Bowling Green State University Athletics
Saturday, January 4
Bowling Green, OH
2:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Buffalo
BG Gets MAC Play Underway by Hosting Buffalo Saturday
January 02, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Falcons face Bulls in 2 p.m. tip at the Stroh
PDF LINKS
BGSU NOTES & STATISTICS | BUFFALO NOTES & STATISTICS
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
The Falcons won 10 games during the non-conference portion of the schedule, posting a double-digit win total for the seventh time in school history. All seven such instances have come in the last eight seasons. The program's year-by-year list of non-conference records can be found on page 11 of the attached PDF.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS, PART II
BGSU, as mentioned, has reached double digits in non-conference wins for the seventh time in school history, and the seventh time in the last eight seasons. A few random facts about this feat, with the use of bullet points...
• BGSU posted six consecutive seasons of double-digit non-league wins – a MAC record by far – from 2006-07 through '11-12, before winning 'only' nine non-league games last winter. The Falcons have a record of 84-21 in pre-conference games over the last eight years.
• No other conference team has ever had back-to-back seasons with double-digit non-league victory totals. In fact, no other MAC program has had more than three total years of double-figure non-league wins.
• BGSU has had seven seasons with 10 or more non-conference wins – have we mentioned that? Just checking. All of the other 11 MAC programs have a combined total of seven such seasons. The complete list is in the table in the right column ...
| No. | School | Year | Wins |
| 7 | BGSU | 2006-07 | 11 |
| 2007-08 | 11 | ||
| 2008-09 | 11 | ||
| 2009-10 | 10 | ||
| 2010-11 | 12 | ||
| 2011-12 | 10 | ||
| 2013-14 | 10 | ||
| 3 | Eastern Mich. | 2004-05 | 10 |
| 2009-10 | 10 | ||
| 2013-14 | 10 | ||
| 2 | Toledo | 2009-10 | 10 |
| 2012-13 | 12 | ||
| 1 | Kent State | 2008-09 | 11 |
| 1 | Miami | 2011-12 | 10 |
• Erica Donovan scored 11 of her 22 points in the first five minutes of the game, helping the Falcons to an 81-66 win over Saint Francis Sunday afternoon (Dec. 29) at the Stroh Center.
• Donovan, a redshirt sophomore, set a new career scoring best, and also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Her first 11 points helped the Brown and Orange race out to a 24-5 lead before the game was five minutes old.
• Junior Deborah Hoekstra had 16 points off the bench, while sophomore Miriam Justinger scored 12 points and added a career-high nine rebounds. Seniors Jillian Halfhill and Alexis Rogers each had 10 points to round out the Falcons' quintet of double-figure scorers.
• Donovan hit a three-pointer on the first possession of the game, and Rogers picked Aisha Brock's pocket at midcourt and sailed in for a layup and a 5-0 lead in the first minute. Halfhill hit three free throws, then a three-pointer, for an 11-0 lead.
• BG held leads of 19-2 and 24-5, and , although the Red Flash fought valiantly the rest of the afternoon, the visitors could not cut the BGSU lead below double digits.
• Alli Williams led SFU with 18 points, while Brock scored 15 and Alexa Hayward 13. Hayward sat out the entire first half, but played all 20 minutes of the second period.
• BGSU enjoyed a 53-36 rebounding advantage on the day. In addition to the 10 boards by Donovan and the nine from Justinger, senior Jill Stein pulled down eight boards and Rogers seven. Hoekstra had five rebounds to go along with her 16 points.
DONOVAN NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan was named Mid-American Conference Player of the Week on Monday afternoon (Dec. 30), earning that honor for the first time in her BGSU career.
• Donovan became the third BGSU player this season, and the second in as many weeks, to earn the honor. Seniors Jillian Halfhill (Nov. 25) and Alexis Rogers (Dec. 23) also have picked up MAC P-O-W accolades this year to date.
• In addition to earning MAC Player-of-the-Week honors on Monday, Donovan also was named the conference P-O-W by the College Sports Madness and the Hustle Belt web sites.
• Donovan, a native of Northside Texas (John Jay H.S.), had a double-double in the Falcons' lone game of the week, the win over Saint Francis. She set a career scoring high with 22 points, and added 10 rebounds for her second double-double, both this season and in her collegiate career.
QUICK HITS
• BGSU is 10-2 on the season as January begins. The Falcons have won six of the last seven games, with each of the six victories in that time coming by at least 12 points.
• In fact, eight of the Falcons' 10 victories this season have come by double figures. BGSU posted a one-point win at Iona (Nov. 9) in the second game of the year, and downed Butler by four points (Nov. 18) just over a week later, but each of the other eight wins came by at least 11 points.
• The Falcons have posted four wins of 23 points or more, including three in four home games this year to date. BGSU is 4-0 at the Stroh Center this season, having won those four games by an average of 27.5 points per contest.
• The Falcons received six votes in the USA Today Sports Top 25 women's basketball coaches poll this week. BGSU had received seven votes in each of the previous three polls before getting two votes last week, after a loss at nationally-ranked Purdue.
• The Falcons have four home wins, three road victories and three neutral-site triumphs this season. BG a perfect 4-0 at the Stroh Center, and the Falcons are 3-1 both on the road and in neutral-site contests. BG has road wins over Iona, Butler and Ohio State, and the Falcons have topped Michigan, Old Dominion and Monmouth in neutral-site action. In addition to the road setback at Purdue, the Falcons' other loss came to Marist on a neutral court.
• In BGSU's four home games, vs. Niagara, Milwaukee, UMass and Saint Francis, the Falcons have averaged 86.0 points per game and shot 46.6 percent from the field. BG has shot better than 50% from the floor in five of the eight halves of basketball at the Stroh this season to date.
• BGSU has a balanced scoring attack, as evidenced by the next few bullet points. Five Falcons are averaging between 9.0 and 12.6 points per game, and two other players have at least 5.5 ppg to date.
• The Falcons' five starters each have attempted between 79 and 115 shots, meaning that every starter is averaging no fewer than 6.6, but no more than 9.6, field-goal attempts per game.
• BGSU leads the MAC and ranks 27th in the nation in scoring defense, having allowed just 56.8 points per game. The Falcons also lead the MAC in rebounding margin (+9.3), and BG is second among league teams in both field-goal percentage (42.1%) and scoring margin (+13.1).
• The Falcons are second in the MAC in field-goal pct. defense (37.2%), and BG is fourth in three-point FG pct. (34.4%). Stated another way, BGSU has had nearly as much success at making shots from beyond the arc as the opponents have had from anywhere on the court.
• BGSU is 29th in the nation in rebounding margin. BGSU had a 53-36 advantage on the boards in the Saint Francis game.
LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET OUT OF THE WAY
• Through the first 12 games of the season, there have been six (Michigan, Niagara, Old Dominion, Monmouth, UMass and Saint Francis) contests in which BG never trailed, a seventh (Ohio State) in which the Falcons were behind for only 46 seconds, and an eighth (Milwaukee) that saw BG trail for just over a minute.
• This year to date, BGSU has led for a total of 378:38 – 78.9 percent of the time – and trailed for just 80:01 (16.7%). The Falcons and the opponents have been tied for a total of 21:21.
• BGSU has trailed for a total of just one minute and 11 seconds in the first four home games, and the Falcons have not trailed later than the 14:45 mark of the first half of any game at the Stroh Center this season.
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 10 of the first 12 games, with double-digit margins in four of those matchups. 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 +9.6 this year to date.
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 32-7 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 32-7 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 39 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 last 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 Saint Francis game, BG has allowed an average of 53.6 ppg in all games at the Stroh, and just 50.5 ppg against MAC opponents.
• BG has held 30 of 39 opponents to fewer than 60 points at the Stroh Center. The Falcons have limited 13 of those foes to less than 50 points, and on three occasions, BGSU has kept the opposition under the 40-point mark.
HOW MUCH CAN YOU BENCH?
In the Falcons' four home games to date, coach Jennifer Roos and her staff have seen the bench players score 40 points twice, 38 points in a third game and 25 in the other contest. These numbers are all the more impressive considering that bench has consisted of just four players – juniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews and freshmen Rachel Konieczki and Abby Siefker – in each of those four games.
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 12 games, despite playing a difficult schedule, BGSU has allowed 56.8 points per game and permitted the opponents to shoot just 37.1% from the field to date.
OFFENSE!
The Falcons scored 52 points in the first half of the win over Saint Francis. That 52-point total was the highest in a half in the Jennifer Roos head-coaching era (home or away), and was the second-highest total ever recorded at the Stroh Center (BG had 60 first-half points vs. Western Kentucky in the 2011-12 season). Interestingly, however, BGSU's game total of 81 points on Sunday was the team's lowest in four home contests this season. The Falcons are averaging 86.0 ppg at home this year.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan had a double-double, with a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds, in the Saint Francis game. The double-double was Donovan's second of the season. The Falcons now have a total of seven double-doubles this season, after recording nine during all of last year. Senior Alexis Rogers has had three double-doubles this year to date, while Donovan has had two and seniors Jillian Halfhill and Jill Stein one apiece.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Buffalo game with a record of 10-2 on the season. BGSU's wins include home games vs. Niagara, Milwaukee, Massachusetts and Saint Francis, road games vs. Iona, Butler and Ohio State, and neutral-site matchups against Michigan, Old Dominion and Monmouth. The Falcons' losses came at the hands of Marist (Nov. 22) in the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge, and at Purdue on the road (Dec. 22).
• Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan, fifth-year senior Alexis Rogers and fourth-year Falcon Jillian Halfhill each have scored between 134 and 151 points this season. Donovan is averaging 12.6 points per game, with Rogers scoring 12.5 ppg and Halfhill 11.2 ppg this year to date.
• Sophomore Miriam Justinger and junior Deborah Hoekstra each have averaged 9.0 points per game, while junior Jasmine Matthews and senior Jill Stein have 6.0 and 5.5 points per contest, respectively.
• Stein leads the team in rebounding, with 9.0 boards per game, while Rogers has pulled down 7.7 rpg and Donovan 6.1. Halfhill leads the Falcons with 3.6 assists per outing, with Justinger handing out 2.8 apg to date. Stein is third on the team in that category, with 2.1 helpers per game.
• Rogers is shooting a BG-best 55.7 percent from the floor – good for second in the MAC – while Hoekstra is shooting 51.4% and Donovan 47.0%. From long distance, Halfhill has a team-leading 20 three-point field goals, while Hoekstra has hit 17 shots from long distance. Four other Falcons have made between seven and 12 treys apiece.
• Hoekstra leads the entire MAC in three-point field-goal percentage, having gone 17-of-36 (47.2%) from long distance to date.
• Freshmen Rachel Konieczki and Abby Siefker are averaging 2.2 and 2.0 ppg, respectively. Freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick has seen action in five games off the bench, and classmate Leah Bolton made her BGSU debut in the Monmouth game.
• Donovan, Halfhill, Justinger, Rogers and Stein each have started all 12 games this season to date.
• 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.
• The returnees include three starters from last season in Halfhill, Justinger and Rogers, along with Hoekstra, Matthews, Stein and senior Katrina Salinas. Salinas suffered an injury in practice prior to the season opener, and is expected to miss the entire 2013-14 campaign.
• The Falcons' newcomers to the floor include Donovan – who practiced with the team in 2012-13, sitting out the year as a transfer from North Carolina State – as well as the four freshmen.
• 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 St. 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 joined 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 St. Bonaventure. Monique Rosati is in her seventh season as director of operations.
• Through 12 games, the Falcons are shooting 42.1 percent from the field, 34.1% from three-point range and 70.3% from the foul line. Opponents are shooting 37.1% from the floor, 29.2% from the arc and 73.8% from the stripe. The Falcons have a scoring margin of +13.1, a rebounding margin of +9.6 and a turnover margin of +1.4 on the year.
THE BUFFALO BULLS
Buffalo enters Saturday's game with an overall record of 7-4, and the Bulls are looking to extend a two-game winning streak. Most recently, UB picked up a 93-58 win over Roberts Wesleyan on New Year's Day. The Bulls are 3-1 at home and 4-3 on the road this season to date. Individually, Sophomore guard Mackenzie Loesing leads the Bulls in scoring, with 17.9 points per game, while junior forward Kristen Sharkey joins her in double figures. Sharkey has 13.2 ppg and is second on the team with 8.5 rebounds per contest. Junior C/F Christa Baccas has 7.7 ppg and a team-leading 9.0 rpg, and she leads the team and ranks second in the MAC in blocked shots (2.4 bpg). Senior guard Margeaux Gupilan has 6.3 ppg and 5.1 assists per outing. Head coach Felisha Legette-Jack welcomed back eight letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team. The 2012-13 edition of the Bulls went 12-20 overall and 8-8 in MAC regular-season play.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Buffalo, 22-5, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won the last 18 meetings. The two meetings last season went to BG by scores of 61-56 in Buffalo (Feb. 7, 2013) and 56-43 at the Stroh Center (Feb. 28, 2013). In the latter game, 10 different players scored at least two points for the Falcons, with no one scoring more than 12. BGSU is 10-2 in home games, 11-3 in road contests and 1-0 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Bulls over the years. Jennifer Roos is 2-0 against the Bulls as a head coach.
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 10-2 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;
• 292-105 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 146-46 in MAC games in that time:
• 271-70 over the last 10-plus years, with 2012-13 marking BG's MAC-record 10th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 250-60 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 227-52 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 199-49 in the last seven-plus years, including a 95-17 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 168-45 overall, and 80-16 in MAC regular-season games, in the last six-plus seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 142-37 overall and 67-13 in MAC action over the last five-plus winters;
• 113-32, including a 52-12 MAC ledger, in the last four-plus seasons;
• 86-25 overall and 38-10 in the MAC since seniors Jillian Halfhill and Jill Stein ventured to campus;
• 58-20 overall, and 25-7 in MAC action, since senior Alexis Rogers and juniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 34-13 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 63-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field since 2001;
• 233-11 when having a better FG percentage than the opposition in that time, including a 105-1 mark in the last five-plus seasons (the lone exception was the Drexel game in the third round of the WNIT last year);
• 221-38 when making more free throws than the opponent in the Roos Assistant-Coach/Associate-Head-Coach/Interim-Head-Coach/Head-Coaching Era;
• 186-23 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;
• 50-6 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
• 32-7 in the Stroh Center, with five of the seven losses coming by a combined 11 points.
FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons continue to own the best record in MAC history. Entering the Buffalo game, 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, BG 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 victories (726) and highest overall winning percentage (.651) of any conference school.
HOEKSTRA HITS SHOTS
• Junior Deborah Hoekstra has stepped up as a viable scoring option for the Falcons this season. She entered the year with a career total of two double-digit scoring games, but has hit double figures six times this season.
• In a recent four-game span – all wins – Hoekstra averaged 16.8 points and made 25-of-35 shots (71.4%). BGSU defeated Ohio State, Monmouth, Milwaukee and UMass in that span.
• Hoekstra scored a then career-high 18 points in the win over Monmouth, then had 19 points vs. both Milwaukee and UMass. Most recently, she scored 16 points vs. Saint Francis, and is now averaging 9.0 points per game.
• Hoekstra is averaging no fewer than 17.3 points in home games this year to date. Overall, she has averaged 14.2 ppg over the last six contests, and she has reached double digits by halftime in five of those of six games.
THEN AND NOW
• Junior Deborah Hoekstra scored a total of 83 points, making 23 total field goals including 13 three-pointers, over her first two seasons. This year to date, Hoekstra has 108 points, having hit 36 total shots including 17 from beyond the arc.
• Hoekstra has scored in double figures six times this year, after doing so on two occasions over her first two years.
• Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan has hit double figures eight times this year. She reached double digits six times during her entire first season, at North Carolina State two years ago.
• Sophomore Miriam Justinger has scored in double digits five times this season, after doing so four times during her freshman campaign.
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 2013-14, 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.
UP NEXT
Following the Buffalo game, the Falcons will hit the road for three of the next four contests. BGSU will head to Northeast Ohio for a Thursday (Jan. 9) game at Kent State, before returning home to face MAC East Division preseason favorite Akron on Sunday, Jan. 12. The Brown and Orange then return to the road to take on Ball State (Jan. 15) and Central Michigan (Jan. 18) in a pair of MAC TV games.
Amy Velasco, Lexi Fleming, & Coach Chmiel Postgame Interview (Mar. 5, 2025)
Thursday, March 06
Paige Kohler, Coach Chmiel, & Amy Velasco Postgame Interview (Feb. 26, 2025)
Thursday, February 27
In the Paint: Lexxus Graham-Blincoe
Wednesday, February 26
Erika Porter, Amy Velasco, & Coach Chmiel Postgame Interview (Feb. 22, 2025)
Sunday, February 23