Falcons Head East to Face Buffalo Saturday afternoon

Saturday, February 7

Buffalo, NY

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Buffalo

Rachel Myers v CMU - Feb 4 2015 - Garza photo

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

February 06, 2015 | Women's Basketball

BGSU takes on preseason MAC East Division favorite

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after suffering a narrow loss to the team picked to win the Mid-American Conference's West Division, now hits the road to face the MAC East Division favorite. The Falcons of head coach Jennifer Roos head to Western New York for a Saturday (Feb. 7) matchup with the University at Buffalo. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at UB's Alumni Arena.

GAME NOTES
BGSU | Buffalo

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
If you can't make it to Buffalo 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, there will be a free video stream for Saturday's game, via ESPN3.com. Live stats for will be available via BuffaloBulls.com, and in-game twitter updates can be found at @BGSUwbb. 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 schedule page and bask in the veritable plethora of links.

CoSIDA & CAPITAL ONE VERIFY WHAT WE ALREADY KNEW
• News flash: Senior Deborah Hoekstra is succeeding in the classroom as well as on the court. On 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, since Maggie Hennegan was named to the team in 2011.

• As an academic all-district first-team selection, Hoekstra's name will be added to the Capital One Academic All-America® Team ballot.

• Hoekstra, a native of East Lansing, Mich. (East Lansing H.S.), leads the Falcons in scoring and rebounding, with 11.6 points and 6.1 boards per game. She paces the Brown and Orange in three-point field goals made, with 38, and is tied for the team lead in steals.

• In MAC games only, Hoekstra has team-leading averages of 12.9 ppg and 8.7 rpg. She has hit a BG-best 20 three-pointers in conference contests.

• Hoekstra has scored in double digits in a team-leading 13 games this season, including eight of the 10 MAC games to date. She scored a career-high 22 points in BG's win at Saint Francis (Pa.) in December, and had 19 points, including a career-best five three-point field goals made, in Wednesday's (Feb. 4) game vs. Central Michigan.

• In the classroom, Hoekstra has a perfect 4.000 cumulative grade-point average as a health science major.

• Hoekstra was named to the District 5 team, which is made up of student-athletes from Division I schools in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. To be nominated, student-athletes must be at least a sophomore, a starter or important reserve, and must carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or higher.

LAST TIME OUT: BG TAKES MAC PRESEASON FAVORITE CMU DOWN TO THE WIRE
• Senior Deborah Hoekstra and her BGSU teammates battled Central Michigan right down to the wire Wednesday night (Feb. 4), but the Chippewas escaped the Stroh Center with a 57-54 win.

• Hoekstra scored 19 points for the Falcons, hitting a career-high five three-point field goals. The East Lansing, Mich., native made treys on back-to-back possessions to cut a seven-point deficit, the largest of the game, down to a single point with 1:20 to go. But, the Chippewas extended that lead back out to three, then got defensive stops on back-to-back possessions to eke out the road win.

• Wednesday's game was tied on five occasions, and featured no fewer than 16 lead changes. Neither team, as mentioned, ever led by more than seven points.

• Da'Jourie Turner had a game-high 21 points for the Chippewas, who were picked to win the MAC's West Division and league tournament titles in the preseason coaches' poll, while Crystal Bradford had 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Falcons allowed Bradford, CMU's career scoring and rebounding leader, to make just five field goals in 17 attempts, and held her scoreless in the opening half.

• Junior Miriam Justinger joined Hoekstra in double digits for the Falcons, with 14 points on the night. Freshman Rachel Myers added eight points and a team-high four assists, while redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick scored seven points and true freshman Sarah Baer six.

• The Falcons took a 44-40 lead with 8:20 to go on Baer's second layup in as many BG possessions, but Central scored the game's next seven points as part of a 13-2 run. Bradford capped that run with a jumper at the 4:48 mark, giving the visitors a 53-46 lead.

• With just over two minutes left, Hoekstra took a Justinger pass and knocked down a triple try from the right wing. The senior rebounded the ball when the Chippewas missed a shot on the next possession, and at the other end of the court, she took a Myers inbounds pass and made another trey with 1:20 to go.

• Turner missed a three-point try, but Bradford corralled the rebound and scored with 57.6 seconds left. But, Justinger drove into the lane and scored on a one-handed shot with 34.2 seconds left, cutting CMU's lead to 55-54.

• The Falcons, having committed just four fouls in the first 19-plus minutes of the half, fouled three times in roughly four seconds to send the Chippewas to the line. Turner, however, hit both ends of a one-and-one opportunity with 23.0 seconds on the clock, giving her team a three-point advantage.

• At the other end of the court, Hoekstra's contested three-point try was off the mark, and CMU's Jas'Mine Bracey rebounded the ball and was fouled with 12.3 seconds remaining. Bracey missed the front end of a one-and-one, though, and freshman Haley Puk rebounded the ball.

• The Falcons came downcourt, and Myers attempted to drive and kick the ball to a teammate for a three-point try. Just as Myers looked to pass the ball to the wing, however, Bradford stripped it away from her, and the clock ran out.

TAKE SOME, THEY'RE FREE: BGSU SECOND IN THE NATION IN FT PCT.
• As of Thursday afternoon (Feb. 5), the Falcons were ranked second in the entire nation in free-throw percentage. Heading into Saturday's UB game, BGSU is shooting 78.2% (290-of-371) from the charity stripe. The Falcons trail only Eastern Washington (78.2%; 266-of-340) on the national list. The BGSU single-season record for FT percentage is 79.9% by the 2010-11 team.

• The Falcons' 78.2% overall free-throw rate is impressive, to be sure, but BG is shooting an eye-popping 80.5% as a team in MAC games. Through the first 10 conference contests, BGSU has made 128-of-159 shots from the stripe.

• The Falcons have made at least 70% of their free throws in 18 of this year's 21 games, including 12 of the last 14 contests (and eight of the 10 MAC games).

• Individually, senior Deborah Hoekstra is second in the MAC and eighth in the entire nation in free-throw percentage. Hoekstra has gone 58-of-64 at the stripe this season, good for a success rate of 90.6%.

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 (26.3), Haley Puk (20.2) and Sarah Baer (11.4) all are averaging double-digit minutes per game, and each member of that trio has started at least three games.

• Additionally, redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick, who missed nearly all of last season due to injury, is averaging 17.3 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 Buffalo game with an overall record of 9-12, and BGSU is 2-8 in Mid-American Conference play after a narrow 57-54 loss to Central Michigan on Wednesday night (Feb. 4).

• BGSU had won two-straight games at home before dropping contests to Toledo (64-48; Jan. 31) and CMU at the Stroh Center. The Falcons are now 4-4 at home, 4-6 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 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 21 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 15 games. Freshmen Haley Puk and Rachel Myers have made nine starts apiece this season, while senior Jasmine Matthews has started six games and freshman Sarah Baer three.

• Hoekstra leads the active Falcons in scoring, with 11.6 points per game, while Justinger and Myers have scored 10.1 and 8.1 ppg, respectively. Konieczki has 6.1 points per contest, with redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick averaging 4.7 ppg and Puk 4.6.

• Hoekstra is averaging 6.1 rebounds per game, tops among the members of the active roster, and she has 8.7 rpg in MAC play. 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 2.2 assists per game to pace the Falcons in that category, while Konieczki has 1.6 assists and Hoekstra 1.4 helpers per contest. Kirkpatrick has handed out 1.3 assists per game.

• Hoekstra and Justinger each have 1.1 steals per game, while Koneczki averages 1.0 spg. Baer leads the active Falcons with a total of seven blocked shots this year.

• BGSU is shooting 36.4 percent from the field, 31.2% from three-point range and 78.2% (good for second in the nation) from the free-throw line through 21 games. The Falcons' opponents have shot 39.9% from the floor, 27.3% from the arc and 65.9% 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 on Wednesday night. Hoekstra has hit 38 triples – including a career-high five against CMU – to lead the way, while Myers has knocked down 31 long-range attempts. Justinger and Puk have connected 19 and 16 times, respectively, from beyond the arc, while Konieczki has made 13 three-point tries and Kirkpatrick 10.

• Hoekstra, Justinger, Konieczki, Myers and Puk each have seen action in all 21 games, while Kirkpatrick has played in 20 games and Baer 17. Matthews has played in 12 games this season, but has missed eight of the last 15 contests due to injury. After starting the first six games of the year and averaging 22.5 minutes per game, Matthews has averaged just 4.6 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 seven games, averaging 0.6 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.7 minutes per outing. Fullenkamp, who earned four letters on the Falcon volleyball team at BG, played a season-high 13 minutes vs. Toledo.

• In MAC games, Hoekstra leads the team with 12.9 ppg, with Justinger and Myers averaging 11.4 and 10.5 ppg, respectively. Hoekstra, as mentioned, has 8.7 rpg to lead the Falcons in that category, and she also tops BG in steals and blocked shots in MAC games. Justinger has 5.5 rpg and 1.9 apg in conference contests, and is tied with Hoekstra for the steals lead. Hoekstra has hit 20 triples and Myers 19 vs. MAC foes. BGSU is shooting 80.5% from the free-throw line in MAC games, having made 128-of-159 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 the four true frosh.

THREE-LIGHTFUL
• BGSU went 10-for-23 from three-point range, including a 6-of-11 effort from beyond the arc in the second half, against Central Michigan on Wednesday night. It marked the Falcons' third game of the season with a double-digit total of three-pointers made.

• Senior Deborah Hoekstra hit half of those treys, with a career-high five. Hoekstra was 2-for-4 from long distance in the first half and 3-for-5 in the second vs. Central.

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 7.2 treys per contest. BGSU has made at least four three-pointers in each of this season's 21 games.

• In fact, the Falcons have hit at least four triples in 32-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 10 three-point field goals in the CMU game. The Falcons now have hit at least one three-pointer in each of the last 332 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 BUFFALO BULLS
Buffalo enters Saturday's game with an overall record of 12-8, and the Bulls are 5-4 in MAC play. UB is riding a three-game win streak, with the latest victory a 68-61 triumph over visiting Toledo Wednesday night (Feb. 4). The Bulls are 5-3 at home, 6-4 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games. UB was picked to win the MAC's East Division title in the preseason coaches' poll. Individually, senior forward Kristen Sharkey leads a balanced scoring attack with 14.7 points per game. Sharkey has scored 50 points over the Bulls' last two games, including 26 vs. UT. Junior guard Mackenzie Loesing and sophomore forward Alexus Malone have 13.2 and 11.1 ppg, respectively. Three players, led by senior forward Christa Baccas, are averaging more than eight rebounds per contest. Baccas has a team-leading 8.7 rpg, and is followed closely by Malone (8.4 rpg) and Sharkey (8.2 rpg) in that category. Baccas leads the team and is second in the MAC with 2.3 blocked shots per outing. Last year, head coach Felisha Legette-Jack's team went 17-13 overall and 10-8 in the MAC. Legette-Jack welcomed back nine letterwinners, including four starters, from the 2013-14 club.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Buffalo, 24-5, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won the last 20 meetings.

• In last year's first matchup, Alexis Rogers had 22 points and 17 rebounds as the Falcons topped UB, 62-50, in the MAC opener for both teams at the Stroh Center (Jan. 4, 2014). The Bulls' top scorer, Mackenzie Loesing, scored eight points in the game's first five minutes before leaving the contest due to injury.

• The rematch featured 18 lead changes, the last of which came with just over four minutes remaining. A Rogers jumper gave the Falcons a 58-57 lead and began an 11-0 run en route to a 73-63 road win for the Brown and Orange (Feb. 22, 2014).

• Buffalo's last win over the Falcons came nearly 12 years ago, a 72-60 decision in Western New York on Feb. 12, 2003.

• BGSU is 11-2 in home games, 12-3 in road contests and 1-0 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Bulls over the years.

• Jennifer Roos is 4-0 against UB 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 30-14 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 Buffalo game, BGSU has an all-time record of 392-161 (.709) 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 (.651) 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, this year's version of the Falcons now has utilized five different lineups. Junior Miriam Justinger and sophomore Rachel Konieczki are the only two players to have started all 21 contests for the Brown and Orange this year to date. Nine different Falcons have started at least three games this season.

THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 9-12 this season, after posting a 30-5 overall record last winter;
• 2-8 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;
• 321-120 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 166-55 in MAC games in that time:
• 300-85 over the last 11-plus years, with 2013-14 marking BG's MAC-record 11th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 279-75 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 256-67 overall, and 130-26 in the MAC regular season, in the last nine-plus years, with at least 24 wins in each of those nine seasons;
• a superb 228-64 in the last eight-plus years, including a 114-26 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 197-60 overall, and 99-25 in MAC regular-season games, in the last seven-plus seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 171-52 overall and 86-22 in MAC action over the last six-plus winters;
• 142-47, including a 71-21 MAC ledger, in the last five-plus seasons;
• 115-40 overall and 57-19 in the MAC in the last four-plus years;
• 87-35 overall, and 44-16 in MAC action, since seniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 63-28 overall and 30-14 in league play since Jennifer Roos became head coach, junior Miriam Justinger joined the Falcons' roster, and redshirt junior Erica Donovan transferred to BG;
• 39-17 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;
• 153-31 in the last 184 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;
• 245-46 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;
• 61-17 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.

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 290 free throws this year to date. That total is more than the opponents have attempted (273), much less made (180). 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 Buffalo game, the Falcons will return home to face MAC-leading Ohio University. BG will battle the Bobcats on Wednesday night (Feb. 11), with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center. The Ohio game will be the Falcons' annual Play 4Kay/Pink Zone game.