Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Michigan
Falcons Open 2013-14 Campaign vs. Michigan
November 07, 2013 | Women's Basketball
BGSU also will face Arizona or Iona in season's opening weekend
The University of Arizona meets the host school, Iona College, in Friday's second game, which is scheduled to begin at approximately 6:30 p.m. Then, on Saturday (Nov. 9), the Falcons will meet either the Wildcats or the Gaels. Saturday's first game will begin at 1:00 p.m., with the second game slated to start at 3:30 p.m. Regardless of Friday's outcomes, Iona will play in Saturday's second game.
IONA TIP-OFF TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
(all games at Hynes Athletics Center; New Rochelle, N.Y.)
Friday, Nov. 8
Bowling Green vs. Michigan, 4:00 p.m.
Arizona at Iona, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 9
Bowling Green/Michigan vs. Arizona, 1:00 p.m.
Bowling Green/Michigan at Iona, 3:30 p.m.
PDF NOTES & STATS: BGSU | MICHIGAN | ARIZONA | IONA | MAC
IONA TIP-OFF TOURNAMENT: LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO (fee required) | LIVE AUDIO
LAST TIME OUT: FALCONS SHOOT PAST TIFFIN, 91-48
• The Falcons scored from both inside and out in a 91-48 win over Tiffin University Saturday afternoon (Nov. 2) at the Stroh Center. The game marked BGSU's lone exhibition of the 2013-14 campaign.
• Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan, who sat out last season per NCAA transfer regulations, led the way with a game-high 17 points, but the win was a well-rounded effort.
• All 11 BGSU players who saw action scored at least three points, with nine of those players amassing six or more points in the win. The Falcons outscored the Dragons by a 34-18 margin in the paint, and BG went 14-of-26 from three-point land.
• Seniors Alexis Rogers and Katrina Salinas joined Donovan in double digits with 11 points apiece, while senior Jill Stein and junior Deborah Hoekstra had nine points each. Sophomore Miriam Justinger scored eight points, with freshmen Kennedy Kirkpatrick and Abby Siefker chipping in with seven each.
• Senior Jillian Halfhill had six points, and junior Jasmine Matthews and freshman Rachel Konieczki scored three points apiece.
• The Falcons enjoyed advantages of 30-0 in fast-break points and 27-7 in points off turnovers. BGSU had 22 assists on 33 baskets, and the Brown and Orange turned the ball over just eight times.
• BG surged to an 18-2 lead, before Tiffin rallied to within 40-26 at the half. But, the hosts had a 10-0 run early in the second half and a 13-0 streak midway through the period to pull away.
• The Falcons shot 50.8 percent from the field on the afternoon, including a blistering 21-of-32 (65.6%) effort in the second half.
QUICK HITS
• Head coach Jennifer Roos enters 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
• Jennifer Roos and her staff welcome 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 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 and played in the Tiffin exhibition.
• 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.
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.
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.
FALCONS PICKED TO PLACE SECOND IN MAC EAST IN 2013-14
The Falcons have 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.
EAST DIVISION WEST DIVISION
1 - Akron (9 first-place votes) 1 - Central Michigan (12)
2 - Bowling Green (3) 2 - Ball State
3 - Buffalo 3 - Toledo
4 - Miami 4 - Eastern Michigan
5 - Ohio 5 - Western Michigan
6 - Kent State 6 - Northern Illinois
VOTES TO WIN MAC TOURNAMENT: CMU 9, BGSU 1, Akron 1, Miami 1.
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.
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 MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
Michigan is coming off of arguably the best season in program history. The Wolverines tied the program record for wins last year, going 22-11 overall, and U-M had a 9-7 Big Ten Conference record. However, head coach Kim Barnes Arico returns only three letterwinners, one starter, and just 11.6 percent of her team's scoring from last season. Only two returning players, junior G/F Nicole Elmblad and sophomore guard Madison Ristovski played at least 10 minutes per game last year, and only three of the team's 13 players – Elmblad, Ristovski and junior forward Cyesha Goree – saw time on the floor at all for the Wolverines last year. U-M posted an 81-55 exhibition win over Wayne State on Friday night (Nov. 1), with junior guard Shannon Smith scoring 22 points.
THE SERIES
The Falcons trail Michigan, 8-3, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Wolverines have won the last two meetings. The teams have not met in a decade and a half, since an 11-point U-M win, 82-71, at Anderson Arena in December of 1998. The previous year, the Wolverines picked up a 25-point victory (89-64) in Ann Arbor. Friday marks the teams' first-ever meeting at a neutral site.
THE ARIZONA WILDCATS
Arizona went 12-18 overall and 4-14 in Pac-12 Conference play last season. The Wildcats posted an 80-65 exhibition victory over Fort Lewis on Saturday (Nov. 2). Junior guard Candice Warthen, who missed all of last season due to injury, scored 23 points in the win, while the team's four freshmen accounted for 36 points and 29 of the team's 38 rebounds. One of those frosh, LaBrittney Jones, had a double-double with 24 points and 10 boards. Head coach Niya Butts, in her sixth year at the UA helm, returns nine letterwinners, including four starters, from a year ago.
THE SERIES
The Falcons trail Arizona, 1-0, in that series. The Wildcats handed the Falcons the second-worst defeat in program history, downing the Brown and Orange by 56 points (99-43) in the Arizona Basketball Classic in Tucson over a decade ago (Dec. 8, 2000).
THE IONA GAELS
Iona had an overall record of 20-13 a year ago, and the Gaels posted a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference record of 13-5. Like BGSU, Iona advanced to the WNIT, and like the Falcons, the Gaels fell to Drexel in that tourney. Junior guard Damika Martinez averaged 18.1 points per game a year ago, and was named the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year. Last year, she became the first player in school history to reach 1,000 career points in under two seasons. Sophomore forward Joy Adams joined Martinez on the Preseason All-MAAC First Team. Billi Godsey assumes the head-coaching reins at Iona after spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech. She inherited eight letterwinners, including all five starters, from last year's team.
THE SERIES
The Falcons are 2-0 all-time against Iona, with Jennifer Roos on the BGSU coaching staff for both meetings. The Brown and Orange picked up an 81-62 win over the Gaels at Anderson Arena during the second year of Curt Miller's head-coaching tenure at BG (Nov. 24, 2002). Three years later, the teams met in the consolation game of the Hawk Classic, hosted by St. Joseph's Univ., in Philadelphia, and the Falcons came away with a 62-45 victory (Dec. 29, 2005).
FALCONS REACH 20-WIN MARK, AGAIN
Last winter, BGSU reached the 20-win plateau yet again, extending both the school and MAC records for such sustained success. It marked the Falcons' 10th consecutive season of 20 wins or more. The old conference record of seven-straight 20-win seasons was set by Bob Lindsay's Kent State teams from 1995-96 through 2001-02. Prior to the current run, the longest streak in BG history was four-straight seasons, by Fran Voll's teams of the late 1980s ...
MOST CONSECUTIVE 20-WIN SEASONS, MAC TEAMS
10 - BOWLING GREEN -- 2003-04 to 2012-13 (active streak)
7 - Kent State -- 1995-96 to 2001-02
6 - Toledo -- 1993-94 to 1998-99
4 - BOWLING GREEN -- 1986-87 to 1989-90
4 - Toledo -- 1988-89 to 1991-92; 2009-10 to 2012-13 (active streak)
BGSU IS AT THE TOP OF THIS 20-WIN LIST, TOO
The Falcons have won at least 20 games a total of 18 times in school history, the most of any MAC school. Other than BGSU, only Toledo (17) and Kent State (13) have posted 20 or more wins on more than six occasions. The list follows ...
MOST 20-WIN SEASONS, MAC TEAMS (as a member of the MAC)
18 - BOWLING GREEN (1987-88-89-90-92-93-94-98-04-05-06-07-08-09-10-11-12-13)
17 - Toledo (1983-89-90-91-92-94-95-96-97-98-99-01-03-10-11-12-13)
13 - Kent State (1993-94-96-97-98-99-00-01-02-05-06-10-11)
6 - Central Michigan (1983-84-91-11-12-13)
6 - Eastern Michigan (2004-05-06-10-11-12)
6 - Miami (1982-83-90-04-08-12)
4 - Ball State (2002-03-07-09)
3 - Ohio (1986-95-08)
1 - Akron (2013)
1 - Western Michigan (2003)
0 - Buffalo, Northern Illinois
FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons continue to own the best record in MAC history. Entering the 2013-14 season, BGSU has an all-time record of 373-152 (.710) in MAC regular-season contests, for the most wins and highest winning pct. of all league institutions. And, BGSU leads the series with all 11 MAC foes, making the Falcons the only team in the league, obviously, with a winning series record against every other school. BG also has the most overall wins (716) and highest overall winning percentage (.649) of any conference school.
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 24-11 overall last season;
• 11-5 in MAC play in 2012-13, after going 14-2 and earning an eighth-straight division title in '11-12;
• 282-103 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 146-46 in MAC games in that time:
• 261-68 over the last 10 years, with 2012-13 marking BG's MAC-record 10th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 240-58 in the past nine 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 217-50 overall, and 111-17 in the MAC regular season, in the last eight years, with at least 24 wins in each of those eight seasons;
• a splendiferous 189-47 in the last seven years, including a 95-17 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 158-43 overall, and 80-16 in MAC regular-season games, in the last six seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 132-35 overall and 67-13 in MAC action over the last five winters;
• 103-30, including a 52-12 MAC ledger, in the last four seasons;
• 76-23 overall and 38-10 in the MAC since seniors Jillian Halfhill and Jill Stein ventured to campus;
• 48-18 overall, and 25-7 in MAC action, since senior Alexis Rogers and juniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 24-11 in the BG playing careers of senior Katrina Salinas and sophomore Miriam Justinger;
• 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;
• 225-11 when having a better FG pct. than the opposition in that time, including a 97-1 mark in the last five seasons (the lone exception was the Drexel game last year);
• 214-38 when making more free throws than the opponent in the Roos Assistant-Coach/Associate-Head-Coach/Interim-Head-Coach/Head-Coaching Era;
• 177-22 when outrebounding the opponent in that 12-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.
UP NEXT
Following the Iona Tip-Off Tournament, the Falcons will return to Northwest Ohio to prepare for the 2013-14 home opener. BGSU will face Niagara University on Friday night, Nov. 15. Tipoff for that game, the first half of a Falcon hoops doubleheader at the Stroh Center, is set for 6:00 p.m.
