MAC CHAMPS! Falcons stop EMU, 51-46, for Second-Straight League Tourney Title

Senior Lauren Prochaska had 20 points to help the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to a 51-46 win over Eastern Michigan University and a second consecutive Mid-American Conference Tournament title Saturday afternoon (March 12). The game was held at Quicken Loars Arena in downtown Cleveland.

FINAL STATS - HTML
BOXSCORE - PDF
POSTGAME AUDIO: Miller, Pontius & Prochaska
PHOTO GALLERY 1 (photos by Brad Phalin)
PHOTO GALLERY 2 (photos by Craig Bell)

VIDEO FROM THE Q
Postgame Awards Ceremony
On-Court Interview with Tracy Pontius
On-Court Interview with Lauren Prochaska
Team Ambushes Coaching Staff in Lockerroom
Postgame Press Conference, Part 1
Postgame Press Conference, Part 2

With the win, the Falcons improve to 28-4 on the season, and BG earns the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships for the second-straight season. The Falcons have won five MAC Tournament titles in the last seven years, and BG has captured a league-best 11 tourney titles in program history.

For the second consecutive season, Prochaska was named the MAC Tournament MVP. Fellow senior Tracy Pontius joined her on the All-MAC Tournament Team. Pontius had 13 points in Saturday's win.

In a tight, low-scoring game, the Falcons took control with a 7-0 run midway through the second half. That run started with a pair of Pontius assists. First, Pontius threw a behind-the-back pass to Prochaska for a layup on a two-on-one fast break. Then, senior Maggie Hennegan blocked an EMU shot attempt at the other end, and the Falcons got the rebound. Pontius fired a long pass ahead to sophomore Chrissy Steffen, who hit a three-point shot with 8:05 left.

Two free throws from Hennegan, after the senior came up with an offensive rebound in traffic and was fouled, gave the Brown and Orange a 42-35 advantage with 7:10 remaining.

BG extended the lead to nine points, but EMU got within three points, 49-46, in the final minute of the game, then got the ball back with a chance to tie the contest. But, a three-point try by De'Ja Wills did not drop, and Hennegan ripped the ball away from an Eastern player, her 11th rebound of the game. Hennegan got the ball to Prochaska, who was fouled with 9.6 seconds remaining.

Prochaska missed her first free-throw try, but made the second. EMU turned the ball over on the next possession, and Prochaska again went to the stripe and split a pair of tosses to provide the final margin.

The Falcons held EMU to just 24.6 percent shooting from the field -- a season-low for a BGSU opponent. But, the Brown and Orange had an even lower success rate, making just 13 shots in 54 tries (24.1%) on the day.

The teams combined to score 19 points in the first four minutes of the game, then had just 18 over the next 14-plus minutes.

Pontius, making her 100th career start at BGSU, hit a long three-pointer on the game's first possession, with the ball nestling in the hoop as the shot-clock horn sounded. Eastern's Sydney Huntley got her team on the board with a layup, but Steffen drove the baseline and fed Hennegan for a short jumper, again just beating the shot-clock buzzer. The Falcons had a 5-2 lead with just over two minutes gone.

Moments later, Hennegan came up with an offensive rebound and kicked the ball out to senior Jen Uhl, stationed in the right corner. Uhl's triple try was on target, and the Falcons had an 8-2 advantage.

Miller Roos Poole Eckert Rosati Uhl Prochaska Hennegan Pontius

The Eagles, and Tavelyn James in particular, would respond. James, who led her team with 19 points, converted an old-fashioned three-point play, then hit a second-straight driving layup to bring Eastern within a point at 8-7. Hennegan made a pair of free throws, but James hit a jumper, and the Falcons' lead was 10-9 at the 16:03 mark.

Neither team scored for over two-and-a-half minutes, before Prochaska nailed a three-point try from the top of the key with 12:27 left before halftime. Cassie Schrock scored a transition layup after a James steal for the Eagles, but Pontius hit a straightaway trey, and a Pontius jumper several minutes later gave the Falcons an 18-13 lead midway through the period.

Redshirt sophomore Danielle Havel drilled a nifty jumper, extending BG's lead to 20-13, but the Falcons then went on a prolonged scoring drought. BGSU went 8:02 without scoring another point, and did not hit another field goal for 8:38.

In that span of eight-plus minutes, however, the Falcons kept the Eagles at bay at the other end of the floor. BGSU missed 12 consecutive field-goal tries, but, after Huntley made back-to-back jumpers, the Falcon defense forced eight-straight misses and three turnovers in the next six minutes. When James scored on a transition layup, though, the Eagles were back to within a single point, 20-19, with 1:46 on the clock.

In the final minute of play before halftime, Prochaska rebounded her own miss and was fouled. She went to the line and hit a pair of tosses with 48.6 seconds remaining. Then, after an EMU turnover, Prochaska knocked down a long two-point try with under 10 seconds left. But, a Falcon foul as EMU inbounded the ball gave Schrock a one-and-one opportunity, and she made a pair of tosses with 3.3 seconds left. The Falcons led, 24-21, at the half.

In that first period, the Eagles had 11 offensive rebounds, but somehow did not score any second-chance points. That trend changed on Eastern's first possession of the second half, as James got an offensive board and a putback. And, when Huntley banked home a layup at the 17:34 mark, the Green and White led for the first time, 25-24.

Hennegan got to the line and made two tosses, but James responded with a layup for a 27-26 Eastern edge. Prochaska made a pair of shots from the stripe to give BG the lead with 16:44 left, and the teams then proceeded to go over two minutes without scoring.

Pontius snapped that shooting slump by hitting a three-point try from the right elbow, directly in front of BGSU coach Curt Miller and the Falcon bench, with 14:18 remaining. That basket was just BG's second in a span of nearly 14-and-a-half minutes.

Wills, however, answered almost immediately, hitting a trey from in front of her own team's bench at the 13:59 mark. Senior Chelsea Albert took a lob pass from Uhl and banked home a shot before two onrushing Eagle defenders could arrive, giving the Brown and Orange a 33-30 lead. But, after the teams traded free throws, James hit a three-ball from the left corner, tying the contest at 35-all with 9:27 remaining.

Then, however, the Falcons went on the aforementioned 7-0 run, beginning with the Pontius behind-the-back pass to Prochaska that had the BG crowd roaring. Steffen's three-pointer and Hennegan's free throws gave the Falcons a 42-35 advantage with 7:10 left.

James split a pair of free throws, but Prochaska was hacked on a three-point try, going to the line and making all three charity tosses. With just 5:02 remaining, the Falcons' lead was a game-high nine points, 45-36.

The Eagles got a pair of Paige Redditt throws with 4:31 left, but Prochaska reciprocated just 16 seconds later. Prochaska's free throws came about after Hennegan had nearly turned the ball over in the backcourt as she was triple-teamed. The Eagles' Kristin Thomas, however, was whistled for her fifth foul while applying pressure with 4:18 remaining. Hennegan missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Uhl rebounded and Prochaska was fouled seconds later. Prochaska's tosses made the score BG 47, EMU 38.

Eastern had one last surge in them, however, going on an 8-2 run. Schrock hit what at first was ruled to be a long two-pointer with 2:25 remaining. Pontius dribbled the ball around the court for nearly all of the ensuing possession, winding up with a layup at the 2:08 mark.

At that point, however, the officials reviewed Schrock's shot and ruled -- correctly -- that it had been taken from behind the three-point arc. The adjustment made the score 49-41, Falcons.

Wills hit a three-pointer with a BG defender's hand in her face at the 1:41 mark, and the Falcons missed a shot and committed a foul on the rebound. Redditt went to the line with 45.8 seconds left and made a pair of free throws to make it a one-possession game.

With the Falcons nursing that 49-46 lead, BGSU fired a long pass ahead to Steffen. The ball was slightly overthrown, but Steffen was able to keep it from sailing out of bounds. Trapped on the end line by two defenders, however, the sophomore tried to call timeout, but it was ruled that Redditt had tied her up for a jump ball before the timeout could be awarded. The possession arrow pointed in favor of the Eagles with 32.3 seconds remaining.

The next possession saw Wills misfire on a game-tying effort, with Hennegan rebounding with roughly 15 seconds left. Eastern was forced to foul Prochaska with 9.6 ticks remaining, and the senior made onf of her two free throws. The Eagles quickly headed downcourt, but Prochaska stole the ball from Huntley near midcourt and was fouled. The three-time All-MAC First-Team performer again made one of two free throws with two-plus seconds left, and the Falcons had the victory and the championship.

BGSU went 19-of-22 (86.4%) from the free-throw line on the day, with Prochaska and Hennegan accounting for all 22 tries. Prochaska went 13-of-15 from the line, while Hennegan was 6-for-7.

James led the Eagles with 19 points, but went just 1-of-9 from three-point land. The Eagles were 4-of-19 from long distance on the day.

Hennegan had eight points and a team-leading 11 rebounds to go along with two assists, two blocked shot and three steals. Uhl had eight rebounds, while Prochaska had seven boards and a career-high three blocks.

For the third time in the last four games, the Falcons had just 10 turnovers, tying a season low. For their part, the Eagles turned the ball over only 12 times.

The Falcons will learn their NCAA Tournament fate on Monday evening (March 14), as the Selection Monday Special Presented by Capital One will air on ESPN at 7:00 p.m. ET.

BGSU team poses with MAC Tournament trophy

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