ... BGSU is first or second in no fewer than 11 categories ... the Falcons lead the league in six categories - scoring defense (53.7), scoring margin (+19.4), field-goal percentage defense (36.4), three-point FG pct. defense (28.5), turnover margin (+6.06) and assist/turnover ratio (1.15) ... BG is second in field-goal pct. (46.2), three-point FG pct. (39.3), blocked shots (3.50), assists (16.28) and three-pointers made (7.56) ... individually, senior Ali Mann is second in the league in field-goal pct., shooting 53.9% from the floor ... classmate Amber Flynn (60.9%) would give the Falcons two of the top-three in the league in that category, but she falls just two field goals shy of the minimum needed to qualify ... senior Liz Honegger is third in the league in three-point pct. (45.1), fourth in three-pointers made (2.28) and fifth in blocks ... Mann is fifth in scoring (15.7), while junior Kate Achter is third in assists (5.17) and fourth in assist/TO ratio (1.66) ... in MAC games only, the Falcons lead the league in six team categories.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
* The Falcons enter the WMU contest with a 16-2 overall record and a 6-0 MAC mark on the season, and BGSU has won the last nine games ... BG is coming off a 70-50 win over Central Michigan Saturday (Jan. 20) in the first cross-divisional game of the season ... the Falcons are 8-0 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 six 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 (10.8) are also in double figures ... senior Amber Flynn (9.5) and junior Kate Achter (8.8) are fourth and fifth, respectively, on the team in scoring ... Honegger paces the Falcons in rebounding, with 5.8 per game, while Horne has 4.8 rebounds and Mann 4.6 per outing ... Achter has a team-high 5.2 assists per contest, and Mann is second with 2.7 apg ... Horne (1.8 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 41 three-point field goals made (in 91 attempts) this year.
* Flynn is shooting a team-best 60.9 percent from the field, while Mann is shooting 53.9% ... senior Megan Thorburn has 6.1 ppg, and has a 42.4% three-point field-goal rate ... she ranks third on the team in that category, trailing Mann (51.1%) and Honegger (45.6%).
* In addition to Flynn, sophomore Jasmine McCall has seen action in all 18 games off the bench, while classmate Lindsey Goldsberry has played in 17 ... McCall has 3.1 points and 1.8 assists per outing, and is second on the team with 1.6 steals per game ... Goldsberry has 3.3 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 73.1 points per game, while allowing just 53.7 ... the Falcons are shooting 46.2 percent from the field, and have made 136 three-point field goals - 7.56 per game - in 346 tries (39.3%) ... BG has limited the foes to just a 36.4% field-goal rate and a 28.5% effort from long range (81-for-284 from beyond the arc) ... BGSU has made 55 more triples (136 to 81) and 64 more free throws (255 to 191) than the opponents ... the Falcons have a 67.5% success rate from the free-throw line, while the opposition is shooting 68.2% from the stripe.
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 109-58, in his sixth year ... over the last three-plus seasons, Miller and the Falcons are 88-23 ... BGSU has gone 46-8 in MAC regular-season play in that time, and 55-9 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 Wednesday's game at Western Michigan with an overall league record of 284-135 (.678), 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.
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 Central Michigan, 70-50, Saturday (Jan. 20) - have won 26 consecutive games at "The House That Roars" ... BG's homecourt winning streak is the second longest in the nation, trailing only LSU (40).
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 last Tuesday (Jan. 16), the Falcons have won 12-straight league road contests.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 109-58 in the five-plus years since Curt Miller took the helm in May of 2001;
• 57-29 in MAC games in that time;
• 88-23 overall and 46-8 in the MAC over the last three-plus seasons, since the current senior class arrived on campus in the fall of 2003;
• 44-5 since the beginning of last season;
• 50-6 in the last 56 overall games since February of 2005 (with the losses coming to Kansas State [2005 NCAA Tournament], Delaware, Kentucky, UCLA [2006 NCAA Tournament], Notre Dame and Duke);
• 6-0 in games after a loss during that time;
• 14-0 in games decided by double digits this season;
• 6-0 in games decided by over 30 points in 2006-07;
• 31-0 in the last 31 games against MAC opponents (setting new school and conference records), since a loss at Eastern Michigan on Feb. 19, 2005;
• 9-1 in the MAC Tournament in the last three seasons;
• 26-0 in the last 26 home games, the second-longest active home winning streak in the nation;
• 13-1 in the last 14 road games (with the overtime loss at Notre Dame snapping a nine-game road winning streak since an OT setback at Kentucky on Jan. 2, 2006);
• 12-0 in the last 12 MAC road games;
• 46-0 when outrebounding the opponent since the start of the 2004-05 season;
• 43-3 when holding the opponent to fewer than 70 points since the start of the 2005-06 season (BGSU has only allowed three teams - UCLA, Notre Dame and Robert Morris - to top the 70-point mark in the last 49 games);
• 5-3 in games played on Jan. 24, including a 2-2 mark on the road; and
• 0-0 in the Curt Miller Era on that date.
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 tribute to college seniors - were announced last 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 HAS HIGHEST-EVER RANKING IN BOTH NATIONAL POLLS
The Falcons have reached uncharted waters in terms of national rankings ... BGSU is ranked 16th in the nation in the latest Associated Press Top-25 poll, as of Monday afternoon (Jan. 22) ... and, the Falcons are ranked 17th in the most recent USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll, as of last Tuesday (Jan. 16) ... 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 six 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.
• Monday's (Jan. 22) ranking in the Associated Press marked the 18th week that a MAC club has been listed in that poll ... BG has been that team in 14 of those 18 weeks (eight during Miller's tenure).
SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN
Western Michigan will enter Wednesday's action with an overall record of 8-12, and the Broncos are 1-5 in MAC play to date ... WMU began the conference season with five losses, with the last two coming by six and four points, respectively ... Western lost at Northern Illinois, 79-73 (Jan. 13), and against visiting Toledo, 76-72 (Jan. 17), before picking up a 16-point road win over Ohio, 71-55, on Saturday (Jan. 20) ... the Broncos are 5-2 at home this year, but the two losses have come in MAC play, to Eastern Michigan and UT ... individually, senior guard Carrie Moore leads the team - and the nation - in scoring, with 25.5 points per game ... she has scored over 500 points in 20 games, and also has 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game ... senior forward Lindsey Brown has 12.4 points and a team-leading 8.6 rebounds per contest, while sophomore guard Tiera DeLaHoussaye averages 11.9 points and a team-best 5.6 assists per outing ... junior forward Amanda Parker and freshman guard Sarah Dreher average 5.4 and 5.2 points, respectively ... Brown, DeLaHoussaye and Moore each have started all 20 games this season, while Dreher and Parker have made 16 starts apiece for Bronco head coach Ron Stewart ... Stewart welcomed back nine letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that finished 14-14 overall and 11-5 in MAC action ... Stewart, in his 10th season in Kalamazoo, has a 140-144 record with the Broncos ... the school's athletics web site is www.wmubroncos.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Western Michigan, 29-20, 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 77-69 game in Anderson Arena (Jan. 28, 2006), in the teams' lone meeting of the year ... BGSU is 12-10 in road games vs. the Broncos, including an 80-67 win two years ago in the team's last trip to Kalamazoo (Jan. 8, 2005).
PLAY THE D
The Falcons have allowed only 47.8 points per game in the six 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 15 of 18 games this year ... BG has limited foes to under 50 points on seven occasions, including two games of fewer than 40 points.
