Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Lipscomb
Falcons Pull Away From Lipscomb, 71-52
November 22, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2008
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball program honored the 2007-08 team, then went out and picked up the first win of 2008-09. Junior Niki McCoy scored a game-high 20 points, and sophomore Lauren Prochaska had a double-double as the Falcons downed Lipscomb University, 71-52, in non-conference play at Anderson Arena Saturday afternoon (Nov. 22).
With the win, the Falcons improve to 1-2 on the young season, while dropping the Lady Bisons to 1-3 on the year.
Prochaska had 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds Saturday afternoon. Junior Tara Breske and soph Tracy Pontius joined McCoy and Prochaska in double digits. Breske had 12 points and Pontius 10 in Saturday's win.
Lipscomb got 13 points apiece from Jenna Bartsokas and Katie Rollins.
The Falcons shot 41.7 percent from the field, the team's highest percentage of the young season, and BGSU went 16-of-20 (80.0%) from the free-throw stripe. McCoy made 10 free throws in 11 tries.
BGSU held Lipscomb to a 37.7% success rate from the floor, and the hosts held a 39-32 advantage on the boards.
The game was tight in the early going, and featured several minutes of uninterrupted play, as several minutes passed by without a stoppage. The first media timeout of the game did not come until 12:58 remained in the half. At that point, the Falcons led, 13-11, after McCoy's layup six minutes into the game broke a tie. McCoy's shot would give BG the lead for good.
Prochaska had scored the Falcons' first five points of the game, and would make her first four shots of the day en route to 10 points in the opening 11:32. Her last hoop in that stretch, a three-point field goal, put the Brown and Orange ahead by nine, BG's biggest lead of the half.
For the Lady Bisons, Rollins scored seven points in a row, in the first three-plus minutes of the game. Her last two points in that stretch gave the visitors their final lead, at 9-7. The game was tied at both 9-9 and 11-11 before McCoy's tiebreaking hoop.
Prochaska's triple at the 8:28 mark, as mentioned, put the home team ahead by nine points. Lipscomb, however, whittled away at the lead, getting within four points on a Cree Nix layup with 1:31 left. McCoy, though, responded by grabbing her own miss and laying the ball off the glass and through the hoop while being fouled with 45.5 seconds remaining in the half.
McCoy's ensuing free throw was good, giving the Falcons a 31-24 lead at the half.
Both McCoy (11) and Prochaska (10) reached double digits in the points department in that opening half.
Each team got off to a slow start in the second half, missing a combined six shots (three at each end) before Lipscomb coach Frank Bennett mercifully called timeout at the 17:47 mark. Still, neither team could score for nearly another minute.
Finally, Rollins hit two charity tosses with 16:52 left, and Bartsokas hit a second-chance three-pointer after a Prochaska driving layup. The LU trey put the visitors within four points, at 33-29, bu the Lady Bisons would get no closer.
Pontius would hit two free throws, then drained a three-pointer a few minutes later, giving the Falcons a 42-33 lead with 13:35 left.
Not long after the Pontius three-pointer, two freshmen teamed up for a conventional three-point play. Victoria McGowan grabbed a defensive rebound after a Breske blocked shot, and McGowan raced upcourt. She spotted fellow freshman Jessica Slagle filling the lane on the break and fired a pass that led to a Slagle layup and a Lipscomb foul. Slagle pumped her fist as she hit the ground, then -- after a timeout, hit the ensuing free throw. After another turnover, Prochaska's triple gave the Brown and Orange a 14-point lead, 48-34.
The game was back and forth for a few minutes, with Slagle hitting a triple, and sophomore Jen Uhl grabbing Breske's pass and banking in a layup. At the other end, Anna Bowers and Jilian Partin each scored from beyond the arc.
With 8:12 remaining, Bartsokas got to the line and made a pair of tosses, cutting BG's lead into single digits, 55-46. But, BG then scored 12-straight points to put the game away.
Breske began that run with a jumper, and the next five points came from McCoy, all at the charity stripe. Then, in a case of deja vu all over again, Breske knocked down another jumper, and McCoy hit two more free throws to give BGSU a 20-point lead, 66-46.
Pontius split a pair of free throws before Nix ended the Lady Bisons' scoring drought with a jumper with 2:56 left. That stopped a scoreless streak of over five minutes (5:16) for the visitors.
McGowan scored the Falcons' last four points of the game, with a layup off a Pontius assist, and two successful shots from the stripe.
Pontius had a game- and career-high four assists, with McGowan recording the first three helpers of her career. Senior Lindsey Goldsberry also had three assists, along with three steals.
BGSU had 15 steals as a team, with McCoy recording four. Breske had three steals and three blocked shots, tying her career best in the latter category.
The Falcons now play three games away from home, beginning with a Tuesday (Nov. 25) game at Saint Francis (Pa.). The trip continues with two games at the UNCG Marriott Classic in Greensboro, N.C., next weekend (Nov. 28-29). The Brown and Orange will face Winston-Salem State and host UNC Greensboro in that tourney.
NOTES
* Members of the 2007-08 team received their Mid-American Conference regular-season championship rings in ceremonies prior to tipoff ... the two seniors from that team, Kate Achter and Whitney Taylor, were on hand for the festivities.
* Achter and Taylor unveiled the newest banner high atop Anderson Arena, commemorating that '08 conference regular-season title ... the duo helped BGSU to four MAC regular-season titles, three MAC Tournament championships, four national postseason berths (three NCAA and one WNIT) and a total of 108 wins in their four years.
* BGSU has won six consecutive home openers, and BGSU is 6-2 in such games in the Curt Miller Era ... after losing the first home game of the 2001-02 and '02-03 seasons, the Falcons have defeated Detroit, Youngstown State, IPFW, Temple, Valparaiso and Lipscomb in the last six lidlifters at "The House That Roars" ... BG has won those six games by an average of 22.8 points, and the Falcons have averaged 79.3 points per game.
* There is a possibility of the Falcons and Lady Bisons meeting again in 2008-09 ... both teams will head to Dayton, Ohio, for next month's Dayton Flyer Classic (Dec. 28-29), and could possibly meet in second-day action at that tournament.
* Junior Niki McCoy's 20-point game was the 14th of her career, but her first as a Falcon ... the Sylvania, Ohio, native had 13 such games during her two seasons at Akron.
* Sophomore Lauren Prochaska reached double digits in rebounding for the first time this year, and the fifth time in her young career ... similarly, Prochaska's double-double vs. Lipscomb was her first of 2008-09, and her fifth as a Falcon.
