Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Travel East to Close Season at Akron
March 04, 2008 | Women's Basketball
March 4, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Hard to believe the Falcons started their season exactly four months (119 days) ago to the day and are now at the end of their 30 game regualr season schedule ... the final scheduled match-up will send Bowling Green State University east to the University of Akron on Wednesday, Mar. 5 ... the 7:00 p.m. game will pit the 23-6 Orange and Brown (12-3 MAC) against the 7-22 Zips (2-13 MAC) as the home team celebrates Senior Night in Rhodes Arena.
Game 30
Mar. 5, 2008
Rhodes Arena • Akron, Ohio
BSGU vs. University of Akron, 7:00 p.m.
RADIO: WBGU 88.1 - Tim Baughman and Time Pedro
Complete Release in PDF Format (43 pages) 
Cheering From the Cheap Seats, Couch or Virtual Highway
Falcon women's basketball can once again be heard over the airwaves and on the internet thanks to 88.1 WBGU FM ... internet broadcasts can be accessed via www.bgsufalcons.com ... tune in to Tim Squared (Tim Pedro and Tim Baughman) as they take the dial for the final regular season call.
We've Got Game (Maybe Even Two)
As the Falcons sit in first place in the MAC at 12-3 they are ONE game ahead of Miami and TWO games ahead of the West leaders Eastern Michigan and Ball State ... Miami is sitting at 11-4 while the tie for the West leaves Eastern Michigan and Ball State sitting at 10-5 entering Wednesday.
Fancy Meeting You Again ...
Freshman guard Lauren Prochaska tallied a game-high 18 points, all coming in the first half, as she helped to guide the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to an 88-56 win over the visiting University of Akron in the Mid-American Conference opener on Jan. 9 ... also contributing to the successful night was senior reserve guard Whitney Taylor who netted 13 points, including a career-high four made three-point field goals ... Taylor nearly saw a perfect night going 4-4 from the floor and 1-2 from the free throw line - all in just 18 minutes of play ... she also had an assist and a steal against the Zips ... Taylor was not the only Falcon to net a quartet of three-pointers ... while the senior captain's achievement came in the second half, Prochaska went 4-4 in the first half ... by nights end, BG went 10-19 (52.6%) from the back court ... the usual suspects of Lindsey Goldsberry and Tracy Pontius also swished one of their own ... BGSU's Kate Achter and Tara Breske each contributed 12 points in the win, while freshman Crystal Murdaugh pulled down a then career-high eight rebounds ... previously Murdaugh's high consisted of six rebounds; that night she matched that earlier effort on the defensive end alone ... a trio of youngsters paced the Zips including a game-high 18 points from freshman guard Kara Murphy; she also recorded a team-high five rebounds ... four assists were dished via freshman guard Amanda Sedlack and three steals were snatched by freshman guard Keyla Snowden ... at the time, Bowling Green had won their last three match-up in lopsided 30+ point victories ... the BGSU bench was been responsible for 29 points on two of those occasions and 30 points in another outing ... one non-starter posted figures in the double-digits in each of those wins ... BGSU's 32 point win was the largest margin of victory of each of the first night MAC games ... their 88 points were the most to be scored in the first nice of conference basketball; Akron's 56 were the second lowest on the evening.
M.A.C. (Making All Conscience) of Our Play
With her 202 assists this season, senior Kate Achter has found herself not only with the third best single-season effort by a Falcon, but is also believed to be the 10th best by a MAC women's basketball athlete ... her 653 are believed to be the sixth best mark in MAC history ... she is the second BGSU athlete to grace the top six ... BGSU assist leader Dee Knoblauch is the other (673) ... she is believed to be only one of eight MAC players to hit more than 500 free throws ... thus far Achter ranks eighth on that list and tops the Orange and Brown's record books ... she also owns the BGSU record for most free throws taken (680) and is the sixth ranking player in conference history ...freshman Lauren Prochaska has also made an impact on a MAC list jumping from 12th to 8th on the rookie scoring list ... with her 440 points she managed to improve on the record of WMU's Carrie Moore's 438 first season tally ... Moore went on to lead the nation in scoring as a senior last season.
Achter Once Again MAC East POW as BGSU Sweeps Honors
Senior point guard Kate Achter added another Mid-American Conference Player of the Week conferral to her resume as announced by the MAC offices on March 3, 2008 ... Achter has won the award four times this season and has seen back-to-back recognition on both occasions ... freshman Joe Jakubowski of the men's program was named the MAC East POW this week as BGSU completed the sweep ... the Oregon, Ohio native averaged 25.5 points and 7.5 assists as the Falcons added another pair of league wins to their 12-3 MAC record ... to date, BGSU is 23-6 and has claimed at least a share of the MAC crown ... in doing so, they have also wrapped up a first round bye in the MAC Tournament ... in Athens, Ohio last Wednesday, Achter shot 55.6 percent from the field (10-of-18) and was 7-of-8 from the free throw line ... she would score 27 points in the come from behind effort including 16 in the second half ... with the 82-67 win over the Ohio University Bobcats, she and fellow senior Whitney Taylor became the winningest class in MAC history (male or female; 104 wins) ... she also finished the game with a defensive rebound, a block, a steal and eight assists ... in her final game at Anderson Arena on Saturday, the tri-captain contributed another 24 points shooting 80-percent from the field and tying a career high two three point field goals ... Achter tossed another seven helpers in the 74-47 win over the Buffalo and picked-up another defensive rebound.
Bring Out the Brooms, Vacuums and Swiffers
Bowling Green is the only team in the MAC East that has a chance to possibly earn a road sweep of the division ... if they beat Akron on Wednesday, the Falcons will have beat every East division team in its own arena ... both Buffalo and Miami are set to finish with just one road loss in the East ... UB's came at the hands of BGSU while Miami was beat at Ohio ... Ohio has one road loss at BG, but still has a pair of road games to close their season ... West leading Ball State and Eastern Michigan are the only two to have a chance in that division to escape with only one road loss in the division ... Ball State fell at Toledo and delivered EMU its only MAC West road loss ... Ball State is also the only MAC team to beat BGSU away from Anderson Arena thus far ... if Miami beats Ohio on Wednesday, they can also finish with just one overall road MAC loss ... every team in the West has at least two road losses in conference play.
Fore's (Four's) Not Only Synonymous with Golf
Though the Falcons, like a handful of their peers will still need to await outcomes in MAC play, they join 13 other NCAA women's basketball teams in at least clinching their third or fourth regular season title dating back to 2004-05 ... nine of those teams, including BGSU will share or outright win that title in each of the current seniors' years with the program ... to date, eight conferences will not share in this distinction while six are on the bubble ... Liberty of the Big Sky Conference won 3-of-4 but did not take the crown in 2008 ... the same applies to Coppin State of the Mid-Eastern Conference.
Who Needs the Jones' When You Have the Voll's to Keep Up With?
After winning Bowling Green's first Mid-American Conference regular season championship in 1986-87 with their 16-0 league record, former head coach Fran Voll's Falcons went on to win the MAC Tournament that season and in each of the three subsequent seasons ... though his team was the Tournament champions in 1989-90, BG had not won the regular season ... those teams won an average of 25 games per year and never lost more than nine contests ... fast forward to this season and head coach Curt Miller ... at present time, Bowling Green has won at least a share of it's fourth MAC regular season championship and is averaging 26.25 wins per season ... Kent State is the only other team to win three straight regular season championships ... between 1997-98 through 1999-2000, the Golden Flashes' won the regular season title twice and were co-champions with Toledo in 1998-99 ... the circa. 1995-97 UT Rockets are the only other team to win three consecutive MAC Tournaments ... in its 26-year record, the current BGSU squad is the only one to win four uninterrupted regular season titles.
Prochaska Frontrunner in MAC Freshman Scoring Race
Rookie Lauren Prochaska not only ranks fourth overall in the Mid-American Conference with her 15.2 ppg, but she also continues to the lead the league's freshman class in the scoring category ... Prochaska is one of three freshmen in the top ten ... Akron's Keyla Snowden ranks sixth overall in the MAC and second amongst diaper dandies with her 14.3 ppg ... fellow Zip Kara Murphy is seventh overall with her 14.3 ppg ... the three are the only youngsters listed on the top 30 scoring list ... in head-to-head competition both Prochaska and Murphy recorded 18 respective points while Snowden chipped in seven for the Zips ... Prochaska also lead the trio with her six rebounds and one block ... the Falcons went on to win the home contest 88-56 ... they will meet again near the end of the season on March 5 in Akron, Ohio ... with her 428 points she found a spot on the All-Time MAC Freshman scoring list debuting at 14th and has since move upward into the eighth spot (440 pts.).
Rookie Also Competing in National Scoring Race
As of Mar. 3, 2008 Prochaska also ranked seventh amongst the top freshman in the country with her 15.2 ppg ... three of the top freshman rank among the top 100 average scoring efforts in the NCAA while only 16 have made it to the top 250 ... to break down the current list, Prochaska ranks second with her 65 made trey's ... all 15 have recorded 300-plus points to date; seven including Prochaska are over 400 while the top two have hit 500-plus pts.
Lightening Rarely Strikes
When BGSU's Lauren Prochaska takes the court against Akron's Keyla Snowden and Kara Murphy, it will mark only the third known group of top freshman scorers to face eachother in conference play ... the other occurances took place as Andrea Barbour of Virgina Tech faced Carolyn Swords and Stephanie Murphy of Boston College in ACC competition ... Brittani Shells of Richmond and Megan Mahoney of Fordham also battled in Atlantic-10 play.
Looking Good In Person and On Paper
Statistically speaking Bowling Green ranks in the top two in nine of 19 categories referenced by the Mid-American Conference stats ... in fact, they are the top ranking program in five areas including scoring offense and defense, scoring margin, turnover margin and assist to turnover ratio ... in MAC only games, Bowling Green is a top three program in eight categories.
View From the Top
As of the games through Mar. 2, the Falcons are ranked in the top 25 of three team NCAA statistical categories and have 13 total top 50 spots ... Kate Achter's 6.9 assists per game are the 8th best effort in the country and her assist to turnover ratio is listed at 38th ... Lauren Prochaska's 89.2 FT% is 8th in the country ... her 41.1 accuracy from the three-point line in the 27th best total in NCAA DI women's basketball.
##BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL##
