Bowling Green State University
VALPARAISO
Falcons 'Gold' in Home Opening Win
November 09, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 9, 2007
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Junior captain Lindsey Goldsberry set new career records in points (21), three-point field-goals made (5) and minutes played (32) while tying her existing record of eight rebounds as the Falcons (1-0) won their fifth consecutive home opener under head coach Curt Miller with an 81-56 victory over Valparaiso on Friday (Nov. 9) night. The 25 point decision is the second largest margin of victory on opening day in the Miller era.
Freshman Lauren Prochaska netted 19 points while grabbing five rebounds in her debut with the Orange and Brown. Fellow classmate Tracy Pontius also scored in the double-digits contributing 10 points of her own.
Dating back to Jan 28, 2007, the Falcons are riding a seventeen game streak where three or more players have scored points in double-digit figures - BGSU saw as many as six players score 10 or more points in the Feb. 20 contest against Kent State last season. Prior to tonight, Goldsberry had been included on that list just twice; she was also the youngest member of the squad to contribute to the streak before Prochaska and Pontius.
Bowling Green jumped to a seven point lead four minutes into the game and would later see that lead extend to its height at 30 as Millers' Falcons converted 14 field goals in each half while shooting just under 50 percent from the floor (45.9) and from three-point range (47.4).
The Falcons lead over the visitor was held to single digits for the first fifteen minutes of play but was cut to as little as a single point on two separate occasions.
Up three, BG used a combination of four unanswered long-range field-goals, including a pair of back-to-back trey's by Goldsberry, and an additional four free throws to take control of the scoreboard. During the four minute stretch late in the first half, Goldsberry and Prochaska accounted for 13-of-16 points scored. Freshman Jennifer Uhl knocked down her first collegiate three-pointer to make-up the final points.
Valpo's Kelly Peller and Whitney Farris scored four points following the Falcon run, but Laura Bugher's lay-up and Crystal Murdaugh's charity stripe point in the final minute of the half extended the BG lead to 18 points (43-25) as the teams retreated to their respective locker rooms.
In the first 20 minutes of play, Bowling Green capitalized on the Crusaders 15 turnovers scoring 21-of-their-43 first-half points.
The Falcons began the second half with a 7-3 advantage in the opening three minutes and went on to hold Valparaiso scoreless for nearly a full three minutes before Peller once again broke the Crusaders silence on the scoreboard with a successful lay-up. Thirty seconds later, Rashida Ray cut the lead to 19 with her lone three of the night, but the BG defense once again put an end to the Valpo scoring action for nearly another two full minutes. Peller went on to finish with four points while Ray was good for five.
Later, the Falcon defense would help to produce an almost four-and-a-half minute (4:22) Valpo scoring drought.
In the final 10 minutes of play, Valpo went on to score 17 points with eight coming in the last two minutes.
At nights end, BGSU scored 39 points off Valpo's 29 turnovers and another 18 off second chance points. Valpo was held to 14 and 5 points in the respective categories. Bowling Green also held two of the Crusaders' starters to three points or less while holding another scoreless.
Also to be noted, for the first time in two seasons BGSU saw a dramatic change in their starting line-up. Chelsea Albert, Kate Achter, Murdaugh, Prochaska and Goldsberry were on the floor for the opening tip instead of the constant combination of Achter along side Ali Mann, Liz Honegger, Carin Horne, and Megan Thorburn. In fact, tip-off marked the first time more than one freshman started a contest since Mann and Honegger entered the line-up on Nov. 25, 2003 against Detroit in Anderson Arena.
The Falcons will now look to a two game road stand in Nashville, Tenn. where they will see the likes of Lipscomb (Nov. 15) and Belmont (Nov. 18) in their home arenas.
##BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL##
