Falcons Host Ashland in Saturday Exhibition

Saturday, November 7

Bowling Green, Ohio

4:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Ashland

Lauren Tibbs - BGSU women's basketball - Oct 5 2015 practice - MJC photo

Junior Abby Siefker (right) guards senior Lauren Tibbs during a recent practice. The Falcons host Ashland in exhibition play Saturday

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

November 05, 2015 | Women's Basketball

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Bowling Green State University women's basketball fans get their first chance to see the 2015-16 team in action Saturday afternoon (Nov. 7), as head coach Jennifer Roos and the Falcons host Ashland University in the team's lone exhibition game. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center, and tickets for Saturday's game are just $5.

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Roos and her staff return a total of eight letterwinners, all of whom have started at least five games in their BGSU careers to date. That group includes seniors Erica Donovan and Miriam Justinger, juniors Rachel Konieczki and Abby Siefker, redshirt sophomore Kennedy Kirkpatrick and true sophs Sarah Baer, Rachel Myers and Haley Puk.

Those eight returnees have been joined by five newcomers, including a pair of transfers who are eligible to play immediately. The quintet of new faces includes fifth-year senior Lauren Tibbs, junior Ashley Tunstall and freshmen Maddie Cole, Sydney Lambert and Carly Santoro.

The Falcons were picked to finish third in the Mid-American Conference's East Division in the preseason coaches poll, released last week (Oct. 27), and Donovan was named to the Preseason All-MAC Team. She was one of just two players to earn the honor for a second-straight year.

The 2014-15 Falcons went 9-21 overall after four players on the 12-woman preseason roster suffered season- or career-ending injuries, and a fifth missed the bulk of the conference schedule due to injury as well. The returning players have a combined total of 203 starts in the Brown and Orange.

Saturday's exhibition is scheduled to be aired by ESPN3. Additionally, an audio broadcast will be available at WBGU-FM 88.1, the flagship station for Falcon women's basketball. The audio broadcast also will be available, free of charge, on BGSUFalcons.com. And, as is the case for all home Falcon basketball action, live stats will be available at BGSUFalcons.com as well.

Ashland finished with an overall record of 25-9 and a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference mark of 17-5 a year ago. The Eagles advanced to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16 for the third time in the last four seasons, and finished the year ranked 22nd in the WBCA poll.

The Eagles, who have 11 returning letterwinners and four returning starters, are ranked 15th in the nation in the 2015-16 USA Today NCAA Division II Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll. First-year head coach Robyn Fralick's team was picked to win the GLIAC's South Division in the coming season.

AU sophomore forwards Andi Daugherty and Laina Snyder earned spots on the Preseason South Division First team. Daugherty was the GLIAC Freshman of the Year last season, and also made the All-GLIAC Second Team and the All-GLIAC Defensive Team. She averaged 12.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, and led the team with 48 blocks.

Snyder joined Daugherty on the All-GLIAC Second Team, and Snyder made the GLIAC's All-Tournament Team as well. She averaged 14.2 ppg and 8.6 rpg as a freshman, shooting 53.0 percent from the field.

There are several BGSU-AU storylines. Fralick is a graduate of Davidson College, which is also the alma mater of her counterpart on the BG bench. Roos was an assistant coach at Davidson for eight years prior to coming to BG in 2001. Roos' final season on the staff at DC saw her coach Fralick, who was a freshman on that team.

AU freshman guard Maddie Dackin is the younger sister of Taylor Dackin, who was a member of the BGSU women's soccer team in 2013. Their uncle, Rich Dackin, played football at BGSU, and was a four-year starter at quarterback for the Falcons from 1986-89.

Following Saturday's exhibition, the Falcons remain at home to begin the regular season the next weekend. BGSU will face Illinois State in the opener on Friday, Nov. 13, before taking on Bradley two days later (Nov. 15) at the Stroh.