Falcons Face No. 14/15 Dayton to Open Five-Game Homestand

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, riding a five-game winning streak, returns home for an extended period of time ... the Falcons of head coach Jennifer Roos begin a season-long five-game homestand by facing the nationally-ranked University of Dayton on Sunday afternoon (Dec. 30) ... tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center (4,347).

DOLLAR DAY
• The BGSU department of athletics is offering special promotions to several upcoming home events, including Sunday's Dayton game ... Sunday will be 'Dollar Day' at the Stroh Center, as fans can purchase seats in sections 106 through 112 for just one dollar apiece ... additionally, hot dogs wll be available for only $1 at the Stroh Center concession stands.

• A similar promotion will be taking place Saturday night (Dec. 29), as the BGSU hockey team also hosts a nationally-ranked foe ... Saturday is 'Buck Night' at the BGSU Ice Arena, as the Falcons take on Niagara University in a 7:00 p.m. start ... popcorn will be available for $1 at the BGSU Ice Arena concession stands.

QUICK HITS
• BGSU senior Chrissy Steffen is approaching a career milestone, as she is just nine points away from reaching 1,000 career points at BGSU ... Steffen has a total of 991 points in 106 career games as a Falcon ... the Carmel, Ind., native is looking to become the 25th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

• The Falcons face a nationally-ranked opponent on Sunday afternoon ... Dayton is ranked No. 14 in the latest USA Today Sports Top 25 poll, and the Flyers are 15th in the Associated Press poll ... the rankings are the highest in program history.

• BGSU enters Sunday's game with an all-time record of 4-30 against nationally-ranked teams ... the Falcons have a 3-11 mark in such games since Jennifer Roos arrived in Northwest Ohio ... BG is 2-4 in home games. vs. nationally-ranked foes over the years, including 0-1 at the Stroh Center.

• The Dayton game, as mentioned, begins a season-long five-game homestand for the Falcons ... following Sunday's game, BGSU will close the non-conference schedule and begin the 2013 calendar year by hosting UCF on Friday (Jan. 4) ... the Falcons' first three MAC games will be played at the Stroh in a seven-day span, with Kent State (Jan. 10), Toledo (Jan. 13) and Ball State (Jan. 16) coming to town during that time ... BG's next road game is Jan. 20 at Ohio.

• The Falcons, after starting the year with a 3-3 record, have won five consecutive games, including a 64-61 win at Massachusetts on Dec. 19 ... that victory enabled BGSU to reach a program – and conference – milestone ... the Falcons are the first Mid-American Conference school with 700 overall wins ... BG will enter the Dayton game with an all-time record of 700-380, good for a winning percentage of 64.8% ... the Falcons have the most wins (obviously) and highest winning pct. of any MAC program.

• Redshirt junior Alexis Rogers earned MAC Player-of-the-Week honors for her performance in the win at UMass ... Rogers had a double-double vs. the Minutewomen, with 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds ... she went 8-for-9 at the free-throw line, including a perfect 4-for-4 in the final 28.5 seconds ... the first two of those tosses gave the Falcons a one-point lead ... then, after BGSU held on the next defensive possession, Rogers grabbed a rebound, was fouled and made two more FTs with just 1.3 seconds left.

• The Falcons have become quite familiar with the Atlantic 10 Conference this season ... Dayton is the fourth A-10 opponent for BGSU in 2012-13, and the second in as many games ... the Brown and Orange lost to Temple, but defeated Butler, with both of those meetings coming at the Stroh Center ... BG is currently 2-1 vs. Atlantic 10 foes after the win at UMass prior to the holidays.

• The last game against Dayton did not go well from a BGSU perspective ... last season, the host Flyers drilled the Falcons, 69-38, in the season opener for both teams (Nov. 11, 2011) ... the Falcons' point total was the team's lowest in nearly nine years, and the 31-point margin of defeat was BG's largest in seven seasons.

• Rogers has scored 63 points over the last three games, with a game-high 25 at Northwestern, 20 more against Wyoming and 18 at UMass ... after missing the season opener vs. Madonna, she scored 43 points over the next seven games (5.9 ppg), before averaging 21.0 ppg in the last three contests.

• Steffen is averaging 17.7 ppg over the last three games, including 14 at Northwestern and a game-high 21 vs. UW ... Rogers and Steffen (39 points) combined to outscore the entire Northwestern team in that BG win ... Steffen had 18 points at UMass to tie Rogers for team honors.

• Junior point guard Jillian Halfhill has averaged an impressive 7.0 rebounds per game during the Falcons' five-game winning streak ... the 5-foot-6 Halfhill obliterated her previous career best with 13 boards against Colorado State ... she had five rebounds vs. Butler, eight at NU and seven more vs. Wyoming.

THE FALCONS VS. NATIONALLY-RANKED TEAMS
• BGSU has an all-time record of 4-30 against nationally-ranked teams, including a 2-4 record at home (0-1 at the Stroh Center) and a 3-11 mark since Jennifer Roos arrived at BG ... a few more notes about BGSU and top-25 foes ...

• All three of the Falcons' wins over nationally-ranked teams since 2001 have come against Vanderbilt ... BGSU downed the Commodores, 59-56, in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Championships in East Lansing, Mich., en route to the only 'Sweet Sixteen' appearance in school and MAC history ... BGSU went to Nashville three years ago (Dec. 4, 2009) and posted a 66-60 win ... and, two years ago, the Falcons vanquished Vandy at Anderson Arena, 69-58 (Dec. 1, 2010).

• The latter win over the 'Dores was only the second home victory over a nationally-ranked team in BGSU history ... the first came against Purdue in the 1991-92 season opener, as the Falcons downed the 10th-ranked Boilermakers at Anderson Arena in Jaci Clark's head-coaching debut (Nov. 23, 1991).

• Dayton will be the second nationally-ranked foe to face BGSU at the Stroh Center ... last season, Purdue pulled out a one-point victory, 54-53, over the Falcons in the first-ever regular-season women's basketball game in the building (Nov. 17, 2011).

• BGSU has not had many chances to defeat a top-25 team at home, as Sunday will mark only the seventh time a nationally-ranked foe has ventured to Bowling Green ... in addition to the aforementioned Vanderbilt and Purdue games, the other home games vs. top-25 opponents came against Georgia (82-63 loss; Dec. 19, 1994) and Notre Dame ... the Irish have come to BG twice as a top-25 team, downing BG, 85-70, in the 1996-97 opener (Nov. 23, 1996) and topping the Falcons in overtime five years ago (86-84; Dec. 5, 2007).

THE 700 CLUB
Bowling Green's win at Massachusetts (Dec. 19) was the 700th victory in program history ... the Falcons now have an all-time varsity record of 700-380, good for a winning percentage of .648 ... BG has the most victories and highest winning percentage among all Mid-American Conference programs.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Dayton game with a record of 8-3 on the season ... BGSU has won five games in a row to begin the month of December, starting with home victories over Colorado State (71-49; Dec. 1) and Butler (67-47; Dec. 5) ... the Brown and Orange then went on the road to record a third-straight win of 20-plus points, downing Northwestern, 60-37, in Chicagoland (Dec. 9) ... BG returned home to post a 79-69 win over Wyoming (Dec. 16), and won a 64-61 decision at Massachusetts (Dec. 19) prior to breaking for the holidays.

BGSU opened the 2012-13 campaign with a 68-57 win over Madonna at the Stroh (Nov. 10), then hit the road and bested Niagara, 79-74 (Nov. 15) ... BG then suffered back-to-back losses at Purdue (45-59; Nov. 19) and against Villanova, with the latter setback coming by a 53-42 score in Las Vegas (Nov. 24).

• The Brown and Orange bounced back with a 64-54 win over host UNLV (Nov. 25), before falling to Temple, 70-56, at the Stroh (Nov. 28) ... again, though, after losing to a Philadelphia Big Five school, the Falcons responded with a win over a Mountain West Conference foe, as BG topped CSU to begin the current five-game win streak.

• The Falcons are 4-1 at home, 4-1 on the road and 0-1 in neutral-site games this season to date ... BGSU has a scoring margin of +5.9, and the Falcons lead the MAC in rebounding margin, at +6.3.

• Individually, senior Chrissy Steffen paces a balanced Falcon scoring attack, with 12.5 points per game ... Steffen also averages 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per contest, and she leads the Brown and Orange with 20 successful three-point field goals this season ... the senior is shooting a team-best 47.5% from the floor.

• Redshirt junior Alexis Rogers and true junior Jillian Halfhill have 10.4 and 9.0 ppg, respectively ... Rogers has a team-leading 6.3 rpg, and she also leads BGSU in steals (1.6 spg) ... Halfhill has 5.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest, leading the team in helpers and ranking third in boards.

• Fifth-year senior Danielle Havel has 8.0 ppg, and is near the top of the team lists in a multitude of categories ... she is second on the Falcons in both rebounds (5.9 rpg) and assists (2.5 apg), and leads the Brown and Orange in blocked shots ... Havel also paces the Falcons in free-throw percentage (80.0%) and three-point accuracy (38.5%) and ranks second in field-goal pct. (44.6%) ... she has three double-doubles on the young season, tops among Falcon players.

• Sophomore Jasmine Matthews has 5.9 ppg, while freshman Miriam Justinger averages 5.0 ppg ... Matthews is second on the Falcons in three-pointers, having hit 14 long-range attempts on the season ... Justinger is 6-of-13 (46.2%) from three-point land and 21-of-27 (77.8%) from the free-throw line this year to date.

• Junior Jill Stein and senior Allison Papenfuss have 4.2 and 4.1 ppg, respectively ... Papenfuss has 3.8 rebounds per contest, while Stein has 3.7 rpg ... Papenfuss was limited to just two minutes of action on Wyoming due to illness, but returned to the rotation at UMass, with four points and six rebounds in 10 minutes of action ... freshman Bailey Cairnduff averages 3.9 points per outing, and has made seven three-pointers this season to rank fifth on the Falcons.

• Each of the aforementioned nine players has scored in double digits at least once this season.

• Junior Katrina Salinas is averaging 1.9 ppg in her first season at BGSU, while sophomore Deborah Hoekstra has played in five games and is averaging 1.0 ppg.

• Halfhill, Havel and Steffen each have started all 11 games to date, while Rogers has made 10 starts ... Cairnduff started the first four games of the season, while Matthews has been in the starting lineup in each of the last seven contests.

• Head coach Jennifer Roos welcomed back nine letterwinners, including four starters, from a year ago ... the Brown and Orange went 24-7 overall and 14-2 in the MAC in 2011-12.

• The Falcons are shooting .382 from the field, and BG is .329 from three-point range and .703 from the free-throw line through the first 11 games ... the opponents have shot .399 from the floor, .294 from beyond the arc and .701 from the stripe.

MILLENNIUM FALCON: STEFFEN EYES 1,000-POINT MARK
Senior Chrissy Steffen's 18-point game at UMass moved her ever closer to a career milestone ... Steffen now has a total of 991 points in 106 career games at BGSU ... the Carmel, Ind., native is looking to become the 25th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

A QUICK LOOK AT DAYTON
Dayton has a record of 12-0 on the season ... the Flyers are ranked 14th in the nation in the USA Today Sports Top 25 poll, and UD is 15th in the Associated Press poll ... the rankings are the highest in program history ... Dayton's last two wins, both on the road, have come by over 30 points apiece, including a 90-59 win at Akron (Dec. 18) and a 91-53 victory against Siena (Dec. 22) ... the Flyers are 5-0 at home, 5-0 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site matches to date ... sophomore forward Ally Malott leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 13.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game ... another sophomore, guard Andrea Hoover, has 12.1 ppg and 5.8 rpg, while junior guard Sam MacKay has 11.0 ppg, 4.9 rpg and a team-leading 5.6 assists per game ... she also paces the Flyers with 2.6 steals per outing ... sophomore center Cassie Sant and freshman guard Amber Deane, who average 9.8 ppg apiece, round out the probable starting lineup for head coach Jim Jabir ... Jabir welcomed back six letterwinners, including just one starter (Hoover), from the 2011-12 team ... last year, the Flyers went 23-7 overall and 12-2 in Atlantic 10 Conference play ... UD won the A-10 Tournament title last season, advancing to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive year.

THE SERIES
BGSU leads Dayton, 10-9, in the all-time series between the schools ... the Falcons had won six consecutive meetings before UD snapped that streak in a big way, with a 69-38 dismantling of the Brown and Orange in last year's opener (Nov. 11, 2011) ... other than last season, the teams' only two other meetings in the last two decades both came in calendar year 2008 ... the Falcons captured a 64-52 victory at Anderson Arena in the WNIT on March 20, 2008 ... then, BG downed the host Flyers, 77-68, in the championship game of the Dayton Flyer Classic (Dec. 29, 2008) ... BG is 5-3 in home games and 4-6 in road contests (the site of one meeting is unknown) vs. UD through the years.

RUNNING WITH THE FALCONS
BGSU has put together a total of eight double-digit runs this season to date, including a season-best 15-0 run vs. Colorado State and two double-figure runs each against both Butler and Northwestern ... perhaps not surprisingly, the Falcons are undefeated – 6-0 – when scoring at least 10 consecutive points in a game ... the opponents have put together only two double-digit runs ... Temple scored 10-straight points in a win over the Falcons, and UMass had 11 in a row in a narrow BG win.

THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 8-3 on the young season, after finishing with a 24-7 record last year;
• 14-2 in MAC play in 2011-12, having earned an eighth-straight division title;
• 266-95 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 135-41 in MAC games in that time:
• 245-60 over the last nine-plus years, with 2011-12 marking BG's ninth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 224-50 in the past eight-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins in eight-straight seasons and a MAC overall regular-season title in seven of those eight years (2004-10 and again in '12, after winning an East Division crown in 2011);
• an eye-popping 204-42 overall, and 100-12 in the MAC regular season, in the last seven-plus years, with at least 24 wins in each of the last seven years;
• a splendiferous 173-39 in the last six-plus years, including an 84-12 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 142-35 overall, and 69-11 in MAC regular-season games, in the last five-plus seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 116-27 overall and 56-8 in MAC action over the last four-plus winters;
• 87-22, including a 41-7 MAC ledger, since seniors Simone Eli, Allison Papenfuss and Chrissy Steffen ventured to BGSU;
• 60-15 overall and 27-5 in the MAC in the BG playing careers of senior Danielle Havel and juniors Jillian Halfhill and Jill Stein;
• 32-10 overall, and 14-2 in MAC action, since junior Alexis Rogers and sophomores Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 121-15 in the last 136 games vs. MAC foes (regular-season and tournament);
• A perfect 59-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field since 2001;
• 212-10 when having a better FG pct. than the opposition in that time, including an 84-0 mark in the last four-plus seasons;
• 203-34 when making more free throws than the opponent in the Roos Assistant-Coach/Associate-Head-Coach/Interim-Head-Coach/Head-Coaching Era;
• 165-16 when outrebounding the opponent in that 11-plus-year span;
• 59-5 in MAC home games in the last eight seasons;
• 48-8 in MAC road games over the last seven years;
• 18-3 in the MAC Tournament in the last seven years, with five titles (2005, '06, '07, '10 and '11), an additional championship-game appearance (2009), and trips to the semis in 2008 and 2012;
• 42-17 overall in the MAC Tournament since it was instituted in 1982;
• 20-5 at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena, the site of the MAC Tournament;
• 45-5 in all non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season;
• 5-15 in 15 national postseason appearances (including a 3-11 record in the NCAA Championships and a 2-4 mark in WNIT trips);
• 4-8 in national postseason action since Roos arrived at BG (including a 2-5 mark in the NCAAs and a 2-3 record in the WNIT); and
• 18-3 in the Stroh Center, with two of the three losses coming by a single point.

BG WINNING THE BATTLE OF THE BOARDS
The Falcons have won the rebounding battle in nine of the season's first 11 games, and BGSU has pulled down at least six more boards than the opponent in each of those nine contests ... the Falcons have posted a double-digit advantage on the glass three times this season ... on the year, the Falcons have a MAC-best rebounding margin of +6.3.

UP NEXT
Following the Dayton game, the Falcons will close the non-conference schedule and begin the 2013 calendar year with a Friday (Jan. 4) game vs. UCF ... that game, the second contest in a season-long five-game homestand, will begin at 7:00 p.m.

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