Thursday, March 28
Bowling Green, OH
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Drexel (WNIT third round)
Falcons Face Drexel Dragons Thursday in Third Round of WNIT
March 26, 2013 | Women's Basketball
BGSU, DU each look to secure quarterfinal berth
LINKS
BGSU NOTES | DREXEL NOTES | Updated WNIT Bracket
THURSDAY'S GAME: Watch | Listen | Live Stats
VIDEO: Tuesday (March 26) interview with Jennifer Roos
TWO WINS FOR FIRST TIME, BUT THIRD ROUND FOR THE SECOND TIME
The Falcons have won two WNIT games in the same season for the first time in program history, but this is not BGSU's first foray into the third round of the tournament ... BG earned a first-round bye in 2009, then downed Syracuse in second-round action to advance to the third round against Indiana.
BG IN THE WNIT
• The Falcons rallied for a 61-54 win over Duquesne in WNIT second-round action on Saturday (March 23) ... junior Jill Stein led the way with 16 points, including 13 in the second half (more on that later in these notes) ... Saturday's win marked BGSU's fourth WNIT win in program history.
• The Duquesne game came after BGSU had downed SMU, 76-70, in the first round on March 21, for the Falcons' first national postseason win since 2009.
• The 2012-13 season marks the Falcons' fifth appearance in the WNIT, and the second in as many years ... BGSU has an overall record of 4-4 in the tourney to date ... the Falcons are 4-3 in home games in the WNIT, including a record of 2-1 in the Stroh Center ... BG split four games at venerable Anderson Arena ... and, BGSU now has a 4-3 mark in the WNIT since Jennifer Roos came to Northwest Ohio.
• BGSU hosted Butler in WNIT action in 1998, losing a 95-90 decision at Anderson Arena in the team's first appearance in the tourney ... that game was the final contest for Jaci Clark as BG's head coach, as she took the Dayton job following the season.
• Five years ago, the Brown and Orange picked up a home win over UD, 64-52, before losing at Michigan State by a 74-66 count two days later.
• The following March, the Falcons were awarded a first-round bye in the then 48-team event, and BG played a pair of games at Anderson ... the Falcons downed Syracuse by a 72-69 final in second-round action at "The House That Roars" ... but, BGSU fell to visiting Indiana, 75-67, in the third round.
• Last season, VCU scored at the buzzer for a 72-71 win over the Falcons ... Andrea Barbour went coast-to-coast for the game-winning layup, after BGSU's Jessica Slagle had given the Falcons a 71-70 lead by hitting two free throws with just 5.1 seconds left ... Slagle had a career-high 23 points in her final game as a Falcon, while Jasmine Matthews scored 13 and Chrissy Steffen 12.
BGSU'S WNIT RESULTS
| 3/13/98 | BUTLER (first round) | L 90-95 |
| 3/20/08 | DAYTON (first round) | W 64-52 |
| 3/22/08 | at Michigan State (second round) | L 66-74 |
| 3/22/09 | SYRACUSE (second round^) | W 72-69 |
| 3/26/09 | INDIANA (third round) | L 67-75 |
| 3/15/12 | VCU (first round) | L 71-72 |
| 3/21/13 | SMU (first round) | W 76-70 |
| 3/23/13 | DUQUESNE (second round) | W 61-54 |
| 3/28/13 | DREXEL (third round) | 7:00 p.m. |
QUICK HITS
• Junior Jill Stein scored a career-high 16 points in the Falcons' win over Duquesne ... Stein entered the game having never scored more than 11 points in a collegiate game ... but, she scored 13 consecutive BGSU points during a second-half stretch in which the Falcons took the lead for good.
• Stein began that scoring stretch by making a long three-point try as the shot-clock buzzer sounded ... she made another bucket late in the shot clock during that time, and capped her personal 13-point run with back-to-back jumpers that broke a 45-all tie with under six minutes to go.
• Stein has scored in double digits in six games in her BGSU career ... five of those have come this season, including four in the last four games ... she has averaged 11.8 points per game over that four-game stretch.
• Stein scored as many as nine points just twice in this season's first 21 games, and averaged 3.3 ppg in that time ... since then, however, she has averaged 7.8 ppg over the last 13 contests.
• In the month of March, Stein has averaged 10.1 ppg and 6.0 rebounds per game in seven contests, and is shooting 61.9 percent from the field (26-of-42) ... she is 10-of-21 from three-point range this season, including 5-of-8 (62.5%) in the last three contests ... the junior set a career best with six total field goals made vs. Duquesne, and has hit a career-high two three-pointers twice in the last three games.
• The Falcons have won two postseason games in the same season for only the second time in school history ... the first time, of course, came in the 2007 NCAA Championships, as BGSU defeated Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt to advance to the 'Sweet Sixteen' ... BG remains the only MAC women's basketball team to do so.
• BGSU head coach Jennifer Roos is now 2-0 in WNIT games ... she and Curt Miller are the only two Falcon head coaches to lead BG to WNIT victories ... Miller had a record of 2-3 in the tourney, while Jaci Clark was 0-1.
• Junior Jillian Halfhill has averaged a team-leading 18.5 points per game in the Falcons' two WNIT games this season ...she has gone 9-of-15 from the field and 2-of-4 from three-point range, but has done much of her damage at the free-throw line ... Halfhill has made 17 of her 19 shots from the stripe (89.4%) in the two games, going 9-of-10 against SMU and 8-for-9 vs. Duquesne ... she is shooting 75.6% from the line this season.
• The victory over Duquesne gives the Falcons a 14-4 record at the Stroh Center this season, tying the school single-season mark for home victories yet again ... BGSU has won 14 home games in four of the last five seasons, including in each of the first two years in the Stroh Center ... the Falcons went 14-1 in both the 2008-09 and 2010-11 seasons, and BG had a 14-2 mark last season.
• BG has posted a double-digit home win total in each of the last eight seasons.
• The Falcons will tie the school record for most games played in a season when BG takes the floor on Thursday night ... the Drexel game will be the Falcons' 35th of the year ... the 'Sweet Sixteen' team also played 35 games, going 31-4 to post the most wins by a basketball team (men or women) in MAC history.
• Seven members of the current team have a chance to tie the school record for games played in a season ... Halfhill, Stein, Danielle Havel, Miriam Justinger, Allison Papenfuss, Katrina Salinas and Chrissy Steffen each have played in all 34 games to date.
• Should Halfhill, Havel and Steffen find themselves in the starting lineup vs. Drexel, they would also tie the school single-season mark for games started ... the Falcons used the same starting lineup (Kate Achter, Liz Honegger, Carin Horne, Ali Mann and Megan Thorburn) for all 35 games in 2006-07, with an additional player (Amber Flynn) seeing action in every game off the bench that winter.
• In 34 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 games in the building ... BG has allowed an average of 53.2 ppg in all games at the Stroh, and just 50.5 ppg against MAC opponents.
• The opponents have scored 70 points only three times in those 34 games at the Stroh Center, but Falcon foes have done so twice in three WNIT games in the building ... VCU posted a 72-71 win over the Brown and Orange in last year's WNIT first round, and a late three-pointer enabled SMU to reach the 70-point mark in BG's win last Thursday.
• BG has won seven consecutive home games, and the Falcons have averaged 71.4 points per game at the Stroh Center in that time.
• Thursday's opponent, Drexel, is near the top of the NCAA rankings in numerous statistical categories ... the Dragons are second in the country in fewest turnovers per game (11.5) and fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.41) ... DU is seventh in the country in free-throw percentage (78.6%), and the Dragons rank among the top-20 nationally in scoring defense (13th; 51.8 ppg), three-point field-goal pct. (14th; 36.0%) and assists (18th; 16.3 apg).
• Drexel senior Hollie Mershon is 26th in the country in scoring, averaging 19.4 points per game ... Mershon also ranks among the top 100 players in the nation in four other categories, including assists, field-goal pct., three-pointers made per game and three-point FG pct.
• The Falcons are not ranked among the top-20 in the nation in any team statistics, but BGSU is listed among the top-100 schools in no fewer than 10 categories ... BG is 33rd in the nation in scoring defense, having allowed 54.5 ppg this year.
• The Falcons were one of six Mid-American Conference teams to earn a national postseason berth ... Central Michigan won the MAC Tournament and earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, while Akron, Ball State, Miami and Toledo joined BGSU in the WNIT ... BSU and UT, like BG, have advanced to the WNIT's third round.
• The Falcons posted an overall record of 6-7 against teams that advanced to national postseason play ... BGSU was 2-3 vs. NCAA Championships participants, with 25-point wins over both Dayton and Central Michigan in the regular season ... BG lost to Purdue and Villanova in November and CMU in the MAC Tournament.
• BGSU had a 4-4 record against teams that advanced to the WNIT ... the Falcons picked up wins over Akron, BSU, Butler and Wyoming, and BG suffered losses to Miami (twice), UA and UT.
• A total of 11 Falcons – every player who has seen action in more than three games this season – have scored in double figures at least once ... 10 of those 11 players have hit double digits more than once ... and, all 11 of those aforementioned Falcons have led BGSU in scoring, or tied for the team lead, at least once this year.
• The MAC Tournament loss to CMU snapped a five-game winning streak for the Falcons ... after the Duquesne game, though, BGSU has won 11 of 14 games since the start of February.
• On the season, BGSU has held the opponent to fewer than 50 points on 13 occasions, a new school record ... the original record, 12, was set by the 1973-74 team, while the '74-75 club kept 11 opponents under the 50-point plateau ... the 2006-07 BG team held nine opponents to fewer than 50 points, en route to an appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.
• This year's senior class – Havel, Papenfuss, Steffen and Simone Eli – has helped the Falcons to an overall record of 103-29 and a MAC mark of 52-12 since they arrived at BG ... that is an average of 25.8 overall wins and 13 MAC victories per season.
• In 2012-13, the Falcons posted a winning mark in MAC play for the 10th consecutive year, a new school record.
• The Falcons finished with a record of 11-5 in MAC play ... BG has not had more than five losses in conference action since the 2002-03 campaign.
• In fact, BGSU has 124 wins and just 20 losses in MAC games over the last nine years ... no other conference school has fewer than 53 MAC losses in that time.
• The Falcons have a record of 21-2 when scoring 60 or more points this year ... BGSU is 3-8 when the offense is held under the 60-point plateau, but the Falcons have won three of the last four such games, vs. Buffalo (Feb. 28), KSU (March 6) and WMU (March 13).
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Drexel game with an overall record of 24-10 on the year ... BGSU has won at least 20 games for a MAC-record 10th consecutive winter, and the Falcons have posted as many as 23 wins for the ninth consecutive year, also a new league mark... BG finished with a MAC ledger of 11-5, good for second place in the East Division, a game behind Akron.
• BGSU has won nine of the last 11 games, but the Falcons saw a five-game winning streak snapped in a big way ... BG downed Buffalo, Ohio and Kent State to close the regular season, then beat the Flashes in the first round of the MAC Tournament and Western Michigan in the second ... but, Central Michigan bounced the Brown and Orange from the MAC Tournament with an 81-48 win in the third round ... BG bounced back with a 76-70 win over SMU in the first round of the WNIT, and the Falcons then topped Duquesne, 61-54, in second-round action ... BGSU is 6-1 in March after finishing February with a record of 5-2.
• Two of BG's marquee wins 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 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.
• The Falcons are 14-4 at home, 9-4 on the road and 1-2 in neutral-site games this season ... BGSU has a scoring margin of +8.2 and a rebounding margin of +5.4 ... in league play, BG went 6-2 at home and 5-3 in hostile venues.
• Individually, senior Chrissy Steffen and redshirt junior Alexis Rogers pace a balanced Falcon attack ... Steffen is averaging 11.1 points per game, with Rogers scoring at a 10.8-ppg clip ... Steffen leads the Falcons with 19 double-digit scoring games this season ... Rogers has hit double figures in scoring 18 times this year.
• Rogers has a team-leading 6.0 rebounds per game, and also tops the Falcons in steals, with 1.7 spg ... Steffen averages 4.7 rpg along with 1.6 assists per contest, and she leads the Brown and Orange with 55 successful three-point field goals this season ... Steffen is shooting 83.8 percent from the free-throw line ... she has gone 67-of-80 from the stripe.
• Junior Jillian Halfhill has 9.1 ppg along with a team-leading 3.3 assists per contest ... the 5-6 point guard, who tied her career high with 23 points in the SMU game, also has 5.1 rebounds per game, good for third on the team ... Halfhill is sixth in the MAC in assist/turnover ratio (1.4) ... Halfhill (75.6%) and Rogers (73.8%) are ranked 10th and 11th, respectively, in the MAC in free-throw pct.
• Fifth-year senior Danielle Havel has 6.1 ppg, and is near the top of the team lists in numerous categories ... Havel is second on the Falcons in rebounds (5.3 rpg), assists (1.7 apg) and blocked shots ... she has a BG-best four games with 10 or more rebounds this season to date.
• Halfhill and Havel have hit 33 and 23 three-pointers, respectively, this year ... Havel is shooting 37.7% from long range.
• Freshman Miriam Justinger averages 5.6 ppg, and is shooting 82.5% from the free-throw line, having gone 47-of-57 ... she has 1.7 assists per game ... junior Jill Stein and sophomore Jasmine Matthews have 5.5 ppg apiece this year.
• Stein has scored in double digits in four-straight games, and averages 4.7 rebounds to rank fourth on the team in that category ... she has gone 10-for-21 (47.6%) from three-point range to date ... Matthews, who has missed all but one game since the start of the MAC season, hit 17 treys in her 13 games.
• Freshman Bailey Cairnduff and senior Allison Papenfuss have 4.8 and 3.9 points per game, respectively ... Cairnduff has knocked down 24 three-pointers, the third-highest total on the team, and has gone 34-of-36 (94.4%) from the free-throw line ... Papenfuss has pulled down 3.8 rebounds per game, and is third on the team in blocked shots ... Stein leads the Falcons with 26 blocks, while Havel has 23, Papenfuss 13 and Steffen 11.
• Junior Katrina Salinas is averaging 2.7 ppg this season, while sophomore Deborah Hoekstra has 2.3 ppg ... Salinas has made 17 triples and Hoekstra nine.
• 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 39.0% from the field, and BG is 31.3% from three-point range and 72.9% from the free-throw line through the first 34 games ... the opponents have shot 37.4% from the floor, 27.7% from beyond the arc and 68.2% from the stripe.
A QUICK LOOK AT DREXEL
Drexel, like BGSU, enters Thursday's game with an overall record of 24-10 ... the Dragons finished Colonial Athletic Association play with a 13-5 record, good for third place in the 11-team league ... in the conference tournament, the Dragons advanced all the way to the championship game, with wins over William & Mary and James Madison along the way ... Drexel held those two teams to a combined 67 points, before dropping a narrow 59-56 decision to nationally-ranked Delaware in the championship game ... Drexel advanced to the third round of the WNIT with home wins over Iona (59-50; March 21) and Harvard (82-72; March 23) ... Drexel is 10-4 at home, 9-5 on the road and 5-1 in neutral-site games this season ... senior guard Hollie Mershon leads the team in scoring, with 19.4 points per game ... Mershon, an All-CAA First-Team selection, also paces the Dragons in rebounds (6.0 rpg) and assists (4.7 apg) ... she had 32 points and nine assists in the win over Harvard ... Mershon has made 75 three-point field goals this year to date ... senior forward Taylor Wootton has 11.8 ppg and 4.7 rpg ... freshman guard Meghan Creighton (6.2 ppg), junior G/F Fiona Flanagan (5.2 ppg) and senior guard Renee Johnson-Allen (4.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg) join Mershon and Wootton in the probable starting lineup for head coach Denise Dillon ... Dillon and the 2011-12 Dragons went 19-14 overall and 12-6 in CAA play.
THE SERIES
The Falcons are meeting Drexel for the first time in women's basketball.
UP NEXT
The BGSU-Drexel winner will face either Auburn or Tulane in the quarterfinal round of the WNIT ... Tulane plays at Auburn in third-round action on Wednesday night (March 27) ... the quarterfinal-round game would be played between Saturday (March 30) and Monday (April 1) at a site to be determined.
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