Falcons Face Ohio to Conclude MAC-Opening Homestand

Thursday, January 12

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Ohio

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Jasmine Matthews vs Madonna - Dec 21 2011

Freshman Jasmine Matthews and the Falcons host Ohio Thursday night at the Stroh (photo by Doug Sampson)

January 11, 2012 | Women's Basketball

BGSU battles Bobcats Thursday night at the Stroh Center

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, looking to extend a five-game winning streak, concludes a three-game homestand with a Thursday evening (Jan. 12) contest ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller will welcome Ohio University to town, with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. inside BGSU's brand-new Stroh Center.

HANDY LINKS
BGSU NOTES & STATS
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO (BG feed) | LIVE AUDIO | TICKETS
BGSU STATS | BGSU MEDIA GUIDE
CAREER STATS OF 2011-12 FALCONS

QUICK HITS
• The Falcons are off to a 2-0 start in MAC play, after posting wins over a pair of Northeast Ohio foes last week ... BGSU downed Kent State, 76-57, on Wednesday night (Jan. 4), before topping Akron by a 62-58 count Saturday afternoon (Jan. 7) ... both games, of course, took place at the Stroh Center.

• BGSU has started MAC play with a 2-0 record for the eighth consecutive season ... the Falcons are looking to move to 3-0 in conference action for the seventh-straight year ... BG has posted at least a 4-0 league start in five of the last six years, and have won the first seven games of the MAC season four times in that six-year span.

• Redshirt sophomore Alexis Rogers had a monster game in Saturday's win over Akron ... Rogers had 26 points and 14 rebounds, posting career-high totals in both categories, in the win over the Zips ... she had a double-double in the second half alone, with 19 points and 10 boards after the intermission.

• Rogers also posted career-high numbers in both field goals made and attempted (19) ... she made 12 of her team's 20 buckets vs. the Zips, including nine of the Falcons' 14 second-half hoops.

• For Rogers, the double-double was her third of the season and of her career, and it was her second double-double in as many games ... Rogers averaged 21.0 points and 12.5 rebounds per game in the first week of MAC play.

• Rogers was recognized by College Sports Madness, as the web site named her the conference player of the week ... it marked the second-straight week that a BG player received the honor, as junior Chrissy Steffen was similarly recognized the previous week.

• The Falcons have struggled to shoot the ball over the first two MAC games, but BGSU has made up for those shooting woes with relentless rebounding ... BG shot a combined 33.6 percent against KSU and Akron, but the Falcons had a total of 105 rebounds (52.5 per game) to the opponents' 69 (34.5 rpg).

• BG had a 43-9 advantage in second-chance points over the first two MAC games.

• On Saturday, BGSU had 53 rebounds to the Zips' 41 ... that came after the Falcons had a 52-28 rebounding advantage against KSU ... the Akron game marked the 10th-straight game that BG has held the advantage on the boards ... the Falcons had been outrebounded in each of the season's first five games ... BGSU is now 9-1 this season and 157-14 in the Curt Miller Era when outrebounding the opponent.

• Coincidentally (or perhaps not), the Falcons' 10-game rebounding streak has come after freshman Kaila Hulls was unofficially named the team's 'rebounding coach' ... Hulls, who is sitting out the season due to injury, has had much more success in the 'rebounding coach' department than her predecessor, assistant coach Kevin Eckert.

• Redshirt junior Danielle Havel joined Rogers in double figures in the rebounding department on Saturday afternoon, tying her career high with 10 boards ... it was the second game in a row that two BG players pulled down 10 or more rebounds.

• Rogers, as mentioned, had a double-double in each of last week's games, having amassed 16 points and 11 rebounds vs. Kent State ... and, Steffen had a career-high scoring output for the second-straight game, with 27 points vs. the Flashes, and also set a career standard with 10 boards.

• Freshman guard Jasmine Matthews is not counted on for her rebounding, but has increased her totals in that department over the last week ... Matthews, who had a grand total of five rebounds in the first 13 games, had six last week alone ... she pulled down three boards against both Kent State and Akron.

• Senior Jessica Slagle had a well-rounded stat line in the win over Akron ... she scored 14 points, just two points away from matching her career high ... Slagle also had eight rebounds, just one shy of her career best, and added five assists, four steals and two blocks ... the steals total was a new career standard, and the assists and blocks totals tied her career bests.

• Slagle did not have more than two assists in any of the first 11 games of the season, but has averaged 4.0 helpers over the last four contests, all wins ... she matched her then career-high total with four assists at Wyoming (Dec. 29), then had five assists vs. both Colorado State (Dec. 31) and UA.

• Heading into that Wyoming game, Slagle had not played as many as 34 minutes in a game since her freshman year ... now, however, she has been on the court for at least 35 minutes in three of the last four contests ... Slagle has set a new career high in that department three times in that four-game span, playing 35 minutes at Wyo, 36 vs. KSU and 38 against Akron.

• Former Falcon standout Megan Thorburn returns to Northwest Ohio on Thursday night ... she is in her second season as an assistant coach at Ohio ... Thorburn, a 2007 BGSU graduate, was a senior on the 2006-07 team that advanced all the way to the 'Sweet Sixteen' of the NCAA Championships.

• The Falcons are the winningest team in MAC history, and BGSU has become the first league women's hoops program to post 350 conference victories ... BG is now 350-145 in MAC regular-season games, for a winning percentage of 70.7% – the most wins and highest percentage of any conference team.

• After going with the same starting lineup for the first 10 games of the year, Miller made a change for the Madonna game on Dec. 21 ... Matthews joined Slagle, Havel, Steffen and Rogers in the starting five vs. the Crusaders ... Matthews now has started each of the last five games for the Brown and Orange.

• Matthews became the first freshman to start a game for BGSU in four seasons ... then-freshmen Lauren Prochaska and Crystal Murdaugh each started all 34 games in 2007-08, while Chelsea Albert made six starts that season.

• The Falcons, after beginning the season with a pair of losses, have won 12 of the last 13 games ... the lone loss in that time came by two points (49-47) at Creighton on Dec. 18.

WAYS TO FOLLOW BGSU-OHIO
The best way to follow BGSU women's basketball, of course, is to be at the Stroh Center on Thursday evening when the Falcons host Ohio ... but, fans who can't make it to a BG game can follow the Falcons all year long in a variety of ways ...

• RADIO/AUDIO STREAM: The Ohio game – like every game on the 2011-12 schedule – can be heard on the radio at WBGU-FM 88.1, and the audio stream will be available, free of charge, at BGSUFalcons.com.

• TELEVISION: Six of the Falcons' home games – including the Ohio contest – are scheduled to be televised in the Toledo area on BCSN ... two additional games at the Stroh Center, along with one road contest, will be aired as the MAC Game of the Week by SportsTime Ohio ... the televised games can be found in the schedule on page 1 of these notes.

• VIDEO STREAMING: All home games will be available via live video stream, through B2/America One, for a small fee ... fans can watch the action on their computers by visiting BGSUFalcons.com and clicking on the America One logo on the right-hand side of the page ... a number of the Falcons' road games also will have live video, at the jurisdiction of the host school, and the link(s) will be available at BGSUFalcons.com ... the video production for home games is courtesy of the campus television station, WBGU-TV.

• LIVE STATS: Links are also available at BGSUFalcons.com for live stats for all home games (and all road games in which the host team provides live stats [which should be all road games]).

The links to the audio, video and stats can be found at BGSUFalcons.com, in the 'schedule' section on the home page, or by accessing the women's basketball schedule and choosing that day's game.

UP NEXT
Following the Ohio game, the Falcons will take to the road for the next two games, beginning with a Sunday (Jan. 15) contest against the University at Buffalo ... tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at UB's Alumni Arena ... then, the Brown and Orange will conclude the first round of intradivisional play with a game at Miami University on Thursday, Jan. 19 ... BGSU's next home game will be on Sunday, Jan. 22, vs. Eastern Michigan University.