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Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Begins Cross-Divisional Play Saturday in Ypsi
January 23, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU at EASTERN MICHIGAN
Saturday, January 24, 2009 • 2:00 p.m.Convocation Center (8,824) • Ypsilanti, Mich.
RECORDS: BGSU 16-2 (5-0 MAC) // Eastern Michigan 4-13 (0-5 MAC)
RADIO: WBGU-FM 88.1 - Pat Dougherty and Anthony Bellino
SERIES: BGSU leads, 42-14 // STREAK: BGSU - 5
LAST MEETING: at BGSU 57, Eastern Michigan 43 (Feb. 16, 2008)
Complete BGSU Game-Notes Extravaganza in PDF Format
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, off to a 5-0 start after the first swing through the Mid-American Conference's East Division, now turns its attention to the West for the next few weeks ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller travel north to face Eastern Michigan University in Saturday (Jan. 24) action ... tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Convocation Center (8,824) ... the EMU game is the first of six consecutive cross-divisional games for the Brown and Orange, and the Eastern contest begins a stretch in which BG plays three of four games on the road.
FEB. 7 GAME AT WMU TO AIR NATIONALLY ON ESPNU
The Falcons will get the chance to play in front of a national audience on Saturday, Feb. 7 ... BGSU's game at Western Michigan that afternoon will be televised nationally by ESPNU ... tipoff time has been moved to 12:00 p.m. at WMU's University Arena ... this is believed to be the first time a BGSU regular-season women's basketball game will be broadcast to a national audience ... the Falcons have had several NCAA Tournament games aired nationally, with the most recent being the 'Sweet Sixteen' game vs. Arizona State in the 2007 NCAA Championships.
RUNNING WITH THE BULLS
The Falcons had five scoring runs of at least eight points, with four 8-0 runs and a 9-0 run, in Wednesday's (Jan. 21) 75-52 win over Buffalo at Anderson Arena.
FALCONS STEAL A VICTORY
The Falcons had a team total of 20 steals in Wednesday night's (Feb. 21) win over Buffalo, tying the school record for steals in a MAC game ... BGSU also had 20 steals vs. Central Michigan on Jan. 10, 1996 ... the school mark for all games is 21 steals, set against Texas Southern on Dec. 4, 1993, and tied vs. Youngstown State less than a month later (Jan. 3, 1994).
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 52 career games, already has 816 points at BGSU ... McCoy, in her first playing season after transferring from Akron, now has a career total of 980 points in 72 games ... she scored 735 points in two seasons with the Zips before coming to BGSU and sitting out last season.
PHASE ONE COMPLETE
The 2008-09 season is the fourth utilizing the current MAC scheduling format ... each of the 12 schools plays 16 games, opening conference play with five intra-divisional games ... that stretch is followed by six cross-divisional contests, and five more in-division games to close the regular season ... so, BGSU plays five games vs. East Division foes to begin and end the season, with six games vs. the West in the middle of the schedule ... the win over Buffalo gives the Falcons a 5-0 MAC start for the third time in the last four years.
ATOP THE MAC
The Falcons' win over Buffalo, combined with Ohio's victory at Miami, gave BGSU a two-game lead in the East Division race heading into Saturday ... additionally, Northern Illinois downed previously unbeaten Ball State, making the Falcons the only remaining school with an undefeated MAC record ... NIU, BSU and Toledo all are tied atop the West Division with identical 4-1 league records.
BGSU PUTS WINNING STREAK ON THE LINE
The Falcons have won 16 consecutive contests, the seventh-longest winning streak in school history, heading into Saturday's Eastern Michigan game ... the current run marks the eighth double-digit win streak in BGSU annals, and the fourth in as many years ... the list can be found in the PDF version of these handy notes.
STREAK IS ONE OF LONGEST IN NATION
The Falcons' 16-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 ... that list is also included in the PDF at the top of this page.
HOME STREAK, TOO
BGSU now has a 13-game home winning streak ... the Falcons won the last five contests of 2007-08 at venerable Anderson Arena, and BGSU has begun the '08-09 campaign with eight-straight wins at 'The House That Roars' ... the list of current active homecourt winning streaks -- well, if you read the previous two notes, you probably know where to find it.
TAKE SOME, THEY'RE FREE
BGSU made 20 free throws in 23 attempts vs. Buffalo Wednesday night (Feb. 21), for a percentage of 87.0% ... over the last three games, the Falcons are a combined 72-of-80 from the stripe, for a blistering 90.0% success rate ... on the year, BGSU is shooting 79.1% (337-426) from the free-throw line, and 86.2% (106-123) in MAC games.
TAKE SOME MORE, THEY'RE FREE
The Buffalo game marked the 17th time in 18 games this year that that Falcons have made more free throws than the opponent ... in fact, BGSU has made more free throws than the opposition has attempted in 14 of those games, with those totals being equal in one other game.
MILLER MOVING UP
The Falcons' win over Buffalo enabled head coach Curt Miller to move up on a pair of lists ... Miller now has 166 total wins at BGSU, tying him for sixth place in MAC history ... he is now deadlocked with former Toledo coach Bill Fennelly on that list ... Fennelly, now at Iowa State, coached at UT from 1989-95 ... Miller now has 84 wins in MAC regular-season play, tying him for ninth on that list ... he has matched the total amassed by former Ohio coach Marsha Reall.
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 52 games, Prochaska has scored a total of exactly 816 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 108 points over the past five games, coinciding with the start of MAC play ... on the season, the Plain City, Ohio native is averaging 17.4 points per game, ranking her third in the league ... in conference games only, Prochaska leads the MAC with 21.6 ppg.
LO IS A HIGH SCORER
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska already has scored 816 career points in a BG uniform ... she has moved into the top-30 in scoring in school history, having moved past Paulette Backstrom (803 points from 1985-89) in Wednesday's Buffalo game ... Prochaska's next target is 29th-place Traci Gorman (870 points from 1987-91) ... 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).
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 ... last Saturday's (Jan. 17) win over Akron was the 100th since the Dayton native joined the program ... BGSU is now 101-17 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.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 16-2 on the season ... after opening the year with road losses against Temple and Valparaiso, BGSU has won 16-straight games heading into Saturday's Eastern Michigan contest ... BG won 11 non-conference games for the third consecutive year, then went 5-0 in the first round-robin swing through the MAC's East Division ... BG opened MAC play with road wins over Kent State (Jan. 7) and Ohio (Jan. 10), and then swept a three-game homestand, downing Miami (87-79; Jan. 14), Akron (80-51; Jan. 17) and Buffalo (75-52; Jan. 21).
• The Falcons are 8-0 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 ... 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 18 games this season to date.
• Prochaska leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 17.4 points and 5.7 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 5.4 rpg ... McCoy, who had a double-double vs. MU, has been to the free-throw line 98 times, making 78 ... Pontius and Breske are averaging 12.7 and 6.2 points, respectively ... Pontius leads the Falcons in assists, with 3.8 per game, and is second on the team in steals (1.7 spg) ... Breske has 5.4 rpg to rank third on the team ... she tops BG in blocks (1.2 bpg) and is third in steals ... freshman Jessica Slagle has 5.9 ppg, while Goldsberry has 5.2 ... Goldsberry leads the Falcons in steals (2.1 spg) and is second in assists (2.4 apg) ... she paces the team with an impressive assist/TO ratio of 2.26, but is just shy of qualifying for the MAC minimums.
• The Falcons are shooting 44.2% from the field over the first 18 games ... BG has a three-point FG pct. of 35.8%, with 6.9 triples made per game, and is shooting 79.1% from the free-throw line ... the opponents are shooting 38.1% from the floor, 34.3% from long range and 67.3% from the stripe ... the Falcons have 36.1 rebounds per game to the opponents' 37.0 ... BG has turned the ball over 15.7 times per game, but has forced the opponents into 20.1 per outing.
• The Falcons have made almost twice as many free throws (337) as the opponents (189) ... in fact, BGSU has made 56 more FTs than the foes have attempted (281).
• 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
The Falcons had a record night defensively, posting a 75-52 win over visiting Buffalo Wednesday (Jan. 21) ... the win enabled BGSU to complete the first round-robin swing through the MAC's East Division unscathed ... BG's defense held UB to a field-goal percentage of just 22.6% in the second half, and the Falcons had 20 steals - tying the school record for a MAC game - in the win ... offensively, three BG players hit double digits in scoring, while two more Falcons had nine points apiece and another scored seven ... sophomore Lauren Prochaska led the way with a 16-point night, while juniors Niki McCoy and Tara Breske scored 14 and 12, respectively ... Breske had a well-rounded game, with a team-high seven rebounds in the win ... she also had a career-high five steals, along with two assists and two blocked shots in a season-high 31 minutes ... for the Bulls, Kourtney Brown had 12 points, while Rachelle Matthys scored 11 ... the Falcons never trailed in the game, but the Bulls were within just eight points, 37-29, at the half ... after the teams traded early second-half runs, UB trailed by nine, but the Falcons then scored nine-straight points to put the lead into double digits for good ... when freshman Jessica Slagle scored seven consecutive points, BGSU had a 61-39 lead ... another 8-0 Falcon run removed all doubt about the outcome ... in the game, BG had five scoring runs of at least eight points, with four 8-0 runs and the 9-0 run early in the second half.
SCOUTING EMU
Eastern Michigan enters Saturday's Bowling Green game with a record of 4-13 on the year, and the Eagles are 0-5 in MAC play ... three of the conference losses have come by single digits, including a 76-67 setback at Western Michigan Wednesday night (Jan. 21) ... the Eagles have a 4-4 home record, with losses to Central Michigan and Toledo at the Convocation Center in MAC play ... Eastern, like BGSU, is ranked among the top-20 teams nationally in free-throw percentage, shooting at a 75.7% clip from the line ... individually, freshman center Tavelyn James leads the team in scoring, with 14.6 points per game ... she also has a team-leading 2.2 steals per outing ... sophomore guard Cassie Schrock has 14.5 ppg and paces the Eagles with 8.5 rebounds per contest ... she also has 3.0 assists to rank second on the team ... sophomore guard Sydney Huntley-Rogers has 11.4 points and a team-leading 4.4 assists per outing and redshirt junior Mary Lawson averages 6.6 ppg ... no fewer than 11 different players have started at least one game for head coach AnnMarie Gilbert this year to date ... Schrock has started all 17 games, while Huntley-Rogers has made 12 starts ... sophomore guard De'Ja Wills (4.8 ppg) and senior forwards Shana McKinney (2.9 ppg) and Amber Land (2.4 ppg) joined that duo in the starting lineup at WMU ... Gilbert welcomed back six letterwinners, including one starter (Schrock), from last year's club that finished 17-12 overall and 11-5 in MAC action ... Gilbert has a record of 21-25 in her second season in Ypsilanti, and is 79-161 in her 10th year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.EMUEagles.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Eastern Michigan, 42-14, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has captured each of the last five meetings ... in last year's matchup, the Falcons ended the game on a 22-3 run to post a 57-43 win at venerable Anderson Arena (Feb. 16, 2008) ... two years ago, in the last meeting in Ypsilanti, the Falcons posted a 72-55 road win (Jan. 28, 2007) ... that marked BG's first-ever win at the Convocation Center ... the Falcons are 16-9 in road games in the series, but just 1-5 at the Eagles' current venue ... later in the 2006-07 season, the teams met in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament in Cleveland, with BG posting a 71-57 win (March 9, 2007) ... prior to BG's current five-game winning streak, Eastern had won five-straight games and eight of 11 meetings ... that came after the Falcons took 33-of-34 contests vs. the Hurons/Eagles from 1983 to 1998 ... Curt Miller has a record of 7-5 vs. the Eagles 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. Eastern Michigan with an overall league record of 311-139 (69.1%), 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 was the 450th MAC game in BGSU's program history ... and, the Falcons' win in that game marked BG's 600th overall victory ... the Brown and Orange will take a 600-355 overall mark and a 311-139 MAC record into the EMU 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.
POLL POSITION
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) ... then, on Tuesday (Jan. 20), BG received three votes in the USA Today ESPN poll ... the Jan. 12 poll the Falcons' first recognition 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 USA Today ESPN poll ... the latter ranking was the highest in school and MAC history.
DOUBLE-DIGIT WINNING STREAK
BGSU, as mentioned, has won 16 consecutive games ... believe it or not, the Falcons have had a double-digit winning streak in each of the last four years ... BG had a 19-game streak in the 2005-06 campaign that spanned the entire MAC schedule as well as the conference tournament ... in 2006-07, BGSU won 18-straight games from late December through late February ... then, last year, the Falcons had a 10-game win streak that lasted through all of February and nearly halfway into March.
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.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 166-70 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 84-33 in MAC games in that time:
• 157-51 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);
• 145-35 over the last five-plus years, with at least 20 wins in five-straight seasons;
• a staggering 124-25 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 101-17 overall and 49-4 in the MAC regular season in the last three-plus years, since senior Lindsey Goldsberry ventured to Northwest Ohio;
• 73-14 in the last two-plus years, including a 33-4 conference ledger, since juniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 42-10 overall, and 18-3 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;
• 62-5 in the last 67 games vs. MAC opponents (including regular-season and tourney games);
• 31-4 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 24 in program history, with wins in three of the last four games;
• 3-2 in road games on that date; and
• 1-0 on Jan. 24 in the Curt Miller Era, with the lone such game being a 90-62 win at Western Michigan two years ago.
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 ... Pat Dougherty and Anthony Bellino will have the call for Saturday's EMU 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.
