Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Hosts Buffalo to Close Initial Swing Through MAC's East Division
January 20, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU vs. BUFFALO
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 • 7:00 p.m.Anderson Arena (3,500) • Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 15-2 (4-0 MAC) // Buffalo 4-13 (0-4 MAC)
RADIO: WBGU-FM 88.1 - Kyle Griffith and Anthony Gallina
TELEVISION: BCSN - Todd Hostetler and Mark Ehlen
SERIES: BGSU leads, 12-5 // STREAK: BGSU - 8
LAST MEETING: at BGSU 74, Buffalo 47 (March 1, 2008)
BGSU Notes, Stats & Player Bios in PDF Format
Coach Miller previews the Buffalo game
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, off to a 4-0 start in Mid-American Conference play, concludes a three-game homestand this week ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller face the University at Buffalo in Wednesday (Jan. 21) action, with tipoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (3,500) ... Wednesday's game closes the first swing through the East Division for the Brown and Orange, who will then play three of four games on the road to begin cross-divisional action.
PHASE ONE NEARLY COMPLETE
The 2008-09 season is the fourth utilizing the current MAC scheduling format for women's basketball ... each of the 12 schools plays 16 games, as has been the case for the last decade ... the current setup has each team opening conference play with five intra-divisional games, followed by six cross-divisional contests, and five more intra-divisional games to close the regular season ... so, BGSU plays five games vs. East Division schools to begin and end the season, with six games vs. the West Division in the middle of the schedule ... a win over Buffalo would give the Falcons a 5-0 MAC start for the third time in the last four years, since BGSU returned to the East Division.
HIGH-SCORING TANDEM
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska and junior Niki McCoy rank 1-2 on the team in scoring this season ... this scoring success is nothing new for either player ... Prochaska, after just 51 career games, already has 800 points at BGSU ... McCoy, in her first playing season after transferring from Akron, now has a career total of 966 points in 71 games ... she scored 735 points in two seasons with the Zips before coming to BGSU and sitting out last season.
PROCHASKA IS PROLIFIC
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska scored a total of 50 points in last week's two games, including a 32-point effort (tying her career high) vs. Miami (Jan. 14) ... Prochaska's point total was just three shy of the school record ... the Miami game was her 50th as a Falcon ... through 51 games, Prochaska has scored a total of exactly 800 points ... she is averaging 15.7 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 92 points over the past four 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 third in the league ... in conference games only, Prochaska leads the MAC with 23.0 ppg.
MILLER MOVING UP
The Falcons' win over Akron was the 83rd MAC victory under head coach Curt Miller ... Miller has moved past former Eastern Michigan coach Suzy Merchant into the top 10 in MAC history on the conference wins list ... he is one win behind former Ohio coach Marsha Reall, who is ninth with 84 MAC wins ... on the overall list, Miller's 165 total victories ranks seventh in conference history ... the complete lists can be found in the PDF version of this release.
BGSU PUTS WINNING STREAK ON THE LINE
The Falcons have won 15 consecutive contests, the seventh-longest winning streak in school history, heading into Wednesday's Buffalo game ... the current run marks the eighth double-digit win streak in BGSU annals, and the fourth in as many years.
STREAK IS ONE OF LONGEST IN NATION
The Falcons' 15-game winning streak is the third-longest active streak in the nation ... after Connecticut's win over North Carolina Monday (Jan. 19), only Auburn and UConn have longer streaks.
PROCHASKA NAMED MAC PLAYER OF WEEK YET AGAIN
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska was named the MAC Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday (Jan. 19) ... Prochaska earned the honor for the second consecutive week and the fourth time this season ... she averaged 25.0 points and 5.0 rebounds on the week ... Prochaska exploded for 32 points, tying her career high, in the win over Miami (Jan. 14) ... she also tied her career best with three-point field goals made, and set a new career standard in free throws, going 13-of-14 from the line ... against Akron (Jan. 17), Prochaska scored a game-high 18 points, and tied for team honors with seven rebounds and three steals ... she was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the win over the Zips ... on the week, Prochaska shot 55.0% (11-for-20) from the field, going 7-for-13 (53.8%) from three-point range and 21-of-22 (95.5%) at the line.
GOLDEN NUGGET: SENIOR EARNS 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 ... Saturday's (Jan. 17) win over Akron was the 100th since the Dayton native joined the program ... BGSU is now 100-17 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 MAC history in a four-year period.
LO IS A HIGH SCORER
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska already has scored 800 career points in a BG uniform ... she is 31st in scoring in school history, having moved past Susie Cassell on that list in Saturday's (Jan. 17) win over Akron ... Prochaska's next target is 30th-place Paulette Backstrom (803 points from 1985-89) ... Prochaska's current scoring average of 15.7 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 15-2 on the season ... after opening the year with road losses against Temple and Valparaiso, BGSU has won 15-straight games heading into Wednesday's Buffalo 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) ... the Brown and Orange then picked up a 62-52 win at Ohio (Jan. 10), and BGSU opened the home portion of the conference schedule with last week's wins over Miami, (87-79; Jan. 14), and Akron (80-51; Jan. 17).
• The Falcons are 7-0 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 and Hartford to complete the homestand ... at the Dayton tourney, the Falcons topped Gardner-Webb (Dec. 28) and the host Flyers (Dec. 29) to win the title ... then, BGSU closed the non-league slate and opened the 2009 calendar year with a 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 17 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 has been named MAC Player of the Week four times this season, including each of the last two weeks ... McCoy, named the MAC P-O-W two weeks ago (Jan. 5), is second on the team with 13.6 ppg and 5.5 rpg ... McCoy, who had a double-double vs. MU, has been to the free-throw line 94 times, making 75 ... Pontius and Breske are averaging 12.9 and 5.9 points, respectively ... Pontius leads the Falcons in assists, with 3.7 per game, and is second on the team in steals (1.6 spg) ... Breske has 5.3 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 5.7 ppg, while Goldsberry has 5.1 ... Goldsberry leads the Falcons in steals (1.9 spg) and is second in assists (2.5 apg) ... she paces the team with an impressive assist/TO ratio of 2.63, but is just shy of qualifying for the MAC minimums.
• The Falcons are shooting 44.0% from the field over the first 17 games ... BG has a three-point FG pct. of 36.0%, with 7.0 triples made per game, and is shooting 78.7% from the free-throw line ... the opponents are shooting 38.4% from the floor, 34.4% from long range and 66.4% from the stripe ... the Falcons have 36.2 rebounds per game to the opponents' 37.0 ... BG has turned the ball over 15.5 times per game, but has forced the opponents into 19.9 per outing.
• The Falcons have made almost twice as many free throws (317) as the opponents (178) ... in fact, BGSU has made 49 more FTs than the foes have attempted (268).
• 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 scored a game-high 18 points as the Falcons posted an 80-51 win over Akron ... the win was the 15th in a row for BG after an 0-2 start to the season ... the victory was also BGSU's 100th since Lindsey Goldsberry, the Falcons' lone senior, joined the program ... the Falcons are now 100-17 since the start of Goldsberry's freshman year of 2005-06 ... junior Niki McCoy and sophomore Tracy Pontius joined Prochaska in double digits in scoring ... McCoy, in her first playing season at Bowling Green after transferring from Akron, had 13 points, while Pontius scored 12 points and had a game-high five steals ... four other Falcons scored at least six points ... all 13 players on the BGSU active roster got into the game, with 11 finding the scoring column ... Kara Murphy and Ashley Veal led the Zips with eight points apiece ... Murphy entered the game as the MAC's scoring leader, averaging 19.4 points per contest prior to Saturday, but was just 4-of-11 from the field against Goldsberry and the Falcon defense ... leading by a slim 14-12 score, the Falcons proceeded to go on a 19-2 run, putting the game away for all intents and purposes ... when the smoke cleared, the home team had a 33-14 lead with just over four minutes left in the first half, and the Zips never got closer than 17 points thereafter ... BGSU's lead never dropped below 23 points in the second half.
SCOUTING BUFFALO
Buffalo enters Wednesday's Bowling Green game with a record of 4-13 on the year, and the Bulls are 0-4 in MAC play ... two of the four conference losses have been by the slimmest of margins, including an overtime loss to Ohio (Jan. 7), and a 68-67 setback to Miami on Saturday (Jan. 17) ... the Bulls are looking to snap a 10-game losing streak after a 4-2 start to the season ... UB is 1-5 in road games, including 0-1 in MAC road contests ... individually, sophomore forward Kourtney Brown leads the team in scoring, with 15.2 points per game, and ranks second in rebounding, with 6.8 per contest ... she had 27 points and 11 boards vs. Miami ... another sophomore forward, Jessica Fortman, has 11.2 points and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds per game ... junior guard Rachelle Matthys and senior guard Jamie Schiebner, average 6.8 and 6.0 ppg, respectively ... Matthys has made a team-high 26 three-point field goals ... Brown is the only player to have started all 17 games to date, while Forman has made 16 starts ... Schiebner, senior guard Dortae Freeman (3.9 ppg, a team-leading 3.4 assists per game) and junior guard Dayna Smith (3.7 ppg) round out the probable starting lineup for head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald ... Hill-MacDonald welcomed back nine letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's club that finished 15-15 overall and 8-8 in MAC action ... she has a record of 39-65 in her fourth season with the Bulls, and is 271-321 in her 21st year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.buffalobulls.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Buffalo, 12-5, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won the last eight meetings ... the Falcons hold a 5-2 advantage in series meetings at 'The House That Roars,' including a 74-47 win over the Bulls last season (March 1, 2008) ... BG has won five-straight home games vs. Buffalo after dropping the first two meetings ... BGSU swept last year's meetings, including a 75-56 game at Buffalo (Jan. 19, 2008) ... the Falcons have won the last seven series matchups by an average of 26.6 points, after seven of the previous eight games had been decided by 10 points or less ... Curt Miller has a record of 10-1 vs. the Bulls during his head-coaching tenure.
THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons have a proud history in the MAC ... BG enters Wednesday's game vs. Buffalo with an overall league record of 310-139 (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.
MILESTONES
Wednesday's Buffalo game is the 450th MAC game in BGSU's program history ... should the Falcons win, it would mark BG's 600th overall win ... the Brown and Orange will take a 599-355 overall mark and a 310-139 MAC record into the Buffalo game.
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.
THANK YOU, SIR OR MADAM
For the second-straight week, the Falcons have been mentioned in a national poll ... BGSU received one vote in last week's (Jan. 12) Associated Press top-25 poll, and garnered a single vote again on Monday (Jan. 19) ... the Jan. 12 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.
(NOTE: On Tuesday afternoon, after the game notes were posted, the Falcons received votes in the USA Today ESPN poll for the first time this season ... BGSU received three votes in the Jan. 20 poll)
EVERYONE LIKES FREE STUFF
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska enters the Buffalo game ranked third in all of NCAA Division I in free-throw percentage, having made 69-of-74 throws (93.2%) ... she is a career 89.2% shooter from the stripe, having made 173 free throws in 194 attempts ... Prochaska is on pace to break the school record for free-throw percentage ... currently, Angie Farmer (87.6% from 1997-2001) holds that BGSU mark.
