Bowling Green State University Athletics
Pack the House as Falcon Women Host Akron Saturday
January 16, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU vs. AKRON
Saturday, January 17, 2009 • 1:00 p.m.Anderson Arena (4,700) • Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 14-2 (3-0 MAC) // Akron 6-10 (1-2 MAC)
RADIO: WBGU-FM 88.1 - Alex Mikos and Jason Baxter
TELEVISION: BCSN - Todd Hostetler and Mark Ehlen
SERIES: BGSU leads, 39-2 // STREAK: BGSU - 10
LAST MEETING: BGSU 69, at Akron 54 (March 5, 2008)
BGSU Notes, Stats and Bios in PDF Format
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, off to a 3-0 start in Mid-American Conference play, continues a three-game homestand this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller face the University of Akron in Saturday (Jan. 17) action, with tipoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (4,700) ... the Falcons then will close the first swing through the East Division with a Wednesday (Jan. 21) home game vs. the University at Buffalo.
"PACK THE HOUSE DAY"/SUPER SATURDAY TICKET DEAL
A veritable plethora of BGSU athletic home events are on tap for Saturday (Jan. 17) ... the Falcon women, as mentioned, host Akron at 1:00 p.m., and the hockey team will take on Michigan at 5:05 p.m. at the BGSU Ice Arena ... then, the BG men's basketball team hosts Akron at 8:00 p.m. ... additionally, the track team hosts the BGSU Challenge at 11:00 a.m. at Perry Field House ...
• The women's game will be "Pack the House Day," as BG participates in the annual nationwide attendance competition ... last year, the "Pack the House Day" event drew over 3,000 fans for the Falcons' home win over Ohio.
• Additionally, fans showing a ticket stub from either the women's basketball or the hockey game will receive free admission to the men's game Saturday evening ... the men's game vs. UA will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
GOLDEN NUGGET: SENIOR LOOKING FOR 100TH WIN AT BG
Lindsey Goldsberry, the lone senior on the 2008-09 Falcon squad, has helped the team to a great deal of success since her arrival on campus ... entering Saturday's Akron game, BGSU is 99-17 overall since the start of Goldsberry's freshman year ... the Falcons have won at least 26 games in each of her first three seasons ... 'Golds' has a chance to become the winningest player in school - and MAC - history ... currently, that distinction is shared by last year's senior class, as Kate Achter and Whitney Taylor helped the Falcons to a total of 108 wins (108-23 record) during their careers, the most wins in conference history in a four-year period.
PROCHASKA IS PROLIFIC
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska scored 32 points, tying her career high, in Wednesday's (Jan. 14) win over Miami ... Prochaska's point total was just three shy of the school record ... the Miami game was her 50th as a Falcon ... in those 50 games, Prochaska has scored a total of 782 points ... she is averaging 15.6 points per game in her career, ranking her second in career ppg in BGSU history.
PROCHASKA PROLIFIC IN MAC PLAY, TOO
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska has scored a total of 74 points over the past three games, coinciding with the start of MAC play ... on the season, the Plain City, Ohio native is averaging 17.5 points per game, ranking her fourth in the league ... in conference games only, Prochaska leads the MAC with 24.7 ppg.
KENT STATE GAME (FEB. 28) TO BE TELEVISED
The Falcons' home game with Kent State, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 28, will be televised by Fox Sports Ohio ... tipoff time has been changed to 12:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena.
BGSU PUTS WINNING STREAK ON THE LINE
The Falcons have won 14 consecutive contests, the sixth-longest winning streak in school history, heading into Saturday's Akron game ... the current run marks the eighth double-digit win streak in BGSU annals, and the fourth in as many years ... the complete list can be found in the PDF version of these notes.
STREAK IS ONE OF LONGEST IN NATION
The Falcons' 14-game winning streak is the fourth-longest active streak in the nation ... only Auburn, North Carolina and Connecticut have longer streaks ... that list is in the PDF as well.
THANK YOU, SIR OR MADAM
For the first time this season, the Falcons have been mentioned in a national poll ... BGSU received one vote in Monday's (Jan. 12) Associated Press top-25 poll ... the vote was the Falcons' first recognition in a national poll since Dec. 24, 2007, when BG had four votes in the AP poll ... the last time the Brown and Orange cracked the top 25 was at the end of the 2006-07 season, when BGSU was ranked 20th by the AP and 15th in the ESPN/USA Today poll ... the latter ranking was the highest in school and MAC history.
PROCHASKA NAMED MAC PLAYER OF WEEK, AGAIN
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska was named the MAC Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday (Jan. 12) ... Prochaska earned the honor for the third time in her Falcon career, with all three coming this season ... she averaged 21.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists as the Falcons won a pair of road games to open the MAC schedule ... Prochaska led the Falcons with 20 points in the 77-71 win at Kent State (Jan. 7), going 4-for-8 from three-point land ... she also had a career-high six assists, along with four rebounds and three steals ... last Saturday afternoon (Jan. 10) at Ohio, she had a career-high 22 points, with five boards ... the Plain City, Ohio native shot 48.0 percent (12-for-25) from the field on the week, including a 5-for-12 (41.7%) effort from three-point range ... Prochaska made 13 of her 14 free-throw tries in the two games.
LO IS A HIGH SCORER
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska already has scored 782 career points in a BG uniform ... she is tied for 31st in scoring in school history, having moved up three spots on that list after her 32-point game vs. Miami Wednesday night (Jan. 14) ... Prochaska is currently tied with Susie Cassell on that list ... her next target is 30th-place Paulette Backstrom (803 points from 1985-89) ... Prochaska's current scoring average of 15.6 ppg would place her second on that BGSU career list, behind only the legendary Jackie Motycka, the school's all-time leading scorer (2,122 pts.; 18.1 ppg from 1985-89).
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 14-2 on the season ... after opening the year with road losses against Temple and Valparaiso, BGSU has won 14-straight games heading into Saturday's Akron contest ... BG won 11 non-conference games for the third consecutive year, then opened MAC play with a 77-71 win at Kent State (Jan. 7) ... last Saturday (Jan. 10), the Brown and Orange picked up a 62-52 win at Ohio, and BGSU opened the home portion of the conference schedule with Wednesday's (Jan. 14) win over Miami, 87-79.
• The Falcons are 6-0 at home, 6-2 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site games ... BG won two tournaments, the UNCG Marriott Classic and the Dayton Flyer Classic ... in between, the Falcons had a 4-0 homestand, winning the first two games by a combined 63 points, over Detroit and Youngstown State ... then, BG beat St. Bonaventure, 77-59 (Dec. 14), before pulling out a 56-52 win over Hartford (Dec. 21) ... at the Dayton tourney, the Falcons topped Gardner-Webb (79-56; Dec. 28) and the host Flyers (77-68; Dec. 29) to win the title ... then, BGSU closed the non-league slate and opened the 2009 calendar year with a 74-58 win at SIU Edwardsville (Jan. 2), prior to the three MAC wins ... senior Lindsey Goldsberry, juniors Niki McCoy and Tara Breske and sophomores Tracy Pontius and Lauren Prochaska each have started all 16 games this season to date.
• Prochaska leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 17.5 points and 5.8 boards per contest ... she has had seven games of 20 points or more, including a 32-point game vs. Miami, and on Monday (Jan. 12) was named MAC Player of the Week for the third time this season ... McCoy, named the MAC P-O-W last week (Jan. 5), is second on the team with 13.6 ppg, and 5.6 rpg ... McCoy had a double-double vs. MU, and has been to the free-throw line 92 times, making 73 ... Pontius and Breske are averaging 12.9 and 6.1 points, respectively ... Pontius leads the Falcons in assists, with 3.8 per game, and is second on the team in steals (1.4 spg) ... Breske has 5.2 rpg to rank third on the team ... she tops BG in blocks (1.1 bpg) and is tied for third in steals along with Prochaska ... freshman Jessica Slagle has 5.6 ppg, while Goldsberry has 5.2 ... Goldsberry leads the Falcons in steals (1.9 spg) and is second in assists (2.4 apg) ... she paces the team with an impressive assist/TO ratio of 2.44, but is just shy of qualifying for the MAC minimums.
• The Falcons are shooting 44.0% from the field over the first 16 games ... BG has a three-point FG pct. of 35.6%, with 7.0 triples made per game, and is shooting 78.0% from the free-throw line ... the opponents are shooting 38.9% from the floor, 34.5% from long range and 66.1% from the stripe ... the Falcons have 36.1 rebounds per game to the opponents' 36.6 ... BG has turned the ball over 15.9 times per game, but has forced the opponents into 19.8 per outing.
• The Falcons have made almost twice as many free throws (298) as the opponents (170) ... in fact, BGSU has made 41 more FTs than the foes have attempted (257).
• The Falcons returned a total of nine letterwinners, including three starters, from last season's team ... the group of returnees combined for 65.9 percent of the scoring and 75.0% of the rebounding from last year's 26-8 team ... BGSU won the MAC's regular-season title for the fourth-straight year, posting a 13-3 conference record ... the Falcons advanced to the semifinals of the MAC Tournament before falling in double OT ... Goldsberry, the team's lone senior, is one of the three returning starters from the '07-08 club ... Breske and Prochaska are the other two.
• Sophs Chelsea Albert, Pontius and Jen Uhl each played in all 34 games last year, with Albert making six starts ... the list of returning letterwinners also includes juniors Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper and sophomore Kelly Zuercher ... McCoy is in her first playing season with the Falcons ... she sat out the 2007-08 season after transferring from Akron.
• Three freshmen joined the Brown and Orange this year ... that group includes Maribeth Giese, Slagle and Victoria McGowan ... two other newcomers have come into the Falcon fold ... transfers Maggie Hennegan (Saint Louis Univ.) and Tamika Nurse (Univ. of Oregon) will sit out this season before joining the active roster in 2009-10 ... Nurse will have one season of eligibility remaining, while Hennegan will have two.
LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska tied her career high with 32 points, and combined with her BGSU teammates for some torrid free-throw shooting, as the Falcons posted an 87-79 victory over Miami ... Prochaska was 13-of-14 from the free-throw line, as the Brown and Orange shot 91.7 percent from the stripe, going 33-for-36 ... soph Tracy Pontius had 18 points and a team-leading six assists for the home team, while junior Niki McCoy had her first double-double as a Falcon, with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds ... the RedHawks had four players score in double digits, led by Courtney Reed's 19 points ... MU led by a six-point margin on four separate occasions in the first half, but could never extend the lead beyond six ... a 10-0 run by the Falcons, with McCoy scoring the first five points and Prochaska the last five, gave BG a 33-27 advantage ... the hosts led by seven at the half, but Miami battled back to take the lead in the second period, as both teams got into some foul trouble ... Pontius made two free throws with 11:53 left, giving BG the lead for good ... those FTs began a run of eight-straight points, with McCoy scoring the next six points ... the 'Hawks kept coming back, but Prochaska made several key three-pointers to keep the visitors at bay, and the hosts went 6-for-6 from the line over the final two-and-a-half minutes ... the teams were whistled for a combined 43 fouls.
SCOUTING AKRON
Akron enters Saturday's Bowling Green game with a record of 6-10 on the year, and the Zips are 1-2 in MAC play ... UA began the conference schedule with a loss to Miami, but then picked up a win over Buffalo (62-56; Jan. 10) and took Ohio to overtime in Athens before succumbing, 65-60, on Wednesday (Jan. 14) ... the Zips are 1-6 in road games this year to date ... individually, sophomore forward Kara Murphy leads the MAC in scoring, with 19.4 points per game, and she also has 5.6 rebounds per game ... Murphy had 30 points in Wednesday's Ohio game ... freshman center Kyle Baumgartner has 8.5 points and a team-leading 6.8 boards per outing, while no fewer than seven other players average from 3.7 to 5.6 ppg ... sophomore guard Amber Witt and junior forward Jolene Tamboue have 5.6 and 5.4 ppg, respectively ... Tamboue leads the team in steals, with 1.8 per game ... Murphy, Tamboue and Witt each have started all 16 games this year to date ... Ayla Guzzardo (3.7 ppg, a team-leading 2.8 assists per game) joins that trio and Baumgartner in the probable starting lineup for head coach Jodi Kest ... Kest welcomed back four letterwinners, including two starters, from last year's club that finished 7-24 overall and 2-14 in MAC action ... Kest has a record of 23-53 in her third season with the Zips ... she is 249-206 in her 17th year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.GoZips.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Akron, 39-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won the last 10 meetings ... BGSU is a perfect 20-0 in home games vs. the Zips, including an 88-56 win in last year's meeting at Anderson Arena (Jan. 9, 2008), the MAC opener for both schools ... the Brown and Orange went on to earn a 69-54 victory in the Rubber City late last season (March 5, 2008) ... overall, the Falcons won the first 26 series meetings, before UA's initial win, in the 1999 MAC Tournament ... the Zips' other win was an 88-63 blowout in Akron in February of 2001 ... Curt Miller has a record of 10-0 vs. the Zips during his head-coaching tenure.
THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons have a proud history in the MAC ... BG enters Saturday's game vs. Akron with an overall league record of 309-139 (69.0%), the best of all conference institutions ... additionally, BGSU leads the all-time series with all 11 MAC opponents ... BG, obviously, is the only team in the league with a winning series mark against every other school.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 164-70 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 82-33 in MAC games in that time:
• 155-51 in the six-plus years since Miller's assistant coaches have all been in place (associate head coach Jennifer Roos and assistant coach Brandi Poole have been on Miller's staff since his first year; assistant Kevin Eckert joined the staff one year later);
• 143-35 over the last five-plus years, with at least 20 wins in five-straight seasons;
• a staggering 122-25 in the past four-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins in each year and a MAC regular-season title in every season;
• an eye-popping 99-17 overall and 47-4 in the MAC regular season in the last three-plus years, since senior Lindsey Goldsberry ventured to Northwest Ohio;
• 71-14 in the last two-plus years, including a 31-4 conference ledger, since juniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 40-10 overall, and 16-3 in MAC regular-season games, since sophomores Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher began their respective playing careers at BGSU;
• 60-5 in the last 65 games vs. MAC opponents (including regular-season and tourney games);
• 29-4 in MAC home games in the last four-plus seasons;
• 25-1 in MAC road games over the last three-plus years (with the lone loss during that time coming last season at Ball State);
• 10-1 in the MAC Tournament over the last four years, with three titles (2005, '06 and '07) and a trip to the semifinals in 2008;
• 22-2 in non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season;
• 18-1 against non-league opposition at Anderson Arena since November of 2004;
• 6-3 in games played on January 17 in program history;
• a perfect 5-0 in home games on that date, with one of those coming in the Curt Miller Era (a 68-60 win over Central Michigan five years ago); and
• 1-0 against Akron on Jan. 17, with a 75-61 win over the Zips in 1998.
PONTIUS FINDS WAYS TO WIN
Sophomore Tracy Pontius entered Wednesday's Miami game ranked fifth in the entire nation in three-point field-goal percentage, but went 0-for-6 from long distance against the RedHawks ... to the point guard's credit, she found numerous other ways to contribute to the Falcons' victory, despite her long-range struggles ... Pontius still scored 18 points in the game, going 5-for-6 on shots from inside the arc, and she was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line ... she also tied her career best with six assists in the win, and played some solid defense on Miami's high-scoring guards.
COACHING TIES
If it seems like BGSU's Curt Miller has coached with everyone in the country, it's because it is true ... well, pretty much ... Miller and UA head coach Jodi Kest were on the same staff for one season, the 1992-93 campaign, at Cleveland State ... Kest came to Akron after spending four years as the head coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ... Kest and Miller met as head coaches for the first time in the 2003-04 season, as the Islanders posted a 68-59 win in Corpus Christi, in the championship game of the Islander Classic (Nov. 29, 2003) ... Saturday will mark the fifth time they have met since Kest took the Akron job.
ONE MEETS TWO
Two high-scoring sophomores will meet when the Falcons take on the Zips ... BGSU's Lauren Prochaska currently averages 24.7 points per game in MAC games, leading the entire conference ... UA soph Kara Murphy has 23.3 ppg in league contests to rank second in the MAC to date ... Murphy leads the MAC in that category in overall games.
McCOY FACES FORMER TEAM
Falcon junior Niki McCoy is in her first season of action with the Brown and Orange ... she played her first two collegiate campaigns at Akron, before transferring to BGSU and sitting out last season ... McCoy, a native of Sylvania, Ohio, scored a total of 735 points in her two seasons with the Zips.
McCOY IS DOUBLE TROUBLE
Junior Niki McCoy had 16 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Miami ... the double-double was her first as a Falcon, but it was hardly the first of her collegiate career ... McCoy had a total of nine double-doubles during her two years at Akron.
EVERYONE LIKES FREE STUFF
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska entered the Miami game ranked third in all of NCAA Division I in free-throw percentage, having made 48-of-52 throws (92.3%) ... at halftime of the MU game, her percentage had actually dropped, as she made 'only' 9-of-10 tosses ... she was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line in the second half vs. the RedHawks, giving her a career-high 13 free throws made in 14 attempts ... on the year, Prochaska now has gone 61-of-66 from the stripe, for a 92.4% rate.
IT DOESN'T HAPPEN A LOT
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska, as mentioned several times already, scored 32 points in the Miami game, tying her career high ... she also had scored 32 in the Falcons' win at Saint Francis (Pa.) just prior to Thanksgiving ... believe it or not, this season marks the first time the Falcons have had two 30-point games in the same year in the Curt Miller Era ... BG players had a total of five games of 30 or more points in Miller's first seven seasons.
MANY WAYS TO FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Even if you can't make it to the game, there are still a number of ways to follow the women's basketball Falcons ...
• All BGSU women's basketball games are aired on student station WBGU-FM 88.1, the flagship station for both Falcon hockey and women's hoops ... Alex Mikos and Jason Baxter will have the call for Saturday's Akron game.
• In addition to being aired on the FM dial, the games are also available free of charge on the web at BGSUFalcons.com ... to access the broadcasts online, simply click on the 'Stretch Internet' button on the BGSUFalcons.com main page and choose that day's game.
• Additionally, all home games are televised in the Toledo area by BCSN ... Todd Hostetler and Mark Ehlen are scheduled to call the Falcons' 2008-09 home games ... Ehlen, the former Toledo coach, earned his master's degree from BGSU.
• Live stats for all home games (and selected road games) are available through the magic of Gametracker ... to access the GT feature, simply log on to BGSUFalcons.com, click on the women's basketball schedule and choose that day's game.
MILLER ON THE RADIO
BGSU head coach Curt Miller is scheduled to appear every other week on the Falcons' Nest Coaches Show, which airs live each Monday at 6:00 p.m. at the Bowling Green Frickers' restaurant ... Miller is scheduled to appear on the second half of the show (approx. 6:30 p.m.) on the following dates: Jan. 19, Feb. 2, Feb. 16 and March 2.
CAPTAINS
Senior Lindsey Goldsberry and junior Tara Breske are the co-captains of the 2008-09 women's basketball Falcons.
