Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Temple in Friday's Season Opener
November 12, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 12, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU at TEMPLE
Friday, November 14, 2008 • 7:00 p.m.
Liacouras Center (10,206) • Philadelphia, Pa.
2007-08 RECORDS: BGSU 26-8 [13-3 MAC] // Temple 21-13 [12-2 A-10]
RADIO: WBGU-FM 88.1 - Mike Castellano and Alex Mikos
SERIES: BGSU leads, 1-0 // STREAK: BGSU - 1
LAST MEETING: at BGSU 86, Temple 67 (Nov. 24, 2006)
BGSU Game Notes (11 pages) in PDF Format 
Coach Miller Talks About Signees & Previews the Temple Game
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team opens the 2008-09 season in the City of Brotherly Love ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller begin the 36th season in the program's history by heading to Philadelphia for a Friday night (Nov. 14) contest vs. Temple University ... tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Liacouras Center (10,206) ... Miller and his staff return nine letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's 26-8 team that won the Mid-American Conference regular-season crown for the fourth consecutive year ... BG was 13-3 in MAC play, and advanced to national postseason play for the fourth-straight season, getting to the second round of the WNIT.
STORYLINES
• Friday's game features a pair of defending conference champions ... the Falcons, as mentioned, are coming off a fourth consecutive MAC regular-season title ... Temple also captured a regular-season crown a year ago, posting a 12-2 record in Atlantic 10 Conference play.
• The Falcons have been picked to repeat as MAC East Division champions, and to recapture the MAC Tournament title after a one-year absence, according to the league's preseason poll ... the poll is the result of voting by members of the MAC News Media Association as well as the league's 12 head coaches.
• Sophomore Lauren Prochaska was named to the Preseason All-MAC Team ... Prochaska averaged 14.8 points and 5.9 rebounds as a freshman in 2007-08.
WILL YOUTH BE SERVED?
Head coach Curt Miller's eighth BGSU team is one of his youngest, as over half of the team has one year or less of collegiate playing experience ... of the 13-woman active roster, a total of nine are in their first or second playing season at BGSU ... the roster features just one senior, Lindsey Goldsberry ... Goldsberry is the only remaining player who was in the regular playing rotation on BGSU's NCAA Championships 'Sweet Sixteen' team just 20 months ago.
LAST TIME(S) OUT
The Falcons split a pair of exhibition games at Anderson Arena, downing Findlay, 90-59, but falling to the OGBR (Ohio Girls Basketball Report) Legends, 68-66 ... on Nov. 4, sophomore Jen Uhl scored 20 points off the bench to lead three players in double digits in the win over the Oilers ... junior transfer Niki McCoy scored 16 points in her first appearance as a Falcon, while sophomore Tracy Pontius added 14 ... the Falcons were ahead by seven points with 8:51 left before halftime, but went on a 17-0 run to take a 40-16 advantage, and BG was never headed ... on Saturday (Nov. 4), Kim Wilburn's steal and layup with 6.1 seconds left gave the Legends the win over the Falcons ... Pontius had a game-high 18 points, while fellow soph Lauren Prochaska scored 16 ... McCoy added 10 to round out BG's double-figure scorers .. the Legends scored the game's last nine points ... the Legends, a team consisting of several players with WNBA experience, had four players in double digits ... Erica Glover led the way with 17 points, while Courtney Coleman had 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
COACH OF THE YEAR, AGAIN (AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND ...)
BGSU's Curt Miller has been named the MAC's Coach of the Year in each of the last four seasons ... he is the only conference coach to win the award in more than two seasons in a row, and only one other coach (former Toledo coach Mark Ehlen) has won the award as many as four times ... in those four seasons, Miller has led the Falcons to a combined record of 108-23, an average of 27.0 wins per year ... BG won MAC regular-season titles in all four years, and also won the MAC Tournament title in 2005, 2006 and '07 ... entering his eighth season at the helm, Miller has an overall head-coaching record of 150-68.
PROCHASKA NAMED MAC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
The Falcons' Lauren Prochaska had a successful BGSU debut, to say the least ... the Plain City, Ohio native was named the MAC's Freshman of the Year, and also was named to the all-conference second team ... Prochaska became the first-ever Falcon freshman to score more then 500 points, finishing the season with a total of 502 ... she hit 74 three-point field goals, the second-highest total in school history ... Prochaska capped her freshman campaign with a season-high 24 points in BGSU's WNIT second-round game at Michigan State.
FALCONS PICKED TO WIN DIVISION, TOURNAMENT TITLES
The Falcons were picked to win both the MAC's East Division and the MAC Tournament in 2009, according to the league's preseason poll ... the poll, released on Oct. 30, was the result of voting by members of the MAC News Media Association and the league's 12 head coaches ... BGSU was chosen to win the East ahead of - in order - Miami, Ohio, Kent State, Buffalo and Akron ... Ball State was picked to win the West Division.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons return a total of nine letterwinners, including three starters, from last season's team ... the group of returnees combined for 65.9 percent of the scoring and 75.0% of the rebounding from last year's 26-8 team ... BGSU won the MAC's regular-season title for the fourth consecutive year, posting a 13-3 conference record ... the Falcons advanced to the semifinals of the MAC Tournament before falling in double overtime ... Lindsey Goldsberry is the team's lone senior, and is one of three returning starters from the '07-08 club ... junior Tara Breske and sophomore Lauren Prochaska are the other two starters back from a year ago ... sophs Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius and Jen Uhl each played in all 34 games a year ago, with Albert making six starts ... the list of returning letterwinners also includes juniors Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper and sophomore Kelly Zuercher ... junior Niki McCoy begins her first playing season with the Falcons ... McCoy sat out the 2007-08 season after transferring from the University of Akron ... three freshmen join the Brown and Orange this year ... that group includes Maribeth Giese, Victoria McGowan and Jessica Slagle ... two other newcoers have come into the Falcon fold ... transfers Maggie Hennegan (Saint Louis Univ.) and Tamika Nurse (Univ. of Oregon) will sit out this season before joining the active roster in 2009-10 ... Nurse has one season of eligibility remaining, while Hennegan has two.
SCOUTING TEMPLE
Temple, like BGSU, is opening the 2008-09 season on Friday ... the Owls are coming off an '07-08 campaign which saw the team finish with a 21-13 record ... Temple finished as Atlantic 10 Conference co-champions with a league mark of 12-2, and advanced to the NCAA Championships ... the Owls were picked to finish fourth in '08-09 in the A-10 preseason coaches poll ... individually, junior LaKeisha Eaddy is the team's top returning scorer, after averaging 9.0 points and 2.8 assists per game last year ... she was named to the Preseason Atlantic 10 Third Team ... Tonya Cardoza enters her first season as a collegiate head coach, making her debut against the Falcons ... she inherits 10 returning letterwinners, including three starters, from a year ago ... the school's athletics web site is www.owlsports.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Temple, 1-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... the only prior meeting came nearly two years ago, on Nov. 24, 2006, at Anderson Arena ... the Falcons shot 61.2 percent from the field en route to an 86-67 win ... Kate Achter and Ali Mann scored 23 points apiece, with Achter shooting a perfect 8-for-8 from the field.
THAT'S NOTHING NEW
The Falcons will look to be 'road warriors' in November once again this year ... beginning with the Temple game, five of BGSU's first six games will be played away from home ... the lone November game at Anderson Arena is the Nov. 22 contest vs. Lipscomb.
THAT'S NOTHING NEW, EITHER ... WAIT, WHAT?
Believe it or not, the Falcons will be home for nearly all of December, and will not leave the state of Ohio for the entire month ... well, the coaching staff might allow the players from out of state to visit their families for a few days over the holidays, but you get our point ... beginning with a Dec. 3 game vs. Detroit, the Falcons will play four consecutive contests at "The House That Roars," culminating with a Dec. 21 game against Hartford ... BG played just one December home game a year ago.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 150-68 in the seven years since Curt Miller took the BG helm in May of 2001;
• 79-33 in MAC games in that time:
•141-49 in the six years since Miller's assistant coaches have all been in place associate head coach Jennifer Roos and assistant coach Brandi Poole have been on Miller's staff since his first year; assistant Kevin Eckert joined the staff one year later);
• 129-33 over the last five years, with at least 20 wins in all five seasons;
• a staggering 108-23 in the past four years; with no fewer than 23 wins in each year and a MAC regular-season title in every season;
• 85-15 overall and 44-4 in the MAC in the last three years, since senior Lindsey Goldsberry ventured to Northwest Ohio;
• 57-12 in the last two years, including a 28-4 conference ledger;
• 13-2 in the MAC Tournament over the last four years, with three titles (2005, '06 and '07) and a trip to the semifinals in 2008;
• 1-0 in regular-season games played on November 14 (the other game was a season-opening road win; an 81-72 outcome at Youngstown State in 1997);
• 16-19 in season-opening games in program history (4-3 in the Miller Era);
• 12-23 in road openers (5-2 under Miller); and
• 7-13 when the regular-season opener is also the road opener (2-2 under Miller).
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
• In 2007-08, the Falcons went 11-3 in non-conference play, posting a winning non-league record for the sixth consecutive year ... BGSU is the only Mid-American Conference school to have turned that trick.
• BGSU had not had as many as three consecutive winning seasons in over a decade, (since 1991-92 to 1993-94), prior to beginning the current streak ... now, of course, the Falcons have posted six-straight winning seasons in non-conference action, for the longest such streak in school history.
• The 2007-08 team was the third in a row to tie or break the school record for non-conference wins in a season ... BGSU's total of nine non-league wins in 2005-06 tied the school record, before the '06-07 team had 11 to set a new mark ... last year's squad had 11 non-league wins as well ... the Falcons have had at least seven non-league victories in each of the last six seasons.
• Since the start of the 2002-03 season, BG is 52-19 in regular-season, non-league games, for the most wins and highest winning percentage (73.2%) of any MAC school in that time ... the Falcons have set school records for non-league wins in a three-year period, with 31 from 2005-06 to '07-08, as well as victories in a four-year span (38 since 2004-05).
ANOTHER IMPRESSIVE STREAK
BGSU has won 20 games in five consecutive seasons for the first time in school history ... the Falcons have averaged 25.8 wins during that span.
