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The Bowling Green Falcons have accepted a spot in the 2014 Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). It will be their third consecutive appearance in the event and fifth in the last seven years. When you include their five NCAA Women's Tournament invitations, this is a MAC-record 10th consecutive season during which the Falcons have competed in a post-season tournament.
BGSU will open the 64-team tournament with a home game on Thursday, March 20th against the High Point Panthers. Game time has not been announced at present. Should the Falcons advance, they would play the winner of the Charlotte at St. Bonaventure game. The second-round contest would take place between March 22nd and March 25th. In the third round, Bowling Green would be faced with a potential rematch against Michigan, or they could play Stony Brook, Duquesne or Mount St. Mary's.
The other two Mid-American Conference schools in the field, Ball State and Central Michigan, are on the opposite side of the bracket. The Falcons would not be able to face either of those teams until the championship round. The same applies a potential game against the Indiana Hoosiers, who are led by former BGSU head coach Curt Miller.
The Falcons are currently 27-4 and were recently ranked as high as 25th in the country in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. BGSU went 10-2 in non-conference play and owns victories over Michigan and Ohio State. They also earned a road victory over Iona, who finished as co-champion of the MAAC in the regular season. Their only non-conference losses were to Marist and Purdue, both of whom are playing in the NCAA Tournament.
Bowling Green did even better in the MAC schedule, as they compiled a 17-1 regular season record and won the outright MAC regular season championship. Their only loss was in overtime at Central Michigan, and they earned two victories each over Akron and Buffalo, as well as a rematch with CMU. However, in the conference tournament, the Falcons dropped their opening game in the semifinals, 73-55, against Ball State.
The calling card for BGSU is defense, and the team allows just 56.5 points per game. Their offense, while not flashy, is multi-faceted and efficient. It averages 70.2 points per game, and the leading scorers are seniors Alexis Rogers (14.7) and Jillian Halfhill (13.3). Rogers adds 8.3 rebounds per game. Jill Stein is a fantastic complement to Rogers and Halfhill, and while she averages just 6.7 points per game, she also earns 8.4 rebounds on average and has 31 blocks this season.
High Point currently owns a 22-10 record. They finished 16-4 in the Big South Conference and were the regular season champions, but they lost to Winthrop in their tournament championship game. The Panthers' two most notable non-conference opponents were Virginia and North Carolina, and they lost those games by large margins. Their three wins outside of league play came against South Carolina Upstate (17-14), William & Mary (8-21), and Davidson (16-16).