Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Falcons Get `Chippy' in Mount Pleasant
February 13, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2008
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University Falcons (18-6, 7-3) broke one team and one individual free throw record as they hit 37-of-43 attempts in an 87-82 win over the Central Michigan University Chippewas (5-18, 1-9) at Rose Arena on Wednesday (Feb. 13) evening.
Bowling Green's 37 made free throws set program highs in both all and MAC only games erasing records that stood since 1990 (all games, 36 vs. Eastern Michigan, 3/6/90) and 1997 (MAC only, 36 vs. Kent State, 1/12/97).
Also, at the 14:55 mark in the second half of play, senior Kate Achter tied and then set the all-time free throws made record with the tries she was awarded on a driving lay-up. Thirty seconds later she added another pair to that record. She finished the game going 8-of-10 from the line and has a total of 487-and-counting career makes from the FT line with the Orange and Brown.
In total, 57 fouls were called inside of Rose Arena giving the teams a combined 70 FTA. As mentioned Bowling Green was 37-of-43 (86%); CMU was 17-of-27 (63%). Lauren Prochaska led BGSU going a perfect 11-of-11 while Jennifer Uhl was a flawless 8-of-8. Tracy Pontius also finished at 1.000 (2-of-2).
Prochaska finalized the game with a team high 20 points while Achter and Uhl each contributed 18. Once again in MAC play, Tara Breske nearly double-doubled with her 10 points and nine rebounds.
For the Chips, Angle Chan recorded a game high 22 points. Teammates Britni Houghton and Candace Wilson were good for 16 points a piece. Wilson went on to grab 11 boards for the double-double.
With the win, Achter and fellow senior Whitney Taylor join an elite group of both Bowling Green and Mid-American Conference players as the Falcons recorded their 100th win dating back four seasons. The MAC women's record of 103 wins was set by the BGSU Class of 2006 last season. Including last season's seniors, only six prior classes in the MAC had won 100 or more games during their playing days in the conference; two such classes graduated from BG while the remainders were in the Toledo program throughout the 1990's.
Under the lead of Achter and Lindsey Goldsberry, BGSU opened the game scoring five unanswered points, but while CMU's Chan could not get the Chips on the board on her fast break lay-up, she did open the hosts scoring from the free throw line, 5-2. At 16:48, Crystal Murdaugh mimicked Chan as her lefty lay-up rolled past the rim, but led to a pair of made free throws for the visitors.
Bowling Green went on to knock-down 12 consecutive free throws before missing one then sinking another seven; at the half they would be 19-20 from the line and shooting 95-percent from the line.
After Murdaugh's made freebies, Latisha Luckett cut the lead to a point, 7-6, at 16:32.
Within seconds of Uhl entering the contest near the 16:00 mark, the freshman scored a pair of points in the paint, but the Falcons three point lead was erased with a single Chan three pointer at 15:31 and the contest saw its lone tie of the night, 9-9.
Prochaska answered with a three-point field goal of her own off the first media timeout and once again the Falcons were ahead of the Chips in Rose Arena; thought it was threatened, BG would not relinquish the lead.
At 13:47 Uhl helped to turn Luckett's offensive rebound into a turnover and a subsequent steal where she found Achter calling for the ball and control of the fast break. In transition she went on to sneak a long chest pass to Prochaska who was fouled under BG's basket. In sinking both from the free throw line BGSU extended their lead, 14-9.
The rookie's twin makes from the stripe was followed by a Uhl lay-up and the Falcons were ahead seven points due in part to an unanswered run and the 16-9 score led to a 30 second CMU timeout.
Before the next media time out, the teams would exchange baskets, but BG continued to hold the seven point advantage, 18-11, by 11:32.
Through the ensuing six minutes, Bowling Green narrowly out scored the Chips 12-11 and twice saw their lead hit double-figures (10 points) but a late CMU surge closed the gap to five points on two other occasions. Finally, at 5:55 Murdaugh hit another two free throws helping BG to regain the familiar seven point edge, 30-23.
Uhl and Albert would contribute another three points to once again extend the lead to 10 points, 33-23, but a 9-4 run in Central's favor shrunk the Falcons advantage to a mere three-point field goal with 52-seconds remaining in the half, 35-32. Yet, once again the source of the Falcons scoring came at the line as Goldsberry and Prochaska each connected and the Orange and Brown entered the locker room with another seven point lead on their hands, 39-32.
Though the Falcons were shooting a high 95 percent from the line in the first 20 minutes of the game, they were also just 9-30 (30%) from the field including a 2-10 (20%) outing from behind the arc. At the time Uhl was the leading scorer for the visitors with her 12 first half points in 16 minutes of play. Chan sat atop the CMU scoring list at the half with 15 points, six of which came from three point land while five were scored at the foul line.
The Chips opened the second half with a Wilson three pointer and a pair of Chan free throws wrapped around a Prochaska lay-up en route to lessening the Falcons' lead to four points. Over the next two minutes they would downsize it to as little as three points once again on a Luckett three from deep in the corner of the arena at 17:26, 43-40.
Prior to the first media timeout of the second half, Goldsberry and her made three pointer pushed BG ahead six once again, 48-42, at 16:06 and by 14:25 an 8-2 BGSU run allowed the Falcons to take their then-largest lead of the night, 12 points, 56-44.
Wilson grabbed yet another one of her 10 defensive rebounds at 13:34 where she eventually found Shonda Long for a jumper, but BG answered with a three at 13:14 by Taylor to go ahead 13, 59-47.
Moments later, BG was called for another foul and Houghton was given an opportunity to strike back on the visitors; she would convert only her first free throw.
A missed Prochaska jumper turned up in the hands of Uhl at 12:34 and after setting their offense Achter's lay-up at 12:16 gave Bowling Green its largest double-digit lead of the night at plus-14 with a 61-47 score.
With the deficit plaguing the Chips, Chan made a three on the following possession only to be followed by three teammates and the Falcons 14 point lead had diminished to five within side of two minutes.
BG kept their lead between five and nine points until their hit their final big lead of the night once again reached 14 points as Prochaska rattled off seven of her own with two appearances at the free throw line. Murdaugh also contributed FT's while Breske was good for four points in the paint to unlock and seal the 14-5 run between 10:10 and 5:43. With Breske's second lay-up under the circumstances BGSU was ahead 75-61.
The Chips then `fired-up' for a run of their own scoring eight points and slashing the lead to only six points with almost four minutes to stage a comeback.
By this time, Bowling Green was playing without the aid of Murduagh and Goldsberry who had each fouled out earlier in the half. Breske and CMU's Luckett were also forced to the bench before the end of the game.
Bowling Green was 9-of-10 in the final three minutes of the game; Achter was 4-of-5 through that stretch as Bowling Green went on to keep between a 5-8 point lead.
After participating in Central Michigan's "Think Pink" celebration tonight, BG will return to Anderson Arena for their own commemoration of the WBCA's initiative on Saturday evening. Eastern Michigan will venture to Bowling Green for the second half of a two-game men's/women's basketball extravaganza. The women's contest is set to close the day with a game time of 7:00 p.m.
*FALCON NOTES*
*BGSU has made more than 20 free throws in their last two MAC outings. On Saturday versus Northern Illinois the Falcons were 20-of-33 and tonight they were good for 37-of-43. In fact, in their three MAC West wins, Bowling Green is 69-92 from the line and each Tara Breske (19), Lauren Prochaska (16), Jennifer Uhl (12) and Kate Achter (11) have hit more than ten. Dating back to Nov. 18, 2000 Bowling Green had not connected on more than 30 since their 35 made versus Youngstown State.
* Jennifer Uhl's 18 points are a career high for the freshman reserve, but scoring 10-plus points is nothing new for the post player. In fact she has scored 13 or more in three of the last four MAC outings.
*In their last outing at Rose Arena BGSU won by only five points. Under Curt Miller's direction BGSU is 3-2 in Mount Pleasant, Mich. but has won by double-figures just once.
*By Tara Breske and Angle Chan taking on one another's teams tonight, the MAC East moves to 3-0 when the reigning MAC Player's of the Week face-off. Ohio won a pair over Ball State and Western Michigan when OU's Lauren Kohn was the East POW challenging Kiley Jarrett (BSU) and Tiera DeLaHoussaye (WMU) two and three games back.
* With Kate Achter's 18 points tonight she became a top ten scorer in BGSU women's basketball history. To date, Achter has accounted for 1,418 points - six more than the previous 10th spot holder. Achter is now the only player in BGSU history to rank in the top ten in scoring with more than 1,400 points and rank in the top two in the all-time assist category with more than 600. Former Falcon Lindsey Austin finished her career scoring 1,000 points and dishing more than 500 helpers while representing the Orange and Brown.
##BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL##
