Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU to Face Oklahoma State in NCAA Championships First Round
March 15, 2007 | Women's Basketball
March 15, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
#19/20 BGSU vs. OKLAHOMA STATE
Sun., March 18, 2007 • 2:30 p.m.
Breslin Center (14,759) • East Lansing, Mich.
RECORDS: BGSU 29-3 [15-1 MAC] // Oklahoma State 20-10 [8-8 Big 12]
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Paul Braverman and Brian Scullin
TELEVISION: ESPN - Eric Collins, Mary Murphy and Todd Harris
SERIES: OSU leads, 1-0 // STREAK: OSU - 1
LAST MEETING: Oklahoma State 72, Bowling Green 57 (Dec. 3, 1993)
BGSU Notes & Statistics (Pages 1-40) in PDF Format
Individual Game-by-Game Stats (Pages 41-51) in PDF Format
BGSU Season Boxscores (Pages 52-67) in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after winning the Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament titles for the third consecutive year, now advances to the NCAA Championships ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller (29-3, 15-1 MAC) have been named a #7 seed in the Greensboro regional, and will face #10 seed Oklahoma State University in East Lansing, Mich., on Sunday (March 18) ... the Falcons and Cowgirls will meet at the Breslin Student Events Center (14,759), with tipoff at approximately 2:30 p.m. EST ... BGSU is currently ranked 19th in the nation in the USA Today/ESPN poll and 20th by the Associated Press.
FALCONS IN THE NCAA
BGSU has qualified for the NCAA Championships for the ninth time in school history ... the Falcons are 1-8 in tourney appearances, with a 1-2 mark in home games and records of 0-4 on the road and 0-2 in neutral-site affairs.
SENIOR CLASS
The Falcons' 67-53 triumph over Ball State gave the team a total of 101 wins since the current senior class arrived at BGSU prior to the 2003-04 season ... that set a new school record for wins in a four-year period ... the old mark was 100 wins, amassed from the 1986-87 through 1989-90 seasons ... this year's senior class - Amber Flynn, Julie Gompers, Liz Honegger, Carin Horne, Ali Mann and Megan Thorburn - has helped the Falcons to a 101-24 record during their four years ... they also have led BG to four 20-win seasons, four MAC Tournament championship-game appearances, three MAC regular-season titles, three league tourney crowns and now, three trips to the NCAA Championships.
A BGSU WIN WOULD ...
• be the Falcons' second-ever victory in the NCAA Championships, and the first since the 1989 national tourney;
• be only the sixth NCAA Tournament win by a Mid-American Conference team, and the first since 1996;
• make the 2006-07 Falcons the MAC's first women's basketball program ever to win 30 games in a season;
• be the 102nd victory since the current senior class arrived on campus, which would extend the school record for wins in a four-year span.
A BGSU LOSS WOULD ...
• end one of the most successful seasons in program history at 29-4;
• be just the 25th overall loss since the seniors began their BGSU careers;
• give the Falcons a 1-3 record all-time in the Breslin Center.
THE MAC IN THE NCAA
Entering the 2007 NCAA Championships, Mid-American Conference schools have posted a combined record of 5-27 in NCAA tourney play ... no MAC school has won an NCAA tournament game since 1996, when both Kent State and Toledo picked up first-round wins.
BACK TO THE BIG DANCE
BGSU has qualified for the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season and the ninth time in school history ... two years ago, the Falcons were the #13 seed in the Kansas City Regional, and dropped a 70-60 decision to fourth-seeded Kansas State in the first round in Seattle, Wash. ... last year, BGSU was seeded #12 in the Cleveland regional, and suffered a 74-61 setback against #5-seeded UCLA in West Lafayette, Ind.
SEVENTH SEED TIES BG'S BEST
As evidenced by the game-by-game chart in the pdf version of these notes, the Falcons' #7 seed in this year's NCAA Championships is tied for the lowest in school history ... BGSU was seeded seventh in the Midwest Region for the 1994 NCAA Championships, before losing a first-round game to Creighton.
SCHOOL, AND MAC, RECORD WIN TOTAL
The Falcons' 67-53 victory over Ball State in the Kraft MAC Tournament's championship game gives BGSU a total of 29 wins this season to date ... BG has set a new school - and a Mid-American Conference - single-season record for victories ... the Falcons have broken the records of 28 wins, set by last year's BGSU squad.
THIRD 'THREE-PEAT' IN MAC HISTORY
BGSU's 2007 Kraft MAC Tournament title is the team's third in a row, marking just the third time in league history that the same school has put together a three-year tourney title streak ... the Falcons are the first team since Toledo in the mid-1990s to win the league tournament in three consecutive years ... Fran Voll-coached BGSU teams hold the record, with four-straight conference tourney titles from 1987-90 ...
JUST THE SECOND 'DOUBLE THREE-PEAT'
BGSU has won both the Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament titles for the third consecutive year ... this marks only the second time in conference history that such an event has occurred, with Bowling Green teams achieving the milestone in both cases.
MILLER REPEATS AS REGION COACH OF THE YEAR
Falcon coach Curt Miller has been named the Russell Athletic/WBCA Region 4 Coach of the Year, the WBCA office announced on Monday (March 12) ... Miller, who earned the regional honor for the second year in a row, is now a finalist for the WBCA National Coach-of-the-Year award, which will be announced April 2 in conjunction with the NCAA Women's Final Four in Cleveland ... Miller is in very good company, as the other NCAA Division I regional winners and national C-O-Y finalists include Geno Auriemma (Connecticut - Region 1), Gail Goestenkors (Duke - Region 2), Pat Summitt (Tennessee - Region 3), Rick Insell (Middle Tennessee State - Region 5), Sharon Versyp (Purdue - Region 6), Gordy Presnell (Boise State - Region 7) and Tara VanDerveer (Stanford - Region 8).
MORE ON MILLER'S REPEAT REGIONAL RECOGNITION
Curt Miller's regional coach-of-the-year honor marks the fifth time a BG coach has earned the award ... he is the first Falcon coach to garner the award in back-to-back seasons ... Fran Voll was named the region's coach of the year in 1986-87, while Jaci Clark earned the honor in both 1993-94 and 1997-98.
TOUGH CROWD
No fewer than eight of BGSU's 13 non-conference opponents in 2006-07 have advanced to national postseason play ... Delaware, Duke, Notre Dame, Robert Morris, Temple and Texas-Arlington all have qualified for the NCAA Championships, while Indiana and Oakland were selected to participate in the WNIT (as was Ball State of the MAC) ... BG has gone 4-2 against NCAA tourney teams, and 8-2 against teams that made either the NCAA or the WNIT.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the NCAA Championships with a 29-3 overall record, and BGSU is riding a four-game winning streak, with the latter three wins having come in the Kraft MAC Tournament ... BGSU finished the regular season with a 15-1 MAC slate, and won the conference's overall regular-season title for the third consecutive year ... the Falcons saw an 18-game winning streak snapped with a 70-67 home loss to Ohio on Feb. 24 ... that also broke a string of five consecutive games in which BGSU had scored 85 or more points, including an impressive 89-66 victory at Kent State in the previous game (Feb. 20) ... BGSU got back on track with a 92-62 win over Miami (Feb. 28) to close the regular season, then downed Toledo (71-62; March 6), Eastern Michigan (71-57) and Ball State (67-53) to capture the league tourney crown for the third-straight March ... the Falcons are 12-1 at home, 11-1 in road games and 6-1 in neutral-site contests ... BGSU's only losses have come at Notre Dame in overtime (85-81, Nov. 13); to Duke by only nine points (55-46, Dec. 19) in Cancun, Mexico; and to Ohio ... 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 bounced back in a big way, as mentioned, with the 18-game win streak prior to the loss to OU.
• Three BG players are averaging double digits in scoring, with two others falling just short of twin figures ... senior Ali Mann has 15.7 points to lead the way, while senior Carin Horne and junior Kate Achter have 12.0 points per game apiece ... Horne has 384 total points and Achter 383 this season ... seniors Liz Honegger and Amber Flynn have 9.9 and 9.8 points per outing, respectively ... Mann leads the Falcons in rebounding, with 5.6 per game, while Honegger has 5.4 rpg, Horne 4.4 and Flynn 4.2 ... Achter has a team-high 4.9 assists per contest, and Mann is second with 2.6 apg ... Horne has 1.9 steals per game to rank second on the team, and six of BG's nine active players have at least 1.0 spg, as the Falcons average 10.8 thefts per game ... Honegger paces BG with 1.0 blocked shots per outing, and also has a team-high 60 three-point field goals made (in 155 attempts) this year.
• Flynn is shooting a team-best 59.8 percent from the field, while Mann is shooting 52.8% and Achter 51.6% ... senior Megan Thorburn has 6.0 ppg and a 42.7% three-point FG rate ... she ranks second on the team in that category, trailing only Mann (44.0%) ... Honegger has shot 38.7% from long range ... Horne (51) and Thorburn (47) give the Falcons three players with at least 47 three-point field goals made this season to date.
• Sophomore Lindsey Goldsberry has seen action in 31 games off the bench this year to date ... Goldsberry has 4.1 points, 2.0 assists and 2.1 steals per outing ... she leads the team in steals and is third in assists ... junior Whitney Taylor played in nine of the season's first 10 games, averaging 3.1 ppg, but is out for the season due to injury.
• BGSU is averaging 75.8 points per game, while allowing just 56.6 ... the Falcons are shooting 48.2 percent from the field, and have made 226 three-point field goals - 7.06 per game - in 587 tries (38.5%) ... BG has limited the foes to just a 38.4% field-goal rate and a 28.7% effort from long range (147-for-512 from beyond the arc) ... BGSU has made 79 more triples and 131 more free throws than the opponents ... the Falcons have a 71.2% success rate from the free-throw line, while the opposition is shooting 71.1% from the stripe ... in MAC games, BG averaged 77.4 ppg to the opponents' 56.6, and the Falcons made more free throws (270) than the opposition attempted (236).
• 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 22 games and Bugher 19 ... Clapper saw action in 13 games, but is 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 (since broken by this year's club) ... BGSU, after winning the league's regular-season title for the second year in a row in 2005-06, 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 a year ago.
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 become the first-ever coach to be named MAC Coach of the Year in three consecutive seasons ... additionally, he has been named the Russell Athletic/WBCA Region 4 Coach of the Year in each of the last two seasons ... his career record currently stands at 122-59, in his sixth year ... over the last three-plus seasons, Miller and the Falcons are 101-24 overall ... BGSU has gone 55-9 in MAC regular-season play in that time, and 67-10 in all games vs. league foes during that span (12-1 in league tourney play) ... the 2006-07 Falcons have posted 20 victories for the fourth consecutive season.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Last year, the Falcons held Kent State to only 39 points in the MAC Tournament's championship game ... KSU scored only 13 points in the opening half of that game ... this year, Ball State scored on the opening possession of the championship game, before BGSU held the Cardinals without a field goal on the next 22 possessions ... the Falcons kept BSU without another basket for over 13 minutes (13:18) ... BG allowed the opponents to shoot a combined 10-for-46 (21.7%) in the first halves of those two games.
HORNE NAMED MAC TOURNAMENT MVP
Senior Carin Horne was named the MVP of the 2007 MAC Tournament ... Horne averaged 17.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in the Falcons' three tourney wins ... she shot 60.6% from the field (20-for-33), and went 8-for-17 (47.1%) from three-point range ... Horne has scored in double digits in the MAC Tournament's championship game in all four of her years at BGSU ... she had 17, 17, 16 and 11 points in those four contests, helping the Falcons to wins in the latter three ... her '07 MAC All-Tournament Team honor was the first of her career.
ACHTER, MANN ON ALL-TOURNEY TEAM, TOO
Junior Kate Achter and senior Ali Mann were named to the MAC All-Tournament Team ... Achter has been named to the team in all three of her years with BGSU, and Mann also was voted to the squad for the third time in her career ... Achter averaged 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists in this year's league tournament ... she shot 51.7% from the floor and led the Falcons at the free-throw line, going 15-for-18 (83.3%) ... Mann had 14.3 points, a team-high 6.7 boards and a 45.7% field-goal pct. in the 2007 MAC Tournament.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 122-59 in the five-plus years since Curt Miller took the helm in May of 2001;
• 66-30 in MAC regular-season games in that time;
• 101-24 overall and 55-9 in the MAC over the last three-plus seasons, since the current senior class arrived on campus in the fall of 2003;
• 57-6 since the beginning of last season;
• 63-7 in the last 70 overall games since February of 2005 (with the losses coming to Kansas State [2005 NCAA Tournament], Delaware, Kentucky, UCLA [2006 NCAA Tournament], Notre Dame, Duke and Ohio);
• 7-0 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]);
• 1-8 all-time in the NCAA Championships;
• 25-0 in games decided by double digits this season;
• 9-0 in games decided by 30 points or more in 2006-07;
• 43-1 in the last 44 games against MAC opponents (with the loss to Ohio snapping that school- and conference-record streak);
• 33-14 in MAC Tournament games in the history of the program;
• 22-9 in neutral-site contests in the MAC Tournament;
• 11-6 in league tourney quarterfinal-round games;
• 10-5 in semifinal-round contests;
• 9-1 in MAC Tournament championship games after the win over Ball State;
• 12-1 in the MAC Tournament in the last four seasons;
• 11-2 all-time in games played at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena;
• 9-0 in the last nine games at 'The Gund'/'The Q';
• 30-1 in the last 31 home games (as the Ohio game snapped what had been 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;
• 53-1 when outrebounding the opponent since the start of the 2004-05 season (yep, that Ohio game again);
• 54-3 when holding the opponent to fewer than 70 points since the beginning of the 2005-06 season (BGSU has only allowed six teams - UCLA, Notre Dame, Robert Morris, Ball State, Northern Illinois and OU - to reach the 70-point mark in the last 63 games);
• 1-2 all-time in games at the Breslin Center;
• 0-1 in games played on March 18 (a 78-65 loss at Maryland in the 1989 NCAA Championships); and
• 0-2 in NCAA first-round games since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm (a 70-60 loss to Kansas State in 2005 and a 74-61 setback to UCLA last March).
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' 101-24 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, winning the last three.
THE JUNIORS
The Falcons' two juniors, Kate Achter and Whitney Taylor, have helped BGSU win MAC regular-season titles and MAC Tournament crowns in each of their first three seasons ... BG has an overall record of 80-14 since the two arrived on campus, and the Falcons are 77-10 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 out for the season.
THE SOPHOMORE
The Falcons have won over 90 percent of the games (57-6 to date) since Lindsey Goldsberry made her collegiate debut in the 2005-06 season opener ... believe it or not, the Feb. 24 Ohio game marked the first time the soph had seen her team lose to a MAC opponent ... the Falcons are now 37-1 against league opposition since the start of last season ... Goldsberry has played in 61 games in her Falcon career, 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 22 games and Bugher 19 to date, while Clapper has seen action in 13 ... Clapper, though, is 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.
BGSU AT THE BRESLIN
The Falcons have an all-time record of 1-2 at the Breslin Student Events Center ... not surprisingly, all three of those games came against Michigan State ... BGSU defeated the Spartans by a 63-61 count on Dec. 21, 1989 ... State posted a 71-63 win two years later (Dec. 30, 1991) and an 80-52 triumph a little over a decade ago (Dec. 4, 1996).
BGSU AT THE BRESLIN II
The BGSU men's and women's teams were among the first visiting squads to win at the Breslin Center after the building opened in November of 1989 ... the Falcon men became the first men's team to defeat the Spartans in their new home, with an 81-79 upset on Dec. 18, 1989 ... MSU went on to finish 25-6 that year ... three days later (Dec. 21, 1989), the Falcon women pinned a 63-61 loss on their MSU counterparts ... that marked only the second-ever loss for the Spartan women in the Breslin Center.
MANN SHARES MAC PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR HONORS
Senior Ali Mann was a co-recipient of the 2007 MAC Player-of-the-Year award ... Mann shared the honor with Western Michigan's Carrie Moore ... Mann, just the second Falcon player to earn the award, also was named to the All-MAC First Team for the second consecutive year ... Jackie Motycka is the only other BG player to earn P-O-Y honors, winning the award in both 1986-87 and '87-88.
MILLER 'THREE-PEATS' AS MAC COACH OF THE YEAR
BGSU head coach Curt Miller has been named the 2007 MAC Coach of the Year ... Miller is the first coach in MAC history to win the award in three consecutive seasons ... his three total awards place him second in league annals, behind only Toledo's Mark Ehlen (four-time MAC C-O-Y) ... Miller's honor marks the sixth time in school history that a BGSU coach has earned the award ... Fran Voll picked up the award in both 1986-87 and 1988-89, while Jaci Clark earned the honor in the 1992-93 season.
FLYNN EARNS MAC SIXTH-MAN AWARD
Senior Amber Flynn was named the MAC's Sixth Man of the Year ... Flynn is the first-ever Falcon to win the award, which is now in its fifth season ... the Cincinnati native has come off the bench in all 32 games this season, and is averaging 9.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, heading into the NCAA Championships ... she is shooting 59.8 percent from the field, and has 314 points this season after scoring a total of 198 in her first three seasons.
FOUR FALCONS ON ALL-MAC TEAMS
Four BGSU players were named to the 2007 All-MAC Team ... senior Ali Mann was named to the first team for the second-straight year, while junior Kate Achter took second-team honors ... senior Carin Horne was chosen to the All-MAC Third Team, and senior Liz Honegger earned all-conference honorable mention ... Mann has been named to the all-league squad in each of her four years, having earned honorable mention as a freshman before being named to the second team as a soph and the first team in each of the last two years ... Honegger was honored for the third-straight year, having been named to the second team as both a soph and a junior ... Horne earned third-team accolades for the second year in a row, after garnering honorable mention in her sophomore campaign ... Achter was a second-team pick for the second-straight season.
MANN REPEATS AS FIRST-TEAM SELECTION
Falcon senior Ali Mann is only the fifth BGSU player to be named to the All-MAC First Team on more than one occasion, and the first since Sara Puthoff (1996-97 and 1997-98) ... Jackie Motycka was named to the first team in all four of her seasons, while Paulette Backstrom, Puthoff and Talita Scott each earned the honor twice.
MANN EARNS THE TRIFECTA
Senior Ali Mann shared MAC Player-of-the-Year honors for the 2006-07 season ... Mann become only the sixth player in conference history to be named MAC Freshman of the Year, Player of the Year and MAC Tournament MVP during her career ... she joins former Falcon Jackie Motycka, Ohio's Caroline Mast, Toledo's Kim Knuth, Kent State's Dawn Zerman and Western Michigan's Casey Rost on that exclusive list.
MANN EARNS ALL-REGION HONORS
The honors keep rolling in for senior Ali Mann ... on March 8, Mann was named a finalist for the 2007 Kodak/WBCA All-America Basketball Team ... Mann is the first Falcon to earn the honor in nearly a decade (since Charlotta Jones and Sara Puthoff each were named in 1997-98) ... the 52 finalists, who are voted upon by WBCA-member coaches in each of the eight WBCA geographical regions, are now in the running for selection to the 10-member Kodak/WBCA All-America Team.
FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
The Falcons, after winning the Kraft MAC Tournament for the third consecutive year, now have an all-time record of 33-14 in the league tourney ... BG's win total is second among MAC teams, and the Falcons' .702 winning percentage also is second-best in the conference ... BGSU's total of nine MAC Tournament titles is the highest of any league institution.
FALCONS IN THE FINAL
BGSU has advanced to the championship game of the MAC Tournament no fewer than 10 times in school history ... the Falcons' win over Ball State gives the team a record of 9-1 in the championship contest.
CARIN IS CLUTCH
Senior Carin Horne is playing some of her best basketball at the most important time of the year ... in the MAC Tournament quarterfinal win over Toledo (March 6), Horne sparked the Falcons to a 71-62 victory with a game-high 22 points ... that came after a game-best 23-point effort on 'Senior Night' in the Falcons' final regular-season game, a 92-62 win over Miami (Feb. 28) ... those marked the first back-to-back 20-point games of her storied Falcon tenure ... in the MAC Tournament semifinals (March 9), she fell just shy of 20, but still had a game-high 18 points in the win over Eastern Michigan ... Horne added 11 points in the championship vs. Ball State, and now has scored in double digits in 67 career games, including 23 this season.
CARIN AT THE Q
Senior Carin Horne, as mentioned, had a game-high 22 points in the win over Toledo, and again led all players with 18 points vs. Eastern Michigan ... in her last seven games at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena, Horne has averaged 15.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per contest.
CHAMPIONS AGAIN
For the third consecutive year and the eighth time in school history, Bowling Green captured the MAC's regular-season championship ... the Falcons won the East Division and posted the league's best overall regular-season mark, with a 15-1 record against conference competition ... BGSU won league regular-season titles in three consecutive seasons from 1986-87 to 1988-89, and captured back-to-back crowns in the 1992-93 and '93-94 campaigns ... two years ago, the Falcons had the MAC's best overall record at 13-3, and won the West Division ... last season, BGSU posted a perfect 16-0 league ledger, winning the East Division.
BACK-TO-BACK 25-WIN SEASONS ... PRETTY IMPRESSIVE
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.
BACK-TO-BACK 28-WIN SEASONS ... REALLY IMPRESSIVE
BGSU has put together the first back-to-back seasons of at least 28 wins in MAC history ... the Falcons are 29-3 this year to date, after going 28-3 last winter ... the total of 57 wins, obviously, is the highest in a two-year span for a MAC program.
BGSU AT THE Q
The win over Ball State gives the Falcons an all-time record of 11-2 at Quicken Loans (formerly Gund) Arena ... the Falcons' first game there came vs. Toledo in the 2001 league tourney ... on that date, ninth-seeded BG held a three-point halftime lead over #1 seeded UT, before the Rockets rallied for an 81-63 win in the quarterfinals ... that was the Falcons' final game before the Curt Miller Era began ... three years ago, the Brown and Orange picked up a pair of one-point, last-second wins at then-Gund Arena, topping Western Michigan and Miami on buzzer-beating jumpers by Lindsay Austin ... that year's BG team fell to Eastern Michigan, 65-56, in the championship game ... the next year, the Falcons downed MU, EMU and Kent State in downtown Cleveland, to win the conference tournament for the first time in over a decade ... BGSU repeated as tourney champions last year, with victories over Northern Illinois, UT and KSU.
A FEW MORE NOTES FROM THE MAC TOURNEY FINAL
The win over Ball State in the MAC Tournament's championship game gave the Falcons' senior class a record of 11-1 at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena ... the Falcons have won eight consecutive games there • the game was the 900th in the history of the BGSU women's basketball team ... the Falcons now have a mark of 556-344 (.618) since becoming a varsity program • BGSU is now a perfect 5-0 vs. BSU in the conference tournament ... the game marked the teams' first-ever meeting in the championship game • the BSU game also was the Falcons' 32nd of the 2006-07 campaign, the most games in a season in program history • BG head coach Curt Miller now has a winning record against every other school in the MAC ... Miller is now 5-4 all-time vs. BSU after the championship-game victory • that Ball State game marked the 100th time that senior Ali Mann has scored in double digits in her career.
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE
Oklahoma State enters Sunday's game with an overall record of 20-10 ... the Cowgirls, appearing in the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1996, finished with a record of 8-8 in Big 12 Conference play, before falling to Kansas, 71-62, in the first round of the conference tournament ... head coach Kurt Budke's team is one of the most improved in the nation ... OSU finished 6-22 overall and 0-16 in Big 12 action a year ago, and the Cowgirls were picked to finish last in the league's preseason poll ... instead, however, the team posted the program's eighth 20-win season en route to a sixth-place finish ... individually, senior forward Rashidat Sadiq leads a balanced scoring attack with 12.8 points per game, and also paces the Cowgirls with 6.2 rebounds per contest ... freshman guard Andrea Riley and junior guard Danielle Green are averaging 12.6 and 11.8 ppg, respectively ... Riley, the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, has a team-leading 5.0 assists per game, while Green is second on the team in rebounding (6.1 rpg) ... sophomore forward Shaunte' Smith (5.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and junior forward Dominique Chism (5.0 ppg) joined the aforementioned three players in the lineup in the Kansas game ... Green and Sadiq have started all 30 games this year to date, while Riley has made 29 starts and Smith 22 ... Budke welcomed back five letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team ... Budke, 20-26 in his second season at the OSU helm, has an overall mark of 100-42 as a Division I head coach ... the school's athletics web site is okstate.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons trail Oklahoma State, 1-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... the lone prior meeting was a 72-57 Cowgirl win on Dec. 3, 1993 ... that game, a neutral-site contest, was a first-round game in the Lady Techster Dial Soap Classic in Ruston, La. ... the complete list of game-by-game series results (result, as it were) can be found in the pdf version of these notes.
BGSU VS. THE BIG 12
The Falcons have an all-time record of 3-8 against Big 12 teams ... BGSU is 1-0 against Baylor, and 1-1 vs. both Iowa State and Kansas ... the Brown and Orange, as mentioned, are 0-1 vs. Oklahoma State, and BG also has a mark of 0-1 against Nebraska ... the Falcons are 0-2 against Kansas State (including a meeting in the NCAA Championships two years ago) and Colorado ... Bowling Green has never met Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M or Texas Tech in women's basketball.
STELLAR SENIORS
The Falcons had a record of 12-16 in 2002-03, the year before the current senior class arrived on campus ... when Amber Flynn, Julie Gompers, Liz Honegger, Carin Horne, Ali Mann and Megan Thorburn were freshmen in 2003-04, BG was one of the most improved teams in the the nation ... the Falcons, picked to finish last in the West Division that season, finished second before advancing all the way to the championship game of the MAC Tournament ... the group helped the Falcons to MAC regular-season and tournament titles in both their sophomore and junior seasons ... now, as seniors, they have led the Falcons to a 29-3 overall record and the MAC regular-season and tourney titles, again ... the group has combined for 5,713 points, 2,808 rebounds, 684 assists, 663 steals and 341 blocked shots in their careers ... more importantly, they have helped the Falcons to 101 wins, four trips to the MAC Tournament's championship game, three MAC regular-season titles, three conference tourney crowns and a third consecutive NCAA Championships appearance.
1,000 POINTS OF LIGHT
Junior Kate Achter surpassed the 1,000-point milestone for her career in the Ohio game (Feb. 24), giving the 2006-07 Falcons four players that have reached the millennium mark ... Achter and seniors Ali Mann, Liz Honegger and Carin Horne all have over a thousand points in their BGSU careers ... this marks the first time that BGSU has ever had four such players on the same team at the same time ... late in the 1992-93 season - when Lori Albers, Judit Lendvay and Andrea Nordmann all had reached the milestone - was the only prior time that three active Falcons had 1,000 points at the same time.
FALCONS HAVE A QUARTET OF 1,000-POINT SCORERS
Three players on the current BGSU roster are ranked among the top-12 scorers in BGSU history, while a fourth has moved into the top-20 ... 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 1,784 points, trailing only Jackie Motycka ... senior Liz Honegger now has 1,497 points for her BGSU career, and sits in fifth place all-time at BGSU, entering the OSU game ... classmate Carin Horne surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for her career in the Oakland game (Nov. 29) ... entering Sunday's game, she has 1,308 career points to rank 12th in school history ... and, on Feb. 24, Kate Achter had 16 first-half points vs. Ohio, surpassing 1,000 points in the process ... with 18 points in the MAC Tournament title-game win over Ball State, Achter now has 1,062 career points, and is tied for 19th place on the BG list.
FOUR-FIFTHS OF YOUR LINEUP IS/ARE 1,000-POINT SCORERS?
Bowling Green is believed to be one of only two NCAA Division I teams currently boasting four 1,000-point scorers ... a survey of sports information personnel throughout the nation has turned up only BGSU and James Madison as members of that exclusive group.
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
The Falcons, as mentioned, 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.
RUNNING WITH THE FALCONS
The Falcons had a 10-0 run late in the first half of the Toledo game (March 6) ... BGSU has had a total of 35 double-digit scoring runs this year to date, after having 15 during all of last season ... by contrast, the Falcons have allowed opponents just three such runs, including none in the 16 MAC 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 (March 11), the Falcons were among the top-10 teams in five categories - win-loss pct. (third), scoring margin (fifth), field-goal percentage (sixth), three-point field-goal pct. (also sixth), and fewest turnovers (eighth) - and BG also was listed among the top-25 in scoring offense (13th), three-pointers per game (14th) and scoring defense (24th).
FLYNN-TASTIC
Amber Flynn has been a force off the bench for the Falcons all season, and the senior was rewarded by being named the MAC's Sixth Man of the Year ... Flynn, who has come off the bench in all 32 games this year, had a career-high 21 points at Kent State (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 ... Flynn had three conventional three-point plays in that game, and also led the Brown and Orange in rebounds with eight ... after a 10-point, seven-board effort in the championship game vs. the Cardinals, Flynn has had 18 double-figure scoring efforts this year to date ... she is averaging 9.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in 21.6 minutes per game this year ... Flynn ranks second in the MAC with a field-goal pct. of 59.8% (128-for-214) ... she has scored 314 points this season after a combined total of 198 in her first three years at BGSU.
LEADERS OF THE MAC
The Falcons are at the top of numerous team categories in the latest Mid-American Conference statistics (as of March 15) ... BGSU is first in no fewer than 10 categories - scoring offense (75.8), scoring defense (56.6), scoring margin (+19.2), field-goal percentage (48.2), FG pct. defense (38.4), three-point FG pct. (38.5), three-point FG pct. defense (28.7), assists (15.88), turnover margin (+6.19) and assist/turnover ratio (1.18) ... BG is second in the conference in steals (10.81) ... individually, senior Amber Flynn is second in the MAC in field-goal pct. (59.8),, while classmate Ali Mann is fifth (52.8) and junior Kate Achter ranks seventh (51.6) ... Mann is eighth in the league in scoring (15.7), while Achter is third in assists (4.88) and sixth in assist/TO ratio (1.53) ... sophomore Lindsey Goldsberry is seventh in the conference in steals (2.10) ... senior Liz Honegger is fifth in the MAC in both three-point field goals made (1.88) and three-point pct. (36.7), and she is seventh in blocked shots ... in MAC games only, the Falcons led the league in nine categories (scoring, scoring defense, scoring margin, FG pct., 3-point FG pct. defense, steals, turnover margin and assist/TO ratio) and were second in two others ... Flynn finished second in the league in FG pct. in MAC games (57.1), while Goldsberry tied for second with 2.69 steals per game ... senior Megan Thorburn was second in the MAC in three-point FG pct. (45.2).
THOR, GODDESS OF THREE POINTERS
Senior Megan Thorburn has not taken many shots over the last few games, but she has made her few attempts count ... 'Thor' was a perfect 2-for-2 in three-point field-goal tries in the Miami game (Feb. 28), and went 2-for-5 from long distance in the win over Toledo ... the Mason, Mich., native was 2-for-4 from beyond the arc in the MAC Tournament title-game win over Ball State ... Thorburn has made 47 three-pointers this year to date, after making a total of 44 in her first three seasons.
BALANCED ATTACK
The Falcons have had a great deal of success offensively this season ... much of that success stems from the fact that they don't seem to care which player scores those points, and they will make the 'extra pass' to find the open teammate ... that has led to some balanced scoring ... BGSU had at least five double-digit scorers in each of the last three regular-season games ... six players each scored at least 10 points in the game at Kent State (Feb. 20), and the Falcons had five twin-figure scorers vs. both Ohio and Miami to close the regular season ... BG had 'only' three double-digit scorers in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals vs. Toledo, but a fourth player had eight points while two others scored six apiece ... four players hit double digits, with a fifth scoring nine points, vs. Eastern Michigan, and the Falcons had four more twin-figure scorers vs. Ball State.
HONEGGER, MANN ON REBOUNDING LISTS
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 888 to rank fourth on the BG list ... Mann surpassed the 800-board mark later in January ... with Honegger's playing time limited due to injury in the MAC Tournament, Mann has moved past Honegger into third place on the career rebounding list ... Mann currently has a total of 890 caroms.
SHE CAN DISH IT OUT AND TAKE IT
Junior Kate Achter, as mentioned, has surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career, and is tied for 19th in school history with 1,062 points as a Falcon ... the point guard has moved onto the BGSU assists list as well as the scoring chart ... she now has a career total of 430, ranking her fifth all-time ... Achter has joined Lindsay Austin (2000-04) as the only players in BGSU history to reach both 1,000 points and 400 assists for a career.
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 Oklahoma State game, that group has combined to make no fewer than 509 starts in their respective Falcon careers to date ... each of the five has started at least 84 games.
LET'S GET IT STARTED: HONEGGER TIES RECORD
As mentioned, the five BGSU starters have combined to make a total of 509 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 124 career starts, while Mann has started 123 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 32 games this year ... the Falcons are now 46-4 overall when that fivesome takes the court for the opening tip ... that group went 29-1 in MAC regular-season 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 ... three days later, Curt Miller inserted Honegger into the starting lineup, and she has been there ever since ... as mentioned, she now has a BGSU career-record 124 starts ... she also holds the school mark for consecutive starts, also 124 games.
STRONG SHOOTING
The Falcons shot a blistering 60.9 percent from the field in each half in the MAC Tournament championship-game win over Ball State ... BGSU has now shot 50.0% or better in 15 games this season, after doing so a total of 14 times in Curt Miller's first five seasons combined.
HORNE MOVES INTO TOP FIVE IN STEALS
Senior Carin Horne tied for team honors with four steals vs. Toledo (March 6) ... she now has 215 for her career, and has moved into fourth place on the school career list ... the school record is 244, set by Lindsay Austin (2000-04) ... senior Liz Honegger is now sixth on that list with 197 career steals.
TOP O' THE CHARTS
It's pretty obvious, just by watching them play, that seniors Ali Mann and Liz Honegger are two of the best players ever to don a BGSU uniform ... the statistical data would back that up as well ... both players are ranked among the top-five Falcons in both career scoring and rebounding ... Mann is in second place on the scoring chart, and now has 1,784 career points, while Honegger is fourth with 1,497 points entering the OSU game ... Mann ranks third in rebounding, with 890 as a Falcon, while Honegger has a total of 888 to rank fourth on that chart ... Honegger's name will remain all over the BGSU records lists, as she is the school's career leader in games started (124), three-point field goals made (211) and attempted (589) and blocks (184) ... Mann is the BG career leader in free throws made (477) and attempted (668), and she is second in games started (123) and field goals made (603), and fifth in FG attempts (1,240).
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 OSU game with 211 treys and 184 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 still has turned up no other such players as of Wednesday, March 14.
