BGSU Journeys to DeKalb to Close Cross-Divisional Play

Saturday, February 16

DeKalb, IL

4:00 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

Northern Illinois

Tickets

February 14, 2013 | Women's Basketball

Falcons to play first Saturday game since Dec. 1

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

BGSU v Central Michigan - Feb 3 2013 - Pink Zone Play 4Kay

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team has one final Mid-American Conference cross-divisional game remaining in the 2012-13 regular season ... the Falcons of head coach Jennifer Roos head to the MAC's "West Coast" for a Saturday afternoon (Feb. 16) game vs. Northern Illinois University ... tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. locally (4:00 p.m. ET) at the Convocation Center (9,100) in DeKalb, Ill.

LINKS
BGSU NOTES & STATS | NIU NOTES & STATS
SATURDAY'S GAME: Watch | Listen | Live Stats | Tickets

QUICK HITS
• Saturday's NIU game, as mentioned, is the Falcons' final cross-divisional game ... following the trip to DeKalb, BGSU will play five intra-divisional games to close the regular season.

• Believe it or not, the NIU game marks BGSU's first Saturday game in two and a half months ... the Falcons' last game on a Saturday came on Dec. 1 ... heading into this weekend, BG has played nine Sunday games and only three Saturday games this season.

• BGSU's record by day of the week? Glad you asked ... the Falcons are 7-2 on Sunday, 0-1 on Monday, 3-1 on Wednesday, 3-2 on Thursday, 0-1 on Friday and 2-1 on Saturday ... BG has not and will not play a Tuesday game in the regular season.

• Something's got to give if/when the Huskies have the ball behind the three-point line ... NIU leads the MAC in three-point field-goal percentage, having connected on 37.9% of their long-range tries in 2012-13 ... the Falcons, however, lead the league in three-point FG defense, both overall and in conference games ... BG is allowing opponents to shoot just 24.5% from beyond the arc in MAC games and 27.1% in all games this season.

• The Falcons are coming off a 55-54 loss at Western Michigan on Sunday (Feb. 10) ... junior Jillian Halfhill hit a three-pointer with 19.0 seconds left to give BG a one-point lead, but the Broncos scored with just 4.6 seconds remaining.

• BGSU set season highs in both steals and offensive rebounds, and the Falcons tied a season low in turnovers at WMU ... the Falcons had 22 offensive boards and turned the ball over just nine times ... BG forced the Broncos into 20 turnovers.

• Given the above note, how did the Falcons lose at WMU? BG shot just 27.1% from the field, and despite forcing Western into those 20 turnovers, the Falcons had just an 11-6 advantage in points off turnovers ... BGSU had 26 more field-goal attempts than the Broncos, but the Falcons made three fewer shots ... additionally, the Brown and Orange shot just 58.8% from the free-throw line, going 10 of 17.

• BGSU posted a season-high total in steals for the second-straight game ... after picking up 15 steals in a win at Buffalo (Feb. 7), the Falcons had 16 steals against Western ... Halfhill and redshirt junior Alexis Rogers each have had nine steals over that two-game period, while seniors Chrissy Steffen and Danielle Havel had five and four, respectively.

• Halfhill had a career-high six steals at Western Michigan to lead all players ... that total doubled her previous career best ... she had had three steals on three occasions.

• The Falcons' last trip to DeKalb wound up taking much longer than anyone had originally planned ... BGSU left on a Monday afternoon (Jan. 31, 2011) for a game at NIU the following evening ... the plan was to board a bus bound for Northwest Ohio immediately after the game, but a blizzard changed those plans ... the Falcons wound up staying in DeKalb until Thursday (Feb. 3), holding a practice at NIU's Convocation Center before returning home ... BGSU, after leaving on Monday at 3:00 p.m., returned to the Anderson Arena parking lot approximately 75 hours later – at roughly 6:00 p.m. on Thursday evening.

• That 2010-11 trip to DeKalb came after the Falcons had suffered a disappointing loss to Western Michigan ... BG picked up a 67-64 win over the Huskies, beginning an 11-game winning streak that took the Brown and Orange all the way to the NCAA Championships.

• Steffen is in the top 20 on the top-20 on the BGSU career scoring list ... she now has 1,121 career points at BG ... Steffen moved past Stefanie Wenzel (1,099 points from 2000-04) in the Buffalo game ... her next target is 19th-place Andrea Nordmann, who scored 1,164 points at BGSU from 1989-93.

• Steffen hit two three-point field goals vs. WMU, and now has made 164 in her career ... that total is good for eighth in BGSU history ... Steffen is four triples behind seventh-place Kim Griech (168 from 1999-2003), and she is just nine successful three-pointers away from fourth place.

• The 60-point mark has been a pretty good barometer in determining BGSU's success this season ... the Falcons have a record of 15-1 when scoring 60 or more points this year ... BG is 0-7 when the offense is held under the 60-point plateau.

• The Falcons have been outrebounded just twice in the last 17 games, and only four times all season.

• The Falcons' conference opponents have averaged just 50.6 points per game over the first 10 league games.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Northern Illinois game with an overall record of 15-8 on the season ... BGSU is 6-4 in the MAC, good for a tie for second place in the East Division ... the Falcons and Miami are a game behind division-leading Akron ... BG saw a two-game winning streak come to an end with a 55-54 loss at Western Michigan Sunday afternoon (Feb. 10) ... prior to the trip to Kalamazoo, the Falcons had picked up a win at home against then MAC-leading Central Michigan, 84-59 (Feb. 3), before going to Buffalo and coming away with a 61-56 victory (Feb. 7).

• BG's six MAC wins have come by a total of 137 points, an average of 22.8 points per game ... the UB game marked the Falcons' first MAC win by fewer than 14 points ... the team's four league losses have been by a combined total of 19 points (4.8 ppg), with three of those setbacks coming by five points or fewer.

• In addition to CMU and UB, the Falcons' other MAC wins have come against Kent State, Ball State, Ohio and Eastern Michigan ... BG's MAC losses have come to Toledo, Miami, Akron and WMU.

• After going undefeated in the month of December, the Falcons finished January with a 4-4 record... that 6-0 December run was capped off by a double-digit win over a nationally-ranked foe, as BG downed #14/15 Dayton, 65-40, on Dec. 30 ... the month also included double-digit victories over Colorado State, Butler and Wyoming at home and Northwestern on the road ... BG won a 64-61 decision at Massachusetts (Dec. 19) prior to breaking for the holidays.

• BGSU opened 2012-13 by splitting the first four games ... the losses came against a pair of teams in (or very near) the top 25 – 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 aforementioned six-game December win streak.

• The Falcons are 8-4 at home, 7-3 on the road and 0-1 in neutral-site games this season to date ... BGSU has a scoring margin of +8.9 and a rebounding margin of +4.7 ... in league play, BG is 3-2 at home and 3-2 in hostile venues as well.

• Individually, senior Chrissy Steffen and redshirt junior Alexis Rogers pace a balanced Falcon scoring attack ... Steffen is averaging 11.7 points per game, with Rogers scoring at a 10.9 ppg clip.

• Rogers has a team-leading 6.4 rebounds per game, and also tops the Falcons in steals, with 2.2 spg ... Steffen averages 4.0 rpg along with 1.6 assists per contest, and she leads the Brown and Orange with 38 successful three-point field goals this season ... Steffen is shooting a team-best 84.2 percent from the free-throw line, good for second in the MAC ... she has gone 48-of-57 from the stripe.

• Junior Jillian Halfhill has 8.5 ppg along with a team-leading 3.2 assists per contest ... the 5-6 point guard also has 4.8 rebounds per game, good for third on the team ... Halfhill is third in the MAC in assist/turnover ratio (1.5).

• Fifth-year senior Danielle Havel has 6.8 ppg, and is near the top of the team lists in numerous categories ... Havel is second on the Falcons in both rebounds (5.5 rpg) and assists (2.1 apg), and she is second on the team in blocked shots ... Havel has a BG-best four games with 10 or more rebounds this season to date ... she is shooting a team-best 46.6% from the field.

• Freshman Miriam Justinger has 5.6 ppg and sophomore Jasmine Matthews 5.5 ... Justinger is 34-of-43 (79.1%) from the free-throw line this year to date ... Matthews has missed nine of the 10 MAC games, but is fourth on the team in three-pointers made, having hit 17 this season.

• Freshman Bailey Cairnduff has 4.9 points per game and has knocked down 19 three-pointers ... BGSU's two post players off the bench, senior Allison Papenfuss and junior Jill Stein, have 3.9 and 3.8 ppg, respectively.

• Stein has 4.4 rebounds per contest, while Papenfuss has 3.6 rpg ... Stein has a team-leading 14 blocked shots, while Havel has 13 and Papenfuss 12.

• Junior Katrina Salinas is averaging 2.8 ppg this season, while sophomore Deborah Hoekstra has 2.7 ppg ... Salinas has made 11 triples and Hoekstra eight this season.

• Each of the aforementioned 11 players has scored in double digits at least once this season, and 10 of the 11 have led BGSU in the scoring column in at least one game in 2012-13.

• Seven players have seen action in all 23 games ... that list includes Halfhill, Havel, Justinger, Papenfuss, Salinas, Steffen and Stein ... Rogers has played in 22 games, with Cairnduff seeing action in 20, Hoekstra 16 and Matthews 13 ... senior Simone Eli has been sidelined due to injury and has yet to see game action this season.

• Halfhill, Havel and Steffen each have started all 23 games this winter, while Rogers has made 22 starts ... Cairnduff started the first four games of the season, while Matthews was in the starting lineup for each of the next nine contests ... Justinger made her first collegiate start in the KSU game, and has been in the starting five for each of the Falcons' 10 MAC games.

• In MAC play, BGSU's scoring is quite balanced, as six players are averaging at least 5.8 points per game, but only two Falcons have more than 7.3 ppg ... Rogers leads that scoring list at 10.5 ppg, followed by Steffen (10.4 ppg), Halfhill (7.3 ppg), Cairnduff (6.9 ppg) and Justinger (6.8 ppg) ... Havel has scored 5.8 ppg, while each of the other five Falcons are averaging between 3.0 and 3.9 ppg in MAC action (aka #MACtion) ... Halfhill has 3.9 assists per contest and a league-best 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio in MAC play ... Rogers leads the Falcons with 6.1 rebounds per game against conference foes, while Havel and Stein have 5.6 and 5.1 rpg, respectively ... Havel is shooting 52.3% from the field, with Rogers hitting 51.2% of her shots ... Cairnduff leads the entire conference with a three-point field-goal percentage of exactly 50.0% in league play ... she has gone 12-of-24 from long range vs. MAC foes ... all 11 players are averaging at least 10.1 minutes played, with no Falcon above 29.8 mpg in MAC matches.

• 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 ... two of those starters, Steffen and Rogers, were selected to the Preseason All-MAC Team in 2012-13.

• Havel, Rogers and Steffen each started all 31 games a year ago, while Matthews made 21 starts as a frosh ... Halfhill played in all 31 games, starting the first 10.

• The Falcons are shooting 38.4% from the field, and BG is 32.6% from three-point range and 72.4% from the free-throw line through the first 23 games ... the opponents have shot 37.7% from the floor, 27.1% from beyond the arc and 67.4% from the stripe.

• In MAC action, BGSU is shooting 39.1% from the floor, 32.4% from long range and 72.4% from the line ... the opponents have a field-goal pct. of 36.1%, a three-point rate of just 24.2% (38-of-157) and a free-throw pct. of 67.1% in league play.

A QUICK LOOK AT NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Northern Illinois has a record of 7-16 on the season, and the Huskies are 2-8 in MAC action ... NIU began the 2013 calendar year with nine consecutive losses, with six of those setbacks coming by single digits, but the Huskies enter the BGSU game on a two-game win streak ... Northern picked up road victories over Ohio (73-52; Feb. 6) and Kent State (52-47; Feb. 10) ... NIU is 2-6 at home, 3-9 on the road and 2-1 in neutral-site games ... in MAC play, the Huskies are 0-5 at the Convocation Center and 2-3 away from home ... individually, sophomore guard Amanda Corral leads the team in scoring with 12.9 points per game, while senior G/F Satavia Taylor is right behind with 12.4 ppg ... sophomore forward Jenna Thorp has 6.0 ppg along with a team-leading 4.7 rebounds per outing ... in MAC games, Taylor has 16.5 ppg and Corral 13.3 ppg ... Corral and Thorp each have started 22 of NIU's 23 games this season, while Taylor started the first 21 games of the year before missing the last two due to injury ... at KSU, Corral and Thorp were joined in the starting lineup by senior forward Shaakira Haywood (2.3 ppg), freshman F/C McKenzie Hoelmenn (2.6 ppg) and junior G/F Ashley Sneed (4.8 ppg) ... in MAC games, Corral leads the league in minutes per game, at 36.5 ... head coach Kathi Bennett welcomed back eight letterwinners, including two starters, from last year's club ... the 2011-12 Huskies went 14-17 overall and 6-10 in MAC play.

THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Northern Illinois, 20-12, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has captured the last 10 meetings ... last season, the Falcons picked up a 57-47 at the Stroh Center (Feb. 1, 2012), with Jennifer Roos serving as acting head coach ... in the last meeting in DeKalb, the Falcons pulled out a 67-64 win (Feb. 1, 2011), rallying from a three-point deficit in the final minute ... BGSU is 12-5 in home games, 7-7 in road contests and 1-0 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Huskies through the years ... Roos is meeting the Huskies for the first time as the Falcons' permanent head coach.

UP NEXT
The Northern Illinois game concludes a stretch of five road games in a six-game span for the Falcons ... Saturday's game also marks BG's last regular-season contest against a West Division team ... the Brown and Orange will play five consecutive intra-divisional games, beginning with a Wednesday (Feb. 20) tilt vs. East-leading Akron ... tipoff for that game is 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center ... the Falcons then will hit the road to face Miami (Feb. 23) prior to back-to-back home games vs. Buffalo (Feb. 28) and Ohio (March 3) ... then, BGSU will end the regular season with a March 6 matchup at Kent State ... the MAC Tournament begins with first-round games at campus sites on Saturday, March 9.

BGSU vs. Akron - Wednesday, Feb. 20 - 7:00 p.m. - Stroh Center