Falcons Face Flashes in MAC Tournament First Round

Monday, March 11

Kent, OH

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Kent State (First Round)

Tickets

Kadie Hempfling v Kent State - March 2 2019

Photo by: BGSU Marketing and Communications

March 10, 2019 | Women's Basketball

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BGSU meets Kent State on Monday night

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

B G S U a t K E N T S T A T E
Monday, March 11, 2019 • 7:00 p.m.
M.A.C. Center • Kent, Ohio
MAC TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND

TELEVISION / VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: www.KentStateSports.com
TWITTER: @BGSUwbb

UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS...
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team heads to Northeast Ohio as the Mid-American Conference Tournament begins. Head coach Robyn Fralick and the Falcons travel to Kent for a Monday evening (March 11) first-round matchup with Kent State University. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center.

• BGSU is the 12th seed for the conference tournament, while KSU is the number-five seed. The winner of the BGSU-KSU game will advance to face fourth-seeded University at Buffalo in quarterfinal play. That game will be held on Wednesday (March 13) at approximately 2:30 p.m. at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland.

THE FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
• BGSU enters Monday's game with an all-time record of 44-23 in MAC Tournament contests. The Falcons have won 11 league tournament titles, the most of any conference institution, and BG has the second-highest winning percentage (.657) of any team in league tourney games. BGSU's conference tournament win total also places the Falcons second among MAC teams. A complete list of each MAC school's league tourney win-loss record, as well as BGSU's game-by-game results in MAC Tournament play, can be found in the PDF version in these notes.

FALCONS VS. KSU IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
• The Falcons and Kent State are meeting for the 10th time in MAC Tournament play, and BGSU holds a 7-2 lead. Monday marks BG's first-ever tourney meeting with the Golden Flashes in Kent.

• The teams' last MAC Tournament meeting also came in the first round, six years ago at the Stroh Center. That game saw BGSU lead by as many as 50 points before a late KSU run made the final score 76-35.

• The Falcons are 1-0 in home games and 6-2 in neutral-site matchups vs. the Flashes in the MAC Tournament. BGSU is 1-0 in the first round, 1-1 in the quarterfinal round, 2-1 in the semifinals and 3-0 in championship-game matchups with KSU.

FALCONS BY ROUND AND SITE IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
• The Falcons enter the 2019 MAC Tournament with an all-time record of 4-6 in the first round. BG is 1-0 in 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. The Falcons are 2-9 in road games and 32-14 in neutral-site contests in the league tourney over the years.

NEED-TO-KNOW INFORMATION
(These three fascinating facts are provided on a need-to-know basis)
• In the final week of the regular season, BGSU's two seniors put up impressive numbers in a pair of narrow losses on the road to two of the MAC's top four teams.

• One of those seniors, Sydney Lambert continues to move up several BGSU career lists. She is now ranked second in three-point field goals made and fifth in career career games started at BG, and the Cincinnati native needs just two points to become one of the top-20 scorers of all time at the University.

• BGSU has three players with over 50 three-pointers made for the first time in eight years.

SENIOR MOMENTS
• In the final week of the regular season, BGSU's two seniors stepped up and produced impressive stat lines. Sydney Lambert led the Falcons with 17.5 points per game last week, and also averaged 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest.

• Lambert went 9-of-17 from three-point range on the week. The point guard tied for the team scoring lead with 18 points at Buffalo on Wednesday, then led BG in both scoring and rebounding at Ohio, posting a double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds) on Saturday.

• Maddie Cole averaged 8.0 points and 5.5 rebounds on the week, and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor. She had seven points and seven boards at UB, going 3-for-3 from the field and 1-for-1 from the free-throw line. Then, at Ohio, Cole had nine points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in a career-high 33 minutes. She made all four of her shots from the floor and hit her only shot at the stripe.

THREE-MENDOUS!
• The Falcons have three players with over 50 three-point field goals made for the first time in eight years. Freshman Morgan McMillen leads the way with 87 three-pointers to date, while junior Andrea Cecil and senior Sydney Lambert have connected 54 and 52 times, respectively, from beyond the arc.

• No BG team has had such a trio of sharpshooters since 2010-11, when Tracy Pontius (76), Lauren Prochaska (69) and Chrissy Steffen (55) each made more than 50 three-pointers.

LAMBERT'S LEGACY: 1,000-POINT SCORER EYES BGSU'S TOP 20
• Senior Sydney Lambert scored her 1,000th career point on Dec. 30, becoming the 28th player in school history to reach that milestone. Lambert has averaged at least 9.4 points per game in all four years, and is averaging 11.9 ppg this season and 10.4 ppg in her BGSU career.

• In BG's win over Kent State on March 2, Lambert moved past Andrea Nordmann (1,164 points from 1989-93) into 21st place on the BGSU career scoring list. Lambert currently has 1,212 career points as a Falcon. She is now just one point shy of moving into a tie for 20th place with Jacki Raterman (1,213 points from 1995-99).

LAMBERT'S LEGACY II: START ME UP
• Senior Sydney Lambert started each of BGSU's first 108 games after joining the program. She missed her first-ever game on Feb. 6, when she did not make the trip to NIU due to injury. Lambert returned to the lineup for the Miami game on Feb. 9, and has been there ever since.

• Lambert now has started 117 career contests, the fifth-highest total in BGSU history. She moved past Falcon legend Jackie Motycka (115 starts from 1985-89) on Wednesday night in Buffalo.

LAMBERT'S LEGACY III: SYD-THREE LAMBERT
• In that Buffalo game, senior Sydney Lambert knocked down a season-high five three-point field goals, and she hit four more long-range shots at Ohio on Saturday. Lambert enters the KSU matchup having made a total of 239 three-point field goals in her career, ranking her second on that BG list.

• Lambert moved past Tracy Pontius (235 made three-pointers from 2007-11) with her first triple of the Ohio game. The Cincinnati native will end her career trailing only Lauren Prochaska on that BG list. Prochaska – who, like Pontius, terrorized the MAC from 2007-11 – holds the school record with 310 career triples made.

CLOSE CALLS
• The Falcons have seen a total of 13 games this season decided by eight points or fewer this season to date. In fact, 13 of BGSU's 18 MAC games were within three points with under 12 minutes remaining.

• Twelve of those 18 MAC contests, including 11 of the 16 losses, were within three points at some time in the fourth quarter. And, no fewer than seven of the Falcons' MAC matchups have been tied or a one-possession game in the final minute.

• BGSU is currently 2-8 in games against fellow MAC East Division schools. The Falcons have been outscored by just 4.3 points per game in those 10 contests.

THE FALCONS: A QUICK OVERVIEW
• BGSU enters the Kent State game with a record of 9-20, and the Falcons went 2-16 in MAC play. BG downed the Flashes at the Stroh Center, 62-49, just over a week ago (March 2), before ending the season with road losses to Buffalo (75-61) and Ohio (76-68).

• The Falcons' other win in conference action came in the first matchup with UB. BG downed the Bulls – an NCAA "Sweet Sixteen" team a year ago – 78-72 on Feb. 13.

• BGSU finished the home portion of the schedule with a 7-7 record, and the Falcons are 2-12 on the road and 0-1 in neutral-site games to date.

• Head coach Robyn Fralick is in her first season on the BGSU bench. Her staff includes associate head coach Kim Cameron, assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Karmen Graham, assistant coach Joel Whymer, director of operations Monique Rosati and video coordinator Amanda Cutcher.

• Three Falcons are scoring in double digits this season. Junior Andrea Cecil leads the way with 15.7 points per contest, and is second on the team with 5.7 rebounds per game. Cecil has had 20 or more points 11 times this year, including in three of the last five contests. The junior is 12th in the nation in free-throw percentage (88.6%), and is shooting 41.1% from the arc, but falls just short of qualifying for the NCAA minimum.

• Freshman Morgan McMillen is scoring 13.0 ppg, and has scored in double digits in 20 of her first 29 career outings. McMillen tied the school single-game record with eight triples vs. Marshall (in her second collegiate game). She is ranked 23rd in the nation in three-pointers made per game, and has hit 87 on the year, the second-highest total in school history.

• Senior Sydney Lambert is averaging 11.9 ppg, 4.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. She is third on the team in boards, assists and three-pointers made (52).

• Lambert is now second at BGSU in career three-point field goals made, and has moved into fifth place in career games started, having been in the lineup for 117 of the Falcons' 118 games since she arrived on campus. Lambert is 21st in school history in career scoring. This season, she leads the MAC and is 16th in the nation in minutes per game (37.23).

• Sophomore Angela Perry has 9.3 ppg and is shooting 50.0% from the floor. She has three 20-point games this year to date.

• Freshman Kadie Hempfling and sophomore Madisen Parker have 6.0 and 5.4 ppg, respectively. Hempfling averages a BG-best 7.5 rebounds per game, and she has dished out 4.2 assists per game to pace the Falcons in that category as well.

• Parker has gone 38-of-98 (38.8%) from three-point land, including a perfect 3-for-3 on three occasions this season. She had a career-high 16 points, going 4-for-6 from the arc, at Ohio on Saturday.

• In MAC games only, three Falcons scored in double figures. Cecil led the team with 15.8 ppg, while Lambert had 12.4 ppg, McMillen 10.6 and Perry 7.6. Hempfling had 5.9 ppg, while senior Maddie Cole had 5.7 ppg in conference contests, and shot 54.4% (43-of-79) from the floor in the 18 games.

• BGSU returned a total of 10 letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished with an 11-19 overall record and a 3-15 mark in MAC play.

• A total of 10 different Falcons have made at least one start this season. Cecil is the only player to have started all 29 games. Hempfling and Lambert each have made 28 starts and McMillen 27.

EYASSES (IT'S THE PLURAL OF EYAS) (LOOK IT UP)
• It's a youthful group that has taken the floor for the Falcons this season. A total of six players have seen action in at least 28 of BGSU's 29 games this year to date. That sextet includes one senior, one junior, one sophomore and three freshmen.

• The group that has emerged as the top-nine players in Coach Robyn Fralick's rotation consists of three frosh, three sophomores (including one redshirt soph), one junior and a pair of seniors.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE GOLDEN FLASHES
• Kent State is 18-11 overall, and the Golden Flashes finished at 11-7 in MAC play. KSU is riding a two-game winning streak, with an overtime win at Akron and a nine-point home victory over Buffalo last week. The Flashes are 11-3 at home and 7-8 on the road this season. Megan Carter leads the team with 16.1 points per game, while freshmen Asiah Dingle and Lindsey Thall have 12.7 and 10.3 ppg, respectively. Coach Todd Starkey welcomed back five letterwinners, including two starters, from a 2017-18 team that went 13-19 overall and 5-13 in the MAC.

THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Kent State, 56-34, in the all-time series between the teams, and BG and KSU split the regular-season series this year. In the first meeting (Feb. 16, 2019), Andrea Cecil hit two free throws to tie the game with 16.7 seconds remaining (after BG had trailed by 13 points midway through the fourth quarter), but KSU's Asiah Dingle made two shots from the stripe with just 5.5 seconds left, and KSU picked up a 77-73 win. Then, on March 2, BG used a gritty defensive effort to post a 62-49 win over Kent State at the Stroh Center. BGSU is 28-12 in home games (including 7-2 in the Stroh), 21-20 on the road and 7-2 at neutral sites vs. the Flashes over the years.

DOWN THE ROAD
• As mentioned, the BGSU-KSU winner will advance to the MAC Tournament's quarterfinal round, facing No. 4 seed Buffalo on Wednesday (March 13) at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. That game, the second of four quarterfinal matchups that day, is scheduled to begin at approximately 2:30 p.m. (30 minutes following the conclusion of the day's first game, which begins at 12:00 p.m.) at The Q.

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