Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, November 15
Bowling Green, OH
6:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Niagara ^
BGSU Welcomes Niagara to Town as Home Schedule Commences
November 14, 2013 | Women's Basketball
PDF NOTES & STATS: BGSU | NIAGARA
VIDEO: Coach Roos Previews the Niagara Game
BGSU-NIAGARA IN A NUTSHELL
• The Falcons are 2-0 on the young season. BGSU picked up a pair of wins at the Iona Tip-Off Tournament last weekend, defeating Michigan, 63-52, on Friday afternoon (Nov. 8), and topping host Iona by a 51-50 final on Saturday (Nov. 9).
• Niagara is 0-1 on the year, after a 93-73 loss at home against Lehigh on Friday.
• This marks the second-ever meeting, but the second in as many years, between BGSU and Niagara. The teams met exactly a year prior to this season's game, with the Falcons picking up a 79-74 win in Western New York last Nov. 15.
#MA(A)CTION
The Falcons' game vs. Niagara will be BG's second-straight contest vs. a team from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. In fact, the Falcons are scheduled to play a total of four MAAC teams in the first month of the season. In addition to Iona and Niagara, the Brown and Orange will face Marist and Monmouth as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge.
LAST TIME(S) OUT: FALCONS WIN IONA TIP-OFF TOURNAMENT
• The Falcons began the 2013-14 season with a pair of wins in New Rochelle, N.Y. BGSU downed Michigan, 63-52, on Friday (Nov. 8), before topping host Iona by a 51-50 count on Saturday (Nov. 9) to win the championship at the Iona Tip-Off Tournament.
• Senior Jillian Halfhill led the way for the Brown and Orange vs. U-M, with game-high totals of 18 points and five assists. In her first game as a Falcon, redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan had 15 points.
• The Falcons never trailed, and BG scored the first seven points of the game. A 10-0 run gave the Falcons an 18-5 lead, and after U-M crept back to within two points late in the first half, BG surged back out to a double-digit lead. After the Wolverines got within six points early in the second period, another BGSU rally extended the lead to double figures once again, where it remained for most of the final 15 minutes.
• Against Iona, senior Alexis Rogers led the Falcons with a double-double, scoring 15 points and pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds, while Halfhill had 10 points on the day. Another senior, Jill Stein, narrowly missed a double-double of her own, with eight points and nine boards.
• The Falcons led for most of the afternoon, and BGSU held a six-point lead, 47-41, with under five minutes to go. Iona, though, would score the next seven points, with a Damika Martinez jumper giving the Gaels a 48-47 lead with 2:38 remaining.
• Rogers answered for the Falcons, but Martinez, who led all players with 25 points, hit a jumper with 36.9 seconds to go. Halfhill, however, split a pair of defenders and hit what proved to be the winning layup with 16.8 seconds left.
QUICK HITS
• Head coach Jennifer Roos is in her second season at the BG helm, but her 13th overall season with the program. Roos was hired as the Falcons' head coach on the evening of April 16, 2012, and was formally introduced at a press conference the following day.
• Roos, of course, has been on the BGSU staff for over a decade, having been Curt Miller's first hire when he took the head-coaching job in 2001. Roos spent three seasons as an assistant coach, and served as Miller's associate head coach for the next eight years. BG captured Mid-American Conference divisional titles in each of those eight years, winning the MAC regular-season title outright in seven of those seasons.
• BGSU has won at least 20 games in each of the last 10 seasons, and the Falcons have posted as many as 23 wins in the last nine years – both are school and MAC records.
• Last year's edition of the Falcons went 24-11 overall and 11-5 in #MACtion. BGSU finished second in the MAC's East Division, a game behind Akron, and the Falcons advanced to the third round of the WNIT before losing to eventual tourney champion Drexel by three points.
• Two of BG's marquee wins in 2012-13 came by 25 points apiece at the Stroh Center, including a 65-40 win over #14/15 Dayton on Dec. 30 – the Flyers' only loss of the regular season – and an 84-59 win vs. Central Michigan on Feb. 3. Both UD and CMU advanced to the NCAA Championships.
• BG's 11 MAC wins a year ago came by a total of 203 points, an average of 18.5 points per game. The team's five league losses were by a combined total of 34 points (6.8 ppg), with three of those setbacks coming by five points or fewer.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Niagara game with a record of 2-0 on the young season. BGSU is undefeated after two games for the second year in a row and the ninth time in school history.
• Jennifer Roos and her staff welcomed back seven letterwinners from a year ago, and the program also has added seven newcomers – five to the roster and two to the coaching staff.
• The returnees include three starters from last season, seniors Jillian Halfhill and Alexis Rogers and sophomore Miriam Justinger. Halfhill started all 35 games a year ago, while Rogers made 34 starts. Justinger moved into the lineup in time for the MAC opener, and remainded there for the final 22 games of the season.
• Rogers is the team's top returning scorer and rebounder, having averaged 10.9 points and 6.0 boards per game last winter. She led the team in steals, with 1.7 per outing. Halfhill had 8.9 points and a team-leading 3.3 assists per game, and the point guard also pulled down 5.1 rebounds per contest, good for third on the team and second among returnees.
• Justinger averaged 5.6 points last season, and also had 2.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.9 steals per game. She shot 81.0% from the free-throw line to rank second on the team.
• Seniors Jill Stein and Katrina Salinas and juniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews also return. Stein and Salinas each played in all 35 games off the bench, with Stein averaging 5.6 ppg and 4.8 rpg. Stein led the Falcons in blocked shots, and was one of the team's top players down the stretch, averaging 10.0 ppg and 6.4 rpg while shooting 61.7% from the field in the month of March.
• Salinas suffered an injury in practice prior to the team's trip to Iona, and is expected to miss the entire 2013-14 season. Last year, she averaged 2.6 ppg in her first season as a Falcon, and scored 3.4 points per contest in MAC games. She also averaged 2.2 three-point field goals made per 40 minutes, tied for tops on the team and the highest average among the returning players.
• Hoekstra saw action in 25 games last year, including all 16 conference contests, and averaged 2.3 ppg. Eight of her nine three-point field goals came against MAC opposition. Matthews played in 13 games, making nine starts during the non-conference schedule, but was limited to just one MAC game due to injury. Two years ago, she averaged 7.0 ppg and made 51 three-pointers – the second-highest total on the team – en route to MAC All-Freshman Team honors.
• The Falcons' newcomers to the floor include one player who was on campus all of last season. Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan practiced with the team in 2012-13, sitting out the year as a transfer from North Carolina State. Donovan averaged 4.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per game for the Wolfpack as a freshman two years ago. A native of Northside, Texas, she attended Notre Dame Academy in Toledo as a high-school freshman.
• Four freshmen – Leah Bolton (Chicago, Ill.), Kennedy Kirkpatrick (Lawrence, Kansas), Rachel Konieczki (Rockford, Ill.) and Abby Siefker (Ottoville, Ohio) – join the roster for the 2013-14 campaign. Bolton is currently sidelined due to injury. Kirkpatrick missed some time in the preseason due to injury, but has returned to the active roster.
• On the bench, Roos has a pair of first-year assistant coaches in Jacey Brooks and Sahar Nusseibeh. Brooks came to BGSU after spending the last three seasons at Canisius. She also spent three seasons on the staff at Saint Bonaventure.
• Nusseibeh, a Northeast Ohio native, coached at Holy Cross for the last two years, and was a graduate assistant at Cincinnati prior to that time. Nusseibeh attended Hoover H.S. in glorious North Canton, Ohio, playing basketball for the storied Vikings program.
• Brooks and Nusseibeh join the wily veteran, Jesse Fleming, on the BG women's hoops staff. Fleming is in his second year with the Falcons after spending the 2011-12 campaign at Stony Brook and the previous six years at Saint Bonaventure.
• Monique Rosati returns for her seventh season as the program's director of operations.
• Through two games, the Falcons are shooting 42.6 percent from the field, 28.6% from three-point range and just 51.4% from the foul line. Opponents are shooting only 35.5% from the field, while going 34.2% fromt he arc and 81.3% from the stripe.
NO TEAM, BUT SEVERAL WORTHY CANDIDATES
• There was no all-tournament team named at Iona, but BGSU would have had several worthy candidates. Senior Jillian Halfhill averaged 14.0 points and 3.5 assists in the Falcons' two wins, while classmate Alexis Rogers had 11.0 ppg and 8.5 rebounds per game.
• Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan averaged 11.0 ppg and 5.0 boards, while senior Jill Stein scored 7.5 ppg and pulled down a BG-best 10.0 rpg in the tourney. Sophomore Miriam Justinger averaged 6.5 points and led the Falcons in both assists (4.5 apg) and steals (2.5 spg) on the weekend.
DEFENSE!
• During her time as an assistant coach at BGSU, Jennifer Roos served as the team's defensive coordinator. The team enjoyed great success at the defensive end of the floor, and that success continued in her first season as head coach. In 2012-13, Roos and assistant coach Jesse Fleming helped the Falcons set a school record for fewest points allowed per game – 54.3 – breaking the record set the previous year.
• Last year's team also set new school records for fewest points allowed and lowest opponent field-goal percentage allowed in MAC games. In the 16 conference contests, league foes averaged just 51.9 points and shot only 36.1% from the floor.
• Those trends continued as the 2013-14 season got underway. In the two games at Iona, BGSU allowed just 51.0 points per game and permitted the opponents to shot just 35.5% from the field.
• The Falcons allowed 52 points to a Michigan team that scored 73 points the next day. Then, BG faced an Iona club that scored 82 points on Friday, and the Brown and Orange limited the Gaels to only 50 points.
• Iona's Damika Martinez, the MAAC Player of the Year, scored 25 points, but had to work hard for every point she got. The BG defense – and sophomore Miriam Justinger in particular – hounded Martinez all day, and she needed 22 shots to get those 25 points.
• In addition to Justinger, junior Jasmine Matthews spent some time guarding Martinez on the afternoon.
A FEW MORE NOTES FROM THE IONA TRIP
• Senior Jill Stein and redshirt sophomore Erika Donovan each made their first collegiate start in Friday's Michigan game. Donovan, of course, was making her BG debut, having sat out last season after transferring from North Carolina State.
• Three Falcon freshmen also saw action for the first time. Both Rachel Konieczki and Abby Siefker played in both weekend games, while Kennedy Kirkpatrick made her debut vs. Iona.
• Sophomore Miriam Justinger had four assists vs. Michigan, tying her career high. Then, she dished out a game-high five assists the next day vs. Iona, setting a new career standard. Justinger played a career-high 34 minutes vs. Iona, and tied her career best with three steals vs. the Gaels.
• Stein tied her career high in rebounding, with 11 boards in the win over Michigan. Stein's other 11-rebound game also came in a season opener against a team from Michigan – last year's win over Madonna at the Stroh Center.
TOP 12 IN THE LAST FIVE
The NCAA has compiled its annual lists of the winningest Division-I teams over the last five years, and Bowling Green ranks in the top 12 on both lists. BGSU has won a total of 132 games during that span (from the start of the 2008-09 season through the end of 2012-13), and the Falcons have won 79 percent of the time over the last five seasons. During that time, the Falcons' winning percentage is the 10th-highest among all NCAA Division-I programs, and the team's win total is the 12th-best in the nation. It's also worth noting that the last five years do not include the Falcons' 31 wins en route to the NCAA Championships Round of 16, which came seven years ago, in 2006-07. The lists – sorted by both winning percentage and total wins – can be found on page 10 of the PDF version of these notes.
THE NIAGARA PURPLE EAGLES
Niagara is 0-1 on the young season, after a 93-73 home loss to Lehigh on Friday night (Nov. 8). Junior guard Meghan McGuinness, who led the Purple Eagles in scoring a year ago, had a career-high 25 points in the loss. McGuinness had 9.9 points per game last winter. NU has been picked to finish eighth in the 11-team Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this season. Head coach Kendra Faustin welcomed back nine letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team. The 2012-13 edition of the Purple Eagles went 15-16 overall and an even 9-9 in MAAC play. The 15-win total was the program's highest since 2004-05.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Niagara, 1-0, in the all-time series between the teams, and the lone meeting came exactly one year prior to this season's game. Last Nov. 15, Chrissy Steffen scored a career-high 28 points and BG held off a hard-charging Purple Eagle club down the stretch, posting a 79-74 victory at NU's Gallagher Center.e The game marked both the first road victory and the first win over an NCAA Division-I program in the Jennifer Roos head-coaching era. Roos, obviously, has a record of 1-0 vs. the Purple Eagles.
FALCONS PICKED TO PLACE SECOND IN MAC EAST IN 2013-14
The Falcons have been picked to finish second in the MAC's East Division in 2012-13, according to the league's preseason coaches poll. The Falcons finished second in the East last year, snapping a streak of eight consecutive MAC divisional titles. BG won the West Division in 2005 and captured the East in each of the next seven years. In seven of those eight seasons (all except 2010-11), BGSU had the league's best overall regular-season mark. Akron and Central Michigan were picked to win the East and West divisions, respectively, in 2013-14, and nine of the 12 head coaches tabbed CMU to capture the conference tourney crown.
ROGERS NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-MAC TEAM(S)
• Senior Alexis Rogers was selected to the Preseason All-MAC Team by the league's head coaches. Rogers is the Falcons' top returning scorer and rebounder, having averaged 10.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in 2012-13. The MAC coaches chose five players from each division to comprise the preseason all-conference team.
• Additionally, Rogers was named to the preseason all-league squad by the College Sports Madness web site. College Sports Madness chose a first and a second team, and Rogers was one of five players named to the first team.
STROH'ME-COURT ADVANTAGE
• The Falcons have enjoyed a long-standing tradition of success at home. Most of that success came at venerable Anderson Arena, where the Brown and Orange enjoyed an outstanding home-court advantage over the years. But, sometimes new traditions begin, and much like (but yet so different than) the playing of 'Sweet Caroline' at various events, BG women's basketball has started a new tradition of success, as the Falcons enter the 2013-14 season with an overall record of 28-7 in the Stroh Center.
• After losing by just one point to nationally-ranked Purdue in the first-ever women's basketball game in the building in November of 2011, the Falcons reeled off 14-straight wins at the Stroh, before losing another one-point game to VCU in the WNIT.
• Last season, the Falcons again won 14 games at home, including 25-point wins over both nationally-ranked Dayton (the Flyers' only regular-season loss last year) and Central Michigan (the Chippewas entered the game with a 7-0 MAC record).
• The 28-7 mark at the Stroh comes after the Falcons went 333-116 (74.2%) in Anderson Arena during the team's tenure there. The record was even better during MAC play, as the Falcons had a league mark of 192-54 (78.0%) at "The House That Roars" through the years.
TOUGH TO SCORE AT THE STROH
• In 35 games at the Stroh Center, the Falcons have allowed the opponent to reach 70 points just three times. Akron (61 points in a BG win on Feb. 20) is the only MAC foe to surpass the 60-point mark against the Brown and Orange in 17 trips to the building by conference foes. Entering the 2013-14 home schedule, BG has allowed an average of 53.1 ppg in all games at the Stroh, and just 50.5 ppg against MAC opponents.
• As mentioned, BG has held 28 of 35 opponents to fewer than 60 points at the Stroh Center. The Falcons have limited 12 of those foes to less than 50 points, and on three occasions, BGSU has kept the opposition under the 40-point mark.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, #MACTION
• The Falcons will be featured at least four times as part of the MAC's television schedule for the 2013-14 season. The league's TV package includes BGSU's home game vs. Northern Illinois on Jan. 26, as well as road contests at Ball State (Jan. 15), Central Michigan (Jan. 18) and Toledo (Feb. 2).
• The 55-game package will be produced and distributed by the new home for MAC basketball, Time Warner Cable Sports Channel (TWC). All games will be produced in high definition, available to Time Warner Cable subscribers and offered to ESPN for inclusion on ESPN3, Watch ESPN and ESPN Full Court. TWC will also work with affiliates in the MAC footprint concerning distribution in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 2-0 this year to date, after posting a 24-11 overall record last season;
• 11-5 in MAC play in 2012-13, after going 14-2 and earning an eighth-straight division title in '11-12;
• 284-103 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 146-46 in MAC games in that time:
• 263-68 over the last 10-plus years, with 2012-13 marking BG's MAC-record 10th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 242-58 in the past nine-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins in nine-straight seasons and a MAC overall regular-season title in seven of those nine years (2004-10 and again in '12, after winning an East Division crown in '11);
• an eye-popping 219-50 overall, and 111-17 in the MAC regular season, in the last eight-plus years, with at least 24 wins in each of the last eight seasons;
• a splendiferous 191-47 in the last seven-plus years, including a 95-17 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 160-43 overall, and 80-16 in MAC regular-season games, in the last six-plus seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 134-35 overall and 67-13 in MAC action over the last five-plus winters;
• 105-30, including a 52-12 MAC ledger, in the last four-plus seasons;
• 78-23 overall and 38-10 in the MAC since seniors Jillian Halfhill and Jill Stein ventured to campus;
• 50-18 overall, and 25-7 in MAC action, since senior Alexis Rogers and juniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 26-11 since senior Katrina Salinas and sophomore Miriam Justinger were added to the Falcons' roster;
• 134-21 in the last 155 games vs. MAC foes (regular-season and tournament);
• A perfect 62-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field since 2001;
• 226-11 when having a better FG percentage than the opposition in that time, including a 98-1 mark in the last five-plus seasons (the lone exception was the Drexel game last year);
• 215-38 when making more free throws than the opponent in the Roos Assistant-Coach/Associate-Head-Coach/Interim-Head-Coach/Head-Coaching Era;
• 179-22 when outrebounding the opponent in that 12-plus-year span;
• 65-7 in MAC home games in the last nine seasons;
• 53-11 in MAC road games over the last eight years;
• 20-4 in the MAC Tournament in the last nine 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;
• 44-18 overall in the MAC Tournament since it was instituted in 1982;
• 21-6 at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena, the site of the MAC Tournament;
• 46-6 in all non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season;
• 7-16 in 16 national postseason appearances (including a 3-11 record in the NCAA Championships and a 4-5 mark in WNIT trips);
• 6-9 in national postseason action since Roos arrived at BG (including a 2-5 mark in the NCAAs and a 4-4 record in the WNIT); and
• 28-7 in the Stroh Center, with five of the seven losses coming by a combined 11 points.
BATTLE OF THE BOARDS
The Falcons won the rebounding battle in 27 of last season's 35 games, including in 11 of the 16 MAC contests, and two other games saw the teams tie in that category. And, the trend has continued in the early part of the 2013-14 season. BGSU has out-rebounded the foes in each of the first two games, with a 35-30 margin vs. Michigan and an advantage of 39-31 against Iona.
UP NEXT
Following the Niagara game, the Falcons will return to the road. BGSU will head to Indianapolis for a Monday (Nov. 18) game vs. Butler. That game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at Hinkle Fieldhouse (10,000). Then, the Brown and Orange will head to Columbus to play three games in as many days in the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge. The Falcons will face Marist (Nov. 22), Old Dominion (Nov. 23) and host Ohio State (Nov. 24) at Value City Arena (19,049).
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