Bowling Green State University
OHIO
Falcons Steal Road Win from Ohio, 62-52
January 10, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 10, 2009
Final Stats | BGSU-Ohio Boxscore in PDF Format
BGSU's Updated Cumulative Statistics in PDF Format
Miller and Prochaska Post-Game Audio
ATHENS, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team forced host Ohio University into 30 turnovers en route to a 62-52 victory Saturday afternoon (Jan. 10). The Mid-American Conference game was held at the Convocation Center.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 13-2 overall and 2-0 in MAC action. BGSU has won 13 consecutive games. The Bobcats fall to 5-9 and 1-1, respectively.
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska scored a game-high 22 points, while classmate Tracy Pontius joined her in double digits with 13 points. Pontius added a game- and career-high six steals as the Falcons had a total of 16 steals on the day.
For the Bobcats, Jennifer Bushby had 13 points and Chandra Myers 10.
The Falcons shot just 32.7 percent in the game, but forced the Bobcats into 17 turnovers in the first half and 13 more in the second. Ohio had a 37.8% field-goal rate for the afternoon.
For the second-straight game, the Falcons fell into an early hole on the road. Ohio scored the first seven points of the day, with two Myers jumpers sandwiched around a Bushby three-point field goal, and Falcon coach Curt Miller called a timeout with just over a minute and a half elapsed.
Senior co-captain Lindsey Goldsberry got the Falcons on the board with a driving layup at the 17:12 mark, and a quick steal led to a Prochaska jumper from Pontius in transition.
Junior co-captain Tara Breske came up with a steal and fed Pontius on the break, cutting Ohio's lead to 9-7 with nearly five minutes expired.
Neither team would score for more than two minutes, before Myers converted a layup. The Falcons, however, scored the game's next nine points to take a 16-11 lead with just over eight minutes left in the half.
That 9-0 run started with freshman Jessica Slagle's two free throws, before a Pontius jumper tied the score at 11-11.
After Slagle's charity tosses, the Bobcats would commit a turnover on eight of the team's next nine possessions.
The Falcons' run continued as Goldsberry drove the baseline and kicked the ball out to junior Niki McCoy, who hit a three-point field goal from in front of the Ohio bench. That shot was followed by a long two-pointer by Prochaska at the 8:17 mark.
After going just 3-of-15 from the field to start the game, BGSU then knocked down the next three shots as part of that 9-0 run.
After the Bobcats scored four consecutive points to get within 18-17, Goldsberry hit a pull-up jumper with the shot clock winding down, then drained a three-pointer on the Falcons' next possession. A few moments later, she threaded a pass through several defenders to a wide-open Jen Uhl. The sophomore converted the easy layup for a 25-17 lead with 2:25 left.
The Bobcats, however, scored the last five points of the half, with Kamille Buckner scoring the final four of those points. She hit a jumper with 49 seconds left, then made a short jumper at the buzzer. The latter play came after Bushby had misfired on a three-point try. On the ensuing rebound, a Falcon player tried to bat the ball away from the basket, but it went directly to Buckner, who caught and shot in one motion.
The Bobcats shot 45.0% to the Falcons' 31.0% in that opening half, but Ohio had 17 turnovers to BG's 10. Pontius was credited with three of the Falcons' eight first-half steals, with Slagle awarded two. Goldsberry was not credited with a steal in that half, but greatly aided the BG defensive cause with numerous deflections
The teams got off to a slow start offensively in the second half. Prochaska picked up the first four points of the half, knocking down a pair of free throws before hitting a jumper with two minutes gone. The Bobcats, meanwhile, had turnovers on the first four possessions of the half. When Pontius picked Bushby's pocket at midcourt and went in for a layup, the Falcons had a 31-22 lead and the Bobcats took a timeout.
The lead got as high as 12 points when Prochaska made a three-pointer out of the first media timeout of the half. The Bobcats got a pair of free throws for their first points of the period with 15:29 left, snapping a 9-0 Falcon run.
Those free throws, from Carolyn Barnett, began a 14-2 Ohio run that enabled the hosts to tie the game. Barnett's tosses were followed by jumpers from Bushby and Lauren Hmiel, and the Falcons' lead had been cut from 12 points to six.
A layup by Uhl stopped that run, but Hmiel hit a three-pointer, and Buckner made an 'and-one' layup heading into the second media timeout of the half. Her ensuing free throw was no good, but an offensive rebound kept the ball in the Bobcats' hands, and Jenny Poff's lone field goal of the game, a three-pointer, tied things at 36-36 with 11 minutes to go.
Prochaska quickly responded, hitting a long two-pointer, and McCoy made a tough driving layup with the shot clock winding down. McCoy drove again a few moments later, drawing a foul and hitting a pair of shots from the stripe, and BG's lead was back to six points, 42-36.
The lead was still six after another Prochaska jumper, but Bushby knocked down a triple with 6:56 remaining to cut the lead to 44-41.
The teams traded free throws before Uhl slipped inside to grab an offensive board and draw a foul. The soph made both ends of her one-and-one opportunity for a 47-42 lead with five minutes left.
Myers scored at the other end, but Prochaska was fouled heading into the game's final media break. Out of that timeout, she knocked down two shots from the line. Bushby hit a jumper at the other end, but a big three-pointer by Pontius gave the Falcons a 52-46 advantage with 2:41 left.
The Bobcats got four free throws on the next possession, as Thia Gholson split a pair, and Hmiel made both of her tries after a foul on the rebound of Gholson's miss. Again, however, Pontius responded with a gutty shot, hitting a runner over the outstretched arms of Myers. When the ball banked off the glass and in, the Falcons had a 54-49 lead with just over two minutes left.
BG fouled on the next possession, but Buckner missed both of her free-throw tries with 1:45 left. The Falcons could not convert on the next possession, but McCoy got her body in front of Poff at the other end of the court, drawing a charge on the Ohio guard. The Bobcats fouled again as the Falcons were inbounding the ball, and Prochaska made both tosses for a 56-49 lead with 1:03 left.
The remainder of the game was a parade from one free-throw line to the other and back again. The Falcons sent the Bobcats to the stripe several times in the last minute, as Ohio was 3-for-5 from the stripe. But, BG went 6-of-8 from the line in that final minute (8-of-10 in the final 63 seconds, counting Prochaska's tosses).
The Falcons got nine points from McCoy, while Goldsberry had seven and Uhl six. Breske had a team-high seven rebounds, with Prochaska and Uhl grabbing five apiece.
Hmiel and Buckner each scored nine points for the Bobcats. Hmiel had a game-high nine rebounds with Buckner getting eight, as the hosts enjoyed a 43-35 rebounding advantage.
The Falcons scored 26 points off Ohio's 30 turnovers, while the 'Cats had 14 points off turnovers in the game. A game after making a season-high 13 three-point field goals, the Falcons were just 4-of-22 from beyond the arc in Athens. The Bobcats also made four triples, in only nine attempts.
The Falcons, after playing five-straight games away from Northwest Ohio, return home for the next three games, beginning with a Wednesday night (Jan. 14) contest vs. Miami University. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena. The Falcons and RedHawks are the two remaining East Division unbeatens.
NOTES
* The Falcons have won the last 13 games, the sixth-longest winning streak in school history ... the current run marks the seventh double-digit win streak in BGSU annals, and the fourth in as many years ... the complete list ...
BGSU's LONGEST WINNING STREAKS
Year - Streak - Notes
1986-87 -- 21 -- Falcons, at 6-2, did not lose again until NCAA Tourney
1988-89 -- 20 -- Final win came vs. Cincinnati in NCAA first round
1993-94 -- 20 -- Falcons lost MAC opener, then won out until NCAAs
2005-06 -- 19 -- Included 16-0 league record and 3 MAC tourney wins
2006-07 -- 18 -- Part of 24-1 run that took BGSU all the way to 'Sweet Sixteen'
1992-93 -- 17 -- BGSU, 8-4, won final 14 MAC games, 3 more in conference tourney
2008-09 -- 13 -- BG's last loss came on Nov. 19 at Valparaiso
2007-08 -- 10 -- Streak spanned all of February and half of March
* BGSU now leads Ohio, 44-20, in the all-time series between the teams ... BG has a record of 17-12 in road games vs. the Bobcats, and the Falcons have won five consecutive games at the Convocation Center.
* The game was the first meeting between the teams since the Bobcats knocked the Falcons out of the 2008 MAC Tournament with a 68-66, double-overtime win at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena in March.
* Falcon coach Curt Miller now has a 10-4 record against Ohio during his tenure.
* The Falcons are 53-5 against MAC opposition (includes regular-season and tournament games) since the start of the 2005-06 season.
* BGSU is now 25-1 in MAC road games over the last three-plus years ... the only loss at a hostile league venue during that time came last season at Ball State.
* The Falcons are now 8-1 all-time in games played on January 10, with a six-game win streak on that date ... BGSU is now 4-0 in road games on the 10th of January, including three such wins in the Miller Era.
* Sophomore Lauren Prochaska had her sixth game of 20 points or more this season, matching her total for all of last year.
* Prochaska, just a sophomore, now has 750 points in her career ... through 49 career games, she is averaging 15.3 points per outing.
* Senior Lindsey Goldsberry made the 105th three-point field goal of her career in Saturday's win ... she is now tied for 10th place on that school list, with Ali Mann (2003-07).
* Junior Tara Breske led the Falcons with seven rebounds at Ohio ... she is averaging 8.2 rebounds per game over the last five contests.
* Sophomore Tracy Pontius had a career-high six steals ... her previous best was four, in this season's win over Detroit ... Pontius now has 21 steals this year, after a total of 12 during her entire freshman season.
* BGSU's team total of 16 steals was five shy of tying the school record ... the total was the team's second-highest of the season, as the Falcons had 17 thefts in the Saint Francis (Pa.) game.
