Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Detroit to Begin Four-Game Homestand
December 02, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU vs. DETROIT
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 • 7:00 p.m.Anderson Arena (4,700) • Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 4-2 // Detroit 2-4
RADIO: WBGU-FM 88.1 - Alex Mikos and Kyle Griffith
TELEVISION: BCSN - Todd Hostetler and Mark Ehlen
SERIES: UDM leads, 10-9 // STREAK: BGSU - 3
LAST MEETING: BGSU 68, at Detroit 37 (Nov. 10, 2006)
BGSU Game Notes, Bios and Stats in PDF Format
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after playing five of six games on the road in November, begins the month of December with a season-long, four-game homestand ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller start the month, and the homestand, with Wednesday's (Dec. 3) game against the University of Detroit Mercy ... tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... the Falcons will not play a game outside the state of Ohio in the entire month of December.
PROCHASKA NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska has been named MAC Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday (Dec. 1) ... the Plain City, Ohio, native earns the honor for the first time in her Falcon career ... she averaged 20.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.0 steals as BGSU went a perfect 3-0 on a week-long road trip ... her week included a career-high 32 points - just three shy of the school record - in a win at Saint Francis (Pa.) last Tuesday (Nov. 25) ... Prochaska went 13-of-18 from the field, including a 5-for-7 effort from beyond the arc, in that game, adding seven rebounds ... she had nine points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals vs. Winston-Salem State, taking only six shots in that lopsided win ... Prochaska scored a game-high 20 points and added seven boards in BG's win over UNC Greensboro ... the soph shot 56.4 percent from the field, including 10-of-18 (55.6%) from three-point land, on the week.
2008: A TRAVEL ODYSSEY
Seven days ... four hotels ... three games ... most importantly, three wins ... the Falcons just completed a seven-day trip which saw the team defeat Saint Francis (Pa.) (98-74; Nov. 25), Winston-Salem State (80-43; Nov. 28) and UNC Greensboro (71-53; Nov. 29) ... the Falcons won the three games by an average of 26.3 points, and BG shot 54.2 percent from the field on the trip ... a few other numbers from the week ... the team traveled a total of 1,560 miles by bus, and the travel party spent roughly 27 hours on that bus ... the trip began on Monday, Nov. 24, and the Falcons returned to Northwest Ohio on Sunday afternoon (Nov 30).
ALL BGSU GAMES ARE ON THE AIR
• All BGSU women's basketball games are aired on student station WBGU-FM 88.1, the flagship station for Falcon hockey and women's hoops ... Alex Mikos and Kyle Griffith will have the call for Wednesday's game vs. UDM.
• In addition to being aired on the FM dial, the games are also available free of charge on the web at BGSUFalcons.com ... to access the broadcasts online, simply click on the 'Stretch Internet' button on the BGSUFalcons.com main page and choose that day's game.
• Additionally, Wednesday's game will be televised in the Toledo area by BCSN ... Todd Hostetler and Mark Ehlen are scheduled to call the Falcons' 2008-09 home games ... Ehlen, the former Toledo coach, earned his master's degree from BGSU.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 4-2 on the young season ... after opening the year with road losses against Temple and Valparaiso, BGSU has won four-straight games heading into Wednesday's Detroit game ... the Brown and Orange began the home portion of the regular-season schedule with a 19-point win over Lipscomb (71-52; Nov. 22), and BG picked up a 98-74 win at Saint Francis (Pa.) last Tuesday night (Nov. 25) ... then, the Falcons went to Greensboro, N.C., and posted two more double-digit wins at the UNCG Marriott Classic, downing Winston-Salem State (80-43; Nov. 28) and host UNC Greensboro (71-53; Nov. 29) ... senior Lindsey Goldsberry, juniors Niki McCoy and Tara Breske and sophomores Tracy Pontius and Lauren Prochaska each have started all six games this year to date.
• Prochaska leads the team in both scoring and rebounding ... the Plain City, Ohio, native has 17.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest ... she exploded for a career-high 32 points in last Tuesday's (Nov. 22) win at Saint Francis ... McCoy had 20 points in both the Lipscomb and Winston-Salem State games ... she is second on the team with 13.5 ppg and 5.7 rpg ... Pontius and Breske are averaging 9.2 and 7.5 points, respectively ... Pontius leads the Falcons in assists, with 4.2 per game, while Breske has 4.3 rpg to rank fourth on the team ... Breske paces the Brown and Orange in blocks (1.5 bpg) and is second in steals (2.0 spg) ... freshman Jessica Slagle has 6.3 ppg, while sophomore Jen Uhl has 4.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg and 1.2 bpg, ranking third in rebounding and second in blocks.
• The Falcons are shooting 44.0% from the field over the first six games ... BG has a three-point FG pct. of 35.7%, with 6.8 triples made per game, and are shooting 78.0% from the free-throw line ... the opponents are shooting 40.5% from the floor, 34.1% from long range and 64.9% from the stripe ... the Falcons have outrebounded the foes by two-and-a-half boards per game (36.5 to 34.0) ... BG has turned the ball over 18.7 times per game, but has forced the opponents into 20.5 per outing.
• The Falcons have made almost twice as many free throws (96) as the opponents (50) ... in fact, BGSU has made 19 more FTs than the foes have attempted (77).
• The Falcons returned 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 ... Goldsberry, the team's lone senior, is one of the three returning starters from the '07-08 club ... Breske and Prochaska are the other two.
• Sophs Pontius, Uhl and Chelsea Albert each played in all 34 games last year, with Albert making six starts ... the list of returning letterwinners also includes juniors Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper and sophomore Kelly Zuercher ... McCoy is in her first playing season with the Falcons ... she 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, Slagle and Victoria McGowan ... two other newcomers 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 will have one season of eligibility, while Hennegan has two.
HEAD COACH Curt Miller
BGSU head coach Curt Miller has turned the Falcon program around, to say the very least, during his time in Northwest Ohio ... Miller is the first-ever coach to be named MAC Coach of the Year in four consecutive seasons ... in fact, no coach had captured the award in as many as three-straight years ... additionally, he was named the Russell Athletic/WBCA Region 4 Coach of the Year in both the 2005-06 and '06-07 seasons ... his career record currently stands at 154-70, in his eighth year ... since the start of the 2003-04 season, Miller and the Falcons are 133-35 overall, 68-12 in MAC regular-season play, and 81-14 in all games vs. league foes during that span (13-2 in league tourney play) ... the 2007-08 Falcons became the fifth-straight BGSU team to post at least 20 victories, and Miller's 2006-07 club went 31-4, for the most wins in a season by a MAC basketball team, male or female ... that team was the first MAC women's team to advance to the NCAA's "Sweet Sixteen" ... a native of Girard, Pa., Miller began his collegiate coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Kent State, and was an assistant at Cleveland State and Syracuse ... he was the associate head coach at Colorado State under Tom Collen (a BGSU graduate and currently the head coach at Arkansas), helping the Rams to a combined 81-20 mark in his three years there ... in the last decade (plus six games), Miller has been on the staffs of teams that have combined to go 235-90 (.723).
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons pulled away from UNC Greensboro, shooting 56 percent from the field after halftime en route to a 71-53 win Saturday (Nov. 29), and a 2-0 record at the UNCG Marriott Classic ... junior Niki McCoy was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, while sophomore Lauren Prochaska was selected to the all-tournament team ... Prochaska led all scorers on Saturday, with her 20 points including 13 in the second half ... she scored eight of the Falcons' 10 points in a two-minute span midway through that half, as BG extended the lead from six points to 12 ... McCoy joined Prochaska in double digits, scoring 16 points in the win ... both players had seven rebounds to tie for team honors ... freshman Jessica Slagle played 34 minutes, by far the most of her brief collegiate career, and had nine points and four assists in the victory ... Slagle played the final 16:32 of the first half after starting point guard Tracy Pontius was whistled with two quick fouls ... Pontius returned to play the bulk of the second-half minutes, but Slagle played much of the half as well, at the other guard spot ... junior Tara Breske and soph Jen Uhl had six points apiece, with Uhl contributing a game- and career-high four blocked shots ... Breske had three blocks as the Falcons recorded eight as a team ... BGSU shot 48.1% from the field for the game, including a 14-for-25 performance (56.0%) in the second period ... the Falcons held UNCG to a 30.0% shooting effort.
SCOUTING DETROIT
Detroit is 2-4 on the season, heading into Wednesday's game at Anderson ... one of the Titans' two wins, however, came over nationally-ranked Georgia, 70-66 on Nov 22 ... UDM is coming off a two-game swing to New York, where the team posted a win at Colgate Saturday (61-51; Nov. 29) before falling at Albany Monday night (49-62: Dec. 1) ... individually, junior forward Brigid Mulroy paces three double-digit scorers with 12.3 points per game ... senior G/F Sandi Brown and senior guard Zemora Davis are averaging 10.7 and 10.3 ppg, respectively, while freshman guard Lauren Allen has 8.5 ppg and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per outing ... Davis, Mulroy and freshman guard Jalesa Jones (5.2 ppg) each have started all six games this year to date ... Allen and junior forward Heather Hatter (5.0 ppg) joined that trio in the starting lineup at Albany on Monday ... last year, the Titans went 6-24 overall and 3-15 in Horizon League play ... first-year head coach Autumn Rademacher has eight letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's club ... the school's athletics web site is www.DetroitTitans.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons trail Detroit, 10-9, in the all-time series between the teams, but BGSU is 5-4 in home games vs. the Titans ... the Falcons have won the last three overall meetings, including a 68-37 win in the Motor City in the 2006-07 season opener (Nov. 10, 2006) ... that game marked the collegiate debut of then-freshmen Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper ... the Titans have not played at BG in over five years, since a 77-53 Falcon win on Nov. 25, 2003.
McCOY, PROCHASKA PICK UP SOME HARDWARE
A pair of Falcons picked up awards as BGSU went 2-0 at the UNCG Marriott Classic ... junior Niki McCoy was named the tourney's Most Outstanding Performer, while sophomore Lauren Prochaska was selected to the all-tournament team ... McCoy led the Falcons with 18.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in the two contests, shooting 70.0 percent from the field (14-of-20) ... Prochaska had 14.5 ppg and 6.0 rpg, and was 5-of-11 (45.5%) from three-point range in the two wins ... both BGSU and Florida Gulf Coast went 2-0 in the tourney, which utilized a 'classic' format (predetermined matchups as opposed to consolation/championship games).
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 154-70 in the seven years (plus six games) since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 79-33 in MAC games in that time:
•145-51 in the six-plus 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);
• 133-35 over the last five-plus years, with at least 20 wins in five-straight seasons;
• a staggering 112-25 in the past four-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins in each year and a MAC regular-season title in every season;
• 89-17 overall and 44-4 in the MAC in the last three-plus years, since senior Lindsey Goldsberry ventured to Northwest Ohio;
• 61-14 in the last two-plus 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;
• 19-2 in non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season;
• 15-1 against non-league opposition at Anderson Arena since November of 2004;
• 3-4 in December 3 games in program history;
• 0-1 in home games on that date (a 70-63 loss to Michigan in 1990 - four of the seven games BG has played on Dec. 3 were at neutral sites); and
• 1-0 in Dec. 3 games in the Curt Miller Era, with the Falcons hitting triple digits in that game (a 100-77 win at Bucknell in 2003).
LO IS A HIGH SCORER
• Sophomore Lauren Prochaska scored 32 points in the win at Saint Francis (Pa.) ... Prochaska's prolific scoring output marked the first 30-point game of her collegiate career ... her previous best had been 24 points in the WNIT game at Michigan State last March ... Prochaska tied her career best with five three-point field goals made.
• Prochaska was just three away from three school single-game records - points, field goals made (13) and three-pointers made (five) - in the SFU game ... a BGSU player has scored 35 points in a game four times, with Francine Miller doing it twice and Jackie Motycka and Jacki Raterman once each ... Raterman has the school record with 16 field goals made, and Whitney Taylor hit a BG-record eight triples in last year's win at Kent State.
HOME COOKIN'
The Falcons' win over Lipscomb (Nov. 22) gives BGSU a modest three-game winning streak in non-conference home games ... BG, however, has won 15 of the last 16 such games, with last year's overtime loss to Notre Dame (86-84; Dec. 5, 2007) the only such setback since mid-December of 2003.
HIGH-OCTANE OFFENSE
BGSU's total of 98 points at Saint Francis was the Falcons' highest single-game output in over four years, since a 115-84 blowout at IPFW on Nov. 19, 2004 ... BGSU's 55-point first half marked the team's highest total in a period since the first half of the Feb. 28, 2007, game vs. Miami ... the Falcons went on to a 92-62 win over the RedHawks on "Senior Night" at Anderson Arena.
A FEW MORE FALCON NOTES
• Sophomore Kelly Zuercher scored a career-high eight points, going 3-for-3 from the field in the win over Winston-Salem State ... Zuercher's previous career best had been four points at Toledo last Feb. 2 ... her three FGM vs. WSSU matched her total for all of last season.
• Sophomore Tracy Pontius set new career bests with 13 points and three FGM in the WSSU game ... with 10 three-point field goals made and 25 assists this year, Pontius is three triples and four helpers shy of matching her totals for all of last season.
• Soph Jen Uhl had four blocked shots in the win over UNC Greensboro ... that doubled her previous career best ... with seven blocks in six games in 2008-09, Uhl is just two away from matching her total for her entire freshman year.
• Freshman Jessica Slagle played 34 minutes in the UNCG game, shattering her career best ... she had played 20 minutes in each of hte two previous games.
• Junior Sarah Clapper set a career best with two blocked shots, and tied her career high with 16 minutes played vs. WSSU.
A DECEMBER HOMESTAND?
Believe it or not, the Falcons will be home for nearly all of December ... after playing five of November's six games on the road, BGSU will not leave the state of Ohio for the entire month of December ... beginning with Wednesday's (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' total of four non-league home games in the same month is the most since December of 1991, when Fran Voll's final BGSU team played five non-conference contests at Anderson Arena.
CAPTAINS
Senior Lindsey Goldsberry and junior Tara Breske are the co-captains of the 2008-09 women's basketball Falcons.
