MAC Play Begins as BGSU Faces Miami Saturday Afternoon

Saturday, January 2

Oxford, Ohio

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Miami

Defense Santoro Tunstall Siefker v Evansville - Dec 2 2015 - Amanda Cutcher photo

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

December 31, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Falcons, RedHawks meet in Oxford in a 1:00 p.m. start

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after seeing the non-conference season come to a premature end, opens Mid-American Conference action this weekend. Head coach Jennifer Roos and the Falcons head to Oxford to face Miami University in Saturday (Jan. 2) action, with tipoff set for 1:00 p.m. at Millett Hall.

LINKS
GAME NOTES: BGSU | Miami
GET TO KNOW...: Roos | Fleming | Brooks | Nusseibeh | Rosati
2015-16 Women's Basketball Media Central
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FOLLOW THE FALCONS
If you can't make it to Oxford on Saturday, you can still follow the Falcons via your radio- or computer-like devices. 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, the game will be aired on ESPN3.com, and live stats will be available as well. And, in-game twitter updates can be found at @BGSUwbb on your twitter machine. To follow the Falcons, simply log on to BGSUFalcons.com and click the 'calendar' link on the day of the game, or navigate your way to the women's basketball page.

TEXAS TRIP CANCELLED
The Falcons' scheduled trip to San Antonio, Texas, was cancelled and the two scheduled games will not be made up. BGSU was scheduled to participate in the Rae & Craig Blair Memorial UTSA Holiday Classic on Tuesday and Wednesday (Dec. 29-30). BG was slated to take on Texas Southern and the host school, UTSA. However, the team's scheduled flight from Detroit to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Sunday (Dec. 27) was cancelled, as were hundreds of other flights in and out of Dallas/Fort Worth due to tornadoes in the area on Saturday. No other flights were available later Sunday, Monday or Tuesday.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• Bowling Green enters the weekend with a record of 4-5, and the Falcons are looking to snap a three-game losing streak. The Falcons' most recent game was a 58-45 setback against perennial mid-major power South Dakota State at the Stroh Center on Monday (Dec. 21).

• BGSU began the season with a pair of double-digit wins at the Stroh, then left Northwest Ohio and played three games that were decided by a total of 10 points.

• All three of the Falcons' home games prior to the SDSU contest came against Missouri Valley Conference foes, and the Brown and Orange won those three games by an average of 16.3 points. BG began the season by dispatching both Illinois State and Bradley at the Stroh Center over a three-day span, before losing a narrow 54-51 contest at Cincinnati the following weekend.

• The Falcons headed to Wilmington, N.C., and split a pair of games, dropping a 70-66 decision to Davidson before downing Jacksonville, 72-69 in overtime. Those two contests were part of the UNCW Hampton Inn Thanksgiving Classic.

• BGSU began the month of December with a 74-56 win over Evansville at the Stroh, but BG then lost to Cleveland State, 69-48, at Quicken Loans Arena. The Falcons dropped a 68-39 decision before more than 10,000 fans at Virginia prior to the South Dakota State game.

• Just one Falcon, fifth-year senior Lauren Tibbs, has a double-digit scoring average. Tibbs, in her first season at BGSU after transferring from Marquette, has 10.7 points per game, and also leads the Falcons with 7.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots per contest. Tibbs is shooting a BG-best 60.0 percent from the field.

• Freshman Sydney Lambert and senior Miriam Justinger have 9.0 and 8.7 ppg, respectively. Lambert leads BGSU in assists (2.1 apg) and has hit a BG-best 15 three-point field goals to date. Justinger is tied for the team lead in steals, and the senior is second on the Falcons in rebounding and third in assists. Justinger has hit 13 long-distance shots this year.

• Lambert is shooting 40.5% from three-point land, while Justinger has made 39.4% of her long-range attempts. They are a combined 28-of-70 from behind the arc through the first nine games.

• Sophomore Rachel Myers and redshirt soph Kennedy Kirkpatrick have 6.1 and 6.0 ppg, respectively. Kirkpatrick is second on the Falcons in assists, while Myers has hit 13 three-pointers to tie Justinger for second on the team.

• Freshman Carly Santoro has 4.4 ppg, while juniors Ashley Tunstall and Rachel Konieczki have 3.2 and 2.1 ppg, respectively. Junior Abby Siefker and sophomore Sarah Baer have 1.3 ppg apiece, and Siefker is second on the Falcons in blocks.

• Justinger, Lambert, Myers and Tibbs each have started all nine games for the Brown and Orange this season, while Tunstall has joined them in the staritng lineup for each of the last three games.

• The Falcons are shooting 39.3% from the field, 32.1% from three-point land and 71.9% from the free-throw line. The opponents are shooting 37.5% from the floor, 29.4% from the arc and 65.9% from the stripe.

• BGSU has a scoring margin of -2.0 and a rebounding margin of +2.9. The Falcons have blocked 2.8 shots per game after averaging 1.5 bpg a year ago.

• Head coach Jennifer Roos and the Falcons returned a total of eight letterwinners, all of whom had started at least five games in their BGSU careers entering the season. The returnees were joined by five newcomers, including a pair of transfers (Tibbs and Tunstall) who were eligible to play immediately.

• 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 entered the season with a combined total of 203 starts in the Brown and Orange.

LAST TIME OUT: SDSU GETS PAST FALCONS WITH SECOND-HALF RUN
• South Dakota State began the second half on a 12-0 run, wresting control of a close game en route to a 58-45 win over the Falcons on Monday night, Dec. 21, at the Stroh Center.

• Falcon freshman Sydney Lambert scored a game-high 14 points to pace three BGSU double-digit scorers. Seniors Miriam Justinger and Lauren Tibbs had 11 and 10 points, respectively, but the Jackrabbits got 13 points off the bench from Gabby Boever, while six of her teammates scored between 5 and 8 points.

• The Jacks led by a narrow 20-19 score at the half, but a pair of transition hoops began that 12-point run, and the visitors had a 32-19 advantage.

• The lead grew as high as 15 points on several occasions late in the third period, but BG cut the deficit to nine points twice in the fourth quarter, the last on a layup by sophomore Rachel Myers with 6:11 to go. The visitors quickly responded, however, with a Madison Guebert three-point field goal, and the SDSU lead never fell below 10 points thereafter.

• Myers had eight points for the Falcons, while junior Ashley Tunstall had two points and nine rebounds, tying for game honors in the latter category. Lambert had a game-best four assists on the night.

• Justinger was a perfect 2-for-2 from three-point range, with Myers and Lambert also knocking down a pair of long-distance shots vs. the Jackrabbits.

• Miller had eight points for the visitors, while Ober and Thompson had seven apiece. Ober tied Tunstall for game rebounding honors with nine, as the Jacks held a 38-33 advantage on the glass.

SYD THE KID
Freshman Sydney Lambert either scored or assisted on 17 of the Falcons' 19 first-half points vs. South Dakota State. She scored all eight of her team's second quarter points, including back-to-back three-point field goals just 25 seconds apart. Lambert had 14 points, tying her season high, vs. the Jackrabbits.

SCOUTING MIAMI
Miami has an overall record of 6-5 as the MAC schedule begins, and the RedHawks are just one victory shy of matching the total for all of last season. MU closed non-conference play by splitting a pair of games at the FAU Holiday Tournament, with a 19-point win over LIU-Brooklyn on Tuesday (68-49; Dec. 29) and an overtime loss to host FAU on Wednesday night (68-65; Dec. 30). The RedHawks are 4-2 at home, 1-3 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site games to date. Sophomore guard Baleigh Reid leads the team in scoring, with 17.4 points per contest. Freshman guard Leah Purvis and sophomore guard Ana Richter have 9.8 and 9.5 ppg, respectively. Purvis leads the team in assists (2.4 apg) and three-point field goals made (12), while Richter is third on the team in rebounding, witih 5.7 boards per contest. Freshman forward Kristen Levering (7.2 ppg) and sophomore F/G Molly McDonagh (6.5 ppg) each have 6.1 rebounds per contest to tie for the team lead. McDonagh, Purvis, Reid and Richter each have started all 11 games for coach Cleve Wright, while Levering has made 10 starts. Last season, the 'Hawks finished with a 7-23 overall mark and a 4-14 MAC ledger. Wright and his staff welcomed back eight letterwinners, including four starters, from that 2014-15 club.

THE BGSU-MU SERIES
The Falcons lead Miami, 48-28, in the all-time series between the teams, but the RedHawks captured the last meeting, with a 59-51 victory in Oxford (Feb. 25, 2015) that snapped a three-game series winning streak for the Falcons. In last year's first meeting, the host Falcons built a 31-9 halftime lead, holding Miami scoreless for over 11 minutes, en route to a 66-53 win over the RedHawks (Jan. 24, 2015).Kennedy Kirkpatrick had 18 points in that game, and singlehandedly outscored MU in the first half. BGSU is 23-12 in home games (3-1 in the Stroh Center), 19-15 in road contests and 6-1 in neutral-site contests vs. the Redskins/RedHawks over the years. Jennifer Roos is 3-3 against Miami as a collegiate head coach.

FALCONS VS. THE MAC
Despite last year's struggles after the injury bug bit BG, the Falcons continue to own the best record in MAC history. Entering Saturday's Miami game, BGSU has an all-time record of 392-169 (.699) in MAC regular-season contests, for the most wins and highest winning percentage 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 and highest overall winning pct. of any conference institution.

THREE-MARKABLE
The Falcons have made at least five three-point field goals in each of this season's nine games to date. BG has hit four or more triples in 41 of the last 42 games, dating to late in the 2013-14 season. The lone exception during that stretch was last year's MAC Tournament first-round game, when BG made three treys at Western Michigan.

THREE-LIGHTFUL
BGSU will be looking to extend an impressive streak in the Miami game. The Falcons have hit at least one three-pointer in each of the last 350 games. BG has not been held without a triple in over 10 years – since Feb. 12, 2005, at Akron, when the Falcons won, 61-52, despite going 0-of-13 from long distance.

SHARING IS CARING
• A total of 10 different players had at least one assist in BGSU's win over Evansville. No Falcon had more than three assists in the victory. BG had 18 helpers on 27 hoops vs. the Purple Aces.

• Nine games into the season, no fewer than seven different players have led the team in assists in at least one game.

FALCONS PICKED TO PLACE THIRD IN MAC EAST IN 2015-16
The Falcons have been picked to finish third in the MAC's East Division in the 2015-16 season, according to the league's preseason coaches poll. BGSU won nine divisional titles in a 10-year span, before finishing sixth in the East last year. The Falcons have had the league's best overall regular-season mark in eight of the last 11 seasons. Ohio and Eastern Michigan were picked to win the East and West divisions, respectively, in 2015-16, and the Bobcats were the choice to win both the conference overall regular-season and tourney crowns.
EAST DIVISION WEST DIVISION
1 - Ohio (12) 1 - Eastern Michigan (4)
2 - Akron 2 - Ball State (8)
3 - Bowling Green 3 - Western Michigan
4 - Miami 4 - Toledo
T5 - Buffalo & Kent St. 5 - Central Michigan
6 - Northern Illinois
first-place votes in ()

PREDICTED REGULAR-SEASON CHAMPION (with votes received):
Ohio 10, Ball State 1, Eastern Michigan 1.

PREDICTED MAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPION (with votes received):
Ohio 5, Ball State 3, Eastern Michigan 3, Buffalo 1.

UP NEXT
Following Saturday's game in Oxford, BGSU will unpack, then repack, their bags for another road trip. The Orange and Brown will face Western Michigan on Wednesday night (Jan. 6), with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. in Kalamazoo. Then, the Falcons begin a three-game homestand by facing defending champion Ohio at the Stroh Center on Saturday, Jan. 9.

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