BG Heads to Kalamazoo as MAC Tournament Commences

Monday, March 9

Kalamazoo, MI

5:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

Western Michigan (First Round)

Team huddle - BGSU v Akron - March 7 2015 - Brad Phalin

Photo by: Brad Phalin, BGSU Marketing and Communications

March 08, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Falcons face WMU on Monday in a 5:30 start

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team begins postseason play Monday night (March 9), hitting the road for the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The Falcons of head coach Jennifer Roos, the 12th seed for the tourney, will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., to face fifth-seeded Western Michigan University. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. at University Arena. The game is the first half of a doubleheader, as the WMU men's basketball team hosts Ohio University in the second half of the twinbill.

The winner of the BGSU-WMU game will advance to the MAC Tournament's second round to face either eighth-seeded Northern Illinois or ninth-seeded Central Michigan. CMU plays at NIU Monday night, in another league tourney first-round game. The BG/Western and Central/Northern winners will meet on Wednesday (March 11) at 12:00 p.m. at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland.

LINKS
GAME NOTES: BGSU | Western Michigan
VIDEO: BGSU Senior Day Halftime Video

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
If you can't make it to Kalamazoo on Monday, you can still follow the Falcons in a myriad of ways. The BGSU-WMU game, like all Falcon women's hoops action, 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 Monday's game, as well as a link to the video stream (fee required), will be available via BGSUFalcons.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.

THE FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
BGSU enters Monday's game with an all-time record of 44-19 in the MAC Tournament. The Falcons have won 11 MAC Tournament titles, the most of any conference institution, and BGSU has the highest winning percentage (69.8%) of any MAC team in league tourney games. BG's conference tournament win total places the Falcons second among MAC teams. A complete list of BGSU's game-by-game results in MAC Tournament play can be found on page 24 of these notes.

FALCONS VS. WMU IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
The Falcons have an all-time record of 4-2 vs. Western Michigan in the MAC Tournament, and BGSU has won the last three league tourney meetings with the Broncos. BG is 1-1 in MAC Tournament contests in Kalamazoo and 3-1 in neutral-site meetings with WMU. The Falcons are 1-0 in first-round games vs. Western, winning a 2001 contest at University Arena in which WMU was the tourney's eighth seed and BGSU the ninth. Four of the teams' six MAC Tournament meetings, including each of the last three, have been decided by three points or fewer, and the last three league tourney matchups – all BG wins – were decided by a total of six points.

FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT, BY ROUND AND SITE
• The Falcons enter the 2015 MAC Tournament with an all-time record of 4-2 in the first round. BGSU is 1-0 league tourney second-round games, 0-1 in the third round, 15-6 in quarterfinal-round contests, 13-8 in the semifinals and 11-2 in championship-game appearances.

• BGSU is a perfect 10-0 in MAC Tournament home games, including a 1-0 mark at the Stroh Center. BG is 2-5 in road games and 32-14 in neutral-site contests in the league tourney over the years.

TAKE SOME, THEY'RE FREE: FALCONS FIFTH IN THE NATION IN FT PCT.
• As of Friday evening (March 6), the Falcons were ranked fifth in the entire nation in free-throw percentage. BGSU was shooting 77.1% from the charity stripe at the time of the most recent NCAA rankings, and entering the WMU game, BG is still shooting 77.1% (394-of-511) from the line. In the most recent rankings, Drexel led the nation with a 78.4% free-throw rate, followed by South Dakota State (78.0%), Washington (77.8%), Iowa State (77.3%) and the Falcons. The BGSU single-season record for FT percentage is 79.9% by the 2010-11 team.

• The Falcons' 77.1% overall percentage is impressive, to be sure, but BG shot an even-better 77.6% as a team in MAC games. In the 18 conference regular-season games, BGSU made 232-of-299 shots from the stripe.

• The Falcons have made at least 70% of their free throws in 24 of this year's 29 games, including in 14 of the 18 MAC contests.

• Individually, senior Deborah Hoekstra leads the MAC and is ranked 10th in the entire nation in free-throw percentage. Hoekstra has gone 85-of-95 at the stripe this season, good for a success rate of 89.5%.

TAKE SOME MORE – WE SAID THEY WERE FREE
• As we just mentioned, the Falcons lead the MAC and are ranked fifth in the nation in free-throw percentage. And, senior Deborah Hoekstra leads the league and is 10th in the country among individuals.

• In conference games, Hoekstra finished league play ranked third in the MAC in free-throw accuracy, and she was second on her own team. Freshman Rachel Myers led the entire league in success at the stripe in conference contests, having gone 38-of-41 (92.7%) against MAC foes, while Hoekstra hit 58-of-65 shots (89.2%) in league games.

HOEKSTRA'S A REBOUNDING MACHINE
• When the Falcons headed to Miami, Fla., just after the Christmas holiday, senior Deborah Hoekstra had never had more than six rebounds in a game. Over the last 19 games, however, the guard has had six or more rebounds 16 times, and she has AVERAGED 8.8 boards in that time. Hoekstra has set or matched her career rebounding best five times in that span, including three times in as many games in late December-early January, and has pulled down 10 or more boards on seven occasions, including in each of the last three games. Those performances include a 14-rebound effort in BG's win over Miami and a career-high 15 boards on Saturday (March 7) vs. Akron.

• Hoekstra is averaging 6.9 rebounds on the year, good for 12th in the MAC. In conference games only, she averaged a team-high 8.8 rebounds per game, tied for fourth in the entire conference. Hoekstra has led BG, or tied for the team lead, in rebounding in nine of the last 13 games.

D IS FOR DEBORAH, AND FOR DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Senior Deborah Hoekstra scored 17 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds in BGSU's final regular-season game, Saturday's Akron contest at the Stroh Center (March 7). The double-double was Hoekstra's third in as many games, her seventh of the season and the seventh of her career. All seven double-doubles came during Mid-American Conference play, as she had four in a six-game span in January.

DOUBLE(-DOUBLE) TROUBLE
BGSU players have had 11 double-doubles this season to date. Senior Deborah Hoekstra, as mentioned, has seven career double-doubles, with all seven coming this season (including each of the last three games). Junior Miriam Justinger recorded the first double-double of her career in the MAC opener vs. Ball State. Other than Hoekstra and Justinger, redshirt junior Erica Donovan is the only other member of the 2014-15 roster to have recorded a double-double in college. Donovan's six career double-doubles included three in this season's first eight games.

QUITE A THREE-GAME STRETCH FOR #3
Senior Deborah Hoekstra has averaged 14.0 points and 13.3 rebounds per game over the last three contests.

THREE-MENDOUS
• The Falcons have made 6.8 three-point field goals per game this year, good for second in the MAC. In conference play, the Falcons hit 7.3 treys per contest, also ranking second in the league. BGSU has made at least four three-pointers in each of this season's 29 games.

• In fact, the Falcons have hit at least four triples in 40-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 Brown and Orange went 2-of-18 from long distance in a road win over Kent State.

THREE-GION OF BOOM
BGSU made 11 three-point field goals, tying a season high, in Wednesday's (March 7) Akron game. The Falcons now have hit at least one three-pointer in each of the last 340 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.

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 frosh Rachel Myers (28.2), Haley Puk (21.6) and Sarah Baer (12.5) all are averaging double-digit minutes per game, and each member of that trio has started at least six games.

• Additionally, redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick, who missed nearly all of last season due to injury, is averaging 20.0 minutes per game this winter. Kirkpatrick made her first career start at Miami on Feb. 25, and now has started four-straight games.

• The 2014-15 season marks the first time four freshmen have started one or more games since 2003-04 (Liz Honegger and Ali Mann each started 30 of BG's 31 games that year, while Megan Thorburn made 23 starts and Carin Horne eight).

• BGSU has not had four frosh average double-digit minutes since that 2003-04 season, when first-year Falcons Honegger, Horne, Mann and Thorburn 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 WMU game with an overall record of 9-20, and BGSU finished with a mark of 2-16 in Mid-American Conference play. BG is looking to snap a school-record 11-game losing streak after dropping a pair of narrow decisions at home to end the regular season. BG lost, 55-47, to Buffalo on Wednesday (March 4), and the Falcons fell by a 79-71 final against Akron at the Stroh Center on Saturday (March 7).

• It's an impressive feat that, prior to this season, BGSU had never lost as many as 20 games in a season. And, no Falcon team had ever lost more than seven games in a row prior to the current streak. Of course, it's also very likely that no team in program history ever saw the roster reduced to seven healthy bodies, including just one post player, as happened to the 2014-15 Falcons in early January.

• BG had lost one-third of the preseason roster at that point, as four of the 12 players on the BGSU preseason roster had suffered season- or career-ending injuries. That quartet included two starters, and a fifth player (and third starter) saw very little playing time during the MAC portion of the schedule.

• BGSU's last win came in this season's first meeting with Miami, a 66-53 triumph at the Stroh on Jan. 24. The Falcons had won two-straight games at home before dropping contests to Toledo (Jan. 31) and Central Michigan (Feb. 4) at the Stroh. BG is now 4-8 at home, 4-11 on the road and 1-1 at neutral-site venues this season.

• After winning four-straight games prior to Christmas, BGSU then lost five consecutive contests, including the first three MAC games of the 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 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 sidelined for the season. That percentage reached 33.3% as a fourth player suffered a season-ending injury in early January. Two of those four players were starters, and a fifth Falcon – and third starter – has played only 35 minutes during the MAC schedule, missing nine of the 16 MAC matches altogether.

• 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 the players injured in that Illinois State game. 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 will 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 29 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 23 games. Freshmen Rachel Myers and Haley Puk have made 17 and 11 starts, respectively, with senior Jasmine Matthews and freshman Sarah Baer starting six games apiece. Redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick made her first collegiate start at Miami on Feb. 25, and now has been in the starting lineup for four consecutive games.

• Hoekstra leads the active Falcons in scoring, with 11.6 points per game, while Justinger and Myers have scored 10.5 and 8.5 ppg, respectively. Konieczki has 5.8 points per contest, with Kirkpatrick averaging 5.1 ppg and Puk 5.0.

• Hoekstra is averaging 6.9 rebounds per game, tops among the members of the active roster, and she had 8.8 rpg in MAC play. Hoekstra has led the Falcons in rebounding, or tied for the team lead, in 12 of the last 17 games, and she has had a double-double in each of the last three games.

• Justinger has 5.3 rpg this season to date to rank second among active Falcons. Hoekstra has posted seven double-doubles – all coming 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 1.7 assists and Hoekstra 1.4 helpers per contest. Kirkpatrick and Myers each have handed out 1.1 assists per game.

• Justinger has 1.2 steals per outing to lead the team in that category, while Konieczki has 1.1 spg and Hoekstra 0.9. Hoekstra and Baer each have nine blocked shots this year, tied for the lead among the active Falcons.

• BGSU is shooting 35.6 percent from the field, 32.1% from three-point range and 77.1% (good for fifth in the nation) from the free-throw line through 29 games. The Falcons' opponents have shot 40.8% from the floor, 29.9% from the arc and 66.4% from the stripe.

• The Falcons have averaged 6.8 three-pointers made this year, including a season-high 11 against both Eastern Michigan (Jan. 17) and Akron (March 7) and 10 on three other occasions. Hoekstra has hit 50 triples to lead the way, while Myers has knocked down 45 long-range attempts. Justinger and Puk have connected 30 and 26 times, respectively, from beyond the arc, while Konieczki has made 19 three-point tries and Kirkpatrick 16.

• Hoekstra, Justinger, Konieczki, Myers and Puk each have seen action in all 29 games, while Kirkpatrick has played in 28 games and Baer 25. Matthews has played in 15 games this season, but has missed 14 of the last 23 contests due to injury. She missed six-straight games before playing the last 9.6 seconds of Saturday's Akron game. After starting the first six games of the year and averaging 22.5 minutes per game, Matthews has averaged just 4.0 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 15 games, averaging 0.3 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.7 minutes per outing.

• In MAC games, Hoekstra led the team with 12.2 ppg, with Justinger and Myers close behind at 11.5 and 10.1 ppg, respectively. Hoekstra, as mentioned, had 8.8 rpg to lead the Falcons and tie for fourth in the entire league in that category, and she also topped BG in blocked shots in MAC games. Justinger had 5.4 rpg and 1.9 apg in conference contests. Myers hit 33 triples and Hoekstra 32 vs. MAC foes during the regular season. BGSU shot a league-best 77.6% from the free-throw line in MAC games, having made 232-of-299 shots from the stripe.

THE WESTERN MICHIGAN BRONCOS
Western Michigan enters Monday night's game with an overall record of 18-11, and the Broncos finished MAC play with a league ledger of 11-7. The Broncos tied for second in the MAC's West Division, and Western is the fifth seed for the conference tournament. WMU has won two of the last three games after a season-long three-game losing streak in late February. One of those wins was a 51-50 victory over West Division champion Ball State (Feb. 28), and WMU downed Northern Illinois, 50-45, in Saturday's final regular-season contest. The Broncos are 11-2 at home, 6-9 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site matchups this year, and WMU went 7-2 at University Arena and 4-5 at hostile venues in MAC play. Individually, junior forward Miracle Woods is the team's lone double-digit scorer, with 14.8 points per game, and she also leads the Broncos in rebounding, with 6.7 per contest. Four of her teammates are averaging between 6.5 and 8.9 ppg, including senior guard A.J. Johnson and junior guard Alex Morton. Johnson has 8.9 ppg, along with 2.9 assists and a team-leading 1.8 steals per game. Johnson also paces the Broncos with 43 three-point field goals on the season. Morton has 8.0 ppg and a team-high 3.2 apg. Johnson, Morton and junior forward Jessica Jessing (7.5 ppg) each have started all 29 games this season, while Woods has made 24 starts. Last year, head coach Shane Clipfell and the Broncos went 13-18 overall and 8-10 in the MAC. Clipfell welcomed back eight letterwinners, including all five starters, from the 2013-14 club.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Western Michigan, 35-24, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Broncos captured this year's first meeting in a big way, snapping a two-game BG series winning streak.

• In that first 2014-15 meeting, the Broncos shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the second half, breaking open a close game and pulling away for an 82-52 win at University Arena (Jan. 21). Rachel Myers led the Falcons with a game- and career-high 21 points. The 30-point margin was WMU's largest in series history.

• In the only 2013-14 meeting, the Falcons began the second half on an 18-2 run to race past the Broncos, 72-50, at the Stroh Center (Feb. 5, 2014). All nine BGSU players in uniform scored at least two points and pulled down at least one rebound in the win.

• Two years ago, the Falcons and Broncos played a pair of games that went right down to the wire. In Kalamazoo, Corie Buchanan hit a shot in the lane with just 4.6 seconds to go, lifting Western to a 55-54 win (Feb. 10, 2013). The teams met again in the MAC Tournament, as the Falcons built an 18-point lead and held off a spirited Bronco comeback for a 55-53 win in second-round action in downtown Cleveland (March 13, 2013).

• BGSU is 18-10 in home games (2-0 at the Stroh Center), 14-13 in road contests and 3-1 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Broncos over the years. BG is 4-2 vs. Western in MAC Tournament matchups.

• Jennifer Roos is 2-2 against the Broncos as a collegiate head coach.

THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 9-20 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;
• 2-16 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;
• 321-128 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 166-63 in MAC games in that time:
• 300-93 over the last 11-plus years, with 2013-14 marking BG's MAC-record 11th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 279-83 in the past 10-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins in each of the previous 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 256-75 overall, and 130-34 in the MAC regular season, in the last nine-plus years, with at least 24 wins in each of those nine seasons;
• a superb 228-72 in the last eight-plus years, including a 114-34 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 197-68 overall, and 99-33 in MAC regular-season games, in the last seven-plus seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 171-60 overall and 86-30 in MAC action over the last six-plus winters;
• 142-55, including a 71-29 MAC ledger, in the last five-plus seasons;
• 115-48 overall and 57-27 in the MAC in the last four-plus years;
• 87-43 overall, and 44-24 in MAC action, since seniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 63-36 overall and 30-22 in league play since Jennifer Roos became head coach, junior Miriam Justinger joined the Falcons' roster, and redshirt junior Erica Donovan transferred to BG;
• 39-25 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;
• 153-39 in the last 192 games vs. MAC foes (regular-season and tournament);
• A perfect 67-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field since 2001;
• 256-15 when having a better FG percentage than the opposition in that time, including a 128-5 mark in the last six-plus seasons;
• 245-50 when making more free throws than the opponent in the Roos Assistant-Coach/Associate-Head-Coach/Interim-Head-Coach/Head-Coaching Era;
• 208-27 when outrebounding the opponent in that 13-plus-year span;
• 76-14 in MAC home games in the last 11 seasons;
• 61-21 in MAC road games over the last 10 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
• 48-16 at the Stroh Center, with nine of those losses coming by a total of 24 points.

UP NEXT
The BGSU-WMU winner will advance to the second round of the MAC Tournament, and will face either Northern Illinois or Central Michigan on Wednesday (March 11) at high noon in downtown Cleveland.