Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Winston-Salem State
Falcons Roll to Win over WSSU, 80-43
November 28, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 28, 2008
Final Stats
BGSU-WSSU Boxscore in PDF Format 
Miller Post-Game Audio
GREENSBORO, N.C. (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team scored 25 of the game's first 31 points, rolling along to an 80-43 win over Winston-Salem State University Friday afternoon (Nov. 28). The neutral-site game, the opener in the UNCG Marriott Classic, was held at Fleming Gym on the UNC Greensboro campus.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 3-2 on the season, and are riding a three-game winning streak. The Lady Rams drop to 0-5.
Junior Niki McCoy led all players, scoring 20 points for the second time in the last three games. Sophomore Tracy Pontius joined McCoy in double digits, with 13 points and a game-high five assists.
BG's balanced scoring attack also saw sophomore Lauren Prochaska amass nine points and soph Kelly Zuercher and freshman Jessica Slagle eight points apiece.
Nikki Kee, with 18 points, was the lone WSSU in double figures.
The Falcons spotted the Lady Rams two points, then scored the game's next eight points to take the lead for good. McCoy scored three points during that run, which was capped by a Pontius three-point field goal, the first of 10 by the Falcons in the game.
WSSU cut the lead to four points on a Vontisha Woods layup, but the Falcons proceeded to score the game's next 11 points as part of a 17-2 run.
McCoy hit a layup to begin the run, as the junior was on her way to a 12-point first half. Pontius got herself to the line and hit a pair of free throws, before sophomore Jen Uhl knocked down a jumper off a pass from senior Lindsey Goldsberry.
Goldsberry then fed Pontius for a left-elbow three-pointer, and the Falcons had a 17-4 lead as WSSU head coach Dee Stokes took time at the 13:37 mark.
The Falcons kept coming, however, as junior Tara Breske picked Porsche Harrell's pocket and sailed in for a layup. The Lady Rams broke the scoring drought with a pair of free throws, but Slagle took a cross-court pass from classmate Victoria McGowan and hit a triple from the right corner, and BG's lead was 22-6.
Off a defensive rebound by soph Chelsea Albert, McCoy scored on a driving layup, upping the lead to 25-6 and prompting another WSSU timeout.
Kee scored the next five points to cut BG's lead to 25-11, but freshman Maribeth Giese hit a triple, beginning a 19-3 run. McCoy blew by her would-be defender for another layup, and Giese scored again on a jumper, for a 32-11 lead.
Jalesa Byrd got two points on a layup, but McCoy banked home a contested shot, and the lead was 34-13. Another free throw by the Lady Rams made it a 20-point game, before Prochaska and Zuercher combined for 10-straight points.
Prochaska hit a three-ball off a Zuercher pass, and Zuercher then hit a layup of a Pontius entry pass. On the Falcons' next possession, Zuercher got an offensive rebound and putback, before Slagle's pass to Prochaska returned in another triple and a 30-point lead, 44-14. The Brown and Orange would take a 44-17 advantage down the hall and into the lockerroom.
The Falcons began the second half successfully, hitting several more three-pointers. When those three-pointers didn't drop, McCoy was there to clean up.
Pontius, Goldsberry and Breske all knocked down shots from beyond the arc in the first four minutes of the half, and McCoy had a pair of putbacks in that time. When Slagle converted an and-one layup and hit the ensuing free throw, the Falcons had a 63-20 lead with 14:11 remaining.
The Falcons' lead never dropped below 32 points over the remainder of the afternoon. All 13 players on the BGSU active roster saw action in the game, with 11 finding the scoresheet.
The Falcons will return to Fleming Gym on Saturday afternoon, facing the host school, UNC Greensboro. That game, the second of the day, is scheduled to begin at approximately 3:00 p.m. UNCG lost to Florida Gulf Coast, 66-50, in Friday's second game.
NOTES
* Sophomore Kelly Zuercher scored a career-high eight points, going 3-for-3 from the field on Friday's win ... Zuercher's previous career best was four points at Toledo last Feb. 2 ... her three field goals made against WSSU matched her total for all of last season.
* Soph Tracy Pontius set new career bests with 13 points and three three-point field goals made ... Pontius now has four double-digit scoring games in this year's five contests.
* With her three successful treys, Pontius now has nine this season ... she is just three shy of matching her total for all of last year.
* Junior Sarah Clapper set a career best with two blocked shots, and tied her career high with 16 minutes played against the Lady Rams.
* Celebrity watch: Former Falcon great Francine Miller was in attendance at Friday's game ... Miller ended her career ranked third at BGSU in scoring, and still ranks fifth ... she had 1,574 career points in the Brown and Orange from 1998-2003.
Random note of the day: With 10 minutes on the clock before the game, the crowd consisted of roughly 35 to 40 BGSU fans congregated behind the Falcon bench, a couple wearing North Carolina A&T apparel on the other side of the gym, and one woman reading a book halfway up the stands behind the WSSU bench ... a number of WSSU fans wandered in with two minutes on the clock prior to tipoff, and the crowd was roughly a 50/50 split between Lady Ram and Falcon fans by midway through the first half.
