It all started to germinate and grow three decades ago when a very successful high school coach was
picked to take over the Bowling Green State University women’s basketball program.
Now, the Falcons are the elite program in the Mid-American Conference.
This is the 30th season since Fran Voll started his Bowling Green coaching career for the 1984-85 season.

Voll helped nurture the culture and set a standard of excellence that is now expected for the Falcon
women.
”It’s a level of tradition that has been carried on from one coaching staff to another coaching staff
and so forth,” current BG head coach Jennifer Roos said. ”There is a lot of high expectations involved
in this program, and we talk about that in the recruiting process for players and coaches.”
There have only eight losing seasons for the Falcons in the past 30 years.
Bowling Green has won 14 regular season MAC titles, 11 conference tournament titles, while making 11 NCAA
tournament appearances and five WNIT appearances since Voll started at Bowling Green.
After Voll retired, Jaci Clark, Curt Miller and now Roos have strengthened the program and have created
even higher expectations.
”It’s an extremely special place to play. It’s a pressure that actually makes you work a little bit
harder, makes you practice a little bit harder. It makes you take a few more extra shots when you are
tired and you want to go back to your room and study,” Roos said. ”This program is all encompassing.”

Current senior Alexis Rogers started her college career at Duke, but transferred to Bowling Green and in
her three seasons here she is currently 20th on the career scoring list with 1,196 points.
When asked what attracted her to Bowling Green when she decided to leave Duke, Rogers said: ”It has to
be the tradition and the family atmosphere. It’s the way the team gets along, how they gel on the court.
It’s all the intangibles that you don’t see necessarily when you’re watching a team play.”
And while it’s the player in the uniform that makes things happen, it’s the words "Bowling
Green" stitched on the front that are most important.
”The name on the front always trumps the name on the back, especially in this program where there has
been such a strong tradition, and such growth in the last decade,” BG senior Jill Stein said. ”The
team aspect is the most important, especially here.
”There have been great people in the program, but great people coming together is what has made our
program great.”
Bowling Green is 27-3 this season and will play in the MAC tournament semifinals Friday at noon in
Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena.
The 2013-14 Falcons are guaranteed a trip to national postseason play, marking the 10th consecutive year
BG will appear in either the NCAA championships or the WNIT. BG has won over 20 games for the
11th-straight season. Both streaks are MAC records.
”We have a lot of great people on our team like Alexis and Jillian (Halfhill), and a lot of our
teammates have contributed in a lot of different ways,” Stein said. ”But you noticed, too, that there
has been certain games where certain people are off, and other people step up. That is what has made our
team and our season so special. If a team takes away one person, it’s not like we shut down as a group.

"That’s playing for the name on the front,” she continued. ”If one person is off, you don’t see
her shooting a ton of shots trying to get their (points).”
Through the years, the Falcons have built a fan base that puts a lot of orange in the seats both home and
away.
”From when I’ve been here until now, the fans, the atmosphere have been just incredible,” Halfhill,
also a senior, said. ”We play so hard for everyone.
"It has such an impact on the game, I don’t know if the fans even realize it or not,” she added.
”When they are cheering and we score and when we need a score. it helps us so much more.”
And while there are banners hanging in the Stroh Center to remind the players of past successes, over the
years the coaches makes sure the current players can embrace the past.
”Fortunately we have lots of different events that those coaches and players get to come back for
throughout the season,” Stein said. ”Even those people aren’t direct influences right now, they have a
lasting affect on the program, absolutely.”