Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Mount St. Mary's
Breske Records First Career Double-Double; Falcons Pick-Up Road Win
December 19, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2007
Final Stats
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BGSU Post-Game Quotes
EMMITSBURG, Md. - Sophomore forward Tara Breske picked-up her first career double-double by nabbing 11 rebounds while sinking 12 points for the Bowling Green State University Falcons as the visitors escaped a close contest with their 62-59 win over Mount St. Mary's at the Knott Arena.
The Falcons snapped their two-game losing streak and are 7-2 overall, while Mount falls to 1-8 (0-1 NEC) on the season.
Senior Kate Achter led the team with 16 points and six assists, while freshman Lauren Prochaska and Breske each contributed a respective 13 and 12 points. Fellow starters Lindsey Goldsberry and Crystal Murdaugh each put in seven points of their own in the win. Prochaska and Goldsberry also combined for five of the Falcons eight steals.
Mount St. Mary's senior point guard Tiffany Green paced the Mountaineers with 16 points and six rebounds while freshman Leah Westbrooks was responsible for a team-high 11 boards. She also scored seven points and assisted on three other scores.
It was obvious the Falcons would have some work to do against the Northeast Conference opponent as the Mount stopped BG dead in it tracks with a shot clock violation on their initial possession of the night. Prior to their turnover, the Falcon defense had forced the Mount to turnover their own offensive chance to open the game.
To continue its rough start, the Falcons turned over their second possession of the night too.
After a pair of Mount scores, Breske got the Falcons in the books making the front end of a free throw chance. Mount led BG 4-1 after three possessions - before the end of the night, the teams would fight their way thru six ties and five lead changes.
Murdaugh followed Breske's shot by sinking a turn around jumper and hearing nothing but the swish of the net and the cheering fans to cut the hosts' lead to a point, 4-3, but Green made her first of four three's to regain a two field-goal lead.
The Falcons struggled early missing their next four scoring attempts until Tracy Pontius found Murdaugh in the low post and the freshmen connected for another pair of BG points. On the next trip in their own territory, Murdaugh would earn the same positioning and a trip to the free throw line. Going one-for-two, Murdaugh cut the Mount lead to one, 7-6, at 14:23.
Just under two-minutes later, Green hit her second three of the night to raise the stakes back to four points, but once again the Falcons hit the back end of a free throw opportunity. By 11:35 Mount was still ahead, 12-7.
Bowling Green was 4-10 from the free throw line in the first half and would finish the match at 12-23 (.522); although Breske would later find her touch when it mattered most.
Green continued to have a night, to say the least, scoring each of her first nine points from the arc.
Goldsberry matched Green's long range prowess and proved why she had the best three-point percentage in the MAC hitting one in transition. The junior went on to capitalize on the free throw she was awarded after getting knocked down on the box out. Achter, along with the swarming Falcon defense, could be credited with the assist causing a huge steal to give rise to the play that would tie the game at 15-all at 6:28.
Beginning at 5:16, a BG rebound and a steal turned into consecutive quick scores from the left and right side of the court, including a Breske no-look touch pass to Prochaska. Bowling Green, looking more like themselves and was up 25-18 as the product of a 7-3 run at the 2:57 mark.
With a four point lead on the line, Mount broke into a full court press after Green's made free throw for the last minute-and-change of the half. That lead was lessened to two as the hosts forced a BG turnover and found a pair of Westbrook points under their own basket. BG committed a season high 17 TO's by final buzzer.
Although their lead was at a mere two points, the Falcons did win the challenge of the first-half, 27-25. The slight positive-margin could prove to be an omen for the Orange and Brown. In three games this season when the Falcons have a 5 or less lead after 20:00, they are 3-0 after beating St. Bonaventure, Florida Gulf Coast and Cornell. With the Mount win, BGSU is 4-0.
BG drew the first blood of the second half scoring as Prochaska mirrored Achter's southpaw lay-up. During the opening minutes, Breske was the portrait of a hustling rebounder cutting off the angles on or near every projection from a missed shot.
Freshman Mary Dunn kept Mount in it scoring two straight field-goals, but it was Breske's point in the paint which edged the Falcons, 35-33, at 16:25.
Although the game was not held during business hours, the banks were open late as Hassanah Oliver made her short range jumper worth three points as she finished the and-one ricocheting her free throw off the glass and through the rim to give Mount a 36-35 lead.
Jennifer Uhl tipped the scales back in the favor of the Falcons at 15:17 and was later helped by Pontius who sunk a three pointer in front of her own bench to give BG a four point lead. On their ensuring possession the BG guards quick ball movement around the perimeter allowed Prochaska to hit a jumper and the Falcons had scored six points which they would soon make eight with Uhl's second lay-up. During that time span, the Mount missed five shots including three lay-ups and back-to-back three pointers.
The eight point lead was soon negated and mid-way through the second half the score was 44-44 as a result of Green's fourth three pointer - at that time she was 4-9 after hitting her first three attempts. The quadruple fours equated to the fifth tie of the contest.
As was the story of the night, with 8:00 remaining BG was ahead, but Oliver helped Mount continue to jockey for the lead going .500 in her third attempt from the line and tying the score for the sixth and final time of the night, 48-48.
At 6:26 Murdaugh came up with a big defensive rebound after a series of missed Mount shots and was fouled in the process. The freshman sunk both tries to give BGSU its final lead of the contest.
After seeing their lead fluctuate for the next two-and-a-half minutes, Goldsberry hit her second three of the night to give the Falcons a six point lead but the Mountineers refused to give up and responded with a short jumper to make it 58-54 at 2:34.
The battle in Emmitsburg continued to rage on and at 30.7 the score was 59-56 in BG's favor.
Coming out of a Mount thirty-second timeout, the hosts began trapping anything remotely near the sideline. After receiving an inbounds pass from Murdaugh, Achter was intentionally fouled and hit her first from the line.
After rebounding Achter's miss from her second shot, Mount charged down the court and with 05.0 on the clock, Brianna Gauthier fired a three - and banked in - to make the score, 60-59.
As the remaining seconds dwindled, Uhl inbounded a pass to Breske in Mount territory and the post was given the chance to force Mount to make a big shot to force a tie or to put game away for her teammates.
Breske made one.
Then she made another to lead the Falcons to the 62-59 final.
With the win, head coach Curt Miller moves within four games of Jaci Clark's win total of 135 in seven seasons. Since first stomping onto the Falcon's sideline six-plus seasons ago, Miller is 131-62.
The Blue Hens of the University of Delaware are next on the Falcons' schedule and will square off in the `Battle of the Birds' on Friday night in Newark, Del. Pecking order will be determined inside of UD's Bob Carpenter Center with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m.
##BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL##
