Falcons Venture to Mount Pleasant to Face West Division-Leading CMU

Saturday, February 6

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Central Michigan

Tickets

Ashley Tunstall v EMU - Jan 27 2016 - Ruben Kappler

Junior Ashley Tunstall & the Falcons face CMU Saturday

Falcons Venture to Mount Pleasant to Face West Division-Leading CMU

February 05, 2016 | Women's Basketball

BGSU meets the Chippewas on Saturday afternoon

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after a midweek bye, begins the second half of the Mid-American Conference schedule by facing the West Division leader this weekend. The Falcons of head coach Jennifer Roos head to Mount Pleasant, Mich., to meet Central Michigan University on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 6). Tipoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at McGuirk Arena.

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FOLLOW THE FALCONS
If you can't make it to Mount Pleasant on Saturday, you can still follow the Falcons via your radio- or computer-like devices. The BGSU-CMU game, like all of BG's games, 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, Saturday's game will be streamed on ESPN3.com, and live stats will be available as well. And, in-game updates can be found at @BGSUwbb on your twitter machine. To follow the Falcons, simply 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 page.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• Bowling Green enters Saturday's game with an overall record of 8-10, and the Falcons are 4-5 in MAC play midway through the conference schedule. BG dropped a road game last Saturday afternoon (Jan. 30), snapping a season-long three-game winning streak.

• BGSU's most recent game was a 75-61 road loss to Toledo last weekend. Prior to that game, the Falcons knocked off Eastern Michigan, picked to win the MAC's West Division in the preseason coaches poll, by a 67-63 count at the Stroh Center (Jan. 27). The EMU win came on the heels of victories over Northern Illinois on the road (58-43; Jan. 20) and Kent State at home (71-49; Jan. 23).

• BG opened conference action with a 64-58 win at Miami (Jan. 2), but the Brown and Orange then suffered a road loss to Western Michigan before falling at home to defending MAC champion Ohio, Akron and Ball State.

• The Miami game was the Falcons' first in 12 days, and just BG's second in a 25-day span. BGSU played three games in seven days to begin December, and after a game on Dec. 8, did not play again until Dec. 21. Then, a trip to San Antonio just after Christmas was cancelled.

• BGSU is 5-4 at home, 2-5 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games this season. The Falcons are 2-3 at the Stroh in MAC play, but BG is 2-2 on the road in league action after going 0-10 against conference opponents away from Bowling Green last year (0-9 in the regular season, 0-1 in the MAC Tournament).

• BG began the season with a pair of double-digit wins at the Stroh, then left Northwest Ohio and played three games that were decided by a total of 10 points.

• Each of the Falcons' first three home games came against Missouri Valley Conference foes, and the Brown and Orange won those three games by an average of 16.3 points. BG began the season by dispatching both Illinois State and Bradley at the Stroh Center over a three-day span, before losing a narrow 54-51 contest at Cincinnati the following weekend.

• The Falcons headed to Wilmington, N.C., and split a pair of games, dropping a 70-66 decision to Davidson before downing Jacksonville, 72-69 in overtime. Those two contests were part of the UNCW Hampton Inn Thanksgiving Classic.

• BGSU began the month of December with a 74-56 win over Evansville at the Stroh, but then lost road games to Cleveland State (at Quicken Loans Arena) and Virginia (in front of more than 10,000 fans). Just before Christmas, the Falcons suffered a 58-45 setback against perennial mid-major power South Dakota State at the Stroh.

• A pair of BGSU newcomers have posted double-digit scoring averages to date. Fifth-year senior Lauren Tibbs has 11.5 points per game, while freshman Sydney Lambert is scoring 10.4 ppg. Tibbs, in her first season at BGSU after transferring from Marquette, also leads the Falcons with 7.1 rebounds and 0.9 blocked shots per contest. She had her third double-double of the season, with 15 points and 10 boards at Northern Illinois, and tied her season high with 16 points in the Toledo game. Tibbs is shooting 55.8 percent from the field to lead the team and rank third in the MAC in that category.

• Lambert leads the Falcons in steals (1.1 spg) and minutes played (29.6), and she is second on the team in assists (2.0 apg). Lambert paces the team in three-point field goals made, with 42, and she leads the entire MAC in three-point percentage, having made 47.2% of her long-distance attempts.

• Senior Miriam Justinger and sophomore Rachel Myers have 8.2 and 7.4 ppg, respectively. Justinger leads the Falcons in assists, with 2.2 per game, and she is second on the team in steals and third in rebounding. Justinger has made 21 long-distance shots this year, ranking third on the Falcons on that list as well.

• Myers has hit 32 three-pointers this winter to date, and she ranks fourth in the MAC with a three-point field-goal percentage of 38.1%.

• Myers and Lambert have combined to make 22 three-pointers over the last three games. Despite hitting just four long-distance shots vs. UT, the Falcons have made 30 triples as a team over the last three contests.

• Junior Ashley Tunstall has 4.5 ppg and 4.6 rpg, ranking second on the team in the latter category. Redshirt sophomore Kennedy Kirkpatrick has 4.4 ppg and ranks third on the Falcons in assists, while freshman Carly Santoro has 4.3 ppg and is tied for fourth on the team with nine three-pointers made.

• Sophomore Haley Puk has 2.3 ppg, while juniors Abby Siefker and Rachel Konieczki are averaging 1.8 and 1.4 ppg, respectively. Siefker had a season-high seven points at NIU, and she pulled down six rebounds in the wins over Northern and Kent State. She is second on the team in blocked shots, with 11 rejections in 18 games.

• Seven players – Justinger, Kirkpatrick, Lambert, Myers, Santoro, Siefker and Tibbs – each have seen action in all 18 games, while Konieczki has played in 17, Tunstall and Puk 16 apiece, sophomore Sarah Baer 11 and freshman Maddie Cole six. Justinger, Lambert, Myers and Tibbs each have started all 18 games for the Brown and Orange this season, while Tunstall has started eight and Siefker four. Tunstall returned to the starting lineup for the EMU game after Siefker had started the prior four contests.

• The Falcons are shooting 39.1% from the field, 33.7% from three-point land (good for third in the MAC) and 70.2% from the free-throw line. The opponents are shooting 38.4% from the floor, 32.1% from the arc and 68.9% from the stripe.

• In MAC games only, Tibbs is averaging 12.3 points and 7.0 rebounds and is shooting 52.6% from the floor, while Lambert has 11.8 ppg and has hit a team-leading 27 triples. Myers and Justinger have 8.8 and 7.7 ppg, respectively.

• Lambert (51.9%) and Myers (42.2%) rank first and fifth, respectively, in three-point field-goal percentage in MAC games. The Falcons are second in the league in both three-pointers per game (8.3) and long-range accuracy (35.2%) in conference contests.

• Head coach Jennifer Roos and the Falcons returned a total of eight letterwinners, all of whom had started at least five games in their BGSU careers entering the season. The returnees were joined by five newcomers, including a pair of transfers (Tibbs and Tunstall) who were eligible to play immediately.

• The 2014-15 Falcons went 9-21 overall after four players on the 12-woman preseason roster suffered season- or career-ending injuries, and a fifth missed the bulk of the conference schedule due to injury as well. The returning players entered the season with a combined total of 203 starts in the Brown and Orange.

SOLID SHOOTING
• Freshman Sydney Lambert leads the MAC and is ranked second in the entire nation in three-point field goal percentage. Lambert has hit 42 triples in 89 tries, for a success rate of 47.2 percent. Lambert trails only Maryland's Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, who as of Thursday afternoon (Feb. 4) was shooting an otherworldly 57.0% from long distance.

• Senior Lauren Tibbs is shooting 55.8% from the field this season to date. She is currently third in the MAC, but 26th in the nation, in that category.

THE CMU CHIPPEWAS
Central Michigan will enter Saturday's game with an overall record of 14-7, and the Chippewas sit atop the MAC's West Division with a league record of 8-2. CMU has won five-straight games and seven of the last eight contests, and the lone loss in that stretch came by two points in overtime on the road against MAC-leading Ohio. On Wednesday night (Feb. 3), the Chippewas picked up a road win against Eastern Michigan, downing the Eagles by a 66-65 final. The Chippewas are leading the MAC in scoring and rebounding margin. In MAC games only, Central leads the league in scoring, field-goal percentage, free-throw pct., FG pct. defense and rebounding margin. CMU is 8-2 at home, 5-5 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site games this season to date. In MAC play, the Chippewas are a perfect 5-0 at McGuirk Arena and 3-2 in hostile venues. Freshman guard Presley Hudson is averaging 15.0 points per game to pace the team, and she also leads CMU with 3.9 assists per contest. Sophomore guard Cassie Breen and freshman forward Tinara Moore have 12.9 and 12.6 ppg, respectively. Breen has hit a team-high 59 three-pointers, six ahead of Hudson's total of 53. Moore is averaging a double-double, with a CMU-best 10.0 rebounds per game. In MAC games only, Moore is averaging 17.3 ppg, 12.5 rpg and 2.0 apg, and is shooting 67.3% from the field. She is ranked among the top-five players in the league in all four categories. Moore had 28 points and 15 rebounds in Wednesday's EMU game. Last season, head coach Sue Guevara's team finished 13-18 overall and 7-11 in MAC play. Guevara welcomed back eight letterwinners, including one starter, from that 2014-15 club.

THE BGSU-CMU SERIES
The Falcons lead Central Michigan, 47-17, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Chippewas captured the most recent meeting. In last season's lone meeting, BG battled Central right down to the wire before the Chippewas – the preseason MAC favorite – escaped the Stroh Center with a 57-54 win (Feb. 4, 2015). Two years ago, the teams split a pair of matches, with host Central mounting a comeback late in regulation and going on to an 82-79 overtime win in Mount Pleasant (Jan. 18, 2014). The return match saw the Falcons capture a 67-55 victory just over a month later (Feb. 19, 2014), in a battle of MAC divisional leaders at the Stroh. BGSU is 25-5 in home games (2-1 at the Stroh Center), 18-8 on the road and 4-4 in neutral-site contests vs. the Chippewas over the years. Jennifer Roos is 2-3 against the Chippewas as a collegiate head coach, although she also served as interim head coach of the Falcons for a win at CMU in the 2011-12 season.

FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons continue to own the best record in MAC history. Entering Saturday's CMU game, BGSU has an all-time record of 396-174 (.695) in MAC regular-season contests, for the most wins and highest winning percentage 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 and highest overall winning pct. of any conference institution.

THE FALCONS, THE CHIPPEWAS AND OVERTIME
• BGSU's last two trips to Mount Pleasant have resulted in games lasting 45 minutes rather than 40. The Falcons' only two MAC games to require overtime in the last six years have come at McGuirk Arena.

• Four years ago, the Brown and Orange picked up a 77-72 OT win, with Jennifer Roos serving as interim head coach. Then, in BG's next trip to Central, the Chippewas picked up a come-from-behind, 82-79 victory in OT.

• The loss snapped a string of four consecutive overtime wins for the Falcons.

• BGSU's only OT game, conference or non-conference, since that 2014 CMU game came earlier this season, when the Falcons downed Jacksonville, 72-69, in late November in Wilmington, N.C.

LAST TIME OUT: TOLEDO SNAPS BG'S THREE-GAME WIN STREAK, 75-61
• Janice Monakana scored 12 of her game-high 21 points in the second half as host Toledo downed the Falcons, 75-61, Saturday afternoon (Jan. 30).

• Senior Lauren Tibbs led the Falcons (8-10, 4-5 MAC) with 16 points, while freshman Sydney Lambert scored 13 and senior Miriam Justinger 10.

• The Rockets (10-9, 5-3 MAC) got 15 points from Brenae Harris, 14 from Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott and 11 from Ana Capotosto.

• The Falcons got off to a nearly-perfect start, taking an early 12-4 lead. But, the home team would score the last nine points of the period to take a 19-18 lead after 10 minutes of action.

• UT opened up a nine-point second-quarter lead, but when Tibbs hit a quick turnaround shot off glass with 12 seconds left in the half, BG's deficit was just one point. But, a Toledo shot at the buzzer was good, and the Rockets scored the first two hoops of the third quarter to take a seven-point lead. The margin remained seven points after 30 minutes, but BG could not get any closer than six points in the final period.

• The Rockets shot 51.6 percent from the field in the first half and 49.1% for the game, while BG shot 42.4% from the field on the afternoon.

• For the first time this season, the Falcons were held to fewer than five three-pointers. BG was 4-of-19 from long distance on the day. The Rockets were an efficient 7-for-15 from beyond the arc. No player on either team had more than six rebounds as the teams tied, 32-32, in that category.

JUSTINGER IS MOVING UP THE SCORING LIST
Senior Miriam Justinger enters the CMU game with a career total of 929 points at BGSU, good for 31st in school history. Justinger moved past Tara Breske (916 points from 2006-10) in the win over Eastern Michigan, and is now just two points behind Kim Griech (931 points from 1999-2003).

UP NEXT
Following the trip to CMU, the Falcons will return home for the next three games, beginning with a Wednesday (Feb. 10) contest vs. Western Michigan at the Stroh Center. BGSU then faces Buffalo (Feb. 13) and Toledo (Feb. 17) at the Stroh, then ends the regular season by playing four of five games on the road.
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