BG Battles Bucknell as 2014-15 Season Begins

Friday, November 14

Bowling Green, OH

6:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Bucknell

Tickets

Abby Siefker (43) & the Falcons host Bucknell in a 6:00 p.m. start on Friday night

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

November 13, 2014 | Women's Basketball

Last year's Falcons to be recognized in ring ceremony prior to tipoff

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team opens the 2014-15 campaign with a pair of home games, beginning with Friday night's (Nov. 14) contest vs. Bucknell University. The Falcons of head coach Jennifer Roos will meet the Bison in a 6:00 p.m. start at the Stroh Center (4,347).

BGSU NOTES | BUCKNELL NOTES - PDF

RING CEREMONY
Friday night's game will be preceded by a ceremony in which members of the 2013-14 program will receive their Mid-American Conference championship rings. Last year's team went 17-1 in MAC regular-season play to win the East Division as well as the outright conference title. The '13-14 Falcons won 30 overall games, the second-highest total in school – and MAC – history.

LAST TIME OUT: FALCONS DOWN DAVIS & ELKINS, 88-36
• The Falcons got contributions from all 12 players on the roster in an 88-36 exhibition win over Davis & Elkins College Friday night (Nov. 7) at the Stroh Center. Each of the dozen BGSU players hit at least one field goal on the night.

• The Falcons burst out to a 30-4 lead midway through the first half, and BG never looked back. The lead was 51-15 at the half, and the Brown and Orange opened up a game-high 54-point margin in the final minute of the second half, before the Senators scored the last two points of the evening.

• Redshirt junior Erica Donovan had a double-double, with 15 points and 11 rebounds, to lead a balanced attack for the Falcons. Sophomore Rachel Konieczki joined Donovan in double figures, with 10 points and a team-leading seven assists.

• Six other players had at least seven points in the win. Senior Jasmine Matthews and freshman Haley Puk scored nine points apiece. Puk hit a game-high three three-point field goals, while Matthews and Konieczki knocked down two apiece.

• Sophomore Abby Siefker scored eight points and had six rebounds. She did not miss a shot in the win, going 2-for-2 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

• Junior Miriam Justinger and freshmen Sarah Baer and Lauren Webb scored seven points each. Justinger had six rebounds, while Webb and Baer combined to make eight free throws in 10 attempts.

• Freshman Rachel Myers scored six points and pulled down six rebounds, while Senior Deborah Hoekstra had five points, three assists and a pair of steals. Konieczki also had two steals to tie Hoekstra for the team lead.

• Redshirt freshmen Kennedy Kirkpatrick and Leah Bolton scored three and two points, respectively, and each player had four rebounds in the victory.

THIRTY WINS
BGSU finished with a 30-5 record last winter. The 2013-14 Falcons are only the second team in MAC history to reach the 30-victory mark for a season. The first? The 2006-07 BGSU club, which became the first (and still the only) team in MAC women's basketball history to advance to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Championships.

SIX OF ONE, HALF DOZEN OF THE OTHER
Coach Jennifer Roos and the Falcons return six letterwinners from a year ago. Each of those returnees played in 31 or more games last winter, with three of the six playing in all 35 contests. BGSU's other six players on the 2014-15 roster have combined to play a total of 24 minutes in their collegiate careers. The latter half-dozen players include a pair of redshirt freshmen as well as four true frosh.

FALCONS PICKED TO PLACE SECOND IN MAC EAST IN 2014-15
The Falcons have been picked to finish second in the MAC's East Division in 2014-15, according to the league's preseason coaches poll. The Falcons were picked to finish second in the East last year as well, but wound up winning a divisional title for the ninth time in the last 10 years. BG won the West Division in 2005 and captured the East in each of the next seven years. The Falcons were second in the East two years ago. BGSU has had the league's best overall regular-season mark in eight of the last 10 seasons. Buffalo and Central Michigan were picked to win the East and West divisions, respectively, in 2014-15, and 10 of the 12 head coaches tabbed CMU to capture the conference tourney crown.

DONOVAN NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-MAC TEAM
Redshirt junior Erica Donovan was named to the Preseason All-MAC Team for 2014-15. Donovan is BG's top returning scorer, having averaged 10.9 points per game a year ago. The San Antonio, Texas, native also averaged 5.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per contest, earning All-MAC honorable mention in her first playing season with the Brown and Orange. She played in all 35 games, making 34 starts.

RECENT SUCCESS
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 15 on both lists. BGSU has won a total of 133 over the last five years (from the start of the 2009-10 season through the end of 2013-14), and the Falcons have won more than 79 percent of the time during that span. BGSU's winning percentage is the 11th-highest among all NCAA Division-I programs over the last half decade, while the team's win total is the 13th-best in the nation in that time.

LONG-TERM SUCCESS
The Falcons have enjoyed success not only recently, but over the long term. BGSU ranks 30th in NCAA Division-I history in winning percentage, and the Falcons are 39th among all such schools in total wins. BGSU has an all-time record of 746-393, good for a winning pct. of 65.5%. No other Mid-American Conference program is listed among the top 50 on either chart.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons return six letterwinners, including two starters, from a 2013-14 team that won 30 overall games and captured a MAC regular-season title with a 17-1 league ledger. BGSU won the East Division title, and the Falcons had the best overall record in MAC play for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons. The division title was the program's ninth in that 10-year span.

• Last year's edition of the Brown and Orange advanced to national postseason play for the 10th consecutive March, winning three games in the WNIT before falling in the quarterfinal round to eventual tourney champion Rutgers. BGSU won more than 20 games for the 11th consecutive year.

• In addition to the six returnees, head coach Jennifer Roos and her staff – assistant coaches Jesse Fleming, Jacey Brooks and Sahar Nusseibeh and director of operations Monique Rosati – also have six players with freshman status on the roster. That 12-player roster includes two seniors, two juniors, two sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and the four true frosh.

• Redshirt junior Erica Donovan is the top returning scorer and rebounder. She averaged 10.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game a year ago, ranking third on the team in both categories.

• Donovan played in all 35 games, starting 34, last season. The Falcons' other returning starter is junior Miriam Justinger, who made 27 starts last season and avearged 8.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per outing. Justinger also averaged 2.4 assists per contest last winter, good for second on the Falcons and tops among returnees.

• Seniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews scored 6.9 and 6.4 ppg, respectively, last year. Both players saw action off the bench. Hoekstra, one of the league's top sixth players, came off the bench in all 35, while Matthews made nine starts.

• Matthews made 45 three-point field goals last season, while Hoekstra hit 41 long-range shots and made 36.3% of her attempts from beyond the arc. Donovan and Justinger made 36 and 28 treys, respectively.

• Sophomores Rachel Konieczki and Abby Siefker averaged 1.8 and 1.7 ppg, respectively. Konieczki saw action in 34 games last year, while Siefker played in 31. Redshirt freshmen Kennedy Kirkpatrick and Leah Bolton played a combined 24 minutes a year ago, with Kirkpatrick seeing action in five games before Thanksgiving, and Bolton making two appearances for a total of eight minutes.

• The 2013-14 Falcons shot 42.3 percent from the field, 35.2% from three-point range and 74.6% from the foul line. Opponents shooting 37.4% from the floor, 25.7% from the arc and 69.0% from the stripe. The Falcons had a scoring margin of +12.9, a rebounding margin of +6.5 and a turnover margin of +1.1 on the year.

• In MAC games, BGSU shot 43.0% from the field, 36.1% from three-point land and 78.5% from the line. Opponents shot 36.4% overall, 22.0% from long range and 64.8% from the stripe in MAC play.

THE BUCKNELL BISON
Bucknell is coming off of a successful season which saw the Bison post an overall record of 16-14 and a final Patriot League mark of 11-7 a year ago. The 2013-14 edition of the Bison received a bid to the Women's Basketball Invitational. Bucknell was picked to tie for third in the PL this season in the league's preseason coaches' poll. Senior forward Audrey Dotson was voted to the Preseason All-PL Team after earning second-team all-league honors a year ago. Dotson led the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 16.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. The BGSU game is the first of a four-game road swing to begin the season for the Bison. Head coach Aaron Roussell is in his third year at Bucknell.

THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Bucknell, 2-0, in the all-time series between the teams. The two prior meetings came in back-to-back years a decade ago. The first-ever meeting saw BGSU become the first-ever visiting women's basketball team to score 100 points in a game in Lewisburg, Pa., as the Brown and Orange picked up a 100-77 win (Dec. 3, 2003). Lindsay Austin had 21 points and 15 assists in that victory. Then, just over a year later, all 12 healthy players on the Falcon roster found the scoring column in an 80-60 win over the Bison at Anderson Arena (Dec. 30, 2004).

THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 30-5 last year, after posting a 24-11 overall record the previous season;
• 17-1 in MAC play in 2013-14, winning a division title for the ninth time in a 10-season span;
• 312-108 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 163-47 in MAC games in that time:
• 291-73 over the last 11 years, with 2013-14 marking BG's MAC-record 11th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 270-63 in the past 10 years, with no fewer than 23 wins in each of the 10 seasons and eight MAC overall regular-season titles (2004-10, 2012 and again in '14, plus an East Division crown in '11);
• an eye-popping 247-55 overall, and 128-18 in the MAC regular season, in the last nine years, with at least 24 wins in each of those nine seasons;
• a superb 219-52 in the last eight years, including a 112-18 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 188-48 overall, and 97-17 in MAC regular-season games, in the last seven seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 162-40 overall and 84-14 in MAC action over the last six winters;
• 133-35, including a 69-13 MAC ledger, in the last five seasons;
• 106-28 overall and 55-11 in the MAC in the last four years;
• 78-23 overall, and 42-8 in MAC action, since seniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 54-16 overall and 28-6 in league play since Jennifer Roos became head coach, junior Miriam Justinger joined the Falcons' roster, and redshirt junior Erica Donovan transferred to BG;
• 30-5 since Donovan and sophomores Rachel Konieczki and Abby Siefker began their BGSU playing careers, and redshirt freshmen Leah Bolton and Kennedy Kirkpatrick came to campus;
• 151-23 in the last 174 games vs. MAC foes (regular-season and tournament);
• A perfect 67-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field since 2001;
• 249-12 when having a better FG percentage than the opposition in that time, including a 121-2 mark in the last six seasons;
• 238-39 when making more free throws than the opponent in the Roos Assistant-Coach/Associate-Head-Coach/Interim-Head-Coach/Head-Coaching Era;
• 201-25 when outrebounding the opponent in that 13-year span;
• 74-7 in MAC home games in the last 10 seasons;
• 61-12 in MAC road games over the last nine years;
• 20-5 in the MAC Tournament in the last 10 years, with five titles (2005, '06, '07, '10 and '11), an additional championship-game appearance (2009), and trips to the semis in 2008, 2012 and 2014;
• 44-19 overall in the MAC Tournament since it was instituted in 1982;
• 21-7 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;
• 10-17 in 17 national postseason appearances (including a 3-11 record in the NCAA Championships and a 7-6 mark in WNIT trips);
• 9-10 in national postseason action since Roos arrived at BG (including a 2-5 mark in the NCAAs and a 7-5 record in the WNIT); and
• 44-8 in the Stroh Center, with six of the losses coming by a combined 16 points.

UP NEXT
Following the Bucknell game, the Falcons will host Iona College on Tuesday (Nov. 18), with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh. Then, BGSU will hit the road for eight of the next nine games, venturing to the states of Wisconsin, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Florida in that time.