Bowling Green State University Athletics
Sunday, November 15
Columbus, OH
2:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Ohio State
Junior Lauren Prochaska and the Falcons take on Ohio State Sunday
Falcons to Face Third-Ranked Ohio State in Columbus
November 14, 2009 | Women's Basketball
BG, Buckeyes meet Sunday (Nov. 15) in Preseason WNIT action
THE OPENING TIP
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team is opening the 2009-10 season by participating in the Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller, coming off a 35-point win in the season opener, travel to Columbus for a Sunday (Nov. 15) date vs. The Ohio State University in second-round Preseason WNIT action ... tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. at Value City Arena (19,049) ... Miller and his staff return 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's club that won the Mid-American Conference's regular-season title for a fifth-straight season ... BGSU ended the campaign with an overall record of 29-5 and a MAC mark of 15-1, and advanced to the third round of the WNIT.
BGSU Notes & Stats (32 pages) - PDF
29 WINS, DEFENDING CONFERENCE CHAMPS ... SOUNDS FAMILIAR
Both the Falcons and Ohio State recorded a total of 29 wins a year ago ... the Falcons, as mentioned, were 29-5 overall and won a fifth-straight Mid-American Conference title with a 15-1 conference ledger ... BG advanced to the Postseason WNIT's third round in March ... the Buckeyes had an overall record of 29-6 last season, won the Big Ten Conference (for the fifth-straight year) with a 15-3 league mark, and advanced to the 'Sweet Sixteen' (i.e., the third round) of the NCAAs.
BANNER CEREMONY AND RING UNVEILING
Prior to Friday's Chicago State game, the Falcon returning players and coaches participated in a ring ceremony and banner unveiling, recognizing the team's 2009 Mid-American Conference regular-season championship ... both of the seniors from that team, Dayton natives Lindsey Goldsberry and Randall Clark, were on hand at venerable Anderson Arena ... the Chaminade-Julienne High School products are the winningest player and manager, respectively, in MAC basketball history ... BGSU went 114-20 during that duo's four years at BG ... 2008-09 marked the Falcons' fifth consecutive conference regular-season crown.
WHAT IS THIS "WNIT" YOU SPEAK OF?
The Preseason WNIT involves 16 teams from 16 different conferences that were included by invitation only ... all games are hosted by participating schools, and each team is guaranteed three games ... a few more pieces of information about the Preseason WNIT ...
• FIRST-ROUND WINNERS: The initial round of the event involves eight games at eight sites ... the eight round-one winners from Friday night now continue on in traditional bracket play, with half of them hosting the other half in separate host sites ... the winning teams in subsequent rounds will continue to advance in a traditional tournament format, with separate host sites throughout the semifinals and championship ... the two teams that advance to the championship game will play four games in the tournament.
• FIRST-ROUND LOSERS: The eight teams who lost their first games now are re-grouped into 'consolation bracket quads,' which are two four-team pools ... one team in each pool will be selected to host the other three teams ... the host sites, which were announced after the completion of all round-one games, are UA-Little Rock and Towson ... each team in this consolation round will play two games, for a total of three in the tournament.
• QUARTERFINAL-ROUND LOSERS (FROM ORIGINAL BRACKET): Of the four quarterfinal teams that lose in the second round, two teams will be selected to host one of the other quarterfinal-round losers in a single game at separate sites ... this game provides the third game for each of these schools.
• DATES: The Preseason WNIT opened with eight first-round games on Friday, Nov. 13 ... second-round games will be played on Sunday and Monday (Nov. 15-16); semifinals will be Nov. 18-19; and the championship is set for Sunday, Nov. 22 ... teams that lose in the first two rounds will play consolation games on the second weekend (Nov. 20-22) ... all sites are announced by the end of the preceding round.
• THE FIRST-ROUND RESULTS are as follows ... all games were played on Friday, Nov. 13 ...
at Bowling Green 76, Chicago State 41
at Ohio State 91, Eastern Illinois 68
at Florida Gulf Coast 66, UTEP 54
at Oklahoma State 67, Arkansas-Little Rock 58
at West Virginia 79, Towson 42
at Georgia Tech 63, Winthrop 30
at Marist 80, North Carolina A&T 64
at New Mexico 81, Northern Colorado 59
• THE SECOND-ROUND MATCHUPS in the winner's bracket ...
Sunday, Nov. 15
Bowling Green at Ohio State, 2:00 p.m. ET
Georgia Tech at Oklahoma State, 3:00 p.m. ET
Florida Gulf Coast at New Mexico, 4:00 p.m. ET
Monday, Nov. 16
Marist at West Virginia, 7:00 p.m. ET
SECOND TIME AROUND
The 2009-10 season marks the Falcons' second appearance in the Preseason WNIT, but BG's first since the tourney went to the current format ... BGSU's lone prior Preseason WNIT appearance also involved a trip to Value City Arena, resulting in an 89-41 loss at Ohio State on Nov. 12, 2004 ... that Falcon team went on to win the first of five-straight MAC regular-season titles under head coach Curt Miller, a streak that remains active ... Friday's win over Chicago State gives BGSU a 1-1 record in Preseason WNIT action.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• BGSU returns 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that posted the second-highest win total in school and MAC history ... the Falcons went 29-5 overall, including a 15-1 MAC record, in 2008-09 ... the Brown and Orange won a fifth consecutive conference regular-season title and advanced to the third round of the WNIT.
• The Falcons opened the 2009-10 campaign with a 76-41 win over Chicago State at venerable Anderson Arena Friday night (Nov. 13) ... four players scored in double digits for the Brown and Orange, who took a 37-16 lead into halftime and never looked back.
• The Falcons had just one senior on the roster a year ago, and Lindsey Goldsberry ended her career as the winningest basketball player – man or woman – in MAC history ... BG had a record of 114-20 in her four years, an average of 28.5 wins per season.
• The list of returnees in 2009-10 includes three seniors – Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper – along with five juniors ... Breske started all 34 games in the post last season.
• The returnees in the junior class include a pair of highly-decorated players in Lauren Prochaska and Tracy Pontius ... Prochaska, a wing, was the 2009 MAC Player of the Year, while Pontius, a point guard, was an honorable-mention selection to the Associated Press All-America Team ... both Pontius and Prochaska earned All-MAC First-Team honors in 2008-09.
• Juniors Jen Uhl, Chelsea Albert and Kelly Zuercher also return ... Uhl started the final 13 games of the year at a forward spot ... sophomores Maribeth Giese and Jessica Slagle round out the returning letterwinners.
• Two other players get to suit up in a BG uniform for the first time ... fifth-year senior Tamika Nurse (Univ. of Oregon) and redshirt junior Maggie Hennegan (Saint Louis Univ.) participated in practices at BGSU last season, but sat out the year after transferring from other NCAA Division-I schools.
• Five newcomers also join the program in 2009-10 ... that list includes a quartet of freshmen in Simone Eli, Allison Papenfuss, Chrissy Steffen and Jessie Tamerlano ... Danielle Havel also joins the program, but will sit out this season after transferring from DePaul University ... she will retain three seasons of eligibility.
PURA VIDA!
Head coach Curt Miller and the Falcons jump-started their season in August, heading to Costa Rica on the first foreign tour in program history ... the Falcons benefitted from four games vs. local competition, in addition to 10 days of practices leading up to the tour ... in addition to the practices and games, the 12 players (the 10 returnees from 2008-09, plus the two transfers who sat out last season at BGSU) were able to bond together through a week and a half of diverse experiences, including whitewater rafting, zip-lining through the rainforest and hiking on a volcano.
LAST TIME OUT
Senior Tamika Nurse scored a game-high 21 points in her BGSU debut to help the Falcons run past Chicago State, 76-41, Friday night (Nov. 13) at venerable Anderson Arena ... the game was a first-round contest in the Preseason WNIT ... the Falcons used a first-half run to erase an early deficit and take a double-digit lead, and BG never looked back ... junior Lauren Prochaska, the reigning MAC Player of the Year, had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists in the win ... Prochaska tied for game rebounding honors, and led all players in assists ... juniors Jen Uhl and Tracy Pontius added 11 and 10 points, respectively, to round out the Falcons' double-digit scorers ... the Brown and Orange trailed early, 7-3, but BG scored 13 consecutive points as part of an 18-2 run to take a 21-9 lead midway through the half ... Nurse, a transfer from the University of Oregon, scored 16 of her 21 points in the opening period as the Falcons opened up a 37-16 halftime lead ... BGSU shot 45.6 percent for the game, including a 14-of-25 (56.0%) effort in the second half ... the Falcons held CSU to only seven field goals and a 24.1% success rate in the first half of play ... BG hit 11 three-pointers on the night, with Nurse making four, Prochaska three and Pontius two ... the Brown and Orange also forced the Cougars into 28 turnovers, and held a 34-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
TICKET SALES ARE ROLLING ALONG
As of the close of the business day on Monday (Nov. 9), a total of 555 women's basketball season tickets had been sold for 2009-10 ... according to available information, that is a new record ... the previous best had been a total of 491 season tickets sold two years ago (2007-08) ... as recently as 2005-06, the total of BGSU women's basketball season tickets sold was just 62.
FALCONS RECEIVE VOTES IN NATIONAL POLLS
The Falcons have received votes in each of the two major preseason polls ... BGSU got eight votes in the initial Associated Press poll of the season (Oct. 30), and the Brown and Orange earned seven votes in the first USA Today ESPN poll (Nov. 4).
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
Ohio State, ranked third in the nation in both the AP and USA Today ESPN preseason polls, opened the 2009-10 season with a 91-68 victory over Eastern Illinois Friday evening (Nov. 13) ... junior center Jantel Lavender posted a double-double, with 24 points and 13 rebounds, while junior forward Sarah Schulze had 16 points and nine boards ... the Buckeyes returned 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that finished 29-6 overall and won the Big Ten Conference with a 15-3 league mark ... Lavender earned All-America honors a year ago, while sophomore guard Samantha Prahalis was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season ... Lavender averaged a double-double, with 20.8 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, while Prehalis had 10.2 ppg and set an OSU freshman record with a total of 203 assists ... head coach Jim Foster is 182-47 in his eighth season in Columbus ... he has a 686-272 record in his 33rd season overall ... the school's athletics web site is www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons trail Ohio State, 13-1, in the all-time series between the teams (since BGSU became a varsity program) ... the Buckeyes have won 11 consecutive games against the Brown and Orange, including a pair of lopsided victories in the last three contests ... five seasons ago, in a Preseason WNIT game, the Buckeyes downed the Brown and Orange, 89-41, in the season opener for both teams (Nov. 12, 2004) ... five years prior to that, in the teams' first meeting at Value City Arena (Dec. 4, 1999), the home team came away with an 86-56 win ... the next year, visiting OSU thrashed an injury-depleted Falcon squad, 95-49, at venerable Anderson Arena (Dec. 12, 2000) ... the Buckeyes have won each of the last 11 games by double digits ... Curt Miller has a record of 0-1 vs. the Buckeyes in his Falcon head-coaching tenure.
HIT THE BOARDS
The Falcons have a record of 103-10 when outrebounding opponents during the Curt Miller Era ... over the last five-plus seasons, BGSU has gone 83-3 in such games.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
• In 2008-09, the Falcons went 11-2 in non-conference play, posting a winning non-league record for the seventh consecutive year ... BGSU is the only Mid-American Conference school to have turned that trick.
• BGSU had not had as many as three consecutive winning seasons in over a decade (since 1991-92 to 1993-94), prior to beginning the current streak ... now, of course, the Falcons have posted seven-straight winning seasons in non-conference action, for the longest such streak in school history.
• The 2008-09 team was the fourth in a row to tie or break the school record for non-conference wins in a season ... BGSU's total of nine non-league wins in 2005-06 tied the school record, before the '06-07 team had 11 to set a new mark ... the '07-08 and '08-09 teams had 11 non-league wins as well ... the Falcons have had at least seven non-league victories in each of the last seven seasons.
• Since the start of the 2002-03 season, BG is 64-21 in regular-season, non-league games, for the most wins and highest winning percentage of any MAC school in that time ... the Falcons have set school records for non-league wins in a three-year period, with 33 from 2006-07 to '08-09, as well as victories in a four-year (42) and a five-year (49 from 2004-05 through '08-09) span.
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