Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head to Windy City
January 29, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU at CHICAGO STATE
Tue., January 30, 2007 • 7:00 p.m. CT
Jacoby D. Dickens Center (2,500) • Chicago, Ill.
RECORDS: BGSU 18-2 (8-0 MAC) // Chicago State 8-14 (Independent)
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Brian Scullin and Richard Ehrbar
SERIES: First Meeting
BGSU's game notes in PDF Format
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, sporting an 8-0 record in Mid-American Conference play this season, will step outside of league action at the halfway point ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller (18-2, 8-0 MAC), riding an 11-game winning streak, head to the Windy City for a Tuesday (Jan. 30) game vs. Chicago State University ... tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. local time (8:00 p.m. Eastern) at the Jacoby D. Dickens Center (2,500) ... for the Falcons, the game marks the first non-conference game during the heart of the MAC schedule in 12 years ... BGSU, ranked 16th in the nation in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls entering the week (although the new polls will be out before Tuesday's tipoff), is wrapping up a six-game stretch in which five games are on the road ... the Falcons, the defending back-to-back MAC champions, have won 52 of the last 58 overall games and the last 33 contests vs. conference foes.
BGSU LOOKING TO EXTEND NON-CONFERENCE MARK
Even before Tuesday's game at CSU, The Falcons already have set a school record for non-conference wins in a season ... this year's team has a 10-2 record in non-league play, and is only the third to win as many as nine non-conference regular-season games since the MAC went to a double round-robin format in 1982-83 ... the 1991-92 Falcons set the mark with a 9-2 non-league ledger, and last year's club also went 9-2 in non-MAC play ... this year's BG team, as mentioned, has broken that record with 10 wins heading into the game in Chicago.
THE WINDY CITY
The Falcons have only played inside the Chicago city limits once before, although BGSU has ventured to the Chicagoland area on several other occasions ... the lone game in Chicago came on Nov. 25, 1988, when BG posted a 93-92 overtime win over Loyola (Ill.) ... the following day, the Falcons made the short trip north to Evanston and beat Northwestern by an 81-71 outcome ... the Brown and Orange also played at Northwestern in a tournament three years prior (Dec. 6-7, 1985), losing to the Wildcats, 68-62, in the first round before beating Boston College by a 60-47 final the next day ... that same season, the MAC Tournament was held in Rockford, Ill. ... BGSU has played numerous games in the state, including one game at Illinois, several at Illinois State and numerous games at Northern Illinois.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
Once again this season, the Falcons will set and/or extend some school records for non-conference contests ... BGSU has won 10 non-league games to date, a new single-season record in that department ... a few more non-conference marks ...
• With one non-league game remaining, BGSU has clinched a winning record in non-conference play for the fifth consecutive year, the only MAC school to have turned that trick.
• BG had not had as many as three consecutive winning non-league campaigns in over a decade (since 1991-92 to 1992-93) ... now, having clinched a winning record in the '06-07 non-conference season, BGSU has posted five-straight winning seasons in non-league action, for the first time since the 1985-86 through 1989-90 teams did so.
• BGSU's total of 10 non-conference wins this year, as mentioned on numerous occasions, is a new school record ... the Falcons had nine such victories last year, and BG now has had at least seven non-league victories in each of the last five seasons.
• Since the start of the 2002-03 campaign, BG is 40-16 in regular-season, non-league games, for the most wins and highest winning percentage (71.4%) of any MAC school during that time.
• In 2004-05, the Falcons' 7-4 non-league mark enabled BG to tie the school record for most wins in a three-year period, with 21 (BGSU also went 7-4 in non-conference action during the 2002-03 and '03-04 seasons) ... with nine non-league wins last season, the Falcons broke that record, as BG had a total of 23 non-conference victories from 2003-04 thru '05-06) ... AND, BG's total of 10 wins this season means that BGSU has broken that mark for the third-straight year.
• Not surprisingly, BGSU's total of 30 non-league wins from 2002-03 to 2005-06 set a school record for a four-year period ... also not surprisingly, the Falcons will break that mark again this year, as the Falcons have a total of 33 non-conference victories since the start of the 2003-04 season.
NON-LEAGUE GAME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MAC SCHEDULE
BGSU's game at Chicago State marks the first time in over a decade that the Falcons will play a non-league game during the heart of the MAC schedule ... BG's last such game came on Jan. 9, 1995, a 72-71 loss to Siena. (Note: This does not count the 1998-99 season, when the league schedule had the Falcons playing Western Michigan in mid-December, before concluding the non-league slate with two more games before New Year's Day.)
BGSU CONTINUES SEVERAL STREAKS ...
The Falcons extended several winning streaks with Sunday's (Jan. 28) 72-55 triumph at Eastern Michigan ... BGSU has won 11 consecutive games overall, and the Falcons now have won 33-straight games vs. MAC foes as well as 14 consecutive conference road contests.
... AND SNAPS ONE
The Falcons' win at EMU was the team's first-ever victory at Eastern's Convocation Center ... the Falcons had lost in each of the first five games at the facility ... in fact, BG's last loss to a MAC opponent came at the Convocation Center, a 57-52 EMU win on Feb. 19, 2005.
SAY YES TO MICHIGAN
For the Falcons, Sunday's EMU game closed a three-game stretch against the MAC's three schools from the state of Michigan ... BGSU posted a 70-50 home win over Central Michigan on Jan. 20, then headed to Kalamazoo and picked up a midweek win, 90-62 (Jan. 24), before winning in Ypsilanti ... the Falcons are 5-0 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 11 consecutive games against Michigan-based schools.
HOT START
BGSU's overall record of 18-2 ties the school record for best start through 20 games ... the 1986-87 squad had 18 wins in the first 20 contests ... 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 18-2 ... 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.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Chicago State contest with an 18-2 overall record ... BGSU has an 8-0 MAC mark on the season, and the Falcons have won the last 11 games ... BG has reached the midpoint of the league schedule after wins over three Michigan foes - Central (70-50, Jan. 20), Western (90-62, Jan. 24) and Eastern (72-55; Jan. 28) in the first three cross-divisional games of the season ... the Falcons are 8-0 at home, 7-1 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 Duke by only nine points (55-46, Dec. 19) in Cancun, Mexico ... the loss to Duke (ranked fourth at the time, 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 eight MAC foes to date.
• Four BG players are averaging double digits in scoring, with a fifth recording over nine points per game ... senior Ali Mann has 16.2 points to lead the way, while classmates Carin Horne (11.2) and Liz Honegger (10.2) are also in double figures ... junior Kate Achter (10.0) rounds out the double-digit scorers, while senior Amber Flynn (9.3) is fifth on the team in scoring ... Honegger paces the Falcons in rebounding, with 5.9 per game, while Mann is averaging 4.7 rpg and Horne 4.5 ... Achter has a team-high 4.9 assists per contest, and Mann is second with 2.9 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 42 three-point field goals made (in 96 attempts) this year.
• Flynn is shooting a team-best 59.8 percent from the field, while Mann is shooting 54.5% ... senior Megan Thorburn has 6.4 ppg and a 40.8% three-point field-goal rate ... she ranks third on the team in that category, trailing Mann (49.0%) and Honegger (43.8%).
• In addition to Flynn, sophomore Jasmine McCall has seen action in all 20 games off the bench, while classmate Lindsey Goldsberry has played in 19 ... Goldsberry has 3.4 points, 1.8 assists and 1.5 steals per outing, while McCall has 3.2 points, 1.7 helpers and 1.6 steals per game ... Goldsberry is second on the team in both assists and steals, while McCall is third in assists and deadlocked for third in steals ... 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 73.8 points per game, while allowing just 54.2 ... the Falcons are shooting 46.6 percent from the field, and have made 149 three-point field goals - 7.45 per game - in 382 tries (39.0%) ... BG has limited the foes to just a 37.1% field-goal rate and a 28.1% effort from long range (89-for-317 from beyond the arc) ... BGSU has made 60 more triples (149 to 89) and 76 more free throws (288 to 212) than the opponents ... the Falcons have a 69.1% success rate from the free-throw line, while the opposition is shooting 67.7% 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 ... Breske and Bugher have played in 14 contests apiece ... Clapper saw action in 13 contests, but is likely sidelined for the remainder of the season due to injury.
• 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 very 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 111-58, in his sixth year ... over the last three-plus seasons, Miller and the Falcons are 90-23 ... BGSU has gone 48-8 in MAC regular-season play in that time, and 57-9 in all games vs. league foes during that span (9-1 in league tourney play).
BGSU EXTENDS MAC RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE WINS
The Falcons extended an impressive streak on Sunday ... BGSU's 72-55 win at Eastern Michigan was the Falcons' 33rd consecutive victory against MAC opposition, dating to the 2004-05 season ... that total extends the school and conference records ... BG suffered a loss at EMU 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 eight-straight wins.
JUST OUT OF CURIOSITY, WHAT WAS THE OLD RECORD?
BGSU, as mentioned on multiple occasions already, has won 33 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.
HAPPY HOMECOMING FOR MANN
For Falcon senior Ali Mann, Sunday's EMU game was as close as she will play to her hometown (Chelsea, Mich.) this season ... in front of a good portion of her hometown, Mann accomplished the following ...
• Scored 19 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds as the Falcons won at EMU's Convocation Center for the first time ever;
• Surpassed both the 1,600-point and 800-rebound marks for her career; and
• Became the school's all-time leader in free throws made.
HOMECOMING FOR THREE OTHER FALCONS, AS WELL
Senior Ali Mann is not the only Michigan native on the Falcons' 2006-07 roster ... that list also includes classmate Megan Thorburn, a native of Mason, Mich., as well as sophomore Jasmine McCall (Detroit) and freshman Tara Breske (Temperance) ... Mann and Thorburn have helped the Falcons to a record of 8-2 in games played in Michigan during their careers ... the lone two losses came in the team's two trips to Eastern Michigan, prior to Sunday.
INJURY UPDATE
Junior Whitney Taylor suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in practice on Dec. 26, and is likely out for the remainder of the season ... Taylor played in nine of BGSU's first 10 games of the year, averaging 3.1 points and 12.2 minutes per game ... a wing player, she also played several minutes at the point-guard position in the UT-Arlington game (Dec. 20) and did not commit a turnover ... last Monday (Jan. 22), freshman Sarah Clapper, another wing player, suffered an ACL injury in practice, and also is likely to miss the rest of the season ... Clapper played in 13 of the Falcons' first 18 games of the year, averaging 2.2 points ... BG was a perfect 13-0 in games in which Clapper saw action.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 111-58 in the five-plus years since Curt Miller took the helm in May of 2001;
• 59-29 in MAC games in that time;
• 90-23 overall and 48-8 in the MAC over the last three-plus seasons, since the current senior class arrived on campus in the fall of 2003;
• 46-5 since the beginning of last season;
• 52-6 in the last 58 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;
• 16-0 in games decided by double digits this season;
• 6-0 in games decided by over 30 points in 2006-07;
• 33-0 in the last 33 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;
• 15-1 in the last 16 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);
• 14-0 in the last 14 MAC road games;
• 46-0 when outrebounding the opponent since the start of the 2004-05 season;
• 45-3 when holding the opponent to fewer than 70 points since the beginning 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 51 games);
• 4-6 in games played on Jan. 30, including 2-4 on the road; and
• 0-1 in the Curt Miller Era on that date, an 82-51 loss at Toledo in his first year at the helm.
FALCONS BY CLASS
THE SENIORS
BGSU's senior class is one of the finest in school history ... that group includes four returning starters in Liz Honegger, Carin Horne, Ali Mann and Megan Thorburn ... additionally, Amber Flynn was one of the most improved players in the MAC last season, and has picked up right where she left off ... a sixth senior, Julie Gompers, missed each of the last two seasons due to injury and is again sidelined in 2006-07 ... the class has been an integral part of the Falcons' 90-23 overall mark in the last three-plus years, and BG has advanced to the championship game of the MAC Tournament every year since they arrived.
THE JUNIORS
The Falcons' two juniors, Kate Achter and Whitney Taylor, have helped BGSU win MAC regular-season and tournament titles in each of their first two seasons ... BG has an overall record of 69-13 since the two arrived on campus, and the Falcons are 66-9 when Achter is in the starting lineup ... Taylor has played in nine games this year, but is sidelined due to an injury suffered in practice on Dec. 26.
THE SOPHOMORES
Lindsey Goldsberry and Jasmine McCall have seen their team win over 90 percent of its games (46-5 to date), and the two players have never been a part of a loss to a MAC opponent, as the Falcons are 27-0 against league opposition since the start of last season ... McCall has played in all 51 of BGSU's games in her career to date, while Goldsberry has action in 49 contests, making two starts.
THE FRESHMEN
Tara Breske (Temperance, Mich.), Laura Bugher (Greenwood, Ind.) and Sarah Clapper (Newark, Ohio) are the newest additions to the BG program ... Breske and Bugher each have played in 14 games to date, while Clapper has see action in 13 ... Clapper, though, is likely out for the season after suffering an injury in practice last Monday (Jan. 22) ... the Falcons have yet to lose a game when any of the three frosh see playing time.
SCOUTING CHICAGO STATE
Chicago State will enter Tuesday's action with an overall record of 8-14 ... the Cougars, an independent, are coming off back-to-back home wins over Judson and Olivet Nazarene, averaging 101.0 points in those two games ... CSU downed Judson by an 84-53 final on Wednesday (Jan. 24) and raced past Olivet Nazarene by a 118-103 Saturday (Jan. 27) ... the Cougars are 5-4 at home this season to date, including a 78-64 win over Central Michigan in November and a six-point loss (77-71) to then nationally-ranked DePaul just after Christmas ... individually, sophomore guard Jasmin Dixon is averaging 12.0 points per game to pace three double-digit scorers ... senior center Chandra Timberlake averages 11.2 points and a team-best 7.5 rebounds per game, while senior F/G Ayesha Neasley has 10.7 points, 5.1 boards and a team-leading 2.5 assists per outing ... junior guard Zondranika Williams has 6.7 ppg and freshman guard Alyssa Waldon 6.1 ... Dixon, Timberlake and Waldon each have started all 22 games this season, while Neasley has made 18 starts for head coach Angela Jackson ... Jackson welcomed back eight letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 12-16 ... Jackson has a record of 41-65 in her fifth year at the helm.
THE SERIES
The Falcons have never met Chicago State in women's basketball.
