Bowling Green State University Athletics
No. 18/18 BGSU Hosts Kent State Wednesday
January 09, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
#18/18 BGSU vs. KENT STATE
Wed., January 10, 2007 • 7:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700) • Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 12-2 (1-0 MAC) // Kent State 6-7 (2-0 MAC)
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Alex Mikos and Dave Pecilunas
TELEVISION: BCSN - Dave Horger and Fran Voll
SERIES: BGSU leads, 35-27 // STREAK: BGSU - 4
LAST MEETING: BGSU 64, Kent State 39 (March 11, 2006)
BGSU Game Notes in PDF Format
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THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, riding a five-game winning streak, is tied for first place in the Mid-American Conference East Division standings ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller (12-2, 2-0 MAC) will put a 2-0 league record and several other lengthy streaks on the line, concluding a two-game homestand with a Wednesday (Jan. 10) contest vs. Kent State University ... the game, a matchup of two of the league's unbeatens, is also a rematch of the last two MAC Championship contests ... the Falcons and Golden Flashes are scheduled to tipoff at 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena ... BGSU is currently ranked 18th in the nation in both the USA Today ESPN and Associated Press polls, is the two-time defending MAC champion ... the Falcons, the defending back-to-back MAC champions, have won 46 of the last 52 overall games and the last 24 contests at Anderson.
BG PUTS 27-GAME MAC WINNING STREAK ON THE LINE
The Falcons will put an impressive streak on the line Wednesday ... BGSU has won 27 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 ... and, BGSU has opened the 2006-07 conference campaign with a pair of wins, over Akron and Buffalo.
FALCONS LOOKING TO SET SCHOOL, MAC RECORDS
BGSU, as mentioned, has won 27 consecutive games (regular-season and tournament) against MAC foes ... the Falcons are one win away from breaking the school and conference records for consecutive victories ... the record 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.
BGSU RANKED 18TH IN NATION
The Falcons are ranked 18th in the latest Associated Press Top-25 poll, released Monday afternoon (Jan. 8) ... and, BGSU is also 18th in the USA Today/ESPN poll, announced Tuesday (Jan. 9) ... those are the highest rankings in BGSU and MAC history ... BG made the biggest jump in this week's AP poll, moving up six spots from last week's 24th-place ranking ... more information on the polls can be found later in these notes.
FALCONS GET DEFENSIVE
The Falcons have put the clamps on both the Akron and Buffalo offenses over the last two games ... last Wednesday (Jan. 3) at Akron, BGSU allowed just 32 points, the lowest total surrendered by the Brown and Orange in a game in over three decades (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.
FALCONS GET DEFENSIVE II
After allowing only 32 points at Akron, the Falcons gave up just 42 points against Buffalo Saturday (Jan. 6) ... BGSU's total of 74 points allowed is tied for the fourth-lowest total in school history in back-to-back games ... as is the case with the single-game opponent scoring record, the other totals in the top-five all came within the first two years of the BG varsity program.
FALCONS GET DEFENSIVE III
A few more defensive notes and nuggets from the last few games ...
* 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.
* BGSU allowed UA and UB to make a total of just 27 field goals, and the Falcons forced those foes into a combined 50 turnovers ... BG's offense made 26 baskets in the UB game alone, and 45 in the two contests, and the Falcons turned the ball over a total of 25 times.
* BG has held the last four MAC opponents to 46 points or fewer, dating to the semifinal round of last year's conference tournament ... the Falcons capped their 2006 MAC Tournament run with wins over Toledo (68-46) and Kent State (64-39) in the semifinal and championship games, respectively.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
* The Falcons enter the Kent State contest with a 12-2 overall record and a 2-0 MAC mark on the season, and BGSU has won the last five games ... BG is coming off a 75-42 home win over Buffalo Saturday (Jan. 6) ... that came on the heels of a 61-32 win at Akron in Wednesday's (Jan. 3) conference opener ... the Falcons had 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 6-0 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 14 games, three BG players are averaging double digits in scoring, with two others recording over nine points per game ... senior Ali Mann has 15.9 points to lead the way, while classmates Carin Horne (11.2) and Liz Honegger (10.6) are also in double digits ... senior Amber Flynn (9.6) and junior Kate Achter (9.4) are fourth and fifth, respectively, on the team in scoring ... Honegger paces the Falcons in rebounding, with 5.2 per game, while Horne has 4.9 rebounds per outing ... Achter has a team-high 5.3 assists per contest, and Mann is second with 2.6 apg ... Horne (1.7 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 33 three-point field goals made (in 70 attempts) this year.
* Flynn is shooting a team-best 66.3 percent from the field, while Mann is shooting 56.8% ... senior Megan Thorburn has 6.5 ppg, and has a 43.8% three-point field-goal rate ... she ranks third on the team in that category, trailing Mann (51.4%) and Honegger (47.1%).
* In addition to Flynn, sophomore Jasmine McCall has seen action in all 14 games off the bench, while classmate Lindsey Goldsberry has played in 13 ... McCall has 3.0 points and 1.8 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 53.8 ... the Falcons are shooting 47.6 percent from the field, and have made 110 three-point field goals - 7.86 per game - in 273 tries (40.3%) ... BG has limited the foes to just a 36.6% field-goal rate and a 28.2% effort from long range (62-for-220 from beyond the arc) ... BGSU has made 50 more free throws than the opponents (207 to 157) ... the Falcons have a 69.9% success rate from the free-throw line, while the opposition is shooting 69.8% 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 11 contests and Breske and Bugher 10 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 105-58, in his sixth year ... over the last three-plus seasons, Miller and the Falcons are 84-23 ... BGSU has gone 42-8 in MAC regular-season play in that time, and 51-9 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 vs. Kent State with an overall league record of 280-135 (.675), 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 wins over Akron and Buffalo.
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 Buffalo, 75-42, Saturday (Jan. 6) - have won 24 consecutive games at "The House That Roars" ... BG's homecourt winning streak is the second longest in the nation.
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 win over Robert Morris on New Year's Eve improved the Falcons' mark to 10-2, 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).
STRONG SHOOTING
The Falcons shot 51.0 percent from the field in the Buffalo game ... it marked the sixth time in 14 games this year that BG has shot 50% or better ... that tops the total for all of last season (four games) ... BG is now a perfect 20-0 in such games during the Curt Miller Era.
20-20 VISION
Seniors Ali Mann (24) and Megan Thorburn (21) each scored over 20 points in the win over Buffalo ... the duo gave the Falcons two 20-point scorers in the same game for the second time this season ... Mann and junior Kate Achter each had 23 points in BG's win over Temple in the home opener (Nov. 24, 2006).
SHE'S THE MANN
Is there anything that Ali Mann can't do on the basketball court? Let's review a few of the accomplishments by the senior over the last several weeks ...
* She had 15 second-half points against Duke (Dec. 19) ... Mann scored the first eight points of the second half to give BGSU a 31-25 lead and force the Blue Devils to take a timeout.
* The next night (Dec. 20), Mann had 16 points vs. Texas-Arlington ... that total included a back-breaking three-pointer to seal the win ... she had tipped the ball to a teammate for a key offensive rebound just prior to that triple.
* Again 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 has been a model of consistency for the Falcons, both in 2006-07 and in her career ... Mann, who has played in 107 games as a Falcon, now has scored in double digits no fewer than 84 times ... the lone Falcon to score 10 points or more in all 14 games this season, she has hit double figures in 21-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), and that game began a three-game stretch in which she shot a combined 18-for-22 (81.8%) from the field ... most recently, Flynn had 10 points in just 20 minutes vs. Buffalo ... that marked her eighth double-figure scoring effort of the year ... Flynn is averaging 9.4 points and 3.8 rebounds on the year, and has an otherworldly field-goal percentage of 66.3% (55-for-83).
MANN SURPASSES 1,500 CAREER POINTS
In the Buffalo game, senior Ali Mann became just the fourth player in BGSU history to surpass the 1,500-point mark for her career ... Mann had moved up five spots on the Falcons' career scoring list during the team's trip to Cancun last month ... entering the Kent State game, Mann now has a total of 1,506 points, trailing only Jackie Motycka, Sara Puthoff and Francine Miller on that list.
HONEGGER OVER 1,300 POINTS HERSELF
Senior Liz Honegger is also one of the top scorers in BGSU history ... after a 10-point game vs. Buffalo, she now has a total of 1,327 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 KSU 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 1,506 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 1,327 career points ... and, don't look now, but Kate Achter - just a third of the way through her junior season - already has 811 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 811 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 348, good for sixth in BG annals ... Achter passed Cathy Koch (347 from 1988-92) in the Buffalo game, and now has her sights on fifth-place Jaymee Wappes (387 from 1996-2000).
SCOUTING KENT STATE
Kent State will enter Anderson Arena with an overall record of 6-7, and the Golden Flashes are 2-0 in MAC play after wins over Ohio and Akron to begin the conference schedule ... in the most recent game, KSU spotted UA a 14-10 lead, then outscored the host Zips by a 64-35 count the rest of the way for a 79-47 win Saturday (Jan. 6) ... the Flashes, who have battled the injury bug this season, have seen several players return to action over the past few weeks, helping the cause in the wins over OU (76-63; Jan. 3) and UA ... KSU is 1-3 on the road this year, but 1-0 in MAC action ... individually, senior guard Kristin Peoples leads the team in scoring, with 15.0 points per game ... Peoples, in her first season with the Flashes after transferring from Arkansas, also leads the team in assists (3.9 apg) ... senior guard Sarah Burgess, also a transfer from the Southeastern Conference (South Carolina), has 12.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per outing, while senior G/F La'kia Stewart has 11.2 points and a team-high 8.0 boards per contest ... freshman guard Jamilah Humes rounds out KSU's list of double-digit scorers, averaging 10.9 points ... each of those four players has between 23 and 27 steals on the season ... senior center Tiffany LaFleur (7.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg), senior guard Kerrie James (6.4 ppg) and sophomore guard Asheley Harkins (5.6 ppg) joined Burgess and Stewart in the starting lineup at Akron, but nine different players have made at least one start this season for head coach Bob Lindsay ... the team's 12-player roster features six seniors ... Lindsey welcomed back seven letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that went 21-9 overall, 12-4 in MAC play and advanced to face the Falcons in the conference tournament's championship game ... Lindsay, the winningest coach in MAC history, has a record of 335-177 in his 18th season as a collegiate head coach, all in Kent ... the school's athletics web site is www.kentstatesports.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Kent State, 35-27, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has captured four consecutive meetings, including each of last year's three matchups ... BG has won those four-straight games after Kent State had captured the previous 12 games between the schools ... the Falcons won last year's regular-season meetings by scores of 61-58 in Kent (Jan. 14, 2006) and 62-50 in Bowling Green (Feb. 22, 2006), then topped the Flashes, 64-39, in last season's MAC Tournament championship game (March 11, 2006) in Cleveland ... BGSU holds a 16-10 advantage in home games vs. Kent/Kent State, but last year's Falcon win at Anderson snapped a five-game home losing streak to the Flashes.
OBI-WAN HAS TAUGHT YOU WELL
It has been pretty well documented to death by now, but just in case you haven't been reading these notes for the past five-plus years ... Wednesday's game matches BGSU head coach Curt Miller against the man he credits for giving him his start in the coaching profession ... Miller spent a year at Kent State as a graduate assistant, and was a volunteer coach on Bob Lindsay's staff during the 1990-91 season ... the Flashes finished 17-12 that year, and enjoyed the second-best turnaround in the nation.
A VETERAN STARTING LINEUP
BGSU's starting lineup features four seniors - Liz Honegger, Carin Horne, Ali Mann and Megan Thorburn - as well as a junior, Kate Achter ... entering the KSU game, that group has combined to make no fewer than 419 starts in their respective Falcon careers to date ... each of the five has started at least 66 games.
