Falcons Host Crusaders as 2020-21 Season Gets Underway

Sunday, November 29

Bowling Green, Ohio

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Valparaiso

Photo by: Scott Kissell, Miami Athletics

November 27, 2020 | Women's Basketball

BGSU Notes Valparaiso Notes BGSU-Valparaiso rosters / program insert 2020-21 Digital Game Program All 2020-21 BGSU & Opponent Notes 2020-21 Media Information Follow the Falcons in 2020-21 2020-21 Media Guide / Record Book

BGSU faces Valpo on Sunday at the Stroh

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Athletics

BGSU vs. VALPARAISO
Sun., November 29, 2020 • 2:00 p.m.
Stroh Center • Bowling Green, Ohio

TELEVISION / VIDEO: ESPN3
AUDIO: Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO)
LIVE STATS: BGSUFalcons.com | TWITTER: @BGSUwbb
All audio, stats & video links can be found right here at BGSUFalcons.com on game day

SETTING THE SCENE
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team opens the 2020-21 on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 29), hosting Valparaiso University. Third-year head coach Robyn Fralick and the Falcons face the Crusaders in a 2:00 p.m. start at the Stroh Center.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, BGSU will unfortunately not have any public attendance for women's basketball games in the 2020-21 season. However, there are multiple ways to follow the Falcons this winter...

• TV/VIDEO: All of BGSU's home games, as well as many road contests, will be streamed via ESPN3 or ESPN+.
• RADIO/AUDIO: All BGSU home games and a few road games will have an audio stream thanks to the efforts of the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO).
• LIVE STATS: Live stats will be available for all BGSU games in 2020-21.
• TWITTER: In-game updates, along with key graphics and information, can be found on the BGSU women's basketball twitter account, @BGSUwbb.

Links to any and all ways to follow the Falcons will be available on the schedule page at BGSUFalcons.com on game day.

SEASON THREE OF THE FRALICK ERA
• Head coach Robyn Fralick enters her third season with the Falcons, and welcomes back seven letterwinners from a year ago. Six of BGSU's top-seven scorers from that team return in 2020-21.

WHO'S BACK?
• That group includes four players – seniors Mari Hill, Madisen Parker and Angela Perry and junior Kadie Hempfling – who started at least 25 of BGSU's games last season. Parker and Hempfling each were in the starting lineup for all 31 games in 2019-20, while Perry and Hill made 27 and 25 starts, respectively.

• Parker, Perry and fifth-year senior Clare Glowniak are the only three Falcons on the 15-woman roster who played in a game for BGSU prior to Fralick being named head coach in April of 2018.

• In addition to the aforementioned five players, sophomores Elissa Brett and Olivia Trice return to the Falcon rotation in 2020-21. Both Brett and Trice played in 30 of BGSU's 31 contests last winter, with Brett starting the final 11 games of the year.

• In all, the returning Falcons accounted for 72.1 percent of last season's scoring (1615 of 2241 points), 78.6% of the rebounding (849 of 1080 boards), 79.9% of the assists (401 of 502 assists) and 64.0% of the three-pointers made (167 of 261).

• Molly Dever, a redshirt sophomore, and redshirt freshman Macy Spielman also return from last year's roster. Both Dever and Spielman missed the entire 2019-20 season due to injury.

WHAT'S NEW?
• Fralick and her staff welcome six newcomers to the 2020-21 roster. That group includes true freshmen Jasmine Clerkley (Okemos, Mich.), Sophie Dziekan (Brighton, Mich.), Lexi Fleming (Cincinnati, Ohio), Nyla Hampton (Huber Heights, Ohio), Olivia Hill (Palatine, Ill.) and Kenzie Lewis (Williamston, Mich.).

• BGSU's total of six true freshmen is the program's highest in 13 years, since the 2007-08 club had seven first-year Falcons. For the curious fans in the back, that '07-08 group was comprised of Chelsea Albert, Bianca Hooten, Crystal Murdaugh, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher.

• Redshirt freshman Macy Spielman gives this year's team a total of seven players with freshman eligibility.

These athletes are clutch from downtown ➡️ 2020-21 Returning Leaders in 3 Point FG % ⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/NK0N3eNF8w
— Flagrant Too (@flagrant_too) November 18, 2020

A QUICK LOOK AT THE CRUSADERS
• Valparaiso, like BGSU, begins the 2020-21 season on Sunday afternoon. The Crusaders were picked to finish in seventh place in the Missouri Valley Conference in '20-21.

• Last season saw Valpo go 17-12 overall record and 9-9 in MVC play to finish in sixth place in the conference. The team jumped 172 spots in the RPI from the previous season, the largest leap for any D-I team in the nation, and improved by 10.5 games over the prior year, sixth-best nationally.

• Head coach Mary Evans and her staff return nine letterwinners, including three starters, from that team. Juniors Shay Frederick and Carie Weinman are the top returning scorers from a year ago, having averaged 10.0 and 9.9 ppg, respectively.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Valparaiso, 5-2, in the all-time series, but the Crusaders captured the last meeting, a wild, 95-90 overtime contest in NW Indiana last season (Nov. 24, 2019).

• The Falcons and Crusaders are meeting for the fourth-straight season after going nearly a decade without facing off. BGSU picked up a 79-72 road win two years ago (Dec. 21, 2018) and a 90-77 victory three years ago (Nov. 28, 2017), in the last meeting in BG.

• BGSU is 3-0 at home and 2-2 on the road vs. Valpo. The Falcons' wins include a 127-99 triumph in 1992 which saw school records set for points in a game as well as combined points by both teams in a game.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the Valpo game, the Falcons are scheduled to face Milwaukee at the Stroh Center on Sunday (Dec. 6). That game is set for a 12:00 p.m start.