Falcons Close Preseason WNIT with Trip to Marist

THE OPENING TIP
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team will head east for the team's third and final game in the Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller, after splitting the first two games, will travel to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to take on Marist College in a consolation round 3 matchup ... tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at the McCann Center (3,200) ... 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 (15-1 MAC) and advanced to the third round of the Postseason WNIT ... like the Falcons, the Red Foxes recorded 29 wins last year and have won multiple conference championships over the last few years.

LINKS
BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF (34 pages)   |   BGSU Stats only - PDF (1 page)
Marist Stats - PDF (1 page)   |   WNIT Championship bracket - PDF (1 page)   |   WNIT Consolation Bracket - PDF (1 page)
Live Stats Link for BGSU@Marist |   Live Audio Link for BGSU@Marist
MAC Notes & Stats - PDF (9 pages)

CONSPIRACY THEORIES (also titled, "LINCOLN," "KENNEDY," "FALCONS" AND "GIORGIS" EACH HAVE SEVEN LETTERS)
There are some eerie similarities between the BGSU and Marist women's basketball programs ... we're not saying mysterious outside forces are at work, but the information is compelling ... for example ...

• The Falcons are 1-1, having won a Preseason WNIT first-round home game, before going on the road and losing in the second round ... the Red Foxes are also 1-1 on the year, having won at home in the first round before suffering a second-round loss on the road.

• The Falcons are coming off a 29-win season in which BGSU won the MAC regular-season title ... Marist also won 29 games last year, and won the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) championship.

• In fact, Marist has won six consecutive MAAC regular-season titles ... BGSU has won five consecutive MAC regular-season crowns, so technically, it could be said that both programs have won five consecutive league titles.

• Both the Falcons and the Red Foxes advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" of the NCAA Championships in 2007 ... BGSU downed Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt in the '07 national tourney, while Marist topped Ohio State and Middle Tennessee.

• Curt Miller took over the BGSU program prior to the 2001-02 season, while Marist coach Brian Giorgis assumed the helm in 2002-03 ... both teams suffered losing records in the '02-03 campaign, but then won 20+ games in 2003-04, beginning a streak of six consecutive 20-win seasons (see year-by-year list below).

• Both Miller and Giorgis are the winningest coaches at their respective schools.

• Each team returns a conference player of the year, as BGSU junior Lauren Prochaska was the MAC P-O-Y, while Marist senior Rachele Fitz earned similar honors for the MAAC in 2008-09 ... Fitz is a two-time MAAC P-O-Y.

BGSU-MARIST TIES
Marist head volleyball coach Tom Hanna spent four seasons as the top assistant under Denise Van De Walle at BGSU ... Hanna was in Northwest Ohio from 1996-99, helping the Falcons to a 21-12 overall record in his final season.

TOUGH CROWD
The Falcons' early-season schedule is difficult, to say the least ... BGSU is coming off of a road game vs. Ohio State, a team ranked third in the nation ... both the Falcons and Buckeyes recorded a total of 29 wins a year ago ... and, BG's next opponent, Marist, had a 29-win season last year as well ... the Falcons' first four opponents of the season – Chicago State, OSU, Marist and Oakland – averaged 25.0 wins a year ago ... the last three of those foes averaged 28.0 victories last season, and BGSU will face all three of those teams on the road.

BGSU, MARIST AMONG WINNINGEST TEAMS
Both BGSU and Marist are included near the top of the NCAA's list of winningest Division-I teams over the past five years ... the Falcons are 10th on both lists (total wins, winning percentage), while Marist is ninth on one list and 11th on the other.

FALCONS PICKED TO WIN MAC TITLES IN 2009-10
The BGSU women's basketball team has been picked to win both the MAC's East Division and the conference tournament in 2010, according to the league's preseason poll ... the poll was released Oct. 28 by the MAC office ... Additionally, juniors Lauren Prochaska and Tracy Pontius were selected to the Preseason All-MAC Team ... the Falcons received 22 of the 36 votes to win the East Division ... BG was picked ahead of – in order – Kent State, Miami, Akron, Ohio and Buffalo ... BGSU has won five consecutive MAC regular-season titles ... Toledo was picked to win the West Division, followed by Ball State, Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.

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 last Friday night (Nov. 13) continued on in traditional bracket play, with half of them hosting the other half in separate host sites on Sunday/Monday (Nov. 15-16) ... the winning teams in subsequent rounds 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 was 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 lost in the second round, two teams were 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.

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 ... entering the Marist game, BGSU has a 1-2 record in Preseason WNIT action through the years.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 1-1 on the young season ... BGSU opened the 2009-10 campaign with a 76-41 win over Chicago State at venerable Anderson Arena last Friday (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 ... that Preseason WNIT first-round victory gave the Falcons a quarterfinal matchup with Ohio State on Sunday (Nov. 15), and the third-ranked Buckeyes posted a 91-72 win in Columbus.

• 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 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.

• Through two games, four Falcons have double-digit scoring averages ... Nurse and Pontius have 14.0 points per game apiece, while Prochaska is averaging 12.0 ppg and a team-leading 7.0 rebounds per contest ... Uhl has scored 10.0 ppg to date, and leads the Falcons with a .636 field-goal percentage ... all four players have made at least three three-point field goals, with Nurse having gone 6-of-12 (.500) from beyond the arc ... Pontius has 3.5 assists per game, while three Falcons – Nurse, Prochaska and Slagle – are averaging 3.0 apg each ... the Falcons are shooting .409 from the field, .429 from three-point land and .793 from the free-throw line ... BG's opponents are shooting .388 overall, .407 from long range and .750 from the stripe.

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.

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.

BANNER CEREMONY AND RING UNVEILING
Prior to last 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.

LAST TIME OUT
Led by All-American Jantel Lavender, third-ranked Ohio State opened up a large halftime lead en route to a 19-point victory over the Falcons in Preseason WNIT quarterfinal-round action in Columbus Sunday afternoon (Nov. 15) ... Lavender scored 18 of her game-high 23 points in the first half, helping the Buckeyes build a 55-28 lead at the intermission ... the Brown and Orange outscored the home team by a 44-36 margin in the second half, but never could cut OSU's lead below 17 points after halftime ... Lavender, who averaged a double-double last season, had a game-high 14 rebounds for her second double-double in as many games this year ... she paced four double-digit scorers for the Scarlet and Gray ... junior Tracy Pontius led the Brown and Orange with 18 points, while classmate Lauren Prochaska added 11 points along with a team-leading eight rebounds ... another junior, Jen Uhl, scored nine points off the bench ... the Falcons trailed by just seven points after Uhl sandwiched a three-point play around the eight-minute media timeout in the first half ... coming out of that break, her free throw cut OSU's lead to 27-20 with 7:21 on the clock ... but, the Buckeyes then held the Falcons scoreless for the next four-and-a-half minutes, scoring 14 unanswered points in that span to take a 41-20 lead ... Ohio State shot 44.9 percent from the field on the day, while the Falcons shot 37.1%.

MORE HONORS FOR PONTIUS & PROCHASKA
Falcon juniors Tracy Pontius and Lauren Prochaska already have received several honors in 2009-10 ... both players were voted to the Preseason All-MAC Team ... additionally, both have been named to the Full Court Press Preseason Mid-Major Top 25 list ... Prochaska was named to the third team, while Pontius received honorable mention ... according to the site's criteria, the list included players from a pool of all NCAA Division I schools outside of the six major conferences ... the BGSU duo were the only two MAC players to be listed.

JUST AS SUCCESSFUL IN THE CLASSROOM
The Falcons had one of the most successful seasons in program history on the court in 2008-09 ... head coach Curt Miller's program had one of its most successful campaigns in the classroom as well ... BGSU was ranked fifth in the entire nation on the WBCA's Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for 2008-09 ... the awards recognized teams throughout the country that had the highest grade point averages for 2008-09 ... as a team, the Falcons had a GPA of 3.470 in '08-09 ... BGSU was the only MAC program on the list, and the Falcons were also the only program from the state of Ohio in the Division-I Top 25.

TICKET SALES ARE ROLLING ALONG
As of the close of business 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.

MILLER, ROOS RECEIVE CONTRACT EXTENSIONS
Head coach Curt Miller and associate head coach Jennifer Roos received two-year contract extensions in late September, BGSU Assistant V.P./Director of Athletics Greg Christopher announced ... the contracts of both Miller and Roos now run through June 30, 2015.

SCOUTING MARIST
Marist, like BGSU, enters Saturday's game with a 1-1 overall record ... the Red Foxes picked up a 16-point win, 80-64, over North Carolina A&T in the first round of the Preseason WNIT (Nov. 13), then suffered a 55-50 loss at West Virginia in the quarterfinals on Monday night (Nov. 16) ... Marist has reached the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four seasons, and in five of the last six years ... the Red Foxes have won six consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season crowns ... senior forward Rachele Fitz, the reigning MAAC Player of the Year, ia averaging 24.5 points and 11.0 rebounds per game on the young season, while junior guard Erica Allenspach has 19.5 points and 3.0 assists per game, tying for the team lead in the latter category ... Fitz, the school's all-time leading scorer, averaged 20.5 ppg and 9.3 rpg a year ago, leading the entire MAAC in both categories ... sophomore guards Corielle Yarde (6.5 ppg) and Kristine Best (0.0 ppg, 3.0 apg) have joined Fitz and Allenspach in the starting lineup for both games ... sophomore forward Brandy Gang (4.0 ppg) started the first game of the year, while junior center Maria Laterza (1.0 ppg) was in the lineup for the WVU game ... the Red Foxes returned nine letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that finished 29-4 overall and won the MAAC with a 16-2 league mark ... head coach Brian Giorgis 169-55 in his eighth season as a collegiate head coach, all in Poughkeepsie ... the school's athletics web site is GoRedFoxes.com.

THE SERIES
The Falcons and Marist have never met in women's basketball ... BGSU has an all-time record of 3-1 against teams currently in the MAAC (2-0 vs. Iona, 1-1 vs. Siena) ... the Falcons will face another MAAC school, Canisius, on Dec. 19.

TWENTY NINE WINS
The Falcons posted 29 wins in 2008-09 ... that total ranks second on both the school and Mid-American Conference lists ... all three of the MAC's top win totals have been compiled by the Falcons over the last four seasons ... the 2006-07 team had 31 wins en route to the NCAA "Sweet Sixteen," a year after the 2005-06 Falcons had picked up 28 victories.

LET'S PUT IT ANOTHER WAY ...
Prior to the start of the 2005-06 season, no MAC women's basketball team had ever won more than 27 games ... a total of four teams – including the 1986-87 and '88-89 Falcon squads – had reached that mark ... in the last four years, though, three BGSU teams topped that total, and the Falcons averaged more than 27 wins per season during that time ... the Brown and Orange went 114-20 over the last four years, an average of 28.5 wins per season.

THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 1-1 on the young season;
• 29-5 overall in 2008-09;
• 29-3 in the final 32 games of last year, after an 0-2 start to the season;
• 15-1 in MAC play last year, good for a fifth-straight league regular-season title;
• 5-12 in 12 national postseason appearances (including a 3-9 record in the NCAA Championships and a 2-3 mark in WNIT trips);
• 180-74 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 94-34 in MAC games in that time:
• 4-5 in national postseason action under Miller (including a 2-3 mark in the NCAAs and a 2-2 record in the WNIT);
• 171-55 overall in the seven years (plus two games) 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);
• 159-39 over the last six-plus years, with 2008-09 marking BG's sixth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 138-29 in the past five-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins in each year and a MAC regular-season title in every season;
• an eye-popping 115-21 overall and 59-5 in the MAC regular season in the last four-plus years, with the first 114 of those wins coinciding with the career of Lindsey Goldsberry;
• 87-18 in the last three-plus years, including a 43-5 conference ledger, since seniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 56-14 overall, and 28-4 in MAC regular-season games, since juniors Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher began their respective playing careers at BGSU;
• 74-7 in the last 81 games vs. MAC opponents (including regular-season and tourney games);
• 36-4 in MAC home games in the last five seasons;
• 30-2 in MAC road games over the last four years (with the lone losses during that time coming in 2007-08 at Ball State and last March at Miami);
• 12-2 in the MAC Tournament over the last five years, with three titles (2005, '06 and '07), a championship-game appearance last season, and a trip to the semifinals in 2008;
• 36-16 overall in the MAC Tournament since it was instituted in 1982;
• 24-11 in MAC Tournament contests played at a neutral site;
• 14-4 at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena;
• 15-5 in MAC Tournament games in the Curt Miller Era;
• 14-3 at "The Gund"/"The Q" under Miller;
• 24-3 in non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season (including the WNIT games); and
• 20-2 against non-league foes at Anderson Arena since November of 2004.

ANOTHER IMPRESSIVE STREAK
BGSU has won 20 games in six consecutive seasons for the first time in school history ... the Falcons have averaged 26.3 wins per season during that span.

CAPTAINS
Seniors Tara Breske and Sarah Clapper and redshirt junior Maggie Hennegan are the captains of the 2009-10 Falcons ... Breske is a captain for the second consecutive year ... the captains earned that distinction in a vote of their teammates ... the award is particularly impressive in Hennegan's case, as she was chosen as a captain before ever playing her first game as a Falcon.

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