BG Battles Ball State as MAC Schedule Commences

Saturday, January 3

Bowling Green, OH

4:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Ball State

Tickets

Rachel Myers & the Falcons return home to open the MAC schedule vs. Ball State

Photo by: Craig Bell, BGSU Marketing and Communications

January 02, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Falcons face Cardinals in 4:00 p.m. start Saturday at the Stroh

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after playing eight of the last nine games away from Northwest Ohio, returns home to begin the Mid-American Conference schedule. The Falcons of head coach Jennifer Roos face Ball State University on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 3), with tipoff scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center. (4,347). Saturday's game is the first half of a BGSU hoops doubleheader, which will see the Falcon men's basketball team face Chicago State University in a 7:00 p.m. start.

LINKS
GAME NOTES: BGSU | Ball State
BGSU Women's Basketball Update (Jan. 2 Release)

BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL INJURY UPDATE
BGSU women's basketball student-athletes Erica Donovan and Lauren Webb are expected to miss the remainder of the 2014-15 season due to injury, head coach Jennifer Roos has announced. Both Donovan, a redshirt junior, and Webb, a freshman, were injured during the Falcons' win at Illinois State on Dec. 19.

Additionally, redshirt freshman Leah Bolton will apply for a medical retirement with the NCAA due to recurring injuries, ending her BGSU playing career.

"Injuries happen to every team every year," said Roos. "Unfortunately, we have had three injuries happen in a short window of time. We have a philosophy of asking the next person to step up and that is what we have started to do as a team.

"I am very confident Lauren and Erica will work hard during their rehabilitation process, and will return to the active roster following the conclusion of the '14-15 season.

"Leah will remain with our program, but it will be in a different role due to her medical retirement. I am fortunate that I, along with the rest of our team, saw what type of player Leah was in practice before her injury. But, our fans and opponents did not get a chance to see how explosive of a scorer on the court she was."

Donovan, who was voted to the Preseason All-MAC Team, started each of the Falcons' first eight games of the season, and was leading the team in both scoring (15.3 points per game) and rebounding (9.1 rebounds per game). She had 20 points and 15 rebounds in BG's win at ISU, her second-straight 20-point game, before suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury with just over two minutes remaining in the second half.

Webb played in seven of the first eight games off the bench before suffering an ACL injury during the first half of the ISU game. She was averaging 0.1 ppg and 1.6 rpg in 5.9 minutes per contest.

Bolton played in the Falcons' exhibition win over Davis & Elkins on Nov. 7, but has not seen action during the 2014-15 regular season. Injuries limited her to playing in just two games in 2013-14.

The Falcons have an overall record of 7-4 heading into Saturday's (Jan. 3) MAC opener vs. Ball State at the Stroh Center.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
If you can't make it to the Stroh Center on Saturday, you can still follow the Falcons via your radio or computer machine. The game will be broadcast by WBGU-FM 88.1, the flagship home of Falcon women's basketball, and will be available over the air or on the web.

Additionally, live stats for Saturday's game will be available via BGSUFalcons.com, and a video stream (fee required) will be available as well. And, in-game twitter updates can be found at @BGSUwbb. Log on to BGSUFalcons.com and click the 'calendar' link on the day or the game, or navigate your way to the women's basketball schedule page and bask in the veritable plethora of links.

LAST TIME OUT: BG FALLS, 68-55, IN FINAL NON-CONFERENCE GAME
• The Falcons fell, 68-55, to host FIU Tuesday night (Dec. 30), at the Sun & Fun Classic at FIU Arena. With the loss, BGSU ended non-conference play with a record of 7-4.

• Senior Deborah Hoekstra was named to the all-tournament team for the Falcons. Hoekstra, who led BGSU in scoring in Monday's (Dec. 29) game vs. Hampton, had seven points and a career-high nine rebounds vs. FIU.

• Freshman Haley Puk paced BGSU in scoring vs. the Panthers, with 12 points, the highest total of her brief Falcon career. Classmate Rachel Myers had nine points, while another freshman, Sarah Baer, set career-best totals in both scoring and rebounding. Baer had seven points and six boards vs. FIU.

• Junior Miriam Justinger, sophomore Rachel Konieczki and redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick all had six points in the game. Kirkpatrick added a career-high four assists to lead the Falcons in that category.

• Sophomore Abby Siefker scored two points and also had six rebounds, two assists and a BG-leading two blocked shots on Tuesday night.

• For the home team, Kiandre'a Pound had game-high totals of 20 points and 14 rebounds to lead four double-digit scorers. Destini Feagin scored 15 points, while Taylor Shade had 14 points and six assists. Marita Davydova had 12 points along with six rebounds and five blocks.

• BGSU has lost back-to-back games for the first time in over two years. The last time the Falcons suffered consecutive losses was in November of 2012, against Purdue and Villanova.

TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY
Ball State's last trip to BGSU saw the Falcons post a 73-42 win over the Cardinals just under two years ago (Jan. 16, 2013). That game marked the second-fewest points, as well as the second-largest margin of defeat, in the Brady Sallee Era at BSU. However, the Cardinals returned the favor with a 73-55 win over the top-seeded Falcons in the MAC Tournament semifinals last year (March 14, 2014). That game was BG's most lopsided loss of the entire 2013-14 season.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Ball State game with a 7-4 record. After winning four-straight games prior to Christmas, BGSU is looking to snap a two-game losing streak. The Brown and Orange dropped a pair of games earlier this week in Miami, Fla., falling to Hampton (64-53; Dec. 29) and the host school (68-55; Dec. 30) at the FIU Sun & Fun Classic.

• After opening the season with a 53-52 loss to Bucknell, BGSU bounced back with a convincing 80-59 victory over Iona, then went on the road and picked up a 60-50 triumph over Milwaukee. The Brown and Orange extended the win streak to three games with a 62-54 win over UC Irvine, before suffering a narrow loss, 51-48, to Loyola Marymount. The latter two games came at the DoubleTree LA Westside Thanksgiving Classic, hosted by LMU.

• The Falcons returned home and posted a 66-55 win over Cincinnati, the team's lone home game in a month-and-a-half span, before returning to the road and picking up a 76-62 decision against Saint Francis (Pa.). Then, BG went to Illinois and captured a pair of games, with a 58-54 win over Illinois State on Dec. 19 and a 61-47 victory at Bradley two days later.

• The Falcons saw two players, redshirt junior Erica Donovan and freshman Lauren Webb, injured in that Illinois State game. Both are expected to miss the remainder of the 2014-15 season. Donovan was the Falcons' leading scorer and rebounder at the time of injury, with 15.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. She had 20 points in each of her last two games, vs. SFU and ISU, with a career-high 15 boards in the latter contest.

• Three Falcons have started all 11 games this season to date. That trio includes junior Miriam Justinger and sophomores Rachel Konieczki and Abby Siefker. Senior Deborah Hoekstra, after coming off the bench for the first 83 games of her BGSU career, has started the last five games, while freshman Haley Puk made her first collegiate start in the win at Bradley and has now started three games.

• Hoekstra leads the active Falcons in scoring, with 10.5 points per game, while Justinger and Konieczki have scored 8.9 and 7.5 ppg, respectively. Freshman Rachel Myers has 5.9 points per contest, with Siefker averaging 5.5 ppg and Puk 5.1.

• Siefker is averaging 6.4 rebounds per game to date, while Justinger has 5.3 rpg. Hoekstra and fellow senior Jasmine Matthews have 3.8 and 3.0 rpg, respectively.

• Justinger has 2.5 assists per game to pace the Falcons in that category, and she is one of three players with 1.1 steals per game. Hoekstra and Konieczki each have 1.3 assists per outing, and both players have 1.1 steals per contest as well. Siefker has a team-leading 1.0 blocked shots per game.

• BGSU is shooting 36.6 percent from the field, 29.1% from three-point range and 76.4% from the free-throw line through 11 games. The Falcons' opponents have shot 37.3% from the floor, 26.5% from the arc and 66.0% from the stripe.

• The Falcons have averaged 5.9 three-pointers made to date. Hoekstra has hit 18 triples to lead the way, while Myers and Koniezcki have knocked down 12 and 10 long-range attempts, respectively. Puk has connected eight times from beyond the arc and Justinger seven.

• Hoekstra, Justinger, Konieczki, Siefker, Myers and Puk each have seen action in all 11 games, while redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick has played in 10 games to date. Donovan, as mentioned, played in the first eight games of the year before suffering her injury.

• Webb and fellow freshman Sarah Baer each have played in seven games, as has Matthews.

• The Falcons returned six letterwinners, including two starters (Donovan and Justinger), 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 added six players with freshman status on the roster. The 12-player active roster at the start of the 2014-15 season included two seniors, two juniors, two sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and the four true frosh.

• Donovan was the team's top returning scorer and rebounder in 2013-14. 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. Justinger who made 27 starts last year and averaged 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.

• Hoekstra and 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 games, 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.

• 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 floor, 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 BALL STATE CARDINALS
Ball State has an overall record of 4-7, and the Cardinals are looking to snap a three-game losing streak. The team's most recent game was a 73-68 overtime setback against Saint Louis earlier this week (Dec. 30). The Cardinals are 4-2 at home and 0-5 on the road to date. BSU's difficult pre-conference schedule included games against Purdue, Louisville and Western Kentucky. Individually, junior Nathalie Fontaine leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 15.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Sophomore Jill Morrison has 12.4 ppg and leads the team with 2.8 assists per contest. Morrison also paces BSU with 25 three-point field goals made this year to date. Guard Shelbie Justice, the team's lone senior, has 8.8 ppg and has hit 17 three-pointers. Last year, head coach Brady Sallee and the Cardinals went 18-17 overall and 9-9 in the MAC. BSU won four-straight games in the 2014 MAC Tournament before losing in the championship game, and the Cards advanced to the WNIT for the second-straight March. Sallee welcomed back seven letterwinners, including two starters, from the 2013-14 club.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Ball State, 44-15, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Cardinals won the last meeting in a big way. BSU bounced BG out of the 2014 MAC Tournament with a 73-55 victory in the semifinal round in Cleveland (March 14, 2014). That game snapped a five-game series winning streak for the Falcons.

• BGSU is 24-2 in home games (including 1-0 at the Stroh Center), 18-10 on the road and 2-3 in neutral-site meetings with the Cardinals over the years.

• Last year's regular-season meeting saw Miriam Justinger score a then career-high 18 points in a 72-61 win in Muncie (Jan. 15, 2014).

• The last meeting in BG – the teams' only prior game at the Stroh Center – saw the Falcons burst out to a 21-2 lead en route to a 73-42 victory two years ago (Jan. 16, 2013).

• Jennifer Roos is 2-1 against the Cardinals as a head coach.

FALCONS LIKE THEIR #MACTION
Since Jennifer Roos became head coach prior to the 2012-13 season, the Falcons have a record of 28-6 in MAC regular-season games. BGSU has won those 28 games by an average of 17.6 points per game, and the Falcons' MAC losses have been by 6.2 ppg. Twenty-three of the 28 wins have been by double digits, with just two of the six losses coming by 10 points or more.

FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons continue to own the best record in MAC history. Entering the conference portion of the 2014-15 regular season, BGSU has an all-time record of 390-153 (.718) 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 (753) and highest overall winning percentage (.655) of any conference school.

THE STARTING FIVE
Last season, head coach Jennifer Roos used a total of three different starting lineups over the 35-game schedule. But, the Falcons had used their third different lineup of the '14-15 season by the ninth game. Junior Miriam Justinger and sophomores Abby Siefker and Rachel Konieczki each have started all 11 contests for the Brown and Orange this year to date.

WRITE THEM DOWN IN PENCIL (AND BRING AN ERASER)
With a smaller active roster due to injuries, there has been plenty of playing time to go around in the last few games. And, a few Falcons are taking advantage by setting new career standards in various categories...

• Senior Deborah Hoekstra had a career-high nine rebounds in the FIU game. Her previous best had been six boards, set on three occasions.

• Freshman Haley Puk made her first collegiate start in the Bradley game. She set a career standard with seven rebounds in that game, then broke that mark with eight caroms vs. Hampton. The next day, Puk scored a career-high 12 points vs. FIU.

• Redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick scored a total of two points over her first 10 career games (five last year, five this year). Since then, however, she has averaged 6.0 ppg, with 30 points over the last five contests. She has set or tied her career highs for minutes played in each of the last four games, including 18 minutes on the court vs. Hampton and 21 vs. FIU. Kirkpatrick had a career-high two assists vs. HU, then doubled that mark the next day, leading BG with four helpers against FIU.

• Freshman Sarah Baer played in four of the Falcons' first eight games, seeing a total of 14 minutes of playing time in that span. Baer has posted double-digit minute totals in each of the last three games, however, including 19 minutes at FIU. She scored a then career-high three points vs. Hampton, then had career bests of seven points and six rebounds in the FIU contest. Baer also had the first two steals of her career in the latter game, and she has blocked four shots over the last three contests.

MAKE MORE THAN THEY TAKE
So far this season, BG appears to be continuing a program trend of making more free throws than the opponents attempt. This year to date, BGSU has gotten to the line 212 times, making 162 shots. Opponents have gone 95-for-144 from the stripe through the first 11 games of the season.

SIXTY POINTS = SUCCESS AT THE STROH CENTER
Entering the Ball State game, the Falcons have a record of 46-9 at the Stroh Center since the building opened prior to the 2011-12 season. While an 83.6 winning percentage is certainly impressive, BGSU's chances of winning at home have increased exponentially when the team scores at least 60 points. The Falcons are 43-1 (97.7%) when reaching the 60-point mark inside the Stroh. BG is 28-1 when scoring at least 70 points, 12-0 when hitting the 80-point mark and 3-0 when reaching the 90-point plateau.

THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 7-4 this season, after posting a 30-5 overall record last winter;
• 17-1 in MAC play in 2013-14, winning a division title for the ninth time in a 10-season span;
• 319-112 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 164-47 in MAC games in that time:
• 298-77 over the last 11-plus years, with 2013-14 marking BG's MAC-record 11th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 277-67 in the past 10-plus 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 254-59 overall, and 128-18 in the MAC regular season, in the last nine-plus years, with at least 24 wins in each of those nine seasons;
• a superb 226-56 in the last eight-plus years, including a 112-18 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 195-52 overall, and 97-17 in MAC regular-season games, in the last seven-plus seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 169-44 overall and 84-14 in MAC action over the last six-plus winters;
• 140-39, including a 69-13 MAC ledger, in the last five-plus seasons;
• 113-32 overall and 55-11 in the MAC in the last four-plus years;
• 85-27 overall, and 42-8 in MAC action, since seniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 61-20 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;
• 37-9 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;
• 254-12 when having a better FG percentage than the opposition in that time, including a 126-2 mark in the last six-plus seasons;
• 243-42 when making more free throws than the opponent in the Roos Assistant-Coach/Associate-Head-Coach/Interim-Head-Coach/Head-Coaching Era;
• 207-25 when outrebounding the opponent in that 13-plus-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;
• 52-7 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
• 46-9 in the Stroh Center, with seven losses coming by a combined 17 points.

MAC OPENER MINUTIAE
• BGSU enters Saturday's game with a record of 11-2 in MAC openers since Jennifer Roos arrived at BGSU. The Falcons have won 10-straight league lid-lifters since a 72-70 loss to Ball State at venerable Anderson Arena in January of 2004.

• The Falcons are 10-3 in MAC home-opening games in the Roos Era, and BGSU has won the last nine such contests. The team's last loss in the league home opener came on Jan. 12, 2005, a narrow 51-48 setback to Eastern Michigan.

• Over the last nine seasons, BG has won the MAC home opener by an average of 23.0 points per game. The Falcons' lone single-digit win in that time came six years ago (Jan. 14, 2009), an 87-79 win over Miami. Four of those nine wins have been by more than 30 points.

UP NEXT
Following the Ball State game, the Falcons will return to the road for the next two contests. The Brown and Orange will make back-to-back trips to Northeast Ohio, taking on Akron on Wednesday (Jan. 7) before facing Kent State three days later (Jan. 10). Then, BGSU returns to the Stroh Center to face Northern Illinois on Wednesday, Jan. 14.