Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Draws Ohio in Semifinal Round
March 13, 2008 | Women's Basketball
March 13, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - After winning a decisive 85-57 quarterfinal match versus the Kent State Golden Flashes, the now 25-6 Bowling Green State University Falcons will next face intra-division foe Ohio University (19-12) in the semifinal match on Friday, Mar. 14. BGSU/Ohio, the second women's semifinal match of the day, is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. tip-off. Miami University will take on the University of Toledo in the other semifinal game at 12:00 p.m. Both games will be held at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.
MAC Tournament Semifinal • Game 32
Mar. 14, 2008
Quicken Loans Arena • Cleveland, Ohio
BSGU vs. Ohio University, 2:30 p.m.
TV: FSN Ohio - Robin Muller and Jeff Phelps
RADIO: WBGU 88.1 - Ryan Gasser and Mike Castellano
Complete Release in PDF Format (43 pages) 
The 2007-08 Falcons in One Minute or Less
The 2007-08 Bowling Green State University Falcons finished the regular season with their fifth consecutive 20-plus win season recording a 24-6 overall mark ... they have since added a quarterfinal win over Kent State University to advance that margin to 25-6 ... after wining their first seven games, including two at the Cornell Classic (Nov. 30 - Dec. 1, Ithaca, N.Y.) to become the tournament champions, the Falcons took nationally ranked Notre Dame (Dec. 5) to overtime before falling for the first time ... at the time, BGSU was the first opponent to come within single digits of the Fighting Irish (86-84 OT) ... recently, ND was knocked out of the Big East Tournament while the Falcons remain in the hunt for a post season championship ... head coach Curt Miller's squad would win five of their next seven games and bring the non-conference season to an end with an 11-3 mark ... the Orange and Brown would also finish as the runner's up at the Iowa State Cyclone Shootout (Dec. 28-30, Ames, Iowa) ... BG opened its conference season with four wins in the East division before closing January with its first trio of MAC losses since the 2004-05 season ... getting themselves back on track, BGSU concluded the MAC season with nine straight victories and their fourth regular season championship crown becoming the first MAC women's basketball team to reach four interrupted titles in as many years ... through those final nine games, the Falcons also saw individual milestones reached as senior Kate Achter became the BGSU career record holder for free throws made while Miller surpassed the 144 overall win tally to become the career win coaching record holder at BGSU ... Achter and fellow senior Whitney Taylor also set a new Mid-American Conference record winning 106 games in four years to become the winningest male or female class in MAC history ... additionally, with their regular season championship, Bowling Green assured themselves a chance to move into the post season with at least a bid into the Women's Invitational Tournament ... at this time, BGSU has reached the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament for the fifth consecutive season and the 15th time in program history.
How They Got Here
Bowling Green: In earning a first round bye, BGSU, the top seed out of the East Division, used an 85-57 quarterfinal win over Kent State to stay alive in tournament play. With the win, BGSU has knocked Kent State out of the MAC Tournament in three of the last four seasons and are 6-2 versus the Golden Flashes in the post season. Sophomore Tara Breske recorded her third double-double (16p-11r) in the win leading BGSU on the glass and above the rim. She also was responsible for 75% of the BG block brigade (3-of-4). Player of the Year Kate Achter nearly picked-up a double-double of her own with 11 assists, including 10 in the first half, and nine points. She also had four steals in the effort. Her rookie counterpart, Freshman of the Year Lauren Prochaska was good for ten points and seven rebounds. The Falcons' bench contributed 34 of BG's 85 points. Jen Uhl led the reserves with 15 points while Bianca Hooten contributed a career high 13 points, counting three-of-four treys.
Ohio: Riding a one-two knockout punch eliminating two-thirds of the directional Michigan trifecta of Central Michigan (West #6) on Sunday, Mar. 9 and most recently Eastern Michigan (West #2) on Tuesday afternoon, the Bobcats enter the game with a 19-12 overall record. Ohio, the third seed out of the East division, is averaging 72 points in post season play. In those two games, Ohio has benefited from a balanced offensive scoring attack, yet Lauren Hmiel has ruled the glass with a team high nine rebounds each night.
Tournament History
Friday's contest will mark the first ever meeting between Bowling Green and Ohio University in a semifinal contest ... in their four previous encounters, BGSU and Ohio have meet twice in the first round (2000 and 2002) of the tournament and twice in the quarterfinal round (1992 and 1996) ... in each of those settings, BGSU is 1-1 for an overall MAC Tournament record of 2-2 versus the Bobcats ... under head coach Curt Miller, BGSU is 0-1 when facing the Bobcats ... in the 2002 Tournament, Ohio took a first round 74-68 win over the Falcons ... the programs have not met in the post season since.
Program History
Entering Friday's game, Bowling Green holds a 43-19 series record over Ohio ... since 2001, BGSU is 9-3 versus Ohio and has won both head-to-head battles this season ... in January, BG took a 60-45 MAC victory in Anderson Arena signifying the first time in the Curt Miller-era that the Bobcats were held to less than 50 points ... the Orange and Brown also closed the month of February with a 82-67 triumph at Ohio on Senior Day ... Kate Achter contributed 27 points, with 16 in the second half alone, as the Falcons overcame an early deficit and several Ohio surges to win their seventh straight game ... Achter and fellow senior Whitney Taylor became the winningest class in conference history (male or female) that night accumulating their 104th win with the Falcons ... since that night they have added three wins to that total and are now 107-21 with the Orange and Brown ... Achter and Taylor are 6-1 versus the Bobcats in their storied BGSU careers.
Shining Stars
Bowling Green: Kate Achter, MAC Player of the Year/ first team All-MAC; Lauren Prochaska, MAC Freshman of the Year/second team All-MAC/All-Freshman team.
Ohio: Lauren Kohn, first team All-MAC
Semi-Perfect
Under head coach Curt Miller, BG is a perfect 4-0 in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament ... after a single point victory (75-74) over Miami in 2004, BGSU has beaten their last three semifinal opponents by an average of 18.67 points; they also held each of the three opponents (Eastern Michigan twice and Toledo once) to 57 points or less.
Falcons at "The Q" (Quicken Loans Arena)
Bowling Green has come to call Quicken Loans Arena home winning 10 of their last 11 games in the Cleveland Cavilers home building ... BGSU has not lost in downtown Cleveland since 2004 (2004 MAC Championship) ... in fact, they have advanced past the semifinal round in each of the last four seasons ... 2003 marked the last time BGSU went `one-and-done' after being defeated by Eastern Michigan, 66-54, in the first round of the tournament ... in 23 complete seasons, BGSU has played in 15 semifinal games and have made it to the finals 10 times.
BGSU is ...
• 3-0 in the semifinals when the MAC Player of the Year appears on the BGSU active roster ... 1987 (Jackie Motycka), 1988 (Jackie Motycka), 2007 (Ali Mann).
• 2-1 in the semifinals when the MAC Freshman of the Year appears on the BGSU active roster ... won in 1990 (Lori Albers) and 2004 (Ali Mann); lost in 1986 (Jackie Motycka,) ... in 1995, the Falcons did not advance past the quarterfinals despite Sara Puthoff's FOY distinction.
• 6-0 in the semifinals when the MAC Coach of the Year appears on the BGSU sidelines ... 1987 (Fran Voll), 1989 (Fran Voll), 1993 (Jaci Clark) and 2005-07 (Curt Miller)
• 10-5 overall in the MAC Tournament semifinal ... nine of those appearances occurred on an uninterrupted basis between 1987-1994.
Beasts of the East
Of the remaining four teams, three represent the MAC East (BGSU, Ohio and Miami) while Toledo is the lone MAC West representative ... also notable, the MAC has not seen an all-Ohio final four since the 1998 season ... in fact, this season's occurrence is only the fifth time the Buckeye State outlasted the rest of the MAC field in post season play (1993, 1996-98, 2008).
Coaches' Duel
Of the four remaining squads, three are led by an experienced group of MAC coaches with more than a few wins to their credit ... the 12 o'clock game will pit Toledo's Mark Ehlen versus Miami's Maria Fantanarosa ... to date, Ehlen has 240 wins with the Rockets since the 1996 season ... he is only the second coach in MAC history to win more than 200 games ... Kent State's Bob Lindsay is the leader with 353 W's on his resume ... Fantanarosa (1999-pres.) recently won game no. 159 in beating Western Michigan's Ron Stewart in Tuesday's quarterfinal round ... though his season is over, Stewart ranks third among active MAC women's basketball coaches with 161 wins (fifth overall) ... in the 2:30 game, BGSU's head coach Curt Miller will carry a 149 career wins into the semifinal match versus Ohio ... Ehlen, Fantanarosa, and Miller rank two, four and five respectively among all active MAC coaches and two, six and seven in the all-time MAC coaching wins book.
BGSU Guaranteed Post-Season Play
In winning the regular season title, Bowling Green has assured itself post season play with an automatic bid to the Postseason Women's Invitational Tournament (WNIT) ... according to womensnit.com, "the WNIT awards an automatic berth to each of the nation's 31 conferences ... the spot goes to the team that finishes the highest in the regular-season conference standings that does not advance to the NCAA Tournament" ... with this being said, BGSU does not have to win the MAC Tournament to keep their season alive ... the 2008 Postseason WNIT will feature 16 first-round games, followed by 16 second-round games, eight third-round games, four quarterfinal games, two semifinal games and the championship ... much like the NCAA bracket, the WNIT field will be announced on the evening of the NCAA Tournament selections, on Monday, March 17.
BGSU - The Silver Years
With their most recent win over Kent State, BGSU reached 25 single season wins for only the seventh time in program history ... in the last four seasons, BG has met or surpassed the silver number for the third time ... the Falcons have 13 20-win seasons to highlight their program totals.
1986-87: 27-3 overall // regular season and MAC Tournament champions
1988-89: 27-4 overall // regular season and MAC Tournament champions
1992-93: 25-5 overall // regular season and MAC Tournament champions
1993-94: 26-4 overall // regular season and MAC Tournament champions
2005-06: 28-3 overall // regular season and MAC Tournament champions
2006-07: 31-4 overall // regular season and MAC Tournament champions
2007-08: 25-6 overall // regular season champions
Pretty Soon You'll Need to Take Off Your Shoes to Count That High
Dating back to a 71-41 victory at Toledo on Saturday, February 2, BGSU has won 10 consecutive games ... under head coach Curt Miller's direction, the Falcons have strung together 18 and 19 straight wins in each of the last two respective seasons ... each of those last runs included three MAC Tournament wins with 2007's stretch ending at the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
Unselfish Play Leads to Personal Records
As a result of her 11 assists in the quarterfinal round, senior Kate Achter has racked up a total of 667 career assists and is seven helpers away from setting the BGSU career record ... the program best tally of 673 career assists was set between 1979 and 1983 by Dee Knoblauch --- standing for a solid three seasons before Achter was born in April of 1986 ... when Achter surpasses Knoblauch she will negate the longest standing career record on the Falcon women's basketball books ... she also has a chance to own another piece of BG history ... Achter's 216 assists this season tie the second best contribution by a Falcon ... 1989 Frances Pomeroy Naismith winner Paulette Backstrom also dished 216 assists as a senior ... Achter is 14 assists shy of beating Knoblauch's top mark of 229 in a single season.
It's the Final Countdown
BGSU Career Assists: Kate Achter has 667 and sits second overall - she needs seven to break the record (673).
BGSU Single Season Assists: Achter has 216 as a senior and is tied for the second best single-season performance - she needs 14 to break the record (229).
MAC Career Assists: Achter has 667 and sits at fifth overall - she needs seven to move to fourth overall (673) ... Achter is the first MAC women's basketball player to break the 650 assist barrier since the early 1990's.
MAC Single Season Assists: Achter has 216 as a senior and is tied for the second best single-season performance - she needs one assist to hold sole possession of the seventh overall slot ... Achter is the first MAC women's basketball player to break the 215 single season assist barrier since the early 1990's ... in fact the most recent record was set by Heather Smith of Toledo in the 1995-96 season; she dished 263 assists that season.
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