Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Announces 2007-08 Women's Basketball Schedule
August 20, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Aug. 20, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team has announced the 2007-08 schedule. The Falcons of head coach Curt Miller, coming off a 31-win season and the first NCAA `Sweet 16' appearance in Mid-American Conference history, will play a rugged non-conference schedule before diving into the 16-game conference slate in January of 2008.
The Falcons' home schedule consists of 12 regular-season games, including a non-conference contest vs. Notre Dame at "The House That Roars."
"I am excited about our schedule," said Miller. "Our non-conference schedule certainly will be challenging, but with 11 of our 14 players being either freshmen or sophomores, it was our plan to play a demanding schedule to have them ready for MAC play."
That non-conference schedule includes five teams that advanced to national postseason play a year ago.
In league action, the Falcons, winners of the last three MAC regular-season and tournament championships, will play two games against each of the five other East Division schools, while facing each of the six West Division teams once apiece.
The East Division consists of Akron, Buffalo, Kent State, Miami and Ohio, in addition to the Brown and Orange. The Falcons will open the league slate with five games vs. East Division opponents, before playing six contests vs. West Division foes and concluding the regular-season schedule with five more games against the East.
In non-conference action, the Falcons will host Valparaiso, St. Bonaventure and Chicago State, in addition to the Fighting Irish. BGSU will compete in tournaments at Cornell and Iowa State, while also making two-game swings to Nashville and the East Coast. And, the Falcons will head to Bloomington to face Indiana of the Big Ten Conference.
The regular season begins with a home game vs. Valpo on Friday, Nov. 9, before the Brown and Orange head to Music City to meet Lipscomb (Nov. 15) and Belmont (Nov. 18). The latter opponent advanced to the NCAA Championships last season.
BGSU returns home to face St. Bonaventure the following weekend (Nov. 24), before heading to Ithaca, N.Y., for the Cornell Classic on Nov. 30-Dec. 1. In the first round, the Falcons will face Florida Gulf Coast University. The Eagles, a newcomer to NCAA Division I this season, finished as the NCAA Division II national runners-up a year ago. The Falcons will face either Gardner Webb or the host Big Red on the second day of the Cornell Classic.
Notre Dame comes to town on Wed., Dec. 5, for the Falcons' last home game of the 2007 calendar year. The Falcons lost an overtime game to the Irish last season at UND's Joyce Center. UND went on to win 20 games and advance to the second round of the NCAA Championships.
That Notre Dame game begins a difficult stretch for the Brown and Orange, as it begins a five-game stretch in which BGSU will play four teams that advanced to postseason play. "Our December stretch is as tough as any schedule put together by my staff," said Miller, who enters his seventh season at the Falcon helm in 2007-08.
Following a break for fall semester exams, the Falcons will play three road games in three different states in a six-day span. The Brown and Orange will venture to Assembly Hall to face Indiana on Dec. 16, and BGSU then will make a two-game swing to meet Mount St. Mary's (Dec. 19) and Delaware (Dec. 21). The Falcons and UD met last season in Anderson Arena, with BGSU mounting a second-half comeback to deal the Fightin' Blue Hens one of their few losses. This year's matchup features a pair of teams that went a combined 57-10 a year ago, as UD finished 26-6 and advanced to the NCAAs.
Following the Christmas holiday, the Falcons will hit the road once again, this time for three games in as many days in the American Family Insurance Cyclone Shoot-Out in Ames, Iowa. The Brown and Orange will meet host Iowa State (Dec. 28), Hampton (Dec. 29) and Tennessee Martin (Dec. 30) in the round-robin event. ISU went 26-9 a year ago, advancing to the second round of the NCAA tourney.
"The trip to Iowa State should be a great experience for our young team," said Miller. "ISU has one of the largest fan bases in the country, and it will be a great atmosphere."
A home game vs. Chicago State on Jan. 5 begins the 2008 calendar year and a three-game homestand, and also ends the non-league portion of the schedule. Miller and the Falcons will open the MAC slate four days later (Jan. 9) with a home game vs. Akron., and also will host Ohio (Jan. 12) before playing back-to-back road games vs. Kent State (Jan. 16) and Buffalo (Jan. 19). Ohio is the only team to defeat the Falcons in Anderson Arena in the last 31 home games, dating to February of 2005.
A home contest vs. Miami (Jan. 23) closes out the first phase of the league schedule.
In the cross-divisional games, BGSU will host Western Michigan, Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan, while hitting the road to face Ball State, Toledo and Central Michigan.
BG heads to Muncie for a Jan. 26 game vs. BSU to begin the Falcons' six-game swing vs. the West. The Falcons and Cardinals met in the championship game of the 2007 Kraft MAC Tournament. The Brown and Orange then will return home to close the month of January against WMU (Jan. 30).
February begins with a short trip north to face arch-rival UT on Groundhog Day (Feb. 2). BGSU then has a week before the next game, a home contest vs. NIU on Feb. 9. The inter-divisional portion of the schedule closes with a trip to CMU (Feb. 13) and a home game vs. EMU (Feb. 16). BGSU met Eastern in the semifinals of last year's conference tourney.
The final five games of the regular season see the Falcons facing East Division opponents once again. BG hosts Kent State on Feb. 20, before a two-game road swing to Miami (Feb. 23) and Ohio (Feb. 27) closes the month of February.
A March 1 game closes the home portion of the schedule for the Brown and Orange, with BGSU's seniors - Kate Achter and Whitney Taylor - being recognized prior to that contest. Then, the Falcons end the regular season with a March 5 game at Akron, in what BG hopes will be the first of many games in Northeast Ohio. Following the close of the regular season, all 12 conference teams will convene in Cleveland for the 2008 MAC Tournament.
"As always, we want to enjoy success during the non-conference portion of the season," said Miller. "But, most importantly, we want to prepare ourselves for the MAC schedule. We want to work hard and improve each day, and we want to be playing our best basketball in February and March."
The Falcons, as mentioned, are coming off a 31-4 season, in which Miller and company won both the MAC's regular-season and tournament titles for the third year in a row. BGSU set school and conference records for overall victories for the second-straight year, and the 2006-07 Falcons won the most games by a MAC basketball team - men or women - in league history.
The complete 2007-08 schedule follows. For the most up-to-date schedule throughout the season, click the 'Schedule' link on the women's basketball page, or consult the Monthly Athletic Calendar here at BGSUFalcons.com.
BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
2007-08 SCHEDULE
NOVEMBER
Fri., 9...........VALPARAISO Thu., 15..........at Lipscomb Sun., 18..........at Belmont Sat., 24..........ST. BONAVENTURE Fri., 30..........vs. Florida Gulf Coast &
DECEMBER
Sat., 1...........vs. Gardner Webb / at Cornell & Wed., 5...........NOTRE DAME Sun., 16..........at Indiana Wed., 19..........at Mount St. Mary's Fri., 21..........at Delaware Fri., 28..........at Iowa State $ Sat., 29..........vs. Hampton $ Sun., 30..........vs. Tennessee Martin $
JANUARY
Sat., 5...........CHICAGO STATE Wed., 9...........AKRON * Sat., 12..........OHIO * Wed., 16..........at Kent State * Sat., 19..........at Buffalo * Tue., 22..........MIAMI * Sat., 26..........at Ball State * Wed., 30..........WESTERN MICHIGAN *
FEBRUARY
Sat., 2...........at Toledo * Sat., 9...........NORTHERN ILLINOIS * Wed., 13..........at Central Michigan * Sat., 16..........EASTERN MICHIGAN * Wed., 20..........KENT STATE * Sat., 23..........at Miami * Wed., 27..........at Ohio *
MARCH
Sat., 1...........BUFFALO * Wed., 5...........at Akron * Sun., 9...........MAC Tournament First Round ^ Tue., 11..........MAC Tournament Quarterfinals ^ Fri., 14..........MAC Tournament Semifinals ^ Sat., 15..........MAC Tournament Championship ^HOME games at Anderson Arena * Mid-American Conference game & Cornell Classic (Ithaca, N.Y.) $ American Family Insurance Cyclone Shoot-Out (Ames, Iowa) ^ Quicken Loans Arena; Cleveland, Ohio - dates subject to change
