Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Open Home Portion of MAC Schedule vs. Buffalo
January 05, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
#19/24 BGSU vs. BUFFALO
Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007 // 1:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700) // Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 11-2 (1-0 MAC) // Buffalo 5-8 (0-1 MAC)
RADIO: WBGU-FM 88.1 - Paul Braverman and Andrew Goetz
TELEVISION: BCSN - Dave Horger and Fran Voll
SERIES: BGSU leads, 8-5 // STREAK: BGSU - 4
LAST MEETING: at BGSU 65, Buffalo 51 (Feb. 18, 2006)
BGSU Game Notes in PDF Format
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THE GAME The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, having opened the Mid-American Conference schedule with a victory, now looks to match a school and conference record ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller (11-2, 1-0 MAC) return home for the next two games, beginning with Saturday afternoon's (Jan. 6) contest vs. the University at Buffalo ... tipoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena ... BGSU is currently ranked 19th in the nation in the USA Today ESPN poll and 24th by the Associated Press, is the two-time defending MAC champion ... the Falcons, the defending back-to-back MAC champions, have won 45 of the last 51 overall games and the last 23 contests at Anderson.
BG PUTS 26-GAME MAC WINNING STREAK ON THE LINE The Falcons will put an impressive streak on the line at Saturday ... BGSU has won 26 consecutive games against MAC opposition, dating to the 2004-05 season ... 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 ... BGSU opened the 2006-07 conference campaign with a 61-32 win at Akron on Wednesday night (Jan. 3).
FALCONS LOOKING TO TIE SCHOOL, MAC RECORD BGSU, as mentioned, has won 26 consecutive games (regular-season and tournament) against MAC foes ... the Falcons are one win away from tying the school and conference records for consecutive victories ... the record is currently held 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.
CONSECUTIVE WINS VS. MAC OPPONENTS
(Includes both regular-season and MAC Tournament games)
27 - Bowling Green (2/13/88 to 1/3/90)
26 - Bowling Green (2/23/05 to present)
26 - Central Michigan (3/11/83 to 1/12/85) *
24 - Kent State (12/3/97 to 1/6/99)
22 - Bowling Green (12/13/86 to 1/16/88)
20 - Bowling Green (1/8/93 to 3/12/93)
* streak snapped by BGSU, 58-41, on 1/15/85
FALCONS GET DEFENSIVE The Falcons put the clamps on Akron's offense Wednesday night (Jan. 3), allowing just 32 points ... that marked the lowest total allowed by the Brown and Orange in a game in over three decades ... UA's point total was the lowest by a Falcon opponent since a 77-25 BG victory over Ohio Northern on Feb. 11, 1975 ... the Zips' total was the fifth-lowest in school history, with the only lower totals coming in the first two seasons in program annals.
LOWEST OPPONENT POINT TOTAL, GAME
25 - Ohio Northern, 2/11/75 (77-25)
26 - Wayne State, 1973-74 (77-26)
29 - Ohio Northern, 1973-74 (52-29)
30 - Kent State, 1973-74 (77-30)
32 - Akron, 1/3/07 (61-32)
FALCONS GET DEFENSIVE II A few more defensive notes and nuggets from the Akron game ...
* BGSU allowed UA to make just 12 field goals, while forcing 24 turnovers by the Zips ... BG committed only 10 turnovers themselves, and held a 22-0 advantage in points off turnovers.
* BGSU allowed the Zips to score eight points by the first media timeout, but the Falcons surrendered only 24 points over the game's final 35:50.
* The Zips had three different stretches of over seven minutes without a field goal ... UA went exactly nine minutes without a bucket in the middle of the first half ... then, the Zips went 8:25 without a field goal to span the halftime break (final 4:10 of first half, first 4:15 of second) ... and, BG turned up the defensive heat to hold UA without a basket in the second half.
BUSY TIME OF YEAR The Falcons, after enjoying a few days off for the Christmas holiday, have entered a busy portion of the schedule as the calendar turns to 2007 ... Wednesday's (Jan. 3) 61-32 win at Akron closed a stretch in which BGSU played three games in six days ... Saturday's (Jan. 6) Buffalo game will be the Falcons' fourth in a nine-day span.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
* The Falcons enter the Buffalo contest with an 11-2 overall record and a 1-0 MAC mark on the season, and BGSU has won the last four games ... BG is coming off a 61-32 win at Akron in Wednesday's (Jan. 3) conference opener ... prior to that, the Falcons closed 2006 with a pair of 11-point wins at Anderson Arena, having downed Delaware, 70-59, last Friday (Dec. 29), and Robert Morris by a 92-81 count on Sunday (Dec. 31) ... the Falcons are 5-0 at home, 3-1 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 ranked third in the nation) snapped a six-game winning streak for head coach Curt Miller's squad ... following that game, the Brown and Orange bounced back with a 59-48 win over Texas-Arlington, before topping UD, RMU and Akron.
* Through 13 games, three BG players are averaging double digits in scoring, with two others recording over nine-and-a-half points per game ... senior Ali Mann has 15.3 points to lead the way, while classmates Carin Horne (12.1) and Liz Honegger (10.6) are also in double digits ... junior Kate Achter (9.7) and senior Amber Flynn (9.6) are fourth and fifth, respectively, on the team in scoring ... Honegger paces the Falcons in rebounding, with 5.2 per game, while Horne has 5.1 rebounds per outing ... Achter has a team-high 5.1 assists per contest, and Mann is second with 2.7 apg ... Horne (1.8 spg) and Achter (1.6 spg) rank 1-2 on the team in steals, and the Falcons' team defensive play has led to seven total players averaging at least one steal per game ... Honegger leads BG with 1.0 blocked shots per outing, and also has a team-high 31 three-point field goals made (in 65 attempts) this year.
* Flynn is shooting a team-best 66.7 percent from the field, while Mann is shooting 55.0% ... senior Megan Thorburn has 5.4 ppg, and has a 42.5% three-point field-goal rate ... she ranks third on the team in that category, trailing Mann (50.0%) and Honegger (47.7%).
* In addition to Flynn, sophomore Jasmine McCall has seen action in all 13 games off the bench, while classmate Lindsey Goldsberry has played in 12 ... McCall has 3.2 points and 1.9 assists per outing, while Goldsberry has 2.8 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 74.5 points per game, while allowing just 54.7 ... the Falcons are shooting 47.4 percent from the field, and have made 101 three-point field goals - 7.77 per game - in 249 tries (40.6%) ... BG has limited the foes to just a 37.0% field-goal rate and a 29.3% effort from long range (61-for-208 from beyond the arc) ... BGSU has made nearly 50 more free throws than the opponents (193 to 146) ... the Falcons have a 69.9% success rate from the free-throw line, while the opposition is shooting 69.2% 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 10 contests and Breske and Bugher nine 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 104-58, in his sixth year ... over the last three-plus seasons, Miller and the Falcons are 83-23 ... BGSU has gone 41-8 in MAC regular-season play in that time, and 50-9 in all games vs. league foes during that span (9-1 in league tourney play).
HARMONIC CONVERGENCE After BGSU's win at Akron on Wednesday, the Falcons have a record of 104-58 in the Curt Miller Era ... entering Saturday's Buffalo contest, Miller and the Falcons have posted a record of 52-29 in MAC games, and have an identical mark of 52-29 in all other games.
THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC The Falcons have a proud history in the MAC ... BG enters Saturday's game vs. Buffalo with an overall league record of 279-135 (.674), 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 the win over Akron.
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 Delaware (70-59, Dec. 29) and Robert Morris (92-81, Dec. 31) over the weekend - have won 23 consecutive games at "The House That Roars" ... BG's homecourt winning streak is the second longest in the nation behind only LSU's 38-game streak.
ROAD SWEET ROAD? The Falcons have achieved a measure of success away from home as well ... BGSU has won 16 of the last 18 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 21-4 on the road in league action and 32-12 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 Akron, the Falcons have won 10-straight league road contests.
BGSU SETS SCHOOL RECORD FOR NON-CONFERENCE WINS The Falcons improved to 10-2 with Sunday's (Dec. 31) win over Robert Morris, setting a new school record for non-conference wins in a season ... this year's team is just the third to win as many as nine non-league games since the MAC went to a double round-robin format in 1982-83 ... the 1991-92 team set the mark with a 9-2 non-league ledger, and last year's club also went 9-2 in pre-MAC play ... BG has one more non-league game, at Chicago State (Jan. 30).
THE MICROWAVE Part of BGSU's success over the past few years has been due to the team's balance offensively ... the Falcons are at their best when making the extra pass and finding the open player ... of course, head coach Curt Miller knows when to get the ball to the 'hot hand' as well ... and, senior Carin Horne has shown the ability to heat up like nobody's business ... in the Akron game, Horne had one of her patented hot streaks, knocking down jumpers on four consecutive BG possessions in the first half ... she had nine points during that two-minute span, lifting the Falcons from a 9-9 tie to an 18-10 lead ... Horne had a game-high 15 points in BG's win over the Zips.
HONEGGER SETS YET ANOTHER BGSU RECORD Senior Liz Honegger, already the BGSU career leader in both blocked shots and three-point field goals made, moved to the top of another list one Sunday (Dec. 31) ... she went 3-for-6 from three-point land vs. Robert Morris, and now is the school's career record holder in three-pointers attempted ... Honegger now has made 182 triples in 499 attempts in her Falcon tenure.
STRONG SHOOTING II The Falcons shot 56.8 percent from the field in the Delaware game ... it marked the second consecutive game and the fifth time in the first 11 games of the year that BG has shot 50% or better ... that tops the total for all of last season (four games) ... BG is now a perfect 19-0 in such games during the Curt Miller Era.
SHE'S THE MANN Is there anything that Ali Mann can't do on the basketball court? The senior scored 15 second-half points en route to 18 for the game in the win over Delaware (Dec. 29) ... after the Falcons went more than 12 minutes without a field goal, Mann scored eight-straight BG points in a span of under two minutes to spark a major Falcon run ... in addition to her 18 points, Mann dished out a career-high six assists in the win over the Fightin' Blue Hens ... two days later (Dec. 31), Mann had five more assists, leading the Falcons in that category, and also scored 16 points in BG's win over Robert Morris.
MANN A MODEL OF CONSISTENCY Senior Ali Mann had 15 second-half points against both Duke and Delaware ... in the Duke game, she scored the first eight of the second half to give BG a 31-25 lead and force the Blue Devils to take a timeout ... she had 16 more points in the Texas-Arlington game (including a back-breaking three-pointer to seal the win), ended up with 18 vs. Delaware and hit for 16 vs. Robert Morris and 10 at Akron ... Mann, who has played in 106 games as a Falcon, now has scored in double digits no fewer than 83 times ... the lone Falcon to score 10 points or more in all 13 games this season, she has hit double figures in 20-straight games dating to last year.
FLYNN-TASTIC Senior Amber Flynn has become a force off the bench for the Falcons ... Flynn had a career-high 16 points in the Falcons' win over UT-Arlington (Dec. 20) ... she was 7-for-9 from the field, and also had two assists to set a career standard in that area as well ... then, she was a perfect 5-for-5 en route to 12 points vs. Delaware, and went 6-for-8 for 12 more points vs. Robert Morris ... the RMU game was her seventh double-figure scoring effort of the year ... Flynn, who added seven points in the win at Akron, is averaging 9.6 points and 3.9 rebounds on the year, and has an otherworldly field-goal percentage of 66.7% (52-for-78).
MANN NOW RANKED FOURTH ON BG SCORING LIST In the Falcons' two games in Cancun, senior Ali Mann moved up five spots on the school's career scoring list ... Mann headed to Mexico ranked ninth in BGSU history, but returned to the States as the fourth-ranked scorer in Falcon annals ... entering the Buffalo game, Mann now has a total of 1,482 points, trailing only Jackie Motycka, Sara Puthoff and Francine Miller on that list.
HONEGGER SURPASSES 1,300 CAREER POINTS Senior Liz Honegger scored a game-high 24 points vs. Delaware, then had 11 more against Robert Morris ... she now has a total of 1,317 points for her BGSU career ... Honegger is just the 11th player to surpass the 1,300-point plateau.
HORNE GIVES BGSU THREE 1,000-POINT SCORERS ... Senior Carin Horne surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for her career in the Oakland game (Nov. 29) ... Horne, needing 21 points to reach the millennium mark entering that game, had a game-high 25 ... she scored 19 in the first half, and hit a three-pointer with 16:28 left in the second half to reach the milestone ... Horne became just the 21st player to add her name to the 1,000-point list ... entering the UB game, she ranks 17th in BG history with 1,081 career points.
... JOINING MANN AND HONEGGER ON THAT LIST Carin Horne joined an exclusive group that currently includes only 21 players in the history of Falcon women's basketball ... that group - the list of 1,000-point scorers - includes three members of the current team ... in January of 2006, Ali Mann became just the 19th player in school history to reach the millennium mark for her career, and only the sixth to do so prior to her senior year ... as mentioned, Mann now has a career total of 1,482 points to rank fourth ... three weeks after Mann reached 1,000 points, Liz Honegger became the 20th BGSU player (seventh prior to her senior year) to do so ... Honegger currently ranks 11th on the school list, with 1,317 career points ... and, don't look now, but Kate Achter - just a third of the way through her junior season - already has 805 points during her BGSU career, giving the 2006-07 Falcons no fewer than four players among the top-30 in career scoring at the University ...
SHE CAN DISH IT OUT AND TAKE IT Junior Kate Achter, as mentioned, has 805 career points, moving her into 29th place in school history ... the point guard has moved onto the BGSU assists list as well as the scoring chart ... she tied her career high in that category with 10 vs. Delaware, and now has a career total of 340, good for seventh in BG annals ... Achter is seven assists behind sixth-place Cathy Koch (347 from 1988-92).
SCOUTING BUFFALO Buffalo will enter Anderson Arena with an overall record of 5-8, and the Bulls are 0-1 in MAC play after a 72-59 home loss to Miami in Wednesday's league opener ... the Bulls lead the MAC in rebounding margin, having outrebounded the opposition in nine of 13 games ... UB is currently 1-4 on the road this season to date, but the Bulls won the last time the team took to the road, a 69-51 decision at Bucknell (Dec. 29) ... individually, junior forward Heather Turner leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 13.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game ... junior guard Stephanie Bennett has 11.8 points, 4.3 boards and a team-high 5.1 assists per contest ... in addition to assists, Bennett also leads the Bulls in steals (20) and three-point field goals made (29) this year ... sophomore guard Rachelle Matthys and senior guard Belinda Gibb average 8.8 and 8.6 ppg, respectively ... Matthys is second on the team with 25 successful triples, while Gibb is second on the Bulls in assists (3.4 apg) ... freshman forward Kourtney Brown (5.5 ppg, 5.6 rpg) rounds out the probable starting lineup for head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald ... Hill-MacDonald welcomes back 11 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that went 10-18 overall and 5-11 in MAC play ... Hill-MacDonald has a record of 15-26 in her second season with the Bulls, and a 247-282 collegiate head-coaching mark in her 19th season overall ... the school's athletics web site is www.buffalobulls.com.
THE SERIES The Falcons lead Buffalo, 8-5, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won the last four meetings ... the Falcons hold a 3-2 advantage in series meetings at 'The House That Roars,' including a 65-51 win over the Bulls last season (Feb. 18, 2006) ... that was the first home game decided by more than four points in the Falcons' series with UB ... in fact, in the five games in Ohio, the Falcons have outscored the Bulls by an aggregate 355-345 (an average of 71.0 to 69.0) ... BGSU swept both of last year's meetings, including a 75-48 victory in New York (Jan. 10, 2006), and the Falcons have won the last three home games vs. UB after dropping the first two ... overall, seven of the last 11 meetings have been decided by 10 points or less, including six by four points or fewer ... the list of game-by-game series results as well as the boxscore from the most recent meeting can be found in the PDF version of these notes.
BGSU-BUFFALO TIES Everyone's favorite BG women's basketball male assistant coach, Kevin Eckert, held the same job at Buffalo ... he spent four seasons on the staff at UB.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
* 104-58 in the five-plus years since Curt Miller took the helm in May of 2001;
* 52-29 in MAC games in that time;
* 83-23 overall and 41-8 in the MAC over the last three-plus seasons, since the current senior class arrived on campus in the fall of 2003;
* 45-6 in the last 51 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;
* 17-8 in MAC home openers through the years;
* 26-0 in the last 26 games against MAC opponents, since a loss at Eastern Michigan on Feb. 19, 2005 (the Falcons won the final three regular-season games of 2004-05, then won three-straight games in the MAC Tournament, before going 16-0 in league regular-season play and winning three more conference tourney contests in '05-06 and downing Akron Wednesday);
* 9-1 in the MAC Tournament in the last three seasons;
* 23-0 in the last 23 home games, the second-longest active home winning streak in the nation;
* 11-1 in the last 12 road games (with the overtime loss at Notre Dame snapping a nine-game road winning streak since an OT setback at Kentucky last Jan. 2);
* 44-0 when outrebounding the opponent since the start of the 2004-05 season;
* 38-3 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 44 games);
* 10-0 in games played on Jan. 3 in the history of the program, after Wednesday's 61-32 win at Akron;
* 6-4 in games played on Jan. 6, including 3-0 in the last three such games; and
* 0-0 in the Curt Miller Era on that date.
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 will again be sidelined in 2006-07 ... the class has been an integral part of the Falcons' 83-23 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 62-13 since the two arrived on campus, and the Falcons are 59-9 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 nearly 90 percent of its games (39-5 to date), and the two players have never been a part of a loss to a MAC opponent, as the Falcons are 20-0 against league opposition since the start of last season ... McCall has played in all 44 of BGSU's games in her career to date, while Goldsberry has action in 42 contests, making two starts.
THE FRESHMEN Tara Breske (Temperance, Mich.), Laura Bugher (Greenwood, Ind.) and Sarah Clapper (Newark, Ohio) join the Falcons for the 2006-07 season ... Clapper has played in 10 games, while Breske and Bugher each have seen action in nine games to date ... the Falcons are 10-0 in games in which Clapper has played, and BG is 9-0 when Breske and Bugher see playing time.
LEADERS OF THE MAC The Falcons are at the top of numerous team categories in the latest Mid-American Conference statistics (as of Jan. 2) ... BGSU leads all league schools in scoring defense (54.7), scoring margin (+19.8), field-goal percentage (47.4), FG pct. defense (37.0) and assist/turnover ratio (1.16) ... the Falcons are second in the league in three-point FG pct. (40.6), three-point FG pct. defense (29.3), blocked shots (3.23), assists (16.54), turnover margin (+5.92) and three-pointers made (7.77) ... individually, senior Amber Flynn leads the league in field-goal pct., while classmate Ali Mann is third ... Flynn is at 66.7 percent, while Mann is shooting 55.0% from the floor ... senior Liz Honegger is second in the league in three-point pct. (47.7), fourth in three-pointers made (2.38) and fifth in blocks (1.15) ... Mann is fifth in scoring (15.3), while junior Kate Achter is tied for fourth in the MAC in assists (5.08).
