By Daniel Gedney
sports reporter
The Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team will honor the six members of their senior class tonight when they take on Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m. in Anderson Arena.
The “Senior Night” honorees include: Francine Miller, Kim Greich, Megan Jerome, Karen Stocz, Pam Brown and Giani Bowles.
Brown began the season as the team’s starting center, but has been sidelined for most of the season because of an injury. Bowles, a transfer from St. John’s University, was never able to play for the Falcons due to a series of knee injuries.
“I think there is going to be a lot of emotion and I think that emotion brings a lot of energy and I hope that it equates to a really focused, quick start for us and a determined play that the seniors will be on the floor a great deal,” head coach Curt Miller said.
Eastern Michigan is coming off a 68-64 upset victory at Ball State on Sunday in which they spoiled the Cardinals’ chance at securing the top seed in the Mid-American Conference tournament. EMU (12-14, 9-6 MAC) heads into tonight’s regular season finale with the possibility of placing as high as the fourth seed and as low as the seventh seed. The Eagles came into Anderson Arena on Senior Night facing the exact same scenario last season and were upset by the Falcons, 78-62 on Feb. 23, 2002.
“They are going to be on cloud nine coming off a huge win,” Miller said. “They are playing great basketball right now, as well as anyone in the conference and certainly peaking at the right time. I think we are going to get Eastern Michigan’s best effort and I clearly think that the reminder of what happened to them last year is that they are right back in the identical situation; Senior Night, playing for a higher seed or playing for not the best seed that you want to be going into the conference tournament.”
The Eagles feature a pair of three-time letterwinners, forward Abby Wiseman and guard Dru Bishop. This duo is averaging 11.8 and 10.1 points per game, respectively. The leading scorers for the Eagles this season have been Ryan Coleman (13.7 ppg) and Nikki Knapp (12.1 ppg).
The Falcons’ magic number for upsetting the Eagles may very well be 70. The Eagles have yet to win a game this season when they have given up 70 or more points.
“It is a race to 70 for us,” Miller said. “We have to try and create tempo and we have to keep it up and if we get into the 70’s I think we win.”
The Falcons (11-15, 4-11 MAC) head into tonight’s contest as the 11th seed in the MAC. They have been led all season in scoring by forward Francine Miller (14.7 ppg). Miller also leads the team in rebounds and blocked shots and is the third leading scorer in school history. Kim Greich is second on the team in scoring (10.7 ppg) and leads the team in free throw percentage (.887) and three-pointers made (52). Stefanie Wenzel is third in scoring (10.2 ppg) and Lindsay Austin is fourth (9.1 ppg).
The Falcons will finish the season without the services of Tene Lewis, who suffered a broken nose during Thursday’s practice. Following tonight’s game, the Falcons will hit the road to play in the first round of the MAC tournament on Saturday. The time of the game and their opponent have yet to be determined.
