Bowling Green State University
MICHIGAN STATE (Second Round)
Spartans Hang on to Top Falcons, 74-66, in WNIT
March 22, 2008 | Women's Basketball
March 22, 2008
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EAST LANSING, Mich. - Host Michigan State University used a 17-0 run late in the first half to take the lead for good, and the Spartans hung on for a 74-66 win over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Saturday afternoon (March 22). The game, a second-round contest in the Women's National Invitation Tournament, was held at the Breslin Center on MSU's campus.
With the win, the Spartans improve to 20-13 on the year, and MSU advances to face either Evansville or Kansas in the next round. The Falcons see the season come to an end with a record of 26-8 - BGSU has averaged 25.8 wins over the last five seasons.
Freshman Lauren Prochaska led all players with a career-high 24 points, in the process becoming the first-ever Falcon freshman to eclipse the 500-point plateau. She not only finished the season ranking as one of the top 50 players already in BGSU scoring history, but also recorded an historic fifth best rookie scoring season amongst all MAC women's basketball players since the conception of the league. Prochaska tallied 502 points this year. Included in that total was 74 three point field goals, the second best outing by any Falcon in a single season.
Senior tri-captain Kate Achter had 16 points and seven assists in her final collegiate game. Achter and classmate, tri-captain Whitney Taylor end their careers as the winningest duo not only in Falcon basketball history, but also in the MAC (men's or women's). During their four-year tenure, the tandem helped the Falcons to a total of 108 wins and just 23 losses. In four season's at BGSU, the earliest the two saw their season's end was March 19 of any given year.
Additionally, Achter will graduate with the fourth most points by a Falcon (1,580) and holds the records for career assists, free throws attempted and made. With the complete 2007-08 totals yet to be registered from around the league, she is believed to rank fourth in each of the respective categories on the MAC career record lists.
Though Michigan State jumped to a 5-2 lead by 18:15, BGSU created the first of five ties in the game with a made Breske free throw at 14:49. In the following minutes, the battle from the playing court was reflected heavily on the scoreboard giving no one team a lead greater than four points.
Just after the under-12:00 media timeout, Achter, the aforementioned career leader, sank a pair of free points to give the game its third tie (14-14) at 11:55. Prochaska's next jumper, would help the Falcons sail ahead of the hosts for a brief period, until Allyssa DeHaan would hit two of the 40 MSU points in the paint; BGSU would be allotted a season low 10 in the lane come game's end. DeHaan would finish with 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocks on the afternoon becoming only the fourth opponent to record as many blocks versus BGSU this season.
Prochaska stole the lead back for the Falcons with a trey at 10:19, 19-16, and would help BG go up as many as six points, 24-18, by 8:37, but twp points on each of the next three Spartan possessions brought the difference back to zero (24-24) by 6:48.
Beginning with a pair of Lauren Aitch free throws, MSU would retain the lead for good at 4:56. To close the half, MSU would conclude that 17-0 run at BGSU, 35-24 at 2:19, but thanks to a Bianca Hooten three pointer and four points from the Falcon posts, the Orange and Brown were sent to the locker room down just six, 37-31, in the home of their Big Ten foe.
At the half, MSU was out scoring BG, 22-8, in the lane while their bench contributed 16 points in comparison to the Falcon reserves' five. Each of the game's five ties and four lead changes occurred in that first 20-minutes of play.
Six minutes into the latter half of play, MSU found themselves ahead 20 points, 57-37 at 14:14; a lead that the Orange and Brown would cut in half by 10:55 capped by a pair of Prochaska three's. Two additional Prochaska points from the line would shorten that advantage to eight points and mark the first time BG was within the single digit ran since 18:15 (44-37).
State's underclass posts combined for three to bring the margin back to 11, 62-51, at 7:04, but a Goldsberry three at 6:49 once again brought BGSU back to the single digit realm, 62-54.
Not giving up, Bowling Green staged a come back that would be highlighted with a Jennifer Uhl three pointer at 2:20. Coming off a high Breske screen, Uhl was left alone to sink the important three, 65-61.
The four point deficit would be the closest the Falcons would come as time counted closer to ending BGSU's season.
In the final 60-seconds, the Spartan's were 3-of-5 from the line; Achter was a solid 2-of-2 in the Falcon's lone trip.
Click HERE to read an in-game running diary from East Lansing.
