Valentine's Day Matchup with BSU is in the Cards

Saturday, February 14

Muncie, IN

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Ball State

Tickets

Deborah Hoekstra hits a second-half layup during this season's first meeting with Ball State

Photo by: Larry Clapper

February 13, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Falcons face Ball State on Saturday in Muncie, in case the 'Valentine's Day' & 'Cards' references didn't make that abundantly clear

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after playing three of the last four games at home, returns to the road this weekend. The Falcons of head coach Jennifer Roos play three of the next four games on the road, beginning with a Saturday (Feb. 14) contest against Ball State University. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at Worthen Arena in Muncie, Ind. Saturday's game is the first half of a doubleheader which sees the BGSU men's basketball team face BSU at 4:30 p.m.

GAME NOTES - PDF
BGSU | Ball State

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
If you can't make it to Muncie this weekend, you can still follow the Falcons via your radio- or computer-like devices. The BGSU-BSU 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, as well as a video stream (fee required), will be available via BallStateSports.com. 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: COLD-SHOOTING START TOO MUCH TO OVERCOME
• A cold-shooting start was too much for BGSU to overcome, as the Falcons fell, 71-46, to MAC-leading Ohio University Wednesday night (Feb. 11) at the Stroh Center.

• Freshman Rachel Myers led the Falcons (9-14, 2-10 MAC) with 13 points on the night. Myers went 3-of-6 from three-point range vs. the Bobcats. She paced BGSU in scoring for the second consecutive game.

• Senior Deborah Hoekstra added nine points and junior Miriam Justinger eight for the Brown and Orange, while redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick and true freshman Haley Puk scored six points apiece. Justinger led the hosts with seven rebounds and three steals, and Hoekstra had five boards and two blocked shots.

• Kat Yelle led the Bobcats (19-3, 10-1 MAC) with 13 points, and Yelle was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point land. Lexie Baldwin had 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while four of her teammates – Kiyanna Black, Mariah Byard, Mariah Harris and Quiera Lampkins – scored eight points apiece.

• The Falcons missed 15-straight shots to begin the game, and BG did not hit a field goal until more than nine minutes had elapsed. When Justinger knocked down that shot, however, the home team trailed by only five points, 10-5. But, the Bobcats made 7-of-12 three-point tries in the opening period, and had an answer for every BG bucket.

• Ohio led by a 38-26 score at halftime, and slowly extended the lead in the second half. A Harris three-pointer with 10:57 to go put the visitors up by 21 points, and the final 25-point margin was the largest of the game.

• After that 0-for-15 start, the Falcons hit 8-of-15 shots over the remainder of the half. But, the Bobcats shot 55.6 percent from the field in the first period, including that 7-of-12 (58.3%) performance from long distance.

• The Falcons committed just two turnovers in the first half and had a season-low eight turnovers for the game. But, BG shot just 22.2% on the night, including a 4-for-24 (16.7%) effort in the second half.

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 an even 7.0 treys per contest, also good for second in the league. BGSU has made at least four three-pointers in each of this season's 23 games.

• In fact, the Falcons have hit at least four triples in 34-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 Ohio game. The Falcons now have hit at least one three-pointer in each of the last 334 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.

TAKE SOME, THEY'RE FREE: FALCONS FIFTH IN THE NATION IN FT PCT.
• As of Thursday evening (Feb. 12), the Falcons were ranked fifth in the entire nation in free-throw percentage. After shooting 'only' 72.7 percent from the line in Wednesday's Ohio game, BGSU is shooting 77.5% (323-of-417) from the charity stripe this season. Iowa State currently leads the nation with a 78.3% free-throw rate, followed by Drexel (78.2%), Eastern Washington (78.0%), Youngstown State (77.9%) and the Falcons. The BGSU single-season record for FT percentage is 79.9% by the 2010-11 team.

• The Falcons' 77.5% overall free-throw rate is impressive, to be sure, but BG is shooting an even-better 78.5% as a team in MAC games. Through the first 12 conference contests, BGSU has made 161-of-205 shots from the stripe.

• The Falcons have made at least 70% of their free throws in 20 of this year's 23 games, including 14 of the last 16 contests (and 10 of the 12 MAC games).

• Individually, senior Deborah Hoekstra is second in the MAC and eighth in the entire nation in free-throw percentage. Hoekstra has gone 63-of-70 at the stripe this season, good for a success rate of 90.0%.

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 (27.0), Haley Puk (20.8) and Sarah Baer (12.0) 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 18.3 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 Ball State game with an overall record of 9-14, and BGSU is 2-10 in Mid-American Conference play. BG is looking to snap a five-game losing streak.

• BGSU had won two-straight games at home before dropping contests to Toledo (Jan. 31) and Central Michigan (Feb. 4) at the Stroh Center. The Falcons are 4-5 at home, 4-8 on the road and 1-1 at neutral-site venues this season.

• After winning four-straight games prior to Christmas, BGSU then dropped five consecutive contests, the program's longest slide since the 2000-01 season. The Falcons snapped that streak with a 65-59 win over Northern Illinois at the Stroh on Jan. 14, and BG's other MAC win to date came against Miami 10 days later.

• That five-game post-holiday losing streak, not coincidentally, came after 25 percent of the roster – three of the 12 players on the team at that time – were lost for the season due to injury. That figure reached 33.3% as a fourth player suffered a season-ending injury in early January.

• After opening the season with a one-point loss to Bucknell, BGSU bounced back with three-straight wins, beginning with a convincing 80-59 home victory over Iona. The Falcons went on the road and downed Milwaukee, then headed to the left coast and topped UC Irvine before suffering a narrow loss 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, to begin a four-game winning streak. Road wins over Saint Francis (Pa.), Illinois State and Bradley followed, but two players suffered season-ending injuries in that ISU game.

• The Brown and Orange dropped a pair of games just after the Christmas holiday in Miami, Fla., against Hampton and the host school at the FIU Sun & Fun Classic. BG opened MAC play with a home loss to Ball State and road setbacks at Akron and Kent State. The Falcons had only seven players in uniform for the UA contest on Jan. 7.

• Redshirt junior Erica Donovan and freshman Lauren Webb were 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 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 23 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 17 games. Freshmen Haley Puk and Rachel Myers have made 11 starts apiece this season, with senior Jasmine Matthews starting six times and freshman Sarah Baer four.

• Hoekstra leads the active Falcons in scoring, with 11.3 points per game, while Justinger and Myers have scored 10.0 and 8.5 ppg, respectively. Konieczki has 5.9 points per contest, with redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick averaging 4.9 ppg and Puk 4.6.

• Hoekstra is averaging 6.1 rebounds per game, tops among the members of the active roster, and she has 8.2 rpg in MAC play. Hoekstra has led the Falcons in rebounding, or tied for the team lead, in eight of the last 11 games. Justinger has 5.3 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 1.3 helpers per contest. Kirkpatrick has handed out 1.2 assists per game.

• Justinger, after a game-high three steals vs. Ohio, leads the Falcons with 1.2 steals per game, while Konieczki and Hoekstra have 1.1 and 1.0 spg, respectively. Baer leads the active Falcons with a total of seven blocked shots this year.

• BGSU is shooting 35.6 percent from the field, 31.0% from three-point range and 77.5% (good for fifth in the nation) from the free-throw line through 23 games. The Falcons' opponents have shot 40.7% from the floor, 28.0% from the arc and 65.5% 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 (Feb. 4). Hoekstra has hit 42 triples – including a career-high five against CMU – to lead the way, while Myers has knocked down 36 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 12.

• Hoekstra, Justinger, Konieczki, Myers and Puk each have seen action in all 23 games, while Kirkpatrick has played in 22 games and Baer 19. Matthews has played in 12 games this season, but has missed nine of the last 17 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 appearance 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. A former Falcon volleyball standout, Fullenkamp has played in each of the last nine games, averaging 0.4 points and 1.1 rebounds in 7.3 minutes per outing.

• In MAC games, Hoekstra leads the team with 12.2 ppg, with Justinger and Myers averaging 10.9 and 10.8 ppg, respectively. Hoekstra, as mentioned, has 8.2 rpg to lead the Falcons in that category, and she also tops BG in blocked shots in MAC games. Justinger has 5.3 rpg and 1.8 apg in conference contests. Hoekstra and Myers have hit 24 triples apiece vs. MAC foes. BGSU is shooting 78.5% from the free-throw line in MAC games, having made 161-of-205 shots from the stripe.

• 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 crown, 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 four true frosh.

THE BALL STATE CARDINALS
Ball State enters Valentine's Day weekend with an overall record of 12-10, and the Cardinals are 8-3 in MAC play, just a half-game behind Western Michigan (9-3) for the West Division lead. The Cards have won two-straight games, having downed Toledo (69-61) and Eastern Michigan (72-62), both on the road, over the last week. BSU is 7-4 at home and 5-6 on the road this year, and the Cards are 3-2 at Worthen Arena and 5-1 at hostile venues in MAC play. Individually, junior forward Nathalie Fontaine leads the Cardinals in both scoring and rebounding, with 16.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Fontaine is shooting an even 50 percent from the field. Sophomore guard Jill Morrison and senior guard Shelbie Justice are averaging 11.0 and 9.3 ppg, respectively. Morrison has hit a team-leading 48 three-pointers, and also paces the Cardinals in assists and steals, while Justice has made 31 treys. 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 advanced to the WNIT for the second-straight March. Sallee welcomed back seven letterwinners, including two starters, from that club.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Ball State, 44-16, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Cardinals have won the last two meetings. In this season's first matchup, visiting BSU downed the Brown and Orange, 62-50, in the MAC opener at the Stroh Center (Jan. 3, 2015).

• Last March, the Cards 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.

• Last year's lone regular-season meeting saw Miriam Justinger score a then career-high 18 points in a 72-61 win in Muncie (Jan. 15, 2014). Justinger had a double-double in this year's first meeting with the Cardinals, with game-high totals of 16 points and 10 rebounds in early January at the Stroh.

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

• Jennifer Roos is 2-2 against Ball State as a collegiate head coach.

THE STARTING FIVE
Last season, head coach Jennifer Roos used a total of three different starting lineups over the 35-game schedule. But, this year's version of the Falcons has utilized five different lineups to date. Junior Miriam Justinger and sophomore Rachel Konieczki are the only two players to have started all 23 contests for the Brown and Orange this year to date. Nine different Falcons have started at least four games this season.

THE EXCEPTION THAT PROVES THE RULE
• On Wednesday night (Feb. 11), Ohio became the first-ever MAC opponent to score more than 70 points in the Stroh Center, putting up 71 points against an injury-depleted Falcon squad.

• In 61 games at the Stroh Center, the Falcons have allowed the opponent to reach 70 points just four times. No MAC team had ever scored more than 65 points in the Stroh prior to the Ohio game, and only Akron (twice), Ball State and Toledo (once each) had reached 60 points against the Brown and Orange in the first 30 trips to the building by MAC foes.

• BG has held 46 of 61 overall opponents to fewer than 60 points at the Stroh Center. The Falcons have limited 17 of those foes to less than 50 points, and on five occasions, BGSU has kept the opposition under the 40-point mark.

FALCONS = #MACTION
Since Jennifer Roos became head coach prior to the 2012-13 season, the Falcons have a record of 30-16 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 Ball State game, BGSU has an all-time record of 392-163 (.706) 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 ...
• 9-14 this season, after posting a 30-5 overall record last winter, and after suffering season-ending injuries to four of the 12 players on the roster at the start of this year;
• 2-10 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;
• 321-122 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 166-57 in MAC games in that time:
• 300-87 over the last 11-plus years, with 2013-14 marking BG's MAC-record 11th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 279-77 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 256-69 overall, and 130-28 in the MAC regular season, in the last nine-plus years, with at least 24 wins in each of those nine seasons;
• a superb 228-66 in the last eight-plus years, including a 114-28 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 197-62 overall, and 99-27 in MAC regular-season games, in the last seven-plus seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 171-54 overall and 86-24 in MAC action over the last six-plus winters;
• 142-49, including a 71-23 MAC ledger, in the last five-plus seasons;
• 115-42 overall and 57-21 in the MAC in the last four-plus years;
• 87-37 overall, and 44-18 in MAC action, since seniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 63-30 overall and 30-16 in league play since Jennifer Roos became head coach, junior Miriam Justinger joined the Falcons' roster, and redshirt junior Erica Donovan transferred to BG;
• 39-19 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;
• 153-33 in the last 186 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;
• 245-48 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;
• 76-11 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
• 48-13 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 third, respectively, in accuracy from the stripe. Myers is shooting 92.9 percent from the line in MAC play, having made 26-of-28 tosses. Hoekstra is 36-of-40, for a 90.0% conversion rate.

UP NEXT
Following the Ball State game, the Falcons will be off until next Saturday, Feb. 21, when Kent State comes to town for a 5:00 p.m. tipoff at the Stroh Center.