Bowling Green State University Athletics
Sunday, January 26
Bowling Green, OH
2:07 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Northern Illinois
Falcons Face Huskies Sunday at the Stroh
January 25, 2014 | Women's Basketball
BGSU concludes two-game homestand with MAC TV contest
GAME NOTES
BOWLING GREEN | NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Sunday's game is part of the MAC's television package, and is scheduled to be aired on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel. Additionally, the game will be aired by CSN Chicago via tape delay, and is also slated to be available on ESPN3, Watch ESPN and ESPN Full Court. In the Toledo area, the BGSU-EMU game will be aired on BCSN.
WELCOME BACK! IT'S ALUMNAE WEEKEND
This weekend is Alumnae Weekend for a multitude of Falcon sports, and a number of former BGSU women's basketball standouts are expected to be on hand for Sunday afternoon's BGSU-NIU game. The Falcon women's basketball alumnae in attendance at the game will be recognized on the court at halftime.
ROGERS REACHES MILLENNIUM MARK
Senior Alexis Rogers blew past her would-be defender for a driving layup with 7:08 left in Thursday night's (Jan. 23) BGSU win over EMU. That layup gave her exactly 1,000 points in her BGSU career. Rogers became only the 26th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Entering the NIU game, she has 1,002 points in 83 games at BG, an average of 12.1 points per game at the school.
ROGERS IS FAST – SNEAKY FAST
Senior Alexis Rogers reached the 1,000-point mark for her career in just her third playing season at BGSU. The millennium milestone came in her 83rd game as a Falcon, making her the 10th-fastest player to score 1,000 points as a Falcon. The complete lists of BGSU's 1,000-point scorers, and the fastest Falcons to get there, can be found in the PDF version of these notes.
HOUSEKEEPING
While senior Alexis Rogers enters Sunday's NIU game with a total of 1,002 points as a Falcon, she has a total of 1,044 points in 108 games in her collegiate career. Rogers scored 42 points in 25 games as a freshman at Duke University in the 2009-10 season. She then transferred to BG and sat out the '10-11 campaign.
LAST TIME OUT: FALCONS RUN PAST EASTERN MICHIGAN, 71-57
• The Falcons began the second half on a 15-0 run Thursday night (Jan. 23), pulling away from visiting Eastern Michigan en route to a 71-57 win at the Stroh Center. Senior Alexis Rogers had a game-high 24 points, and became the 26th player in BGSU history to reach the 1,000-point plateau for her career.
• Junior Deborah Hoekstra scored 16 points off the bench, while senior Jillian Halfhill had 14 points for the Brown and Orange. Hoekstra scored 11-straight BGSU points during a span midway through the second half. Janay Morton and Cha Sweeney had 18 points apiece for the Eagles.
• Rogers made 7-of-10 shots from the field, including 1-of-2 from three-point range, and she hit all nine of her free-throw tries. Her 24 points and her 9-for-9 effort from the line both set BGSU season bests.
• The Falcons never trailed, but the first half was close throughout. BGSU's biggest lead in the opening period was seven points, and the Brown and Orange led by five, 28-23, at the intermission.
• Rogers scored on the opening possession of the second half, for the first two of 15-straight points for the home side. Rogers scored seven of the 15 points, and when redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan capped the run with a jumper at the 15:27 mark, the Falcons' lead was 20 points, at 43-23.
• That lead grew as large as 25 points on a pair of Rogers free throws with just under nine minutes to go, and BG still led by 22 with under five minutes remaining, before a late EMU run cut the final margin to 14.
• BG shot 55.6 percent from the field in the second half, with that 10-of-18 performance including a 3-of-6 effort from three-point land after the intermission. After shooting just three free throws in the first half, the Falcons were 20-of-23 from the stripe (87.0%) in the second period.
• Senior Jill Stein led the Falcons with 11 rebounds, but it was a team effort on the boards, as the home team had a 43-31 advantage. Five players had at least five rebounds for the Brown and Orange, including Halfhill (eight), Rogers (seven), Donovan (six) and Hoekstra (five). Olivia Fouty led the Eagles with eight rebounds on the night.
BATTLE OF THE BOARDS
• The Falcons have enjoyed more than their fair share of success on the glass over the last year-plus. Since the start of the 2012-13 season, BGSU has won the rebounding battle in 42 of 53 games, including in 16 of the 22 MAC contests. Three of the other games saw the teams tie in that category.
• This year, the Falcons have out-rebounded the foes in 15 of the first 18 games, with double-digit margins in six of those matchups. BG owns a rebounding margin of +8.7 this year to date. BGSU has out-boarded five of the six MAC opponents so far in 2013-14, with a +6.8 rebounding margin in league play.
TAKE SOME, THEY'RE FREE
• BGSU struggled at the free-throw line early in the season, but the Falcons' fortunes have improved as of late. BG made fewer than 60 percent of its tosses three times in the first five games of the year, and the Falcons were shooting just 64.0% (96 of 150) through the end of November.
• Since that time, however, BGSU has shot better than 80% from the line, having gone 205-of-255 (80.3%) over the last 11 games.
• In the last five games, the Brown and Orange have made 105 free throws in 128 attempts, good for a success rate of 82.0%. The Falcons are shooting a league-leading 81.5% (119-of-146) from the stripe through the first six MAC games.
QUICK HITS
• BGSU is 15-3 overall and 5-1 in MAC play. The Falcons had won five-straight games and 10 of 11 contests, capturing each of those 10 decisions by double-digit margins, before suffering an 82-79 overtime loss on the road against preseason MAC favorite Central Michigan last weekend (Jan. 18). But, BG bounced back with a 71-57 win over Eastern Michigan Thursday night (Jan. 23).
• Thirteen of the Falcons' 15 victories this season – including all seven home games – have come by double figures. BGSU posted a one-point win at Iona (Nov. 9) in the second game of the year, and downed Butler by four points (Nov. 18) just over a week later, but each of the other wins has come by at least 11 points.
• The Falcons have posted four wins of 23 points or more, with three of those four coming at home. BGSU is 7-0 at the Stroh Center, having won those six games by an average of 21.7 points per contest.
• In addition to the seven home wins, the Falcons have eight victories away from home, with marks of 5-2 on the road and 3-1 in neutral-site contests. BG has road wins over Iona, Butler, Ohio State, Kent State and Ball State, and the Falcons have topped Michigan, Old Dominion and Monmouth in neutral-site action. The team's losses have come to then #18/21-ranked Purdue on the road, to Marist on a neutral court, and at CMU.
• In BGSU's seven home games, the Falcons have averaged 79.7 points per game. BG has topped the 80-point plateau five times this season, with all of those totals coming in home contests.
• BGSU has had a balanced scoring attack this season. Five Falcons are averaging between 8.6 and 14.0 points per game, and two other players have at least 5.7 ppg to date.
• The Falcons' five starters each have attempted between 121 and 176 shots, meaning that every starter is averaging somewhere between 6.7 and 9.8 field-goal attempts per game.
• BGSU leads the MAC and ranks 20th in the nation in scoring defense, having allowed just 57.6 points per game. The Falcons also lead the MAC in scoring margin (+12.6) and rebounding margin (+8.7), and BG is second among league teams in field-goal percentage defense (37.4%) and three-point FG pct. defense (28.3).
• BGSU is 27th in the nation in rebounding margin in the most recent NCAA statistics. The Falcons have been out-rebounded in just one game since Nov. 18, as Ball State had a narrow 31-29 edge in that category on Jan. 15.
• Senior Alexis Rogers has averaged 27.0 points per game in the Falcons' last two home contests vs. Eastern Michigan. Rogers had a career-high 30 points the last time the Eagles came to the Stroh, just over two years ago (Jan. 22, 2012), and she scored a BGSU season-high 24 points on Thursday night. In those two games, Rogers shot 66.7% (18-of-27) from the floor, and she was a perfect 16-of-16 from the free-throw line. Rogers also averaged 8.0 rebounds in those two wins.
• Junior Deborah Hoekstra had 16 points off the bench in Thursday's win over EMU. It marked the highest total of Hoekstra's career in a MAC game, and was just three points off of her career best (19 points vs. both Milwaukee and Massachusetts earlier this season). Hoekstra scored 11-straight BGSU points during one second-half stretch on Thursday.
• Freshman Leah Bolton checked into the EMU game with 1:39 to go. Bolton, who has been slowed by injuries this season, played in just her second game for the Falcons, and her first-ever home contest. She saw six minutes of action against Monmouth on Dec. 1, 2013.
• For the first time in 10 weeks, the Falcons did not receive any votes in the USA Today Sports Top 25 coaches poll on Tuesday (Jan. 21). But, BG garnered three votes in this week's Associated Press poll after a five-week absence.
THREE FOR ALL
BGSU made five three-point field goals in the Eastern Michigan game. The Falcons now have hit at least one three-pointer in each of the last 294 games. BG has not been held without a trey since Feb. 12, 2005, at Akron, when the Falcons downed the Zips, 61-52, despite going 0-of-13 from long distance.
LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET OUT OF THE WAY
• Through the first 18 games this season, there have been eight contests (Michigan, Niagara, Old Dominion, Monmouth, UMass, Saint Francis, Kent State and Eastern Michigan) in which BG never trailed, two more (Ohio State and Akron) in which the Falcons were behind for less than a minute, and an 11th (Milwaukee) that saw BG trail for just over a minute.
• This year to date, BGSU has led for exactly 574 minutes – 79.1 percent of the time – and trailed for just 111:44 (15.4%). The Falcons and the opponents have been tied for a total of 39:16.
• BGSU has trailed for a total of just eight minutes and 19 seconds (in 280 minutes of action) in the seven home games, and the Falcons have not trailed later than the 12:40 mark of the first half of any game at the Stroh Center this season.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Northern Illinois game with an overall record of 15-3 and a 5-1 MAC ledger. BGSU's non-conference wins included home games vs. Niagara, Milwaukee, Massachusetts and Saint Francis, road games vs. Iona, Butler and Ohio State, and neutral-site matchups against Michigan, Old Dominion and Monmouth. The Falcons' non-league losses came at the hands of Marist (Nov. 22) in the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge, and at Purdue on the road (Dec. 22).
• BGSU opened MAC play with four consecutive double-digit wins, downing Buffalo and preseason East Division favorite Akron at home, and Kent State and Ball State on the road. In a battle of the last two remaining MAC unbeatens, host Central Michigan picked up an 82-79 overtime decision over the Falcons last weekend (Jan. 18), but the Brown and Orange bounced back with Thursday's (Jan. 23) 71-57 triumph over Eastern Michigan at the Stroh Center.
• Fifth-year senior Alexis Rogers, fourth-year Falcon Jillian Halfhill and redshirt sophomore Erica Donovan lead a balanced scoring attack. Rogers is averaging 14.0 points per game after scoring a BG season-best 24 points vs. EMU, while Halfhill has 12.1 ppg and Donovan 11.1 ppg this year to date.
• Junior Deborah Hoekstra has 8.7 points per game off the bench, with sophomore Miriam Justinger right behind at 8.6 ppg. Senior Jill Stein and junior Jasmine Matthews have scored 6.4 and 5.7 points per contest, respectively.
• Stein leads the team and is tied for fifth in the MAC in rebounding, with 9.0 boards per game, while Rogers has pulled down 8.1 rpg (ninth in the league) and Donovan 5.8. BGSU has had at least one player with 10 rebounds in 15 of this season's first 18 games.
• Halfhill leads the Falcons with 3.4 assists per outing, with Justinger handing out 2.4 apg to date. Stein is third on the team in that category, with 2.1 helpers per game.
• Rogers is shooting 54.8 percent from the floor, ranking second in the MAC in that category, while Hoekstra is shooting 45.0% and Donovan 44.6%. From long range, Halfhill has made a team-leading 31 three-point field goals, while Hoekstra has hit 25 shots from beyond the arc. Four other Falcons have made between nine and 18 treys apiece.
• Hoekstra ranks second in the entire MAC in three-point field-goal percentage, having gone 25-of-57 (43.9%) from long distance to date.
• Freshmen Rachel Konieczki and Abby Siefker are averaging 2.1 and 1.6 ppg, respectively. Konieczki was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field en route to seven points at CMU last weekend. Freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick has seen action in five games off the bench, and classmate Leah Bolton has played in two contests, including Thursday's EMU match. Bolton made her BGSU debut in the Monmouth game back on Dec. 1.
• Halfhill, Justinger, Rogers and Stein each have started all 18 games this season to date, with Donovan starting 17. Donovan started the first 12 games, but Matthews took her place in the lineup for the Buffalo game, as Donovan missed tipoff due to a funeral. Donovan was back in the starting five for the Kent State game, and has started each game since that time.
• 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.
• Through 18 games, the Falcons are shooting 41.7 percent from the field, 34.1% from three-point range and 74.3% from the foul line. Opponents are shooting 37.4% from the floor, 28.3% from the arc and 68.9% from the stripe. The Falcons have a scoring margin of +12.6, a rebounding margin of +8.7 and a turnover margin of +1.0 on the year.
• In MAC games, BGSU is shooting 40.9% from the field, 33.9% from three-point land and 81.5% from the line. Opponents have shot 37.9% overall, 26.5% from long range and 59.8% from the stripe in MAC play.
STROH'ME-COURT ADVANTAGE
• The Falcons have enjoyed a long-standing tradition of success at home. Most of that success came at venerable Anderson Arena, where the Brown and Orange enjoyed an outstanding home-court advantage over the years. But, the BG women's basketball program has begun a new tradition of excellence at a new building. The Falcons now own an overall record of 35-7 in the Stroh Center, including an 18-2 record vs. MAC opponents.
• After losing by just one point to nationally-ranked Purdue in the first-ever women's basketball game in the building in November of 2011, the Falcons reeled off 14-straight wins at the Stroh, before losing another one-point game to VCU in the WNIT.
• Last season, the Falcons again won 14 games at home, including 25-point wins over both nationally-ranked Dayton (the Flyers' only regular-season loss all year) and Central Michigan (the Chippewas entered the game with a 7-0 MAC record).
• This year, the Falcons are 7-0 at home heading into the Northern Illinois game. BG has won those seven games by an average of 21.7 points.
• The 35-7 mark at the Stroh comes after the Falcons went 333-116 (74.2%) in Anderson Arena during the team's tenure there. The record was even better during MAC play, as the Falcons had a league mark of 192-54 (78.0%) at "The House That Roars" through the years.
TOUGH TO SCORE AT THE STROH
• In 42 games at the Stroh Center, the Falcons have allowed the opponent to reach 70 points just three times. Akron is the only MAC foe to surpass the 60-point mark against the Brown and Orange in 19 trips to the building by conference foes, and the Zips have done so twice (61 points in a BG win last Feb. 20; 65 points in another Falcon victory this season [Jan. 12]). Through the Eastern Michigan game, BG has allowed an average of 53.9 ppg in all games at the Stroh, and just 51.5 ppg against MAC opponents.
• BG has held 32 of 42 opponents to fewer than 60 points at the Stroh Center. The Falcons have limited 13 of those foes to less than 50 points, and on three occasions, BGSU has kept the opposition under the 40-point mark.
THE NORTHERN ILLINOIS HUSKIES
Northern Illinois enters Sunday's game with an overall record of 7-9, and the Huskies are 3-3 in MAC play. NIU has posted league wins over Ohio, Eastern Michigan and Miami to date, and the Huskies have lost to Toledo, Central Michigan and Buffalo in conference action. The UB game was a 63-52 decision in DeKalb on Thursday night (Jan. 23). Northern is 4-3 at home, 2-6 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site matches. Individually, junior guard Amanda Corral leads the team in scoring, with 14.9 points per game. Corral also paces the Huskies in steals, and she is second on the team in assists and three-point field goals made. Junior forward Natecia Augusta has 10.5 ppg and leads the Huskies with 5.4 rebounds per contest. Augusta is shooting a team-best 52.1% from the floor. Redshirt junior guard Danny Pulliam rounds out the Huskies' double-digit scorers, with 10.1 ppg to date. Head coach Kathi Bennett welcomed back seven letterwinners, including two starters, from last year's team. The 2012-13 edition of the Huskies went 7-23 overall and 2-14 in the MAC.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Northern Illinois, 21-12, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won the last 11 meetings. Last season, the Brown and Orange utilized a long-range attack in a 60-49 win in DeKalb (Feb. 16, 2013). BG hit five-straight three-point tries to begin the game, and the Falcons were 8-of-15 from long distance in the first half. Two years ago, in the last meeting in BG, the Falcons picked up a 57-47 win at the Stroh Center (Feb. 1, 2012). BGSU is 12-5 in home games, 8-7 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site contests vs. the Huskies through the years. Jennifer Roos is 1-0 against the Huskies as a collegiate head coach, not including the 2012 meeting in which she served as interim head coach of the Falcons.
FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons continue to own the best record in MAC history. Entering the Northern Illinois game, BGSU has an all-time record of 378-153 (.712) in MAC regular-season contests, for the most wins and highest winning pct. 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 (731) and highest overall winning percentage (.652) of any conference school.
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 in the 2013-14 season. In the first 18 games, despite playing a difficult schedule, BGSU has allowed 57.6 points per game and permitted the opponents to shoot just 37.4% from the field to date.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 15-3 this year to date, after posting a 24-11 overall record last season;
• 5-1 in MAC play in 2013-14, after going 11-5 in MAC action in '12-13 (Last year's team finished in second place in the East Division by a game, snapping a streak of eight-straight division titles);
• 297-106 since Jennifer Roos came to BGSU in the summer of 2001;
• 151-47 in MAC games in that time:
• 276-71 over the last 10-plus years, with 2012-13 marking BG's MAC-record 10th-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 255-61 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 232-53 overall, and 116-18 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 204-50 in the last seven-plus years, including a 100-18 league ledger;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 173-46 overall, and 85-17 in MAC regular-season games, in the last six-plus seasons, since Monique Rosati came to the BGSU program;
• 147-38 overall and 72-14 in MAC action over the last five-plus winters;
• 118-33, including a 57-13 MAC ledger, in the last four-plus seasons;
• 91-26 overall and 43-11 in the MAC since seniors Jillian Halfhill and Jill Stein ventured to campus;
• 63-21 overall, and 30-8 in MAC action, since senior Alexis Rogers and juniors Deborah Hoekstra and Jasmine Matthews first put on a BGSU uniform;
• 39-14 since senior Katrina Salinas and sophomore Miriam Justinger were added to the Falcons' roster;
• 139-22 in the last 161 games vs. MAC foes (regular-season and tournament);
• A perfect 63-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field since 2001;
• 237-12 when having a better FG percentage than the opposition in that time, including a 109-2 mark in the last five-plus seasons;
• 226-38 when making more free throws than the opponent in the Roos Assistant-Coach/Associate-Head-Coach/Interim-Head-Coach/Head-Coaching Era;
• 190-24 when outrebounding the opponent in that 12-plus-year span;
• 68-7 in MAC home games in the last nine-plus seasons;
• 55-12 in MAC road games over the last eight-plus 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;
• 50-6 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
• 35-7 in the Stroh Center, with five of the seven losses coming by a combined 11 points.
TRY TO MAKE MORE THAN THEY TAKE
The 2013-14 Falcons appear to be continuing an impressive trend of getting to the foul line much more often than the other team. BGSU has made a total of 301 free throws this season to date. That total is 12 more than the opponents have attempted (270). BGSU has made more tosses than the foes have attempted in three of the last five years. And, the Falcons' total of free throws made has been at least 100 higher than the opponents' FTM total in each of the last eight seasons. The 2002-03 campaign was the last time the opposition made, or attempted, more free throws than BG.
UP NEXT
Following the NIU game, the Falcons will take to the road for the next two contests, beginning with a midweek trip to Athens, Ohio. The Falcons will face Ohio University on Thursday night (Jan. 30), with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Then, the Brown and Orange will make the short trip up I-75 for a matchup with arch-rival Toledo on Sunday, Feb. 2. That contest, part of the MAC's television package, will begin at 12:07 p.m. at Savage Arena.
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