Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Ohio Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
February 23, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2007
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#16/18 BGSU vs. OHIO
Sat., February 24, 2007 • 1:00 p.m.
Anderson Arena (4,700) • Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 25-2 (14-0 MAC) // Ohio 15-11 (8-6 MAC)
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Mike Castellano and Brent Petkus
SERIES: BGSU leads, 41-18 // STREAK: BGSU - 6
LAST MEETING: BGSU 64, at Ohio 55 (Jan. 13, 2007)
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, having finished the road portion of the Mid-American Conference schedule with a perfect 8-0 record for the second consecutive year, now returns home for the final two games of the regular season ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller (25-2, 14-0 MAC), winners of 18-straight games, meet Ohio University in Saturday (Feb. 24) action ... tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700), "The House That Roars" ... BGSU, currently ranked 16th in the nation in the USA Today/ESPN poll and 18th by the Associated Press, owns the longest active homecourt winning streak in the nation.
(NOTE: Despite information to the contrary in other places, Saturday's game begins at 1:00 p.m.)
FALCONS CLINCH MAC REGULAR-SEASON TITLE
For what it's worth, the Falcons have clinched the MAC's overall regular-season title for the third consecutive year ... BGSU can finish no worse than 14-2 in conference play, and each of the league's other 11 teams have at least three losses ... while it is a nice accomplishment, and allows for a note that helps to take up space in these game notes, the regular-season title means little more than bragging rights these days ... it affects only the color of the jerseys the Falcons would get to wear should both division winners make it to the MAC Tournament's championship game ... beginning last year, the league tournament changed from overall seeding (i.e., 1 through 12) to divisional seeding (1 East, 2 East, etc.) ... the Falcons, as the East Division's top seed, earn a first-round bye for the league tournament, and will play an opponent to be determined in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, March 6, at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland ... BGSU's game is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m.
FIRST-EVER BACK-TO-BACK UNDEFEATED ROAD RECORDS
The Falcons have pulled off yet another first ... BGSU's 89-66 win at Kent State on Tuesday (Feb. 20) gave BGSU a perfect 8-0 MAC road record for the second consecutive year ... the Falcons have become the first team to post back-to-back undefeated road conference records ... BG teams have recorded four of the seven road unbeaten marks in league history.
STREAKS ON THE LINE
BGSU has put together quite a few impressive winning streaks ... entering Saturday's game vs. Ohio, the Falcons have won ...
• 18 consecutive overall games since a Dec. 19 loss to #1-ranked Duke;
• 39-straight contests vs. MAC foes (a school and conference record);
• 29 consecutive games at Anderson Arena, the longest active home winning streak in the nation;
• 17-straight MAC road games (obviously, this streak will not be on the line on Saturday, and will carry into the 2007-08 season);
• 53 of 58 games since the beginning of last season; and
• 59 of the last 65 overall games.
DOUBLE-DIGIT WINNING STREAK
The Falcons have won the last 18 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.
LONGEST HOME WINNING STREAK IN THE NATION
Connecticut's 72-71 win at LSU on Feb. 11 snapped the Lady Tigers' 43-game home winning streak, meaning that BGSU now has the longest active homecourt winning streak in NCAA Division I ... the Falcons' win over Akron on Feb. 14 increased that streak to 29 consecutive games at Anderson Arena.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Ohio contest with a 25-2 overall record ... BGSU has a 14-0 MAC mark on the season, and the Falcons have won the last 18 games ... BG is coming off an impressive 89-66 victory at Kent State Tuesday (Feb. 20) ... last week, the Falcons posted a pair of wins by over 40 points, a 91-46 home victory over Akron (Feb. 14) and an 85-44 triumph at Buffalo Saturday (Feb. 17) ... BGSU has scored at least 85 points in each of the last five games ... the Falcons are 11-0 at home, 11-1 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 18-game win streak.
• Five BG players are averaging double digits in scoring ... senior Ali Mann has 15.8 points to lead the way, and junior Kate Achter is second on the team with 11.4 points per game ... seniors Carin Horne (11.1), Liz Honegger (10.3) and Amber Flynn (10.0) round out the Falcons' five double-figure scorers ... Honegger paces the Falcons in rebounding, with 5.6 per game, while Mann is averaging 5.2 rpg, Flynn 4.3 and Horne 4.2 ... Achter has a team-high 4.7 assists per contest, and Mann is second with 2.6 apg ... Horne has 1.7 steals per game to rank second on the team, and a total of eight BG players have at least 22 steals on the season ... Honegger paces BG with 1.1 blocked shots per outing, and also has a team-high 55 three-point field goals made (in 135 attempts) this year.
• Flynn is shooting a team-best 60.4 percent from the field, while Mann is shooting 53.5% and Achter 52.0% ... senior Megan Thorburn has 6.4 ppg and a 42.3% three-point FG rate ... she ranks second on the team in that category, trailing only Mann (47.6%) ... Honegger has shot 40.7% from long range.
• In addition to Flynn, sophomore Jasmine McCall has seen action in all 27 games off the bench, while classmate Lindsey Goldsberry has played in 26 ... Goldsberry has 4.0 points, 2.1 assists and 2.0 steals per outing, while McCall has 3.5 points and 1.8 assists per game ... Goldsberry leads the team in steals and is third in assists, while McCall is tied for third (with Achter) 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 76.2 points per game, while allowing just 55.9 ... the Falcons are shooting 47.9 percent from the field, and have made 196 three-point field goals - 7.26 per game - in 506 tries (38.7%) ... BG has limited the foes to just a 38.4% field-goal rate and a 28.9% effort from long range (121-for-418 from beyond the arc) ... BGSU has made 75 more triples (196 to 121) and 123 more free throws (410 to 287) than the opponents ... the Falcons have a 71.9% success rate from the free-throw line, while the opposition is shooting 68.8% from the stripe ... in MAC games, BG has made more free throws (231) than the opponents have attempted (205).
• 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 has played in 18 games and Bugher 17 ... 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 118-58, in his sixth year ... over the last three-plus seasons, Miller and the Falcons are 97-23 overall ... BGSU has gone 54-8 in MAC regular-season play in that time, and 63-9 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 Tuesday (Feb. 20) ... BGSU's 89-66 win at Kent State was the Falcons' 39th 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 14-straight wins.
JUST OUT OF CURIOSITY, WHAT WAS THE OLD RECORD?
BGSU, as mentioned on multiple occasions already, has won 39 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.
CONSECUTIVE WINS VS. MAC OPPONENTS
(Includes both regular-season and MAC Tournament games)
39 - Bowling Green (2/23/05 to present)
27 - Bowling Green (2/13/88 to 1/3/90)
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
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 118-58 in the five-plus years since Curt Miller took the helm in May of 2001;
• 65-29 in MAC games in that time;
• 97-23 overall and 54-8 in the MAC over the last three-plus seasons, since the current senior class arrived on campus in the fall of 2003;
• 53-5 since the beginning of last season;
• 59-6 in the last 65 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 (the Falcons have not lost back-to-back games since the last game of the 2003-04 season [65-56 to Eastern Michigan in MAC Tournament's championship game] and the first game of 2004-05 [89-41 at Ohio State in Preseason WNIT] - BG's last back-to-back losses in the same season came in February of 2004 [to Northern Illinois and Kent State]);
• 22-0 in games decided by double digits this season;
• 8-0 in games decided by over 30 points in 2006-07;
• 39-0 in the last 39 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;
• 29-0 in the last 29 home games, the longest active home winning streak in the nation;
• 19-1 in the last 20 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 - BG has since won 10-straight road games);
• 24-0 in the last 24 road games to be decided in regulation (since that EMU game in February of 2005);
• 17-0 in the last 17 MAC road games;
• 49-0 when outrebounding the opponent since the start of the 2004-05 season;
• 50-3 when holding the opponent to fewer than 70 points since the beginning of the 2005-06 season (BGSU has only allowed five teams - UCLA, Notre Dame, Robert Morris, Ball State and Northern Illinois - to top the 70-point mark in the last 58 games);
• 5-1 in games played on Feb. 24 (including an 82-69 win at Ohio in 1988);
• 2-0 in home games on that date; and
• 0-0 in games on Feb. 24 in the Curt Miller Era.
FALCONS BY CLASS
THE SENIORS
BGSU's senior class is one of the finest in school - and MAC - 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' 97-23 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 76-13 since the two arrived on campus, and the Falcons are 73-9 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 and is likely out for the season.
THE SOPHOMORES
Lindsey Goldsberry and Jasmine McCall have seen their team win over 90 percent of its games (53-5 to date), and the two players have never been a part of a loss to a MAC opponent, as the Falcons are 33-0 against league opposition since the start of last season ... McCall has played in all 58 of BGSU's games in her career to date, while Goldsberry has action in 56 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 has played in 18 games and Bugher 17 to date, while Clapper has seen action in 13 ... Clapper, though, is likely out for the season after suffering an injury in practice on Jan. 22 ... the Falcons have yet to lose a game when any of the three frosh see playing time.
SCOUTING OHIO
Ohio enters Saturday's action with an overall record of 15-11, and the Bobcats have a record of 8-6 in MAC play to date ... OU, after winning six of the previous seven games, suffered a 61-47 loss at Buffalo on Wednesday night (Feb. 21) ... during that seven-game span, the Bobcats' victims included the second-place team in the East Division and each of the top-three teams in the West, as Ohio beat Kent State and Northern Illinois at home, and Ball State and Eastern Michigan on the road ... the 'Cats are 4-8 in road games this year to date, including 3-4 in MAC play ... individually, junior guard Lauren Kohn leads the team in scoring, with 16.1 points per game ... Kohn, a transfer from Syracuse, is in her first playing season at Ohio ... sophomore G/F Rachel Frederick has 13.5 points and a team-leading 9.3 rebounds per contest ... junior guard Simone Redd has scored 9.7 points per contest, while junior guard Quintana Ward and senior forward Domenica Silva average 8.5 and 8.3 ppg, respectively ... Ward has a team-high 4.6 assists per game, while Silva leads the team in blocks (1.2 bpg) and is second in rebounding (6.2 rpg) ... freshman guard Jennifer Bushby (7.2 ppg) joins Frederick, Kohn, Silva and Ward in the probable starting lineup for head coach Silvia Crawley ... Crawley inherited six letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team ... that Bobcat squad went 9-20 overall and 5-11 in MAC action ... Crawley is in her first year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is ohiobobcats.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Ohio, 41-18, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has captured the last six meetings ... the Brown and Orange won a 64-55 decision in Athens on the team's first matchup this season (Jan. 13, 2007) ... that is one of just three single-digit games in the Falcons' 14 MAC victories to date ... BG is 24-5 in home games vs. the Bobcats, and the Falcons have won the last three games at Anderson Arena ... Ohio's last series win came in Athens in the first round of the 2002 MAC Tournament (74-68; March 2, 2002), and the Bobcats' last win in Bowling Green was a 78-69 overtime decision one month prior (Feb. 5, 2002) ... the Brown and Orange swept last season's matchups, a 77-63 win at Anderson (Jan. 18, 2006) and a 65-61 road victory the next month (Feb. 18, 2006) ... 15 of the last 20 series meetings have been decided by 10 points or fewer ... the list of game-by-game series results is on page 5, while the boxscore from the most recent meeting can also be found in these notes.
BACK-TO-BACK 25-WIN SEASONS
The Falcons have posted back-to-back seasons of at least 25 wins for the second time in school history, and only the third time in MAC annals ... the 1992-93 (25) and '93-94 (26) BGSU teams each reached the 25-win mark, and the Toledo clubs in 1995-96 (25) and 1996-97 (27) also turned the trick.
AMONG THE ELITE
BGSU, as mentioned, has reached the 25-win mark this season, the sixth time in program history a team has won 25 or more games ... last year's Falcon team set the school and MAC records with 28 wins ... both the 1986-87 and 1988-89 clubs won 27 games, while the 1993-94 team had 26 victories and the '92-93 team 25.
HOT START
BGSU's overall record of 25-2 ties the school record for best start through 27 games ... the 1986-87 squad had 25 wins in the first 27 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 25-2 ... 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.
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.
A LOT OF WINS IN A SHORT TIME
The Falcons have a total of 97 wins since the current senior class arrived at BGSU prior to the 2003-04 season ... the school record for wins in a four-year period is 100, amassed from the 1986-87 through 1989-90 seasons.
FASTEST TO 20 (AND 21, 22, 23, ETC.)
The Falcons have tied their fastest start to a season, in terms of games ... BGSU has started a season at 25-2 for the third time in school history ... but, this year's edition of the Falcons reached 20 victories, in terms of calendar days, much more quickly than any other team in program history ... that trend continues, as this year's BG team has earned win number 25 faster than any previous team ... the win at Kent State Tuesday (Feb. 20) was BG's 25th ... only two prior teams won 25 games before the end of February, the 1986-87 (Feb. 28) and 2005-06 (also Feb. 28) teams ... not surprisingly, the '86-87 and '05-06 teams are the other two squads that began the year at 25-2.
MILLER MATCHES MILESTONE
As mentioned, the Falcons have won more than 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 running the show ... only Voll and Miller had four 20-win seasons in their first six years, and only Voll and Miller have had four consecutive seasons of 20 wins or more.
80 AGAIN
The Kent State game (Feb. 20) marked the 12th time this season that BGSU scored at least 80 points in a game ... last year's 28-3 Falcon squad reached the 80-point mark just twice.
85 AGAIN
The Kent State game also marked the fifth consecutive game in which the Falcons had scored 85 points or more ... BG had not put together such a streak since January of 1998, when the Brown and Orange had five-straight games of at least 80 points.
STRONG SHOOTING
The Falcons shot 60.0 percent from the field in the second half of the Kent State game Tuesday (Feb. 20), en route to a 51.8% rate for the game ... the first half of that KSU game saw the Falcons shot 42.3%, snapping a string of seven consecutive halves of shooting 50.0% or better ... BGSU has shot 50.0% or better from the floor in 13 games this season, matching the total for the previous four seasons combined ... the Falcons are now a perfect 27-0 when shooting at least 50.0% in the Curt Miller Era.
STRONG SECOND-HALF SHOOTING
BGSU has shot 50.0 percent or better from the field in the second half of each of the last seven games, shooting a combined 54.3% from the floor in that time (see graphic on page 18) ... additionally, BG has shot 50.0% or better in the first half in four of those seven games.
FALCONS AMONG NATION'S ELITE
The Falcons are ranked among the top-25 in both national polls ... and, BGSU is also among the nation's elite in a number of statistical categories ... in the NCAA's latest rankings, through games of Sunday (Feb. 18), the Falcons were among the top-10 teams in five categories - win-loss percentage (third), fewest turnovers (fourth), three-point field-goal pct. (fourth), scoring margin (sixth) and field-goal pct. (seventh) - and BG also was listed among the top-20 in three-pointers per game (12th), scoring offense (15th) and scoring defense (18th).
FALCONS GETTING STRONGER AT THE LINE
The Falcons have shot the ball well from the field all season long ... such has not always been the case at the free-throw line ... but, BGSU has been just fine, thank you, at the stripe in the last three games ... in the Feb. 14 win over Akron, the Falcons sank 91.3 percent of their charity tosses, going 21-for-23 from the line ... no fewer than eight different BG players took at least two shots apiece, with six of those players shooting 100.0% and the other two going 3-for-4 ... at Buffalo last Saturday (Feb. 17), the Brown and Orange went 12-for-14 (85.7%) from the stripe ... then, at Kent State Tuesday (Feb. 20), BGSU shot 84.4% from the line, setting season highs in free throws made (27) and attempted (32) ... the Falcons are 60-for-69 (87.0%) over that three-game span.
RUNNING WITH THE FALCONS
The Falcons had a 15-0 run in the second half at Buffalo (Feb. 17) ... that came on the heels of the Akron game (Feb. 14), in which the Brown and Orange scored the first 13 points of the night ... BGSU has had a total of 33 double-digit scoring runs this year to date, after having 15 during all of last season.
FLYNN-TASTIC
Amber Flynn has been a force off the bench for the Falcons all season, and the senior is a strong candidate for this year's MAC Sixth Man of the Year award ... Flynn, who has come off the bench in all 27 games this year, had a career-high 21 points at Kent State Tuesday (Feb. 20), going a perfect 8-for-8 from the field and 5-for-6 from the free-throw line ... she had 18 points - her career best to that point - in the Feb. 7 win over Ball State, going 6-for-7 both from the field and the line in that win ... she had no fewer than three conventional three-point plays vs. BSU, and also led the Brown and Orange in rebounds with eight ... Flynn has had 15 double-figure scoring efforts this year to date, and is averaging 10.0 points and 4.3 rebounds in 21.0 minutes per game this year ... Flynn ranks second in the MAC with a field-goal pct. of 60.4% (110-for-182) ... she has scored 270 points this season after scoring a combined total of 198 in her first three years at BGSU.
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 22nd on that list ... keep reading for more details.
FALCONS HAVE A TRIO OF 1,000-POINT SCORERS ...
Senior Ali Mann will end her career as the second-leading scorer in BGSU history ... she passed Sara Puthoff to take over second place in the game at Northern Illinois (Feb. 10), and now has a total of 1,709 points, trailing only Jackie Motycka ... senior Liz Honegger now has 1,457 points for her BGSU career, and sits in fifth place all-time at BGSU, entering the Ohio game ... classmate Carin Horne surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for her career in the Oakland game (Nov. 29) ... entering Saturday's game, she has 1,223 career points, and is tied for 13th all-time.
... AND ANOTHER ON THE WAY?
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, with a fourth possibly joining them before the year is out ... 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, junior Kate Achter is just 13 points away from reaching the 1,000-point mark for her career ... Achter currently ranks 22nd in BGSU annals with 987 career points.
FALCONS CLINCH EAST DIVISION TITLE, FIRST-ROUND BYE
BGSU's 85-44 win at Buffalo Saturday (Feb. 17) enabled the Falcons to clinch the MAC's East Division title outright for the second consecutive year ... the Falcons clinched a third-straight division crown, having won the West Division in 2004-05 before being moved back to the East prior to last season ... on Valentine's Day, the Brown and Orange had clinched a first-round bye for the MAC Tournament ... the entire tournament will be held at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland ... the top-two teams in each division earn a bye ... the Falcons, having clinched the East Division crown, will play in the 5:00 p.m. game (third game of the day) in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, March 6 ... the Brown and Orange will play the winner of a March 4 first-round game pitting the fifth seed in the East vs. the fourth seed in the West ... if the season ended today, BG would meet either Buffalo or Western Michigan in a quarterfinal-round matchup.
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 Ohio game, that group has combined to make no fewer than 484 starts in their respective Falcon careers to date ... each of the five has started at least 79 games.
LET'S GET IT STARTED: HONEGGER TIES RECORD
As mentioned, the five BGSU starters have combined to make a total of 484 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 119 career starts, while Mann has started 118 games ... when Honegger drew the start in the Northern Illinois game (Feb. 10), it was her 116th career start, breaking the school record ... Jackie Motycka (1985-89) had held the school record with 115 starts.
ONE MORE NOTE ON THE STARTERS
BG has used the same starting lineup - the aforementioned group of seniors Liz Honegger, Carin Horne, Ali Mann and Megan Thorburn and junior Kate Achter - in all 27 games this year ... the Falcons are now 42-3 overall, and a perfect 28-0 in MAC regular-season games, when that fivesome takes the court for the opening tip.
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 ... three days later, Curt Miller inserted Honegger into the starting lineup, and she has been there ever since ... she now has a BGSU career-record 119 starts, and also holds the school mark for consecutive starts, also 119 games.
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 Akron, 91-46, on Feb. 14 - have won 29 consecutive games at "The House That Roars" ... as mentioned earlier in these game notes, BG's homecourt winning streak is now the longest in the nation.
ROAD SWEET ROAD?
The Falcons have achieved a measure of success away from home as well ... BGSU has won 24 of the last 26 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 28-4 on the road in league action and 40-12 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 Kent State (Feb. 20), the Falcons have won 17-straight league road contests ... that KSU game also marked BG's 10th overall road win in a row since the loss at Notre Dame.
OVERALL SWEET OVERALL?
The Falcons have won the last 18 overall games, regardless of venue ... BGSU enters Saturday with the fourth-longest overall winning streak in the country.
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 now, both are among the top-five all-time in rebounding as well ... Mann is in second place in BG career scoring, and now has 1,709 career points, while Honegger is fourth with 1,457 points entering the Ohio game ... Honegger has moved into third in rebounding, with 866 as a Falcon, while Mann has a total of 852 to rank fifth ... Honegger's name will remain all over the BGSU records lists, as she is the school's career leader in games started (119), three-point field goals made (206) and attempted (569) and blocks (182) ... Mann is the BG career leader in free throws made (461) and attempted (643), and she is second in games started (118), fourth in field goals made (575) and seventh in FG attempts (1,183).
HORNE MOVES INTO TOP FIVE IN STEALS
Senior Carin Horne had two steals at Kent State, giving her 201 for her career ... Horne has moved past Susie Cassell (1990-94) into fifth place in that category on the BGSU career list ... the school record is 244, set by Lindsay Austin (2000-04) ... senior Liz Honegger has 191 career steals in her career.
SIX-SHOOTER: FALCONS HAVE SIX IN DOUBLE DIGITS AT KSU
Here is a note that speaks to the balance of the BGSU offense ... the Falcons had six players score in double digits in the win at Kent State (Feb. 20), and the school's fifth all-time leading scorer was not one of them ... Liz Honegger had seven points, although the senior hit a pair of key three-pointers in the second half ... Amber Flynn (21 points), Lindsey Goldsberry (12) and Jasmine McCall (10) each surpassed or matched their career-high scoring totals, while Kate Achter (14), Carin Horne (13) and Ali Mann (12) also hit double digits in the win.
GOOD AS GOLDS
Sophomore Lindsey Goldsberry has been a veritable Energizer Bunny for the Falcons this season ... Goldsberry was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field in the Buffalo game en route to seven points, and set career highs with six assists (no turnovers) and six steals ... three days later at Kent State, she tied her career high with 12 points, and also had five rebounds, five steals and three assists ... Goldsberry leads the Falcons in steals this season, with 51 in her 26 games ... in MAC games only, the Dayton native paces the Brown and Orange in steals (2.6 spg) and is second in assists (2.8 apg) ... Goldsberry has a stellar 2.8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in league play, with 39 helpers and just 14 turnovers in 14 games.
HONEGGER SETS YET ANOTHER BGSU CAREER RECORD
How many flippin' headlines in these game notes over the years have begun with the words "Honegger sets new record" (or similar phraseology)? In the first two months of this saeson, senior Liz Honegger broke the BGSU career record for blocked shots (in November), three-point field goals made (on Dec. 20) and attempted (New Year's Eve) ... then, in the Ball State game (Feb. 7), Honegger both tied the school standard for games started and became the first-ever Falcon to make 200 triples in a career ... she now has made 206 treys in 569 attempts in her storied BG tenure ... she is just the 12th player in MAC history to reach 200 three-pointers made.
HONEGGER IN A CLASS BY HERSELF IN THE MAC ...
Liz Honegger is making her mark as one of the top players in school history, and one of the most versatile ... she has accomplished something that no other BGSU - or MAC - player had ever done ... Honegger is the only player in MAC history to block at least 125 shots and make at least 125 three-point field goals in her career ... in fact, she is way beyond those totals, and enters the Ohio game with 206 treys and 182 rejections ... only two other players in MAC annals reached as many as 100 in both categories (Stephanie Smiley [EMU, 1998-2002], 174 3's, 103 blocks; Tamara Bowie [BSU, 2000-03], 100 3's, 152 blocks).
... AND IN THE NATION
Here's another note that illustrates why Liz Honegger may be the most versatile center in the country ... Honegger is believed to be the only player in NCAA Division-I history to hold both the three-point field goal and blocked shot career records at her school ... a survey of sports information directors around the nation has turned up no other such players as of Thursday, Feb. 22.
FALCONS HANG WITH DUKE
The Falcons faced Duke, ranked fourth in the nation at the time, in Cancun on Dec. 19 ... BG lost that game, but the outcome looks better and better with every passing day ... the Blue Devils were the highest-ranked opponent in BGSU history (Maryland was also fourth when BG played them in the 1989 NCAA Tournament) ... the Falcons led the Devils in the second half before losing by nine points, 55-46 ... as of Feb. 19, Tennessee and BGSU are the only teams to play Duke to a single-digit margin this season ... Duke - now ranked #1 in the nation - is 28-0 after a 12-point win over Maryland Sunday night (Feb. 18).
LEADERS OF THE MAC
The Falcons are at the top of numerous team categories in the latest Mid-American Conference statistics (as of Feb. 23) ... BGSU is first or second in no fewer than 12 categories ... the Falcons lead the league in a whopping nine - scoring offense (76.2), scoring defense (55.9), scoring margin (+20.4), field-goal percentage (47.9), FG pct. defense (38.4), three-point FG pct. (38.7), three-point FG pct. defense (28.9), turnover margin (+6.74) and assist/turnover ratio (1.23) ... BG is second in assists (16.26), steals (10.93) and three-pointers made (7.26) ... individually, senior Megan Thorburn is second in the league in three-point field-goal pct. (42.3), while senior Liz Honegger is fourth in that category (40.7) ... Honegger is also fourth in three-pointers made (2,04) and fifth in blocked shots ... senior Amber Flynn has moved into second in the MAC in field-goal pct. (60.4), while senior Ali Mann is fifth in FG pct. (53.5) and seventh in scoring (15.8) ... junior Kate Achter is third in assists (4.70) and fourth in assist/TO ratio (1.67) ... in MAC games only, the Falcons lead the league in eight team categories and are second in two others.
FLYNN, HONEGGER AND MANN CAPTAIN FALCONS
A trio of seniors - Amber Flynn, Liz Honegger and Ali Mann - have been named tri-captains of the 2006-07 Falcons ... the three were selected in a vote of team members as well as coaching staff ... Mann is a second-year captain, having been a unanimous selection last year as a junior.
UP NEXT
Following the Ohio game, the Falcons will conclude the regular season with a Wednesday (Feb. 28) contest vs. Miami at venerable Anderson Arena, "The House That Roars" ... that game will mark "Senior Night," with the Falcons' stellar class honored prior to the tipoff ... then, BG will open MAC Tournament play with a quarterfinal-round game at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday, March 6.
