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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Love and Basketball
February 13, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
#17/18 BGSU vs. AKRON
Wed., February 14, 2007 • 7:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700) • Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 22-2 (11-0 MAC) // Akron 9-14 (2-9 MAC)
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Alex Mikos and Anthony Bellino
TELEVISION: BCSN - Dave Horger and Fran Voll
SERIES: BGSU leads, 36-2 // STREAK: BGSU - 7
LAST MEETING: BGSU 61, at Akron 32 (Jan. 3, 2007)
Bringin' the Love with 31 pages of Game Notes & Stats in PDF Format
BGSU 2006-07 Game-by-Game Boxscores in PDF Format
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THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, winners of 15 consecutive games, will conclude the regular season with five games against Mid-American Conference East Division foes ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller (22-2, 11-0 MAC), owners of the longest active homecourt winning streak in the nation, open the second swing through intra-divisional play with a Wednesday (Feb. 14) game vs. the University of Akron ... tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... BGSU, currently ranked 17th in the nation in the USA Today/ESPN poll and 18th by the Associated Press, is looking to extend several lengthy streaks in Wednesday's game.
LONGEST HOME WINNING STREAK IN THE NATION
Connecticut's 72-71 win at LSU on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 11) snapped the Lady Tigers' 43-game homecourt winning streak, meaning that BGSU now has the longest active homecourt winning streak in NCAA Division I ... the Falcons enter Wednesday's Akron game having won 28 consecutive games at Anderson Arena ...
NCAA DIVISION I HOMECOURT WINNING STREAKS
Rank .. Team .......... Next Opponent (Date) ........ Streak 1 ..... Bowling Green . vs. Akron (Feb. 14) ........... 28 2 ..... Ohio State .... vs. Wisconsin (Feb. 15) ....... 26 3 ..... James Madison . vs. George Mason (Feb. 15) .... 24 4 ..... Charlotte ..... vs. Geo. Washington (Feb. 15) . 22 5 ..... Marist ........ vs. Rider (Feb. 19) ........... 21 6 ..... Belmont ....... vs. Lipscomb (Feb. 17) ........ 20 ..... Louisville .... vs. St. John's (Feb. 20) ...... 20
TOP OF THE CHARTS
It's pretty obvious, just by watching them play, that seniors Ali Mann and Liz Honegger are two of the top players in BGSU history ... the statistical data would back that up as well ... both players are ranked among the top-five Falcons in career scoring, and soon, both will be among the top-five all-time in rebounding as well ... Mann has moved into second place in BG career scoring, and now has 1,682 career points, while Honegger is fourth with 1,441 points entering the UA game ... Honegger also ranks fourth in rebounding, with 855 as a Falcon, while Mann has a total of 840 boards to rank sixth, just two shy of fifth place ... Honegger's name will remain all over the BGSU records lists, as she is the school's career leader in games started (116), three-point field goals made (204) and attempted (560) and blocked shots (181) ... Mann is the BG career leader in free throws made (450), and she is second in free throws attempted (630), tied for second in games started (115), fourth in field goals made (568) and seventh in field-goal attempts (1,164).
STREAKS ON THE LINE
BGSU has put together quite a few impressive winning streaks ... entering Wednesday's game vs. Akron, the Falcons have won ...
• 15 consecutive overall games since a Dec. 19 loss to #1-ranked Duke;
• 36-straight contests vs. MAC foes (a school and conference record);
• 28 consecutive games at Anderson Arena, the longest active home winning streak in the nation;
• 15-straight MAC road games (obviously, this streak will not be on the line on Wednesday);
• 18 home games vs. Akron in as many series meetings;
• 50 of 55 games since the beginning of last season; and
• 56 of the last 62 overall games.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Akron contest with a 22-2 overall record ... BGSU has a 11-0 MAC mark on the season, and the Falcons have won the last 15 games ... BGSU won three big games in a six-day span, with a 73-62 win over arch-rival Toledo on Feb. 4, an 86-76 win over Ball State on Wednesday (Feb. 7) and a 85-76 road victory against Northern Illinois Saturday (Feb. 10) ... that three-game stretch came after wins over the MAC's three Michigan schools and a non-league victory at Chicago State ... the Falcons are 10-0 at home, 9-1 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 Curt Miller's squad ... but, BG has bounced back in a big way, as mentioned, with the 15-game win streak.
• Four BG players are averaging double digits in scoring, with a fifth recording over nine points per game ... senior Ali Mann has 16.6 points to lead the way, and junior Kate Achter has moved into second place on the team with 11.2 points per game ... seniors Liz Honegger (10.9) and Carin Horne (10.8) round out the double-digit scorers, and another senior, Amber Flynn (9.5), is fifth on the team in scoring ... Honegger paces the Falcons in rebounding, with 5.8 per game, while Mann is averaging 5.4 rpg, Flynn 4.3 and Horne 4.2 ... Achter has a team-high 4.8 assists per contest, and Mann is second with 2.7 apg ... Horne has 1.6 steals per game to rank second on the team, and seven total BG players are averaging at least one steal per game ... Honegger paces BG with 1.2 blocked shots per outing, and also has a team-high 53 three-point field goals made (in 126 attempts) this year.
• Flynn is shooting a team-best 59.5 percent from the field, while Mann is shooting 54.2% ... senior Megan Thorburn has 5.7 ppg and a 38.8% three-point FG rate ... she ranks third in that category, trailing Mann (48.3%) and Honegger (42.1%).
• In addition to Flynn, sophomore Jasmine McCall has seen action in all 24 games off the bench, while classmate Lindsey Goldsberry has played in 23 ... Goldsberry has 3.4 points, 1.9 assists and 1.7 steals per outing, while McCall has 3.1 points and 1.7 helpers per game ... Goldsberry leads the team in steals and is third in assists, while McCall is tied for third in steals and ranks fourth in helpers ... 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 74.7 points per game, while allowing just 56.3 ... the Falcons are shooting 47.2 percent from the field, and have made 173 three-point field goals - 7.21 per game - in 453 tries (38.2%) ... BG has limited the foes to just a 38.3% field-goal rate and a 29.4% effort from long range (111-for-378 from beyond the arc) ... BGSU has made 62 more triples (173 to 111) and 93 more free throws (350 to 257) than the opponents ... the Falcons have a 69.9% success rate from the free-throw line, while the opposition is shooting 69.1% from the stripe ... in MAC games, BG has made more free throws (171) than the opponents have attempted (160).
• 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 15 contests apiece ... Clapper saw action in 13 games, 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 115-58, in his sixth year ... over the last three-plus seasons, Miller and the Falcons are 94-23 overall ... BGSU has gone 51-8 in MAC regular-season play in that time, and 60-9 in all games vs. league foes during that span (9-1 in league tourney play) ... the 2006-07 Falcons have posted 20 victories for the fourth consecutive season.
BGSU EXTENDS MAC RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE WINS
The Falcons extended an impressive streak Saturday (Feb. 10) ... BGSU's 85-76 win at Northern Illinois was the Falcons' 36th 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 (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 11-straight wins.
DOUBLE-DIGIT WINNING STREAK
The Falcons have won the last 15 games, the sixth double-digit winning streak in school history ... each of the first five double-figure streaks in BG annals took those Falcon teams all the way to the NCAA Tournament.
FOUR AND TWENTY
The Falcons' win over Toledo on Feb. 4 was BGSU's 20th victory of the season ... BG now has won at least 20 games in each of the last four seasons, tying for the longest streak in school history ... Falcon squads also posted four-straight 20-win seasons from 1986-87 through 1989-90.
MILLER MATCHES MILESTONE
As mentioned, the Falcons have won 20 games for the fourth consecutive year ... BG has had 12 seasons of 20 wins or more in program history ... four of those seasons came under head coach Fran Voll (1986-87 through 1989-90), and four more came with Jaci Clark at the helm (1991-92 through 1993-94, 1997-98) ... now, four have come with Curt Miller at the helm ... only Voll and Miller had four 20-win seasons in their first six years.
HOT START
As mentioned, BGSU's overall record of 22-2 ties the school record for best start through 24 games ... the 1986-87 squad had 22 wins in the first 24 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 22-2 ... 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.
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 Akron game, that group has combined to make no fewer than 469 starts in their respective Falcon careers to date ... each of the five has started at least 76 games.
LET'S GET IT STARTED: HONEGGER TIES RECORD
As mentioned, the five BGSU starters have combined to make a total of 464 starts in the Brown and Orange ... two members of that group, seniors Liz Honegger and Ali Mann, are now at the top of the individual career list for games started ... Honegger has made 116 career starts, while Mann has started 115 games ... when Honegger took the floor for the beginning of the game at Northern Illinois Saturday (Feb. 10), it was her 116th career start, breaking the school record for for games started ... Jackie Motycka (1985-89) held the school record with 115 starts ... Mann now has started 115 career games.
HONEGGER HAS BROKEN THIS RECORD, TOO
Senior Liz Honegger came off the bench in the first game of her collegiate career, at Youngstown State on Nov. 22, 2003 ... for the Falcons' next game, three days later, Curt Miller inserted Honegger into the starting lineup, and she has been there ever since ... when the Lafayette, Ind., native draw the start on Saturday at NIU, it set the record for career starts, with 116 ... that game also enabled Honegger to set a new BG mark for consecutive starts, again with 116.
STRONG SHOOTING
The Falcons shot 60.0 percent from the field in the second half of the Ball State game, en route to a 52.9% rate for the game ... then, BGSU shot 50.0% in both halves of the win at Northern Illinois ... the Falcons have shot 50.0% or better from the floor in 10 games this season, surpassing the total (nine) for the previous two seasons combined ... the Falcons are now a perfect 24-0 when shooting at least 50.0% in the Curt Miller Era.
SCOUTING AKRON
Akron will enter Wednesday's action with an overall record of 9-14, and the Zips have a 2-9 record in MAC play to date ... UA, after losing eight consecutive games to begin the conference schedule, has won two of the last three contests, with home victories over Eastern Michigan and Toledo ... the Zips posted a 16-point win over EMU (69-53; Feb. 3) and downed UT by a 63-62 count on Sunday (Feb. 11) ... Akron has nearly doubled last year's win total ... the Zips are 2-7 in road games this year, including 0-5 in MAC action ... individually, sophomore forward Niki McCoy leads the Zips in scoring and rebounding, with 16.3 points and 6.7 boards per game ... freshman guard Sarah Tokodi also is in double digits in scoring, with 12.3 points and a team-leading 3.9 assists per contest ... senior forward Jessie Crooks and freshman forward Riana Miller each have scored 8.2 ppg ... McCoy, Tokodi and sophomore forward Lauren Stephenson (4.3 ppg) have started all 23 games this season to date ... senior forward Mandy Holzer (3.0 ppg) and sophomore foward Rachel Green (1.1 ppg) joined those three players in the starting lineup vs. Toledo for head coach Jodi Kest ... Kest, in her first year in Akron, joined a program that returned eight letterwinners, including three starters ... last year's team went 5-23 overall and 2-14 in MAC play ... Kest has an overall record of 235-167 in her 15th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.gozips.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Akron, 36-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won the last seven meetings ... BGSU is a perfect 18-0 in home games vs. the Zips, including a 71-54 decision in last year's meeting in Anderson Arena (Jan. 7, 2006), the MAC opener for both schools ... the Brown and Orange went on to earn an 80-48 win in the Rubber City late last season (Feb. 15, 2006), and BG captured a 61-32 decision at the JAR to open this year's MAC schedule (Jan. 3, 2007) ... overall, the Falcons won the first 26 series meetings, before UA's initial win, in the 1999 MAC Tournament ... the Zips' other win was an 88-63 decision in Akron in February of 2001.
COACHING TIES
If it seems like BGSU coach Curt Miller has coached with everyone in the country, it's because it is true ... well, pretty much ... Miller and UA head coach Jodi Kest were on the same staff for one season, the 1992-93 campaign, at Cleveland State ... Kest came to UA after spending four years as the head coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ... Kest and Miller met for the first time as head coaches in the 2003-04 season, as the Islanders posted a 68-59 win in Corpus Christi in the championship game of the Islander Classic (Nov. 29, 2003) ... that was the fourth collegiate game for BGSU's current senior class.
PHASE THREE
The Falcons are preparing to enter the third and final portion of the MAC's regular-season schedule .. the 2006-07 season is the second utilizing the current MAC scheduling format for women's basketball ... each school opened conference action with five intra-divisional games, followed by six cross-divisional contests, and five more intra-divisional games to close the regular season ... for example, BGSU plays five games vs. East Division schools to begin and end the season, with six games vs. the West Division teams in the middle of the conference schedule.
ALI: ONE OF THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
No, she did not change her name from Cassius Clay ... and no, her name is not even pronounced the same as a certain boxer who proclaimed himself as 'the greatest of all-time' ... but, senior Ali Mann certainly could make her claim as one of the best players in BGSU history ... in the win at Eastern Michigan (Jan. 28), Mann surpassed both the 1,600-point and 800-rebound plateaus for her career ... she ranks third in BGSU history in career scoring, and is sixth on the rebounding chart ... also in that EMU game, Mann became the BG career leader in free throws made ... she had a monster game at Northern Illinois Saturday (Feb. 10), with 23 points and 16 rebounds, and enters the Akron contest with career totals of 1,682 points and 840 boards ... Mann is the only player in school history with more than 1,600 points and 800 rebounds in her career.
LEADERS OF THE MAC
The Falcons are at the top of numerous team categories in the latest Mid-American Conference statistics (as of Feb. 13) ... BGSU is first or second in no fewer than 11 categories ... the Falcons lead the league in eight - scoring offense (74.7), scoring defense (56.3), scoring margin (+18.4), field-goal percentage (47.2), three-point FG pct. (38.2), three-point FG pct. defense (29.4), turnover margin (+6.17) and assist/turnover ratio (1.20) ... BG is second in FG pct. defense (38.3), assists (16.04) and three-pointers made (7.21) ... individually, senior Ali Mann is second in the league in field-goal pct., shooting 54.8% from the floor ... senior Liz Honegger is second in the MAC in three-point pct. (42.1), fourth in three-pointers made (2.21) and fifth in blocked shots ... Mann is now fourth in scoring (16.6), while junior Kate Achter is fourth in assists (4.79) and tied for fourth in assist/TO ratio (1.69) ... in MAC games only, the Falcons lead the league in six team categories, and Achter is tied for the conference lead in assist/TO ratio (2.33).
SHE'S THE MANN: ALI IS A MODEL OF CONSISTENCY
For three-and-a-half years now, it seems as if Ali Mann has always been there when the Falcons needed her ... while nothing is a given, head coach Curt Miller and his staff pretty much know what they're going to get when they pencil Mann's name into the starting lineup ... the Chelsea, Mich., native has been a model of consistency for the Falcons, both in 2006-07 and in her career ... she led the Brown and Orange in four categories, with 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots at Chicago State ... then, she put the team on her back, scoring 10-straight BG points late in the second half in the win over Toledo ... she scored 18 points in the game, had 15 more vs. Ball State and had a monster game at Northern Illinois, with 23 points and 16 rebounds ... Mann, who has played in 117 games as a Falcon, now has scored in double digits no fewer than 94 times ... the lone Falcon to score 10 points or more in all 24 games this season, she has hit double figures in 31-straight games dating to last year.
THREE IN THE TOP-15, FOUR IN THE TOP-25
The 2006-07 Falcons have a total of three players who are ranked among the top-15 career scorers in program history ... a fourth player is ranked 23rd on that list ... keep reading for more details.
FALCONS HAVE A TRIO OF 1,000-POINT SCORERS ...
In the Buffalo game (Jan. 6), senior Ali Mann became just the fourth player in BGSU history to surpass the 1,500-point mark for her career ... Mann moved up five spots on the Falcons' career scoring list during the team's trip to Cancun just before Christmas ... with a 21-point effort at Western Michigan (Jan. 24), Mann moved past Francine Miller into third place on the career list, and she surpassed Sara Puthoff to take over second place in the game at Northern Illinois (Feb. 10) ... Mann now has a total of 1,682 points, and trails only Jackie Motycka ... senior Liz Honegger now has 1,441 points for her BGSU career, and sits in fifth place all-time at BGSU, entering the Akron game ... classmate Carin Horne surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for her career in the Oakland game (Nov. 29) ... entering the UA game, she has 1,184 career points, and has moved into 15th place all-time.
... AND FOUR IN THE ALL-TIME TOP-25
Carin Horne joined an exclusive group that currently includes only 21 players in the history of Falcon women's basketball ... that 1,000-point list 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, and only the sixth to do so prior to her senior year ... three weeks after Mann reached 1,000 points, Liz Honegger became the 20th BG player (seventh prior to her senior year) to do so ... and, don't look now, but junior Kate Achter already has surpassed the 900-point mark for her career ... with 22 points in the win at NIU, Achter moved up another notch on the scoring list ... she now ranks 23rd with 947 career points.
HONEGGER, MANN ON REBOUNDING LISTS AS WELL
Seniors Liz Honegger and Ali Mann, each among the top scorers in BGSU history, also are among the leading rebounders in program annals ... Honegger surpassed the 800-rebound plateau in January, and now has a career total of 855 ... she currently ranks fourth on the BG list ... Mann surpassed the 800-board mark in the win at EMU (Jan. 28), and now has 840 caroms to rank sixth in school history.
GOOD AS GOLDS
Sophomore Lindsey Goldsberry has been a veritable Energizer Bunny (TM) for the Falcons this season ... Goldsberry had a career-high five steals in the win over Toledo, and matched her career best with four assists against the Rockets ... she had two assists and a steal vs. Ball State, and was a perfect 2-for-2 from three-point range ... Goldsberry leads the Falcons in steals this season, with 40 in her 23 games ... in MAC games only, she paces the Brown and Orange in steals (2.3 spg) and is second in assists (2.6 apg) ... Goldsberry has a stellar 2.9-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in league play, with 29 helpers and just 10 turnovers in 11 games.
SMOOTH JAZZ: McCALL MAXIMIZES HER MINUTES
The Falcons' other sophomore, Jasmine McCall, joins Lindsey Goldsberry near the top of the BGSU lists for assists and steals ... McCall has 35 steals on the season to tie for third on the team, and she ranks third in assists ... in MAC games, the Detroit native is second in steals, with 18 in 11 games ... McCall provided the Falcons with a huge spark off the bench in the win at Northern Illinois ... she entered the game for the first time with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half ... in a matter of 100 seconds, McCall scored four points, fed teammate Carin Horne for a three-pointer, and had three steals.
UP NEXT
Following the Akron game, the Falcons will hit the road for the final two times this regular season ... BGSU will travel to Buffalo to meet the Bulls in Saturday (Feb. 17) action, with tipoff at 5:00 p.m. ... then, the Falcons will meet second-place Kent State in a battle of the East Division's first- and second-place teams ... BG will meet the Golden Flashes on Tuesday (Feb. 20) in a 7:00 p.m. start ... then, the Brown and Orange will return home for the final two regular-season games, meeting Ohio (Feb. 24) and Miami (Feb. 28) at venerable Anderson Arena, "The House That Roars."
BGSU'S REMAINING REGULAR-SEASON SCHEDULE
FEBRUARY Wed., 14 - AKRON, 7:00 p.m. Sat., 17 - at Buffalo, 5:00 p.m. Tue., 20 - at Kent State, 7:00 p.m. Sat., 24 - OHIO, 1:00 p.m. Wed., 28 - MIAMI, 7:00 p.m.
