Bowling Green State University
Dayton
Falcons Win Dayton Flyer Classic with 77-68 Victory over UD
December 29, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2008
Final Stats
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Coach Miller Post-Game Audio
Pontius Post-Game Audio
Prochaska Post-Game Audio
DAYTON, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Three Bowling Green State University women's basketball starters scored at least 20 points apiece as the Falcons recorded a road win in a tournament environment Monday night (Dec. 29). The Brown and Orange downed the University of Dayton, 77-68, in the championship game of the Dayton Flyer Classic. The game was held at UD Arena.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 10-2 on the season, and BGSU has won 10 games in a row. The Flyers drop to 10-5 on the year.
Junior Niki McCoy was named the tournament's MVP, while sophomore Lauren Prochaska joined her on the all-tournament team. Prochaska scored a game-high 26 points, while McCoy and sophomore Tracy Pontius each had 20 points vs. the Flyers.
Junior Tara Breske added six points for the Falcons, and also had 11 rebounds and two blocked shots.
For the hosts, Justine Raterman had 15 points to pace three players in double figures. Kristin Daugherty added 14 points, while Kendel Ross had 10 for the Flyers.
Prochaska scored 17 of her 26 points in the first half, including seven-straight points early in the game and 10 more in the last 3:08 before halftime. Pontius had 14 second-half points, while McCoy scored 12 points after the intermission.
McCoy scored on the game's first possession, and the Falcons then went scoreless for close to two minutes. With the game tied at 2-2, Prochaska had her initial scoring surge, beginning with a three-point field goal off a Pontius inbounds pass. Prochaska was 4-for-6 from beyond the arc on the evening.
Prochaska then proceeded to hit a pull-up jumper, after pausing long enough to let a Dayton Flyer fly past her. Then, the sophomore took an entry pass from senior co-captain Lindsey Goldsberry to hit another jumper, giving the Falcons a 9-2 lead and causing the home team to burn a timeout.
Following the timeout, the home team regrouped, scoring the game's next six points to pull within one. McCoy, however, muscled down low for a layup, then split a pair of free throws a few moments later. The Falcons had a 12-10 lead at the 11:13 media timeout, with Prochaska and McCoy accounting for all 12 BG points.
Pontius and freshman Jessica Slagle had success driving the lane and drawing fouls from their point-guard counterparts. Dayton's Patrice Lalor and Kayla Moses each had picked up their second foul before 12 minutes were gone.
After the game's third media timeout, Pontius broke a tie by hitting two free throws and a contested runner, and the Falcons had a 22-18 lead. Then, with 6:38 left in the half, Lalor was whistled for her third foul of the night, with McCoy splitting two tosses from the stripe.
Breske followed her own miss and converted a putback, but Moses answered quickly, and BG's lead was 25-22. Another Breske offensive board and layup gave the Falcons a five-point lead and prompted another Flyer timeout.
Again, the home team responded after the timeout, scoring five-straight points to tie the game. But, Prochaska hit a triple with 3:08 left in the half, and Slagle whizzed a pass over several defenders to McCoy, who hit a jump-stop layup in transition. BG's lead was 32-27.
Daugherty's jumper was answered by another Prochaska triple, and the Falcons' advantage was six points. Then, after a UD turnover, the soph went to the free-throw line and converted a pair of shots. Prochaska, in fact, would go 4-for-4 from the stripe in the final 1:07 of the half, giving BGSU a 39-29 lead as the teams headed for their respective lockerrooms.
When the second haft began, McCoy continued a BG trend - getting to the free-throw line. The junior made a nice fake to draw a foul on UD's Casey Nance, and hit the ensuing throws for a 41-29 advantage.
Some nice passing, from Pontius to Prochaska to Pontius to McCoy, led to an open layup for the junior at the 18:47 mark. Nance hit a layup at the other end, but Pontius popped outside the arc to knock down a three-pointer, and the Falcons' lead was 46-33.
Two Prochaska free throws gave the visitors a 15-point lead - the biggest of the game - with 17:23 left, before a 50-50 call went the Flyers' way and changed momentum. After Ross hit a jumper, Prochaska took an inbounds pass from Pontius and banked home a layup as the whistle blew. Instead of two points and a possible three-point play, however, an offensive foul was called on Prochaska. UD scored the next four points to head into the first media timeout of the half trailing by just 11 points.
The Flyers' run continued as Raterman grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a layup, and Daugherty made two free throws after a technical foul was called on the BG bench.
Then, McCoy made a layup as the whistle sounded, but the hoop was waved off as an offensive foul was called. Another Raterman layup cut the lead to three points, and a jumper by Ross narrowed the gap to 48-47.
Pontius found McCoy for an easy layup, snapping Dayton's 14-0 run and giving the Falcons their first points in over four minutes, but the Flyers kept coming. Two Moses free throws tied the game at 53-53 midway through the half.
Pontius responded with a pull-up jumper, but Nance's three-point play gave the Flyers their first lead since 18-15. Pontius rallied the Falcons again, driving and drawing Moses' fourth foul of the game, and splitting two tosses to tie the contest.
Then, sophomore Chelsea Albert got an offensive rebound in traffic, drawing a foul in the process. Her two free throws out of the ensuing media timeout gave the Falcons a 58-56 lead with 7:55 left. BG would not trail again, but there were some dicey moments.
Two Pontius throws gave BG a 61-57 edge a minute later, and Prochaska took a pass from Pontius and hit a key three-pointer with 6:10 on the clock, putting the visitors up by seven. But, Raterman had yet another putback, then fed Nance for a jumper, and the lead was down to three points.
With 4:27 remaining, McCoy slipped inside, took a pass and was fouled. The Akron transfer scored yet again from the stripe, putting the lead at 66-61. Prochaska's runner at the 3:30 mark again returned the lead to seven points.
After two Ross tosses, Pontius got back to the line, drawing Lalor's fifth foul of the night and hitting both free throws. Prochaska's jumper in the lane gave the Falcons a 72-63 lead with 2:23 left.
Pontius drew the fifth foul on another Dayton point guard, as Moses went to the bench with 1:39 left. Pontius converted both free throws, then spotted an open McCoy for a layup and a 76-67 lead with just over a minute on the clock. Her 11th made free throw of the night came in the final minute and was BG's last point of the night.
The Falcons went to the line no fewer than 36 times, making 28. The Flyers were 11-for-17 from the stripe.
BG shot 42.3 percent from the field, making 22 of 52 shots on the evening. The home team had a field-goal percentage of 38.6%. UD was 3-for-7 from three-point land, with De'Sarae Chambers a perfect 2-of-2. The Falcons made five treys in 13 tries, with Prochaska knocking down four of those five.
The game featured seven ties and six lead changes, including four of each in the opening half.
The Falcons will prepare for the final non-conference game of the 2008-09 schedule. BGSU will begin calendar year 2009 with a lengthy trip to Edwardsville, Ill., for a Friday (Jan. 2) game vs. SIU-Edwardsville.
A FEW FALCON NOTES
* BGSU, as mentioned, has won 10 consecutive games ... believe it or not, the Falcons have had a double-digit winning streak in each of the last four years ... BG had a 19-game streak in the 2005-06 campaign that spanned the entire MAC schedule as well as the conference tournament ... in 2006-07, BGSU won 18-straight games from late December through late February ... then, last year, the Falcons had a 10-game win streak that lasted through all of February and nearly halfway into March.
* For junior Niki McCoy, Monday night marked the second time in as many tournaments that she was named the MVP ... McCoy was chosen as the most outstanding performer at the UNCG Marriott Classic in Greensboro, N.C., last month.
* Sophomore Lauren Prochaska, like McCoy, has been selected to the all-tournament team at each of the Falcons' two tourneys this year ... she joined McCoy on the all-tourney squads in both Greensboro and Dayton.
* McCoy and Prochaska were joined on the Dayton Flyer Classic All-Tournament Team by Jenna Bartsokas of Lipscomb and the Dayton duo of Kristin Daugherty and Justine Raterman.
* Monday's game marked the first time in nearly 10 years that three Falcons scored 20 or more points in the same game ... the last time it happened was on Feb. 17, 1999, in a win at Central Michigan, as Sherry Kahle (24), Jacki Raterman (22) and Angie Farmer (21) all turned the trick for the Brown and Orange ... Raterman's sister, Justine, is a freshman on the 2008-09 Dayton squad.
* The Falcons are now a perfect 5-0 in games played on assistant coach Kevin Eckert's birthday since Eckert joined the Falcon program ... that streak includes wins in each of the last four seasons.
* BGSU now leads Dayton, 10-8, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons have won six consecutive meetings ... prior to last year's WNIT first-round meeting (March 20, 2008), the Falcons had not faced the Flyers since December of 1992.
