Bowling Green State University Athletics
Lause Defines Her Role with BG's Women
March 16, 2006 | Women's Basketball
March 15, 2006
By JACK CARLE, Sentinel Sports Editor - Many different roles have to be filled for a basketball team to be successful -- not everyone can be the star.
Among others, there have to be scorers, rebounders, passers and defenders.
There also have to be players like Bowling Green's Jill Lause.
One of only two seniors on the team, Lause is a tough practice player, a solid leader on the bench and maybe most importantly, the person in charge of keeping things in perspective when head coach Curt Miller gets wound a little too tight. Lause and the Falcons are preparing for an NCAA tournament game against UCLA on Sunday in West Lafayette, Ind.
"Even if it's pretty serious and Coach Miller is pretty intense, she is the one person that can get away with saying something funny," said BG's Ali Mann. "She's always the one to crack jokes and say something totally out of the blue that makes everyone laugh."
"That's definitely my role," Lause said about keeping things loose. "I think at times he (Miller) might get a little frustrated with me because I might be a little too goofy ... We're so close as a team I know the right thing to say to people at the right time."
Miller appreciates that trait in Lause.
"She knows when she can crack a joke or when she can bring her goofy attitude to keep everyone lighter," Miller said. "But she always knows when to be very serious and she's a competitor herself."
Lause was Miller's first recruit when he started to rebuild the program. The 6-feet-3 Lause was one of the top prep post players in Ohio. A potentially explosive offensive player, Lause's lack of foot speed cost her at the college level.
"Everybody who comes to college to play basketball is a star in high school," Lause said. "It's been a big change for me, finding a way to contribute off the floor and to define my role on the team other than scoring points or getting a certain amount of rebounds.
"Our team is such a talented team, I know a lot of us could play and get a lot of minutes on other teams," she continued. "I really feel my role on the team is important and I do play a big factor in the team effort."
Lause's work in practice helps make fellow posts, Mann, Liz Honegger and Amber Flynn better players.
"She brings it everyday (in practice)," Mann said.
"There are days at practice that you leave thinking she deserves 20 minutes a game," Miller said.
The Falcons were a sub-par .500 team in Lause's first season, but are 72-20 since then, with a perfect Mid-American Conference record this season, two MAC tournament titles and two NCAA berths.
"Coach has really turned this program around," Lause said. "I'm awestruck. I can't imagine a better collaborative team.
"We are just so close, all of us are such good people, everybody is so talented. It was a great opportunity for me."
The family atmosphere was visually displayed to everyone in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena and anyone watching the MAC championship game on television last Saturday.
Lause got into the game late and was being encouraged by her teammates on the bench, which included the entire starting lineup, to shoot.
She missed her first shot, but made the second and the Falcons exploded off the bench in celebration as the BG fans behind the bench were also standing and cheering.
"It was sweet ... The whole crowd was up on their feet," Lause said. "We watched the tape on the bus ride home and we re-wound it like four times just watching the bench, like erupt and go crazy, waving towels and stuff.
"It's a good feeling to know that my teammates are all with me."
"It was just so exciting, so great, to see her get into that championship game and contribute," Mann said.
Those game moments have been few and far between for Lause, but she won't trade the last four years at Bowling Green for anything else.
"It's been a blast," she said. "Our cheer in the huddle is `1-2-3 family' and I really do believe these girls are my sisters.
"I never thought I would have the chance to play on such a good team and have history-making seasons and to get the chance to experience playing in a championship game, going to the NCAA, going to new places and doing new things."
