Women's Basketball
Campus: Short Feature
The 2006-2007 basketball Season for the Bowling Green State University Women's team was a phenomenal one. They reached the sweet 16 for the first time in the school's history as well as in Mid-American Conference history. Coach Curt Miller led the squad with strategic tutelage. Captains Amber Flynn and Ali Mann as well as Liz Honnegar provided great leadership as seniors.
With a final record of 31-4 the Falcons had tournament wins over Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt, at games played at Michigan State University in East Lansing. The team finished ranked 15th in the nation in the AP poll, setting another BGSU record. The season concluded with a challenging loss at Arizona State University.
The Bowling Green team has made a name for itself in recent years competing against the likes of Duke, Indiana, Temple, and others. That experience paid off in this year's Conference schedule. which BGSU steamrolled. The only loss for the team in MAC play, against Ohio University, was also its first loss at home in Anderson Arena in three years.
Statistics from the girls this year included Ali Mann leading the team in scoring with 15.5 points per game. Mann also led the team in rebounds, as well as blocked shots. Lindsey Goldsberry was first in steals with an average of 2 per game. And as a team, BGSU outscored their opponents a game average of 74-57.
Coach Miller says the team has been building momentum. “One of the wonderful aspects is they got to see the (tournament run),” Miller said. “They know the expectations and where the program has been. They were recruited to a championship program. They signed with a championship team knowing full well we had a chance to do it again. They were brought in to keep the championship tradition going.”
Miller, who spent his undergraduate years at Baldwin Wallace, is in his sixth year as head coach for the BGSU team. In those six years Miller has led the team through a successful 124-60 record, including MAC championships the last two years. Miller says he and the team have seen the community come together with support and "the Falcon faithful spread out across the country have jumped on the bandwagon.”
About this year's achievements Miller offers, “The players and the coaching staff have still not recovered from it. Somewhere along the line, we’ll get to that point where we understand the magnitude of what we have accomplished.”