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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MIAMI (OH)
Prochaska and Achter Double-Double As Falcons Beat Miami
February 23, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2008
Final Stats
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Miller, Achter and Albert post-game audio
OXFORD, Ohio - In what could be called nothing less than a championship atmosphere, Bowling Green State University and Miami University battled to an 81-66 decision. With the win Bowling Green advances to 21-6 overall and tops the league with their 10-3 record. Miami fell from the leader board with the loss and is now 9-4 in the league and 17-10 overall.
In addition to its importance at the conference level as the Falcons are now in first place in the MAC, the victory also propelled head coach Curt Miller to win 145 of his career making him THE ALL-TIME WINNINGEST COACH IN BOWLING GREEN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL HISTORY. Miller and his staff are 145-66 overall and have posted five consecutive 20-plus win seasons.
As if that wasn't enough, seniors Kate Achter and Whitney Taylor are 103-21 in their careers at BGSU - not only are they tied as the winningest class in Falcon history, but also they are one win away from becoming the winningest class in Mid-American Conference history. Their 103 victories match last season's senior class's total and outrank every other class to come through the MAC from both the male and female sides.
In the win, freshman Lauren Prochaska earned a double-double snatching 15 boards, all on the defensive end, and 21 points. Achter added her second consecutive double-double of 10 assists and 15 points. To date, BGSU has seen two players with a double-double twice this season; the last was against Ohio in the beginning of the season where Prochaska and Crystal Murdaugh recorded double-figures in the rebounding and scoring columns.
The Bowling Green post corps. of Tara Breske and Jennifer Uhl added 12 and 11 points with a combined seven boards. Chelsea Albert also contributed nine points and seven rebounds.
Jenna Schone, Amanda Jackson and Stephanie Ford led the way for the hosts with their 15 respective points apiece. Ford also nabbed 11 rebounds for her own double-dip in the final stats. Miami's seniors will graduate without ever beating the Falcons in Millet Hall during their collegiate careers.
Coming out of the gates it was clear this match-up would not play like any other ordinary game and each team was out to win each and every small victory as the opening tip was sent out of bounds towards press row. After being given the first possession, Miami's Ashley Hawkins scored on a lay-up. Bowling Green would see two full possessions of their own before Breske got the visitors started with a jumper of her own.
The Falcons, down 4-2, took their first lead of the game on successful out of bounds play where Achter found Prochaska on the strong side of the court. With the made three BGSU was up 5-4 at 17:37. By the final buzzer the lead would change hands on five occasions while evening itself five additional times.
The freshman guard then sank the twin free throws she was awarded in transition, but Jackson even the score on the next Miami possession, 7-7. At the time Miami had an even distribution of scorers while Prochaska was responsible for five of the Falcons' first seven.
By the first media timeout Miami threw three different combinations at the Falcons looking for an impact guard to run with four members of the starting group. At the time, MU was 3-10 from the floor.
MU's answers were found as the RedHawks took a two basket run at the Falcons out of the break but not without a price. The first basket was the fourth of their possession at 14:35. The next would not come until Ford grabbed a defensive rebound at 13:13 and the hosts' netted a jumper by Hawkins at 12:54.
Less than a minute later, Albert's lay-up over Laura Markwood not only contributed to BGSU's 34 points in the paint, but also brought the teams within a field goal of each other, 11-9 at 12:04.
Another run by Miami pushed their lead to 20-13 by 8:49, yet the majority of their eight points were scored at the free throw line. Between 11:47 and 8:49 MU would go 5-of-7 from the stripe; Bowling Green was 1-of-5 from the floor in that time with the only make coming from Uhl. In the middle of that stretch, Uhl's field goal enabled BG to nip at the heels of the RedHawks, but would not come close to catching them until the final minute of the half.
At 8:38, reserve point guard Tracy Pontius attempted to take the ball to the rack down the right side of the lane and despite coming up short on the lay-up sank both free throws to bring BG back within five, 20-15.
As the Falcons took another trip to the line at 7:55, Albert's miss on the opening shot of a one-and-one turned into opportunity as Lindsey Goldsberry stole a defensive rebound from Markwood in Falcon territory. Possession of the ball left her hands for a brief moment, but Albert once again found the junior guard on the right wing as she swished a three pointer and helped the scoreboard read 22-18.
Miami's offense kept the lead between five and seven points until peaking at the 3:29 mark with lay-ups timed just thirty-seconds a part. First Schone would find Markwood for a low post shot in the paint. Next, Hawkins would recover a steal and find Ashleigh Brown for two in transition.
As has been the case in previous games, the Falcons were not down and were certainly not out as Uhl scored three consecutive BGSU baskets going on a 7-2 charge against Miami herself. After a pair of made Jackson free throws, Uhl hit a three from the top of the key allowing the Falcons to roar back with a defensive rebound and a patent pending Achter drive through the lane. With 1:27 BG was within two and had not only forced MU to a 30-second timeout, but out of that break came up with a charge.
Trying to find a final shot, but suffocated by Goldsberry's defense, Jackson found Brown for a short banked jumper at .31 (35-31; MU). Fellow Player of the Year candidate, Achter, looking for a last shot herself, took a drive down the lane and ended up on the floor (along with a Miami defender) but laid in the take none the less. After playing catch-up for a majority of the first half, BGSU took a 35-33 two point deficit into the intermission.
At the time, both Uhl and Ford were pacing their respective teams with 11 points. Though the teams' stat lines read similarly even, the glaring difference at the half came as the BGSU bench contributed 17 points while the MU bench mustered only four. In the same respect, MU led BG in both the points off turnovers (13-7) and fast break points (4-0) categories.
Prochaska's opening shot of the half, a three, drew an MU foul while she was in the act of shooting and the freshman hit all three chances to give Bowling Green the 36-35 lead less than 30-seconds into play. Prochaska has led the league for much of the conference season from the stripe and entered the game shooting better than 90-percent.
Miami tied the head-to-header on a Ford free throw and after a ping pong type possession, MU went ahead 38-36 with a lay-up in transition (18:20). The score would be the first of six uninterrupted points by Jackson.
By 14:07 Miami would continue to hold a single digit edge over the Falcons, but a field goal by Breske brought BG within four. The visitor's then answered with a defensive stop, another Breske jumper from nearly the same spot, 47-45, and yet another defensive stop.
On the roll, Prochaska was found trailing in the lane after a missed jumper turning Albert from a rebounder to the disher as the rookies combined for two points and the final tie of the game, 47-all at 12:13.
Hawkins made the tie short lived with a jumper - Schone then helped that fact with a steal and a lay-in at 11:19, 51-47.
Prochaksa, known to do a bit of scoring herself, hit her second three of the night and Bowling Green was down only one, 51-50 by 11:08. At the time, she was nearly double-doubling with 15 points and nine rebounds - all on the defensive end.
Miami, once again attempted to persevere through the Falcons' hot-shot shooting but were unable to stave off the persistent Falcons for long.
With a five point difference in the RedHawks favor, Bowling Green rattled off four points to close within one of the hosts.
Continuing the defensive effort, Bowling Green did not allow Miami to produce a scoring possession and Murdaugh, though not a finance major did her best bankers impression as she kissed the glass giving BG the 56-55 lead with under 8:00 to play on her turnaround jumper.
The next deadball brought about the 8-minute media time out giving each side a chance to regroup and make the needed adjustments to their X's and O's. Out of that break, Prochaska stole an inbounds pass intended for Jackson from under the MU basket.
On the opposite end of the court, Albert and Achter reprised for a familiar site by turning an inbounds' of their own into points with an Achter drive and another tally from the free throw line. BG was ahead 59-55, but soon their lead would be shortened to one as Miami sank a few FT's at their own hoop.
Calling Breske up in the key, Achter delivered a bounce pass which resulted in a turnaround jumper and Achter's 10th helper of the close match. The shot put BG ahead 61-58 and her latter put back, though bobbled on the rebound, gave BG a 63-58 lead with 5:00 to play. Breske would go 6-7 from the floor in the road outing.
Playing for what could be the top seed of the MAC tournament, Miami retaliated with numerous made free throws, but the final steak would be planted when in diving for a losse ball Achter drew a MU foul and hit the front ... and back end of a one-and-one as BG took the 67-60.
Though they were on the road, the fans helped the atmosphere of the game to feel more like Anderson Arena silencing the MU stands especially after Goldserry hit a three to give BGSU a 10-point lead, 70-60, and the momentum at 3:27. The blunt force of the impact shot was delivered after a series of quick touch passes in BG territory before leaving Goldsberry's hands and finalizing itself at the bottom of the net.
Bowling Green hit 11-of-13 free throws down the stretch, including six by both Prochaska and Achter to seal their fifth conference win away from the friendly confines of Anderson Arena.
Bowling Green, though currently leading the MAC and holding a game or more lead on many of their conference foes, will turn around to face Ohio University in Athens on Wednesday afternoon. The Bobcats were upset today by the visiting Bulls of the University at Buffalo.
Head-to-head competition between the Falcons and Bobcats will commence at 7:00 p.m. on February 27 at the Convocation Center.
*Falcon Notes*
*Miami's Amanda Jackson, the leading scorer in the MAC and the seventh ranking scorer in the nation, was held to 15 points versus the Falcons. Only Akron (1/16/08) and Western Michigan (2/9/08) have limited her scoring more than BGSU. At Akron she was allotted 14 points while WMU held her to nine at home. Jackson averaged 22.6 through 25 games this season and holds place on numerous Miami and MAC scoring lists.
*Lauren Prochaska's 21 points were a career high. To date she is the top freshman scorer under head coach Curt Miller. Entering the game she trailed former Falcon Ali Mann (400 pts.) by 12 points. After her career night, Prochaska has accounted for 407 tallies and is only 65 pts. away from the all-time freshman record of 472 points set by Falcon great Jackie Motycka. The record was set three years before Prochaska was born (1985-86).
*As a unit, BG's forwards (Murdaugh, Breske, Albert and Uhl) were responsible for 34 of the Falcons' 81 points.
*In attendance was former coach Fran Voll. At the conclusion of the game, the previous all-time coaching leader addressed the team and passed the record over to Miller.
##BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL##
