Sunday, December 1
Springfield, MA
10:00 AM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Monmouth
Falcons Conclude H-O-F Challenge Sunday Morning
November 27, 2013 | Women's Basketball
BGSU takes on Monmouth in first game of quadruple-header in Springfield, Mass.
BGSU NOTES & STATS - PDF
BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME CHALLENGE
(all games played at MassMutual Center; Springfield, Mass.)
Sunday, December 1
Bowling Green vs. Monmouth, 10:00 a.m.
Boston Univ. vs. Old Dominion, 12:15 p.m.
Marist vs. St. Bonaventure, 2:30 p.m.
Connecticut vs. Ohio State, 5:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
QUICK HITS
• BGSU is 6-1 after winning two of three games in Columbus last weekend, as the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge got underway. The Falcons lost to Marist on Friday (Nov. 22), but bounced back with a 19-point win over Old Dominion the following day. Then, on Sunday (Nov. 24), BGSU knocked off host Ohio State, 64-52, inside Value City Arena.
• BGSU's win over Ohio State snapped a 12-game series losing streak. The Falcons had not beaten the Buckeyes in nearly four decades, since Jan. 18, 1975. In fact, Ohio State had not lost to a Mid-American Conference team since December of 2001 (Eastern Michigan).
• The Falcons held OSU to just 12 field goals made in Sunday's game, just one away from matching the lowest total in Buckeye women's basketball history (11, vs. Rutgers in December of 1999).
• Senior point guard Jillian Halfhill was named the MAC Player of the Week for her efforts in last week's four games (the Falcons' win at Butler on Nov. 18 and the three games in Columbus). Halfhill also earned league P-O-W honors from the College Sports Madness web site.
• The Falcons received six votes in this week's USA Today Sports Top 25 women's basketball coaches poll, after picking up five votes in last week's poll. BGSU also picked up one vote in the Associated Press poll this week.
• BGSU is 2-0 against Big Ten Conference teams this season to date, with both wins coming by double digits away from home. The Falcons downed Michigan, 63-52, in the season opener at the Iona Tip-Off Tournament (Nov. 8), before topping OSU by nearly the identical score on Sunday.
• The Falcons are a perfect 3-0 on the road this season, with wins over Iona, Butler and OSU. BGSU is 5-1 in all games played away from the Stroh Center, having beaten U-M and ODU while losing to Marist in neutral-site action.
• Senior Jill Stein and redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan each recorded a double-double in the Falcons' win over Old Dominion. Stein had 14 points and a career-high 14 boards, while Donovan posted career-high totals in both scoring (18) and rebounding (12).
• The double-double was the first as a collegian for both Donovan and Stein.
• Donovan has scored in double figures in four games this season, after doing so a total of five times in her first season. She played the 2011-12 campaign at North Carolina State Univ. before transferring to BGSU and sitting out last year.
• Similarly, sophomore Miriam Justinger has three double-digit scoring games this season, after scoring 10 or more points a total of four times last season. Justinger had a career-high 14 points vs. the Buckeyes on Sunday.
• Junior Deborah Hoekstra had a total of two double-digit scoring games in her first two seasons as a Falcon, with both coming last winter. This year, Hoekstra has matched that total with a pair of double-figure games. She had a career-high 15 points vs. Niagara (Nov. 15) before scoring 11 points against OSU.
• Stein entered her senior season with a career total of two double-digit rebounding games. This year, she is just one rebound away from AVERAGING 10 boards per game, and she has had four double-digit games, including her career-high 14 in the ODU game.
• A total of 10 Falcons have seen action in at least one game this season. Eight of those 10 players have scored in double digits at least once.
ABOUT THE HALL OF FAME CHALLENGE
The Basketball Hall of Fame Women's Challenge is a new in-season exempt tournament hosted by the Hall of Fame and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Eight schools are participating in this annual showcase event for women's basketball. All event proceeds will benefit the non-profit Hall of Fame's educational and operational fund.
In addition to the three-day round-robin format in Columbus, last weekend's portion of the Hall of Fame Challenge included action at Storrs (and Hartford), Conn., as well. The University of Connecticut hosted Boston University, Monmouth University and St. Bonaventure University in a similar format. On Sunday (Dec. 1), all eight schools converge upon the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass., for a quadruple-header. That day's action begins with BGSU facing Monmouth in a 10:00 a.m. tipoff.
BGSU-MONMOUTH IN A NUTSHELL
• The Falcons are 6-1 on the young season. BGSU picked up a pair of wins at the Iona Tip-Off Tournament to open the year, defeating Michigan, 63-52 (Nov. 8), and topping host Iona by a 51-50 final the following afternoon (Nov. 9). On Friday night (Nov. 15), BGSU began the home portion of the schedule with a 90-58 win over Niagara at the Stroh Center. Then, the Brown and Orange headed to Indianapolis and came away with 61-57 win at Butler on Monday (Nov. 18). Last weekend, BGSU lost to Marist before downing Old Dominion by 19 points and Ohio State by 12. Sunday's Monmouth game will be BG's seventh game away from home this season, and the Falcons' fourth neutral-site game of the year.
• Monmouth is 0-6 on the year, with the losses including three by single digits. The Hawks are 0-2 at home, on the road and in neutral-site matchups to date. In addition to the three opponents in last weekend's portion of the Hall of Fame Challenge, Monmouth has played Delaware, Wagner and Yale this year to date.
• BGSU has never met Monmouth in women's basketball.
LAST TIME OUT: BGSU KNOCKS OFF OHIO STATE IN COLUMBUS
• The Falcons built an early lead, then fought off a second-half surge by host Ohio State, en route to a 64-52 win over the Buckeyes Sunday afternoon (Nov. 24). Sophomore Miriam Justinger led the Falcons with a career-high 14 points, while senior Jillian Halfhill scored 13 and had a game- and season-high six assists. Junior Deborah Hoekstra rounded out the Falcons' double-digit scorers with 11 points in the win.
• Hoekstra had the hot hand in the first half, leading all scorers in the first 20 minutes as BGSU took a four-point lead into the intermission. Halfhill put together her own personal 7-0 run after the Buckeyes closed to within two points in the second half, and Justinger slammed the door with back-to-back three-point field goals in the late stages of the game.
• BGSU shot a blistering 57.1 percent from three-point range, going 12-of-21 from beyond the arc. Justinger led the way with a 4-for-6 long-distance performance, while Hoekstra was 3-of-4 from three-point land on the afternoon.
• Justinger's three-point field-goal total doubled her previous career high. The sophomore hit two triples in a game three times last season. Hoekstra tied her season high in that category, and fell just one trey shy of matching her career best.
• BG shot 45.1% from the field in the win, including a 14-of-26 effort (53.8%) in the second half. By contrast, the Falcons held OSU to just four successful first-half field goals. The Buckeyes shot 18.2% from the floor in the opening period and just 25.0% (12-of-48) for the game.
• OSU went 24-of-26 from the free-throw line, while BG was 6-of-9 at the stripe. The Falcons offset that differential by outrebounding the taller Buckeyes by four (36/32), and hitting 11 more field goals (23/12), including eight more three-pointers (12/4) than the hosts.
• In fact, BGSU's total of three-point field goals made matched OSU's total field goals (two-pointers and three-pointers combined) for the game.
HALFHILL EARNS PLAYER-OF-THE-WEEK HONORS
On Monday (Nov. 25), senior Jillian Halfhill was named MAC Player of the Week, by both the league office and by the College Sports Madness web site. Halfhill's honor from the conference office was the first of her BGSU career, while the the CSM award was the second of her career. Halfhill, a native of Canfield, Ohio, averaged 11.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and a team-leading 2.8 assists per contest as the Falcons went 3-1 during a busy week. BG picked up a 61-57 win at Butler last Monday (Nov. 18) before going 2-1 in Columbus.
In the three games in Columbus, Halfhill led the Falcons in scoring (13.7 ppg), assists (3.0 apg) and steals (1.7 spg) while shooting 56.3 percent from three-point range. She hit 9-of-16 long-distance tries in those three games.
HALFHILL FUELS SECOND-HALF RUN AT OSU
Senior Jillian Halfhill keyed a 12-0 second-half run vs. Ohio State on Sunday, after the Buckeyes had cut the Falcons' lead to just two points. The point guard scored the first seven points of that run herself – with a long two-pointer, a three-ball, and a steal and layup, all within a span of 1:04 – then assisted on the two baskets that accounted for the other five points in that run. She fed senior Jill Stein for a jumper, then found junior Jasmine Matthews for a three-pointer and a 14-point BGSU lead with just under 10 minutes to go.
#MA(A)CTION
The Falcons' game vs. Monmouth will be BG's fourth contest vs. a team from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in a seven-game span. The Falcons have defeated MAAC members Iona and Niagara, and BG's only loss this season to date came at the hands of MAAC preseason favorite Marist.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
All five BGSU starters hit double figures in scoring as the Falcons downed Old Dominion Saturday evening (Nov. 23) in Columbus. Redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan scored a game-high 18 points, while fifth-year senior Alexis Rogers had 17. Seniors Jill Stein and Jillian Halfhill scored 14 and 12 points, respectively, with sophomore Miriam Justinger rounding out the group with 10 points. It marked the second time this season that BGSU had five players in double digits (Niagara; Nov. 15), and it was the first time all five starters had hit twin figures in nearly a year, since BG's win over Wyoming on Dec. 16, 2012.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE
Senior Jill Stein and redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan each had a double-double in the ODU game. For both players, it was the first of their career. One day before, senior Alexis Rogers had posted a double-double vs. Marist, her second of the season. The Falcons now have a total of four double-doubles through seven games this season, after recording nine during all of last year.
THREE-MENDOUS
The Falcons hit a season-high 12 three-point field goals vs. Ohio State, going 12-of-21 from long range. That came on the heels of an 8-for-17 long-range performance against Old Dominion the day before. In fact, the Falcons averaged 10.3 triples made and shot 45.6 percent (31-of-68) from the arc in the three games in Columbus. In all three games, the Falcons had three different players each make two or more triples.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Monmouth game with a record of 6-1 on the season. BGSU's record through seven games is tied for the second-best mark in school history.
• BGSU posted wins over Michigan and the host school at the Iona Tip-Off Tournament in New Rochelle, N.Y. (Nov. 8-9), then opened the home schedule with a 90-58 victory over Niagara at the Stroh Center (Nov. 15). The Falcons came from behind to defeat host Butler, 61-57, three days later (Nov. 18).
• Last weekend, the Brown and Orange went 2-1 in Columbus. BGSU lost to Marist, 74-60, on Friday (Nov. 22), but bounced back with a 77-58 win over Old Dominion the next day (Nov. 23). Then, on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 24), the Falcons downed host Ohio State, 64-52.
• Senior Jillian Halfhill, redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan and senior Alexis Rogers each have scored between 84 and 88 points this season. Halfhill is averaging 12.6 points per game, with Donovan scoring 12.4 ppg and Rogers 12.0 ppg this year to date.
• Rogers has 7.9 rebounds per game to rank second on the team in that category, and she is shooting 49.2 percent from the field. Halfhill leads the Falcons in assists (3.3 apg) and is tied for the BG lead in steals (1.4 spg). She has a team-leading 15 three-point field goals made, and is shooting 45.5% from long range (15-of-33).
• Donovan is third on the Falcons wth 6.7 rebounds per game, and she is shooting a BG-best 51.6% from the floor.
• Sophomore Miriam Justinger has 9.4 ppg and 2.9 rpg this year to date, and has 3.0 apg to rank second on the Falcons. Senior Jill Stein has 6.7 ppg and a team-leading 9.9 rpg, and she is tied with Halfhill for the BG lead in steals. Juniors Jasmine Matthews and Deborah Hoekstra have 5.3 and 4.9 ppg, respectively.
• Freshmen Rachel Konieczki and Abby Siefker are averaging 2.1 and 1.1 ppg, respectively, to date, while classmate Kennedy Kirkpatrick has seen action in five games off the bench.
• A total of six Falcons have made six or more three-pointers this year to date.
• Head coach Jennifer Roos and her staff welcomed back seven letterwinners from a year ago, and the program also has added seven newcomers – five to the roster and two to the coaching staff.
• The returnees include three starters from last season in Halfhill, Justinger and Rogers, along with Hoekstra, Matthews, Stein and senior Katrina Salinas. Salinas suffered an injury in practice prior to the team's trip to Iona, and is expected to miss the entire 2013-14 season.
• Through seven games, the Falcons are shooting 42.1 percent from the field, 36.5% from three-point range and 64.0% from the foul line. Opponents are shooting 37.5% from the field, 31.1% from the arc and 79.3% from the stripe. The Falcons have a rebounding margin of +7.7 and a turnover margin of +0.3 on the year.
LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET OUT OF THE WAY
The Falcons trailed for a total of just 5:53 in the first three games of the season, all wins. Last weekend, BG never trailed vs. Old Dominion, and the Falcons were behind for only 46 seconds against Ohio State. Over the first seven games, BGSU has led for a total of 217:24 – 77.6 percent of the time – and trailed for exactly 50 minutes (17.9%). The Falcons and the opponents have been tied for a total of 12:36.
DEFENSE!
• During her time as an assistant coach at BGSU, Jennifer Roos served as the team's defensive coordinator. The team enjoyed great success at the defensive end of the floor, and that success continued in her first season as head coach. In 2012-13, Roos and assistant coach Jesse Fleming helped the Falcons set a school record for fewest points allowed per game – 54.3 – breaking the record set the previous year.
• Last year's team also set new school records for fewest points allowed and lowest opponent field-goal percentage allowed in MAC games. In the 16 conference contests, league foes averaged just 51.9 points and shot only 36.1% from the floor.
• Those trends have continued as the 2013-14 season has gotten underway. In the first seven games, despite playing a difficult schedule, BGSU has allowed 57.3 points per game and permitted the opponents to shoot just 37.5% from the field to date.
THE MONMOUTH HAWKS
Monmouth is 0-6 on the young season, including a pair of single-digit losses last weekend. The Hawks have lost a total of three games by fewer than 10 points, and two more by 13 and 14 points, respectively. Last weekend at the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge, MU fell by six to St. Bonaventure (61-55) and nine against Boston University (53-42). Senior G/F Chevannah Paalvast leads the Hawks in multiple categories, including scoring (11.8 ppg), rebounding (6.5 rpg), blocked shots (1.2 bpg) and steals (1.0 spg). Senior forward Shira Shecht has 7.8 ppg, while freshman guard Helena Kurt and sophomore guard Kasey Chambers have 7.3 and 6.7 ppg on the year, respectively. Head coach Jenny Palmateer welcomed back eight letterwinners, including one starter, from last year's team. The 2012-13 edition of the Hawks went 15-15 overall and 12-6 in the Northeast Conference. Monmouth is now a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).
THE SERIES
Sunday's game will be the first-ever women's basketball contest between the Falcons and Monmouth.
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 6-1 this year to date, after posting a 24-11 overall record last season;
• 11-5 in MAC play in 2012-13, after going 14-2 and earning an eighth-straight division title in '11-12;
• 288-104 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 146-46 in MAC games in that time:
• 267-69 over the last 10-plus years, with 2012-13 marking BG's MAC-record 10th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 246-59 in the past nine-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins in nine-straight seasons and a MAC overall regular-season title in seven of those nine years (2004-10 and again in '12, after winning an East Division crown in '11);
• an eye-popping 223-51 overall, and 111-17 in the MAC regular season, in the last eight-plus years, with at least 24 wins in each of the last eight seasons;
• a splendiferous 195-48 in the last seven-plus years, including a 95-17 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 164-44 overall, and 80-16 in MAC regular-season games, in the last six-plus seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 138-36 overall and 67-13 in MAC action over the last five-plus winters;
• 109-31, including a 52-12 MAC ledger, in the last four-plus seasons;
• 82-24 overall and 38-10 in the MAC since seniors Jillian Halfhill and Jill Stein ventured to campus;
• 54-19 overall, and 25-7 in MAC action, since senior Alexis Rogers and juniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 30-12 since senior Katrina Salinas and sophomore Miriam Justinger were added to the Falcons' roster;
• 134-21 in the last 155 games vs. MAC foes (regular-season and tournament);
• A perfect 62-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field since 2001;
• 229-11 when having a better FG percentage than the opposition in that time, including a 101-1 mark in the last five-plus seasons (the lone exception was the Drexel game in the third round of the WNIT last year);
• 218-38 when making more free throws than the opponent in the Roos Assistant-Coach/Associate-Head-Coach/Interim-Head-Coach/Head-Coaching Era;
• 182-22 when outrebounding the opponent in that 12-plus-year span;
• 65-7 in MAC home games in the last nine seasons;
• 53-11 in MAC road games over the last eight years;
• 20-4 in the MAC Tournament in the last nine years, with five titles (2005, '06, '07, '10 and '11), an additional championship-game appearance (2009), and trips to the semis in 2008 and 2012;
• 44-18 overall in the MAC Tournament since it was instituted in 1982;
• 21-6 at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena, the site of the MAC Tournament;
• 47-6 in all non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season;
• 7-16 in 16 national postseason appearances (including a 3-11 record in the NCAA Championships and a 4-5 mark in WNIT trips);
• 6-9 in national postseason action since Roos arrived at BG (including a 2-5 mark in the NCAAs and a 4-4 record in the WNIT); and
• 29-7 in the Stroh Center, with five of the seven losses coming by a combined 11 points.
BATTLE OF THE BOARDS
The Falcons won the rebounding battle in 27 of last season's 35 games, including in 11 of the 16 MAC contests, and two other games saw the teams tie in that category. And, the trend has continued in the early part of the 2013-14 season. BGSU has out-rebounded the foes in five of the first seven games, with double-digit margins in two of those games. In one of the season's other two games, the Falcons and the opponent (Marist) tied in the rebounding department. BGSU owns a rebounding margin of +7.7 this year to date.
UP NEXT
Following the Monmouth game, the Falcons return home for two-straight contests. BGSU will face Milwaukee on Sunday, Dec. 8, and will meet Massachusetts the following Sunday (Dec. 15). Both of those games are scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center. The Falcons are in a stretch which sees the team play six-straight Sunday contests.
Amy Velasco, Lexi Fleming, & Coach Chmiel Postgame Interview (Mar. 5, 2025)
Thursday, March 06
Paige Kohler, Coach Chmiel, & Amy Velasco Postgame Interview (Feb. 26, 2025)
Thursday, February 27
In the Paint: Lexxus Graham-Blincoe
Wednesday, February 26
Erika Porter, Amy Velasco, & Coach Chmiel Postgame Interview (Feb. 22, 2025)
Sunday, February 23