Bowling Green State University
Hartford
Falcons Soar Past Hartford, 56-52
December 21, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2008
Final Stats | BGSU-Hartford Boxscore in PDF Format 
BGSU-Hartford Photo Gallery (photos by Brad Phalin) 
Special holiday bonus: BGSU's updated stats in PDF Format
Coach Miller Post-Game Audio
Pontius Post-Game Audio
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team ended the pre-holiday schedule on a festive note, winning a 56-52 battle against the University of Hartford Sunday afternoon (Dec. 21). The non-conference game -- between two teams that combined for 54 wins a year ago -- was held at venerable Anderson Arena.
With the victory, the Falcons improve to 8-2, and BGSU has won eight-straight games after an 0-2 start to the 2008-09 season. The Hawks drop to 5-6 on the year.
Three sophomores scored in double digits for the Falcons. Tracy Pontius led the way with 14 points, while Lauren Prochaska and Jen Uhl each added 11.
Diana Delva had a game-high 15 points for the visitors, while Erica Beverly scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for UH.
The Falcon defense held the Hawks to a field-goal percentage of just 30.5% for the game, including just a 6-for-29 success rate (20.7%) in the first half. The Brown and Orange shot 34.0% from the floor for the game, and made a season-low three three-point field goals.
The game had a tournament type of atmosphere, as both teams contested every possession during the afternoon. Neither team scored until nearly two minutes had elapsed. Prochaska's driving finger-roll layup at the 18:15 mark ended a game-opening stretch of five missed shots by the two teams.
 |
|
A long two-pointer by Delva cut the Falcons' lead in half before the first media timeout. Again, neither team would score for several minutes, but the visitors caught fire, albeit briefly.
Lisa Etienne's three-pointer at the 13:26 mark gave the visitors a 5-4 lead, and Amanda Weaver's triple with 12:28 on the clock put UH up by three points. Uhl took a Prochaska pass and hit a layup, but Etienne struck again from long range. Hartford made only four three-pointers on the day, but three of them came in a 90-second span, and the Hawks had an 11-7 advantage.
But, the Falcons came right back. Uhl took a Prochaska pass and hit her first trey of the season, and Pontius found Breske for a transition jumper. The Falcons had the lead for good, 12-11, although the outcome was in doubt all game long.
Pontius hit a pair of free throws out of the 10:12 media timeout, giving BG a three-point advantage. Beverly split a pair of tosses, but freshman Jessica Slagle spotted an open Chelsea Albert, and the sophomore hit her layup try for a 16-12 lead. Then, Pontius knocked down a jumper at the 5:49 mark, and Prochaska's free throw gave BG a 19-12 lead.
Delva's jumper stopped a 12-1 Falcon run, and was Hartford's first basket in a span of 7:09.
Prior to Delva's shot, the Hawks were shooting just 4-of-22 from the field.
The Falcons kept coming, making several more free throws before senior Lindsey Goldsberry knocked down a jumper for a 23-14 lead at the 2:50 mark. Moments later, BG had a golden opportunity to extend the lead. With Pontius at the line after a Hartford foul, another foul was called as she hit her first shot. Pontius missed her next offering, then junior Niki McCoy missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity. Instead of getting a possible four points at the line, the Falcons got just one.
But, BG got the ball back on an offensive foul by the Hawks, and Goldsberry found Breske for a layup and a 26-16 lead. The Falcons took that 10-point lead into the half.
In the second half, things looked good for the Falcons as Delva and Etienne each picked up their third foul and headed to the bench within the first two minutes. McCoy made two free throws after Delva's foul, and hit a layup after the Etienne foul. The layup gave BG a 10-point lead with 17:42 remaining.
A few minutes later, Uhl's second trey of the day gave the Falcons an 11-point margin, at 35-24. Delva scored on a layup, before Pontius and Prochaska hooked up on a scoring play.
Pontius inbounded the ball to Prochaska at the offensive end of the court, then took a return pass in the right corner. The sophomore point guard's three-point try found nothing but net, and the Falcons' lead was 12 points..
Delva, back in the game, hit a jumper at the 9:45 mark, but then picked up her fourth foul and returned to the sidelines. A few moments later, a technical foul on the Hartford bench gave Prochaska a pair of free throws, and the sophomore connected on both. Then, McCoy's driving layup increased BG's lead to a game-high 13 points, 45-32, with 8:10 remaining.
But, the Hawks -- who went to the NCAA Championships last year and beat Duke on a neutral court last month -- would not go away quietly. Out of the eight-minute media timeout, Beverly hit a layup as part of a three-point play. Then, MaryLynne Schaefer drained a three-pointer, and a Delva free throw put Hartford within six points at 45-39.
Breske's driving layup stopped the run, but three more UH free throws cut BG's lead to 47-42 with 4:31 left.
The Falcons increased the lead back to nine points, as Prochaska hit two more charity tosses, and Pontius converted a high, arcing jumper over a taller defender. The lead was 51-42 with 3:44 left. But, Hartford would score the next six points to provide some nervous moments for the Anderson Arena crowd.
Beverly answered the Pontius J with one of her own, and a BG turnover led to Etienne's layup with 2:18 left, cutting the Falcon lead to five points. The Falcons missed a layup, and Delva got to the free-throw line, putting her team within just three points at 51-48, with 1:54 remaining.
The Falcons turned the ball right back over to the Hawks, but BG forced a turnover as well, and Prochaska drove and drew a foul with 1:13 left. Both of her free-throw tries were perfect, and BG's lead was five.
Schaefer forced a three-point try which did not go down, and Prochaska grabbed the rebound. The Hawks fouled Pontius as they pressed on the ensuing possession, and the soph made two more tosses for a 55-48 advantage.
Delva's jumper cut BG's lead to five points, with just 19 seconds left, and the Hawks quickly fouled Pontius. This time, she split a pair of free throws, and BG had a 56-50 lead. The final points came when BG was whistled for a foul with just 0.3 seconds on the clock, and Beverly hit two FTs.
For the Falcons, McCoy had seven points and 11 rebounds, setting a season best in the latter category. Prochaska had a game-high five assists, tying her career mark.
Etienne had 10 points for the visitors, adding a game-high three steals. In addition to her double-double, Beverly had three assists, two steals and six blocked shots. Hartford blocked 10 BG shots on the day.
The Falcons struggled from the free-throw line, shooting just 65.5%, but BG got to the line 29 times, making 19. UH was 12-of-18 from the stripe.
BGSU now takes a break for the holidays before returning to action next weekend. The Falcons will head down Interstate 75 for the Dayton Flyer Classic next Sunday and Monday (Dec. 28-29). BG will take on Gardner-Webb in first-day action, then will meet either Lipscomb or host UD the following evening.
NOTES
* BGSU's total of 29 free throws attempted was a season high ... Hartford made 12 FTs in 18 attempts, both season highs for a Falcon opponent.
* Falcon opponents had blocked a total of 26 BG shots over the first nine games of the season ... but, on Sunday, Hartford had 10 blocks, including six by Erica Beverly.
* BGSU earned the win despite posting season-low totals/averages in three-point field goals made (three) and attempted (15), three-point FG pct. (20.0%), free-throw pct. (65.5%) and steals (six).
* Junior Niki McCoy's total of 11 rebounds was a season high for a Falcon player ... McCoy missed her career best by just one board ... she had 12 rebounds on four different occasions while at the University of Akron.
* Sophomore Jen Uhl made her first two three-point field goals of the season ... she matched her career high, having also hit two triples in a pair of 2007-08 games.
* Uhl scored a season-high 11 points, and matched her season best with four field goals made vs. the Hawks.
* Soph Tracy Pontius made a career-high total of seven free throws ... her previous best had been four FTM, on three occasions.
* Another sophomore, Lauren Prochaska, was held without a three-point field goal for the first time this season ... in fact, Prochaska had made at least two treys in each of the year's first nine games.
* Prochaska did make a season-high seven free throws, and she tied her career high with five assists vs. the Hawks ... she also had five helpers last Dec. 29 in a win over Hampton.
* The Falcons and Hartford each are among the nation's 25 winningest programs over the last five years ... since the start of the 2004-05 season, BGSU has a record of 137-35, while the Hawks are now 125-46 in that time ... if all goes well, the complete list will be in the next edition of BGSU's game notes.
* BGSU is now 5-0 at home this season, and the Falcons have a modest seven-game winning streak in non-conference games at Anderson Arena ... BG has won 19-of-the last 20 non-league contests at "The House That Roars," with the lone loss in that time coming last season in overtime against Notre Dame.
* Sunday marked the ninth time the Falcons had played a game on Dec. 21, but BGSU's first-ever home contest on that date.
