Falcons Face MAC-Leading Ohio in Play 4Kay Game

Wednesday, February 11

Bowling Green, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Ohio

Tickets

Photo by: Larry Clapper

February 10, 2015 | Women's Basketball

BGSU battles Bobcats in Wednesday night #MACtion at the Stroh

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team returns home to take on the Mid-American Conference leader on Wednesday night (Feb. 11). The Falcons of head coach Jennifer Roos face Ohio University in a 7:00 p.m. start at the Stroh Center.

GAME NOTES
BGSU | Ohio

PLAY 4KAY
• Wednesday's Ohio contest is the Falcons' annual Play 4Kay game in support of breast cancer awareness. The Falcons will be wearing white jerseys with pink trim, and fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game. Additionally, every fan in attendance will receive a pink rally towel, courtesy of Kroger.

• The 2015 Play 4Kay initiative (formerly known as WBCA Pink Zone) is an opportunity for a nation of coaches to raise breast cancer awareness and funds for research on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. Since its inception in 2007, the Play 4Kay initiative has raised over $3.9 million to support women's cancer research.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
If you can't make it to the Stroh Center on Wednesday night, you can still follow the Falcons via your radio, television or computer machine. The BGSU-Ohio 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 Wednesday's game will be available via BGSUFalcons.com, and fans can watch the game on BCSN (in the Toledo area) or ESPN.com (from any computer or similar device with streaming capabilities). 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: BULLS USE INSIDE GAME TO GROUND FALCONS
• Buffalo used a strong inside game to take an early lead, and the host Bulls downed the Falcons, 66-45, Saturday afternoon (Feb. 7) at Alumni Arena.

• Kristen Sharkey scored 18 points for the Bulls, who snapped a 20-game losing streak to the Falcons. Mackenzie Loesing added 13 points and Alexus Malone 12 for UB.

• The Bulls scored 40 points in the paint, and UB had 17 second-chance points after grabbing 13 offensive rebounds in the win.

• Freshman Rachel Myers had 12 points for the Falcons, while junior Miriam Justinger scored nine points and senior Deborah Hoekstra and redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick eight apiece.

The Bulls used a 10-0 run to take an early 16-4 lead. The lead reached 15 points, before the Falcons got back within nine with 2:45 left in the half. Freshman Haley Puk was fouled in the act of shooting a three-pointer, and the freshman drained all three of the resulting free throws, cutting the Bulls' lead to 29-20. UB, however, went on a 6-1 run to end the period, capped by Loesing's jumper in the closing seconds, and the Bulls had a 35-21 advantage at the break.

• Hoekstra hit a pair of three-pointers in the opening minutes of the second period, and a Justinger pull-up jumper cut Buffalo's lead to 12 points, at 41-29. But, Malone's putback began an 8-0 Buffalo run, and after Kirkpatrick split a pair of free throws, Loesing hit a wide-open three, and the Bulls had a 52-30 lead midway through the period.

• The Falcons went on a 12-4 run to end the game, but it was not enough to put a dent in the UB lead.

• UB shot 49.2% from the field for the game, to the Falcons' 30.6% success rate. BGSU hit six three-pointers, with Hoekstra and Myers making two triples apiece, and the Falcons got to the line 24 times, making 17 free throws, to UB's 2-for-4 performance from the stripe.

CoSIDA & CAPITAL ONE VERIFY WHAT WE ALREADY KNEW
• News flash: Senior Deborah Hoekstra is succeeding in the classroom as well as on the court. Last Thursday (Feb. 5), Hoekstra was named to the Capital One Academic All-District® First Team.

• Hoekstra is the first BGSU women's basketball student-athlete to earn academic all-distrct honors in four years. As an academic all-district first-team selection, Hoekstra's name will be added to the Capital One Academic All-America® Team ballot.

TAKE SOME, THEY'RE FREE: BGSU FIFTH IN THE NATION IN FT PCT.
• As of Monday evening (Feb. 9), the Falcons were ranked fifth in the entire nation in free-throw percentage. After shooting 'only' 70.8 percent from the line in Saturday's UB game, BGSU is shooting 77.7% (307-of-395) from the charity stripe this season. Youngstown State leads the nation with a 78.5% free-throw rate, followed by Drexel (78.2%), Iowa State (78.1%), Eastern Washington (78.0%) and the Falcons. The BGSU single-season record for FT percentage is 79.9% by the 2010-11 team.

• The Falcons' 77.7% overall free-throw rate is impressive, to be sure, but BG is shooting an even-better 79.2% as a team in MAC games. Through the first 11 conference contests, BGSU has made 145-of-183 shots from the stripe.

• The Falcons have made at least 70% of their free throws in 19 of this year's 22 games, including 13 of the last 15 contests (and nine of the 11 MAC games).

• Individually, senior Deborah Hoekstra is second in the MAC and eighth in the entire nation in free-throw percentage. Hoekstra has gone 60-of-66 at the stripe this season, good for a success rate of 90.9%.

YOUTH IS SERVED
• The Falcons have had four players suffer season- or career-ending injuries this season, with a fifth player missing large chunks of time due to injury as well. As a result, many BG freshmen have had an opportunity to gain valuable experience. True freshmen Rachel Myers (26.6), Haley Puk (20.5) and Sarah Baer (11.8) all are averaging double-digit minutes per game, and each member of that trio has started at least four games.

• Additionally, redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick, who missed nearly all of last season due to injury, is averaging 17.8 minutes per game this winter.

• The 2014-15 season marks the first time three freshmen have started one or more games since 2007-08 (Lauren Prochaska and Crystal Murdaugh started all 34 games that year, while Chelsea Albert made six starts).

• BGSU has not had four frosh average double-digit minutes since the 2003-04 season, when first-year Falcons Ali Mann, Liz Honegger, Megan Thorburn and Carin Horne each played over 10 minutes per game. That quartet went on to lead BG to 31 wins and a trip to the 'Sweet Sixteen' round of the 2007 NCAA Championships as seniors.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Ohio game with an overall record of 9-13, and BGSU is 2-9 in Mid-American Conference play after a narrow 57-54 loss to Central Michigan and a 66-45 setback at Buffalo last week.

• BGSU had won two-straight games at home before dropping contests to Toledo and CMU at the Stroh Center. The Falcons are 4-4 at home, 4-8 on the road and 1-1 at neutral-site venues this season.

• Redshirt junior Erica Donovan and freshman Lauren Webb were injured in the Illinois State game on Dec. 19. Both are expected to miss the remainder of the 2014-15 season. Donovan was the Falcons' leading scorer and rebounder at the time of her 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.

• Sophomore Abby Siefker and redshirt freshman Leah Bolton also are expected to miss the rest of the season. Bolton saw action in the Falcons' exhibition game on Nov. 7, but did not play in a regular-season game in 2014-15.

• Siefker started the first 12 games of the year, and averaged 5.4 points and 6.3 rebounds. She was second on the team in rebounding behind Donovan, and led the Falcons in blocked shots, with 1.0 rejections per game.

• Of the active Falcons, only two – junior Miriam Justinger and sophomore Rachel Konieczki – have started all 22 games this season to date. Senior Deborah Hoekstra, after coming off the bench for the first 83 games of her BGSU career, has started the last 16 games. Freshmen Haley Puk and Rachel Myers have made 10 starts apiece this season, while senior Jasmine Matthews has started six games and freshman Sarah Baer four.

• Hoekstra leads the active Falcons in scoring, with 11.5 points per game, while Justinger and Myers have scored 10.0 and 8.3 ppg, respectively. Konieczki has 6.0 points per contest, with redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick averaging 4.9 ppg and Puk 4.5.

• Hoekstra is averaging 6.1 rebounds per game, tops among the members of the active roster, and she has 8.5 rpg in MAC play. Hoekstra has led the Falcons in rebounding, or tied for the team lead, in eight of the last 10 games. Justinger has 5.4 rpg this season to date. Hoekstra has posted four double-doubles – all in conference contests – after Justinger had her first career double-double in the MAC opener vs. Ball State.

• Justinger has 2.1 assists per game to pace the Falcons in that category, while Konieczki has 1.5 assists and Hoekstra 1.4 helpers per contest. Kirkpatrick has handed out 1.2 assists per game.

• Konieczki, after a career-high four steals at Buffalo, leads the Falcons with 1.2 steals per game, while Hoekstra and Justinger each have 1.1 spg. Baer leads the active Falcons with a total of seven blocked shots this year.

• BGSU is shooting 36.2 percent from the field, 31.5% from three-point range and 77.7% (good for fifth in the nation) from the free-throw line through 22 games. The Falcons' opponents have shot 40.4% from the floor, 27.3% from the arc and 65.7% from the stripe.

• The Falcons have averaged 6.5 three-pointers made this year, including a season-high 11 at Eastern Michigan (Jan. 17) and 10 against Central Michigan last Wednesday night (Feb. 4). Hoekstra has hit 40 triples – including a career-high five against CMU – to lead the way, while Myers has knocked down 33 long-range attempts. Justinger and Puk have connected 20 and 16 times, respectively, from beyond the arc, while Konieczki has made 13 three-point tries and Kirkpatrick 11.

• Hoekstra, Justinger, Konieczki, Myers and Puk each have seen action in all 22 games, while Kirkpatrick has played in 21 games and Baer 18. Matthews has played in 12 games this season, but has missed eight of the last 16 contests due to injury. After starting the first six games of the year and averaging 22.5 minutes per game, Matthews has averaged just 4.5 minutes per contest since Christmas.

• Senior Erica Fullenkamp joined the team on Jan. 8, and made her BGSU women's basketball debut six days later in the first NIU meeting. She has played in each of the last eight games, averaging 0.5 points and 1.1 rebounds in 7.1 minutes per outing. Fullenkamp, who earned four letters on the Falcon volleyball team at BG, played a season-high 13 minutes vs. Toledo and was on the court for 10 minutes at Buffalo.

• In MAC games, Hoekstra leads the team with 12.5 ppg, with Justinger and Myers averaging 11.2 and 10.6 ppg, respectively. Hoekstra, as mentioned, has 8.5 rpg to lead the Falcons in that category, and she also tops BG in blocked shots in MAC games. Justinger has 5.2 rpg and 1.8 apg in conference contests. Hoekstra has hit 22 triples and Myers 21 vs. MAC foes. BGSU is shooting 79.2% from the free-throw line in MAC games, having made 145-of-183 shots from the stripe.

THREE-MENDOUS
• The Falcons have made 6.5 three-point field goals per game this year to date, ranking second in the MAC. In conference play, the Falcons have hit 7.1 treys per contest. BGSU has made at least four three-pointers in each of this season's 22 games.

• In fact, the Falcons have hit at least four triples in 33-straight games against MAC foes. The last time BG failed to make four three-pointers against a conference opponent came on March 6, 2013, when the Falcons went 2-of-18 from long distance in a road win over Kent State.

THREE-MARKABLE
BGSU made six three-point field goals in the Buffalo game. The Falcons now have hit at least one three-pointer in each of the last 333 games. BG has not been held without a triple in nearly 10 years – since Feb. 12, 2005, at Akron, when the Falcons won, 61-52, despite going 0-of-13 from long distance.

THE OHIO BOBCATS
Ohio enters Wednesday's game with an overall record of 18-3, and the Bobcats are 9-1 in MAC play. Ohio leads the MAC East Division by three games, and the 'Cats are riding an eight-game winning streak since the team's lone conference loss, 61-51 at Western Michigan on Jan. 7. Most recently, Ohio downed Kent State, 58-44, in Athens on Saturday night (Feb. 7). The Bobcats, who had doubled last year's overall win total with a month left in the regular season, are 11-2 at home, 6-1 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site games. Ohio is fourth in the nation in three-point field goals per game (9.4), and the team is ranked in the top-25 in a total of seven statistical categories. Individually, junior guard Kiyanna Black leads the team in scoring, with 15.8 points per game. She has made a total of 67 three-point field goals, and ranks fourth in the nation in triples per game.(3.2). Sophomore guard Quiera Lampkins has 13.0 ppg and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds per contest, while junior forward Lexie Baldwin and senior guard Mariah Byard have 9.4 and 9.2 ppg, respectively. Those four players, along with redshirt junior guard Kat Yelle (6.9 ppg) have started all 21 games for head coach Bob Boldon this season. Last year, in Boldon's first winter in Athens, the 'Cats went 9-21 overall and 4-14 in the MAC. Boldon welcomed back all 10 letterwinners, including all five starters, from the 2013-14 club.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Ohio, 55-21, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won the last four meetings, including a sweep of last year's two matchups.

• In last season's first meeting, the Falcons trailed for much of the night, but used a game-ending 27-4 run for a 78-62 victory in Athens (Jan. 30, 2014). The return match saw BG's three seniors each hit double digits in scoring as the Falcons posted a 63-39 win on "Senior Day" at the Stroh Center (March 2, 2014).

• Ohio's last series win came on Feb. 22, 2012, when the Bobcats' Tenishia Benson scored eight points in the final 2:08 of the game for a 60-56 win over the Falcons.

• BGSU is 31-5 in home games, 21-14 on the road and 3-2 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Bobcats over the years.

• Jennifer Roos is 4-0 against Ohio as a collegiate head coach.

FALCONS LIKE THEIR #MACTION
Since Jennifer Roos became head coach prior to the 2012-13 season, the Falcons have a record of 30-15 in MAC regular-season games. BGSU has won those 30 games by an average of 17.1 points per game, and 24 of the 30 wins have been by double digits.

FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons continue to own the best record in MAC history. Entering the Ohio game, BGSU has an all-time record of 392-162 (.708) 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 (755) and highest overall winning percentage (.650) of any conference school.

THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 9-13 this season, after posting a 30-5 overall record last winter;
• 2-9 in MAC play. BG was 17-1 in the MAC in 2013-14, winning a division title for the ninth time in a 10-season span;
• 321-121 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 166-56 in MAC games in that time:
• 300-86 over the last 11-plus years, with 2013-14 marking BG's MAC-record 11th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 279-76 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 256-68 overall, and 130-27 in the MAC regular season, in the last nine-plus years, with at least 24 wins in each of those nine seasons;
• a superb 228-65 in the last eight-plus years, including a 114-27 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 197-61 overall, and 99-26 in MAC regular-season games, in the last seven-plus seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 171-53 overall and 86-23 in MAC action over the last six-plus winters;
• 142-48, including a 71-22 MAC ledger, in the last five-plus seasons;
• 115-41 overall and 57-20 in the MAC in the last four-plus years;
• 87-36 overall, and 44-17 in MAC action, since seniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 63-29 overall and 30-15 in league play since Jennifer Roos became head coach, junior Miriam Justinger joined the Falcons' roster, and redshirt junior Erica Donovan transferred to BG;
• 39-18 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;
• 153-32 in the last 185 games vs. MAC foes (regular-season and tournament);
• A perfect 67-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field since 2001;
• 256-14 when having a better FG percentage than the opposition in that time, including a 128-4 mark in the last six-plus seasons;
• 245-47 when making more free throws than the opponent in the Roos Assistant-Coach/Associate-Head-Coach/Interim-Head-Coach/Head-Coaching Era;
• 208-26 when outrebounding the opponent in that 13-plus-year span;
• 76-10 in MAC home games in the last 10-plus seasons;
• 61-18 in MAC road games over the last nine-plus 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
• 48-12 at the Stroh Center, with eight of the losses coming by a total of 20 points.

THEY'RE FREE
As mentioned earlier, the Falcons lead the MAC and are ranked fifth in the nation in free-throw percentage. In conference games, freshman Rachel Myers and senior Deborah Hoekstra rank first and second, respectively, in accuracy from the stripe. Myers is shooting 92.3 percent from the line in MAC play, having made 24-of-26 tosses. Hoekstra is 33-of-36, for a 91.7% conversion rate.

MAKE MORE THAN THEY TAKE
So far this season, BG appears to be continuing an impressive program trend of getting to the foul line much more often than the other team. BGSU has made a total of 307 free throws this year to date. That total is more than the opponents have attempted (277), much less made (182). The Falcons' total of free throws made has been at least 100 higher than the opponents' FTM total in each of the last nine seasons, and BG is on pace to accomplish that feat yet again this year. The 2002-03 campaign was the last time the opposition made, or attempted, more free throws than BG.

UP NEXT
Following the Ohio game, the Falcons will return to the road to face Ball State on Saturday (Feb. 14). Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. in Muncie, Ind., and the game is the first half of a doubleheader, with the BGSU men's basketball team taking on BSU at 4:30. Following Saturday's action, the women's basketball Falcons will be off until the following Saturday, Feb. 21, when Kent State comes to the Stroh Center for a 5:00 p.m. game.