BGSU Meets Milwaukee in Sunday Matinee at the Stroh

Alexis Rogers at Ohio State - Scott Grau photo

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after playing seven of the first eight games on the road this season, will mix in a rare home contest. In fact, the Falcons of head coach Jennifer Roos will play two consecutive home games, beginning with a Sunday (Dec. 8) matinee vs. the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center (4,280). The Milwaukee game is the third of six consecutive Sunday contests for the Brown and Orange.

GAME NOTES (PDF)
Bowling Green | Milwaukee

ROAD SWEET ROAD
• The Falcons have enjoyed more than their fair share of success on the road over the last decade. Entering the 2013-14 season, BGSU had posted double-digit win totals away from home in each of the last 10 years. The Falcons had a more-than-respectable 10-6 mark away from the Stroh Center (road and neutral-site games combined) last fall.

• And, the Falcons have continued that success in 2013-14. After Sunday's (Dec. 1) win at Monmouth, BGSU is now 6-1 away from home this year to date. As of Thursday morning (Dec. 5), no NCAA Division-I team in the nation had more wins away from home than the Falcons. Only BGSU and Villanova had as many as six such victories this season to date..

• The school record for wins away from home is 19, set by the 2006-07 team. That BGSU club went 11-1 on the road and 8-2 in neutral-site games, winning a total of 31 games en route to the NCAA 'Sweet Sixteen.'

LAST TIME OUT: BG'S STRONG 2ND-HALF START DOOMS MONMOUTH
• The Falcons, leading by just six points at the break, used a strong second-half start to fly past Monmouth University on Sunday morning (Dec. 1) at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass. Junior Deborah Hoekstra led the Falcons and tied for game scoring honors, with a career-high 18 points. Hoekstra made seven of her eight shots from the floor, including a 3-for-4 performance from three-point land.

• Hoekstra was named the Falcons' Player of the Game, as each of the eight teams in Sunday's quadruple-header had one player similarly recognized.

• Sophomore Miriam Justinger had 16 points, also a career high, while redshirt soph Erica Donovan rounded out BG's double-digit scorers with 11 points.

• The Falcons never trailed, but the Hawks cut BGSU's lead to a single point, 25-24, late in the first half. BG scored the last five points of the opening period, then opened the second half by reeling off 12-straight points to take a 42-24 lead.

• Monmouth went a total of 8:28 without scoring, and after Chevannah Paalvast finally broke that drought with a jumper, the Falcons extended the lead to 24 points on a Donovan shot with just over 11 minutes to go.

• BGSU's lead reached 30 points on a pair of free throws by senior Jillian Halfhill with just under six minutes remaining, and that lead reached a game-high 34 on the last of six-straight BG points by freshman Rachel Konieczki with four minutes left. The Hawks scored the game's last 11 points to provide the final margin.

• Hoekstra and Justinger combined for five of the Falcons' six triples. In addition to Hoekstra's 3-for-4 performance, Justinger was 2-of-5 from behind the arc, and BG went 6-for-16 as a team.

QUICK HITS
• BGSU is 7-1 after closing out the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge with a 71-48 win over Monmouth on Sunday morning (Dec. 1) in Springfield, Mass. The previous weekend, BG went 2-1 on the first weekend of the BHOF Challenge, losing to Marist (Nov. 22), before bouncing back with double-digit wins over Old Dominion (Nov. 23) and Ohio State (Nov. 24). Those three games all took place at OSU's Value City Arena.

• The Falcons received seven votes in this week's USA Today Sports Top 25 women's basketball coaches poll, after picking up six votes in last week's poll and five the previous week. BGSU also received one vote in this week's Associated Press poll.

• BGSU has a balanced scoring attack, as evidenced by the next few bullet points. Four Falcons are averaging between 10.3 and 12.3 points per game, and two other players each have 6.5 ppg to date.

• The Falcons' five starters each have attempted between 60 and 76 shots per game, meaning that every starter is averaging no fewer than 7.5, but no more than 9.5, field-goal attempts per contest.

• The Falcons have three road wins and three neutral-site victories this season. BG a perfect 3-0 on the road, with wins at Iona, Butler and Ohio State. BGSU is 6-1 in all games played away from the Stroh Center, having beaten Michigan, Old Dominion and Monmouth while losing to Marist in neutral-site action.

• Junior Deborah Hoekstra scored a career-high 18 points in the win over Monmouth. She made seven total field goals in the game, nearly doubling her previous career-best total of four FGM.

• Hoekstra entered this season with a career total of two double-digit scoring games, but has hit double figures three times this year, including in each of the last two games. She was named the Falcons' Player of the Game in Sunday's win over the Hawks.

• In fact, Hoekstra had reached double digits by halftime of each of the last two games. She scored 11 points in the first half against both Ohio State and Monmouth. In those two games, she went a combined 8-of-11 from the field, including 6-of-8 from three-point range, in the opening half.

• Hoekstra has made a total of 16 field goals, including nine three-pointers, this season. She has matched her totals for all of last year in both categories. Hoekstra is shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 47.4 from long distance this season.

• Sophomore Miriam Justinger also set a career standard in the Monmouth game, with 16 points. Justinger has scored in double figures in three-straight games and in four total games this season. She hit double digits in the points column four times as a freshman in 2012-13.

• Justinger has tied or broken her career-high scoring total three times in the last five games. She had 13 points at Butler to tie her career best, then broke that mark in back-to-back wins, with 14 points at Ohio State and 16 vs. Monmouth.

• Justinger, who averaged 5.6 points per game as a freshman, is averaging 10.3 ppg this season. She is scoring 12.0 ppg over the last five contests, and has 13.3 ppg during the Falcons' current three-game winning streak.

• Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan had 11 points in the Monmouth game. Donovan has scored in double figures in five games this year, after doing so a total of five times in her first collegiate season. She played the 2011-12 campaign at North Carolina State Univ. before transferring to BGSU and sitting out last year.

• Senior Jill Stein entered the 2013-14 season with a career total of two double-digit rebounding games. This year, she is just one rebound away from AVERAGING 10 boards per game, and she has had five double-digit games, including a career-high 14 in the ODU game. Stein has had 10 or more rebounds in each of the last three games, all wins.

• Stein has led the Falcons in rebounding seven times in the first eight games, after leading BG in boards six times last season.

• Falcon freshman Leah Bolton made her collegiate debut in Sunday's game, taking the court with 6:28 left in the game and playing the rest of the Monmouth contest. Bolton missed the Falcons' exhibition game and the first seven regular-season matches due to injury.

• A total of four Falcons are shooting better than 40 percent from three-point range this season. Hoekstra, as mentioned, has made 47.4% of her long-range attempts, going 9-for-19 this year. Fifth-year senior Alexis Rogers has shot 46.7% (7-15) from three-point land, while senior Jillian Halfhill has shot 44.4% (16-of-36) and Donovan 42.1% (8-of-19). As a team, the Falcons are shooting 36.6% from beyond the arc and are averaging 7.5 successful treys per game.

GOLDEN NUGGET
There will be a familiar face on the opposing bench on Sunday. Milwaukee assistant coach Frank Goldsberry is the father of former BGSU standout Lindsey Goldsberry. Frank is in his second season on the UWM staff after spending nearly a decade as director of operations for the women's basketball team at the University of Dayton. Lindsey Goldsberry finished her career as the winningest player in BGSU basketball history, as the Falcons had a total of 114 wins (114-20) during her four years on the roster (2005-09). At the time of her graduation, Goldsberry had played on the three winningest teams in league history.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Milwaukee game with a record of 7-1 on the season. BGSU's record through eight games is tied for the second-best mark in school history.

• BGSU posted wins over Michigan and the host school at the Iona Tip-Off Tournament in New Rochelle, N.Y. (Nov. 8-9), then opened the home schedule with a 90-58 victory over Niagara at the Stroh Center (Nov. 15). The Falcons came from behind to defeat host Butler, 61-57, three days later (Nov. 18).

• Then, the Brown and Orange went 2-1 in three games in as many days in Columbus. BGSU lost to Marist, 74-60 (Nov. 22), but bounced back with a 77-58 win over Old Dominion the next day (Nov. 23). And, the Falcons downed host Ohio State, 64-52 (Nov. 24), before heading to Springfield, Mass., and topping MU.

• Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan, senior Jillian Halfhill and fifth-year senior Alexis Rogers each have scored between 92 and 98 points this season. Donovan is averaging 12.3 points per game, with Halfhill scoring 11.9 ppg and Rogers 11.5 ppg this year to date.

• Sophomore Miriam Justinger also is scoring in double digits, with 10.3 ppg, while junior Deborah Hoekstra and senior Jill Stein are averaging 6.5 ppg each.

• Stein leads the team in rebounding, with 9.9 boards per game, while Rogers has pulled down 7.5 rpg and Donovan 6.3. Halfhill leads the Falcons with 3.8 assists per outing, with Justinger handing out 3.1 apg to date.

• Donovan is shooting a BG-best 52.1 percent from the floor, while Hoekstra is shooting 51.6% and Rogers 50.7%. Halfhill has a team-leading 16 three-point field goals, while five Falcons have made between seven and nine treys.

• Junior Jasmine Matthews is averaging 4.6 ppg to date, with freshmen Rachel Konieczki and Abby Siefker at 2.6 and 1.0 ppg, respectively. Freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick has seen action in five games off the bench, and classmate Leah Bolton made her BGSU debut in Sunday's Monmouth game.

• Head coach 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.

• Through eight games, the Falcons are shooting 42.4 percent from the field, 36.6% from three-point range and 65.6% from the foul line. Opponents are shooting 37.5% from the field, 30.8% from the arc and 79.2% from the stripe. The Falcons have a scoring margin of +11.0, a rebounding margin of +7.9 and a turnover margin of +1.1 on the year.

LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET OUT OF THE WAY
Through the first eight games of the season, there have been four (Michigan, Niagara, Old Dominion and Monmouth) contests in which BG never trailed, and a fifth (Ohio State) in which the Falcons were behind for only 46 seconds. This year to date, BGSU has led for a total of 255:21 – 79.8 percent of the time – and trailed for exactly 50 minutes (15.6%). The Falcons and the opponents have been tied for a total of 14:39.

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 have continued as the 2013-14 season has gotten underway. In the first eight games, despite playing a difficult schedule, BGSU has allowed 56.1 points per game and permitted the opponents to shoot just 37.5% from the field to date.

THE MILWAUKEE PANTHERS
Milwaukee heads to Northwest Ohio with a record of 2-5, and the Panthers are coming off a 78-66 home loss to North Dakota on Wednesday (Dec. 4). The Panthers are 1-3 at home, 1-1 on the road and 0-1 in neutral-site games. UWM has wins over North Dakota State at home and New Mexico State on the road, and the Panthers are averaging 70.4 points per game while allowing 79.1 ppg. Senior guard Angela Rodriguez leads the team in scoring with 20.0 points per game, and she also paces the Panthers with 5.1 assists per outing. Rodriguez has made a team-leading 17 three-pointers per game. Junior G/F Ashley Green and sophomore forward Avyanna Young have 14.9 and 12.7 ppg, respectively. Green is averaging 7.1 rpg, while Young is averaging a double-double with 10.0 rpg, and also is shooting a team-best 50.0 percent from the floor. Head coach Kyle Rechlicz welcomed back 10 letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team. The 2012-13 edition of the Panthers went 9-20 overall and 5-11 in Horizon League play.

THE SERIES
The Falcons and Milwaukee are tied, 2-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and BG will be facing the Panthers for the first time in exactly 12 years. BGSU is 1-1 at home and 1-1 on the road vs. UWM. The teams played in back-to-back years on two occasions, with all four prior meetings taking place in the month of December. BGSU swept the first home-and-home series, in 1992 and '93, while Milwaukee returned the favor with wins in 2000 and '01. None of the first four series meetings have been close, as each game has been decided by between 19 and 25 points. Jennifer Roos is 0-0 against the Panthers as a head coach.

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, the BG women's basketball program now owns an overall record of 29-7 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 all year) and Central Michigan (the Chippewas entered the game with a 7-0 MAC record).

• The 29-7 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 36 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. Through the Niagara game, BG has allowed an average of 53.2 ppg in all games at the Stroh, and just 50.5 ppg against MAC opponents.

• BG has held 29 of 36 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.

THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 7-1 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;
• 289-104 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 146-46 in MAC games in that time:
• 268-69 over the last 10-plus years, with 2012-13 marking BG's MAC-record 10th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 247-59 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 224-51 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 196-48 in the last seven-plus years, including a 95-17 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 165-44 overall, and 80-16 in MAC regular-season games, in the last six-plus seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 139-36 overall and 67-13 in MAC action over the last five-plus winters;
• 110-31, including a 52-12 MAC ledger, in the last four-plus seasons;
• 83-24 overall and 38-10 in the MAC since seniors Jillian Halfhill and Jill Stein ventured to campus;
• 55-19 overall, and 25-7 in MAC action, since senior Alexis Rogers and juniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 31-12 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;
• 230-11 when having a better FG percentage than the opposition in that time, including a 102-1 mark in the last five-plus seasons (the lone exception was the Drexel game in the third round of the WNIT last year);
• 218-38 when making more free throws than the opponent in the Roos Assistant-Coach/Associate-Head-Coach/Interim-Head-Coach/Head-Coaching Era;
• 183-22 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;
• 47-6 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
• 29-7 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 six of the first eight games, with double-digit margins in two of those games. In one of the season's other two games, the Falcons and the opponent (Marist) tied in the rebounding department. BGSU owns a rebounding margin of +7.9 this year to date.

UP NEXT
Following the Milwaukee game, the Falcons will wrap up a brief two-game homestand with a second-straight Sunday contest at the Stroh Center. BGSU will meet Massachusetts on Dec. 15, in a 2:00 p.m. start. Then, the Brown and Orange will head to Purdue the following Sunday (Dec. 22) before welcoming Saint Francis (Pa.) to the Stroh on Dec. 29 to close both the 2013 calendar year and the non-conference schedule. The Falcons are in a stretch which sees the team play six-straight Sunday contests.

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