BGSU women 'dancing' in East Lansing

BOWLING GREEN, O.—The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team will travel to East Lansing, Mich., to begin what the Falcons hope will be an extended stay at the “Big Dance”—the NCAA Tournament.

Seeded seventh in its region, BGSU will take a 29-3 record into its first-round game Sunday (March 18) against tenth-seeded Oklahoma State (20-10) at Michigan State University's Breslin Student Events Center. The opening tip is scheduled for about 2:30 p.m., or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the day's first game, a noon matchup between Vanderbilt and Delaware State.

ESPN will televise the game, which marks the Falcons' third consecutive trip to the national tournament. That's only fitting, in a season in which BGSU has hit a lot of “3s”:

• The Falcons claimed the Mid-American Conference regular-season title for the third straight season, and followed up with three wins in last weekend's MAC Tournament to capture that championship for the third year in a row.
• The tournament title “three-peat” is only the third in MAC history, with one of the others being a four-year championship run by BGSU from 1987-90. Bowling Green is the only school to win both the regular-season and tournament crowns in three consecutive seasons, from 1987-89 and now from 2005-07.
• Senior Ali Mann and junior Kate Achter were named to the all-tournament team for the third time each. The Falcons also had the tournament's Most Valuable Player for the third straight year in senior Carin Horne. She joined Mann—the MVP in 2005 and 2006—and Achter on the all-tournament team.

Winning its 29th game in the MAC Tournament finals against Ball State, BGSU broke its own school and conference records for victories in a season, set when last year's team went 28-3. Since the arrival of the current group of seniors—also including Liz Honegger, Amber Flynn and Megan Thorburn—the Falcons have gone 101-24, setting a BGSU record for wins in a four-year span as well.

For tickets to Sunday's game in East Lansing, contact the Michigan State ticket office by phone at 800-GO-STATE or online at MSUSpartans.com. Tickets will not be sold through BGSU's athletics ticket office.

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(Posted March 13, 2007)