Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
UNC-Greensboro
Falcons Return Home to Face UNC Greensboro Friday Night
November 25, 2009 | Women's Basketball
BGSU begins two-game homestand
THE OPENING TIP
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after playing three consecutive road games against teams that advanced to national postseason play a year ago, returns home for the next two games ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller begin that brief homestand with a Friday (Nov. 27) matchup vs. the University of North Carolina at Greensboro ... tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (3,500) ... 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 2008-09 campaign with an overall record of 29-5 (15-1 MAC) and advanced to the third round of the Postseason WNIT.
BGSU NOTES, STATS & BIOS - PDF
SISTER ACT
The Clapper family of Newark, Ohio, will have divided loyalties when the Falcons and Spartans meet on Friday night ... Sarah Clapper, the oldest daughter of Chris and Cheryl Clapper, is a senior co-captain on the Falcon women's basketball team ... the couple's middle daughter, Amy, is a redshirt freshman at UNC Greensboro in 2009-10 ... Amy, who missed the 2008-09 season due to a preseason knee injury, is averaging 3.0 points and 1.8 rebounds per game this season to date.
TOUGH CROWD
The Falcons' early-season schedule is difficult, to say the least ... BGSU's game at Oakland Tuesday night (Nov. 24) concluded a three-game road trip, in which the three opponents averaged 28.0 wins a season ago ... the first two foes, third-ranked Ohio State and Marist, each posted 29 victories last year, as did the Falcons ... OU went 26-7 in 2008-09 ... all three schools – like BG – advanced to national postseason play ... the Falcons' first four opponents of the season – Chicago State, OSU, Marist and Oakland – posted a total of exactly 100 wins last season.
A TICKET FOR A DOLLAR
BGSU fans can get tickets to Friday night's UNCG game for just one dollar, simply by showing their ticket stub from that afternoon's BGSU-Toledo football game at the Anderson Arena ticket window ... the Falcon football team takes on the Rockets in a 2:00 p.m. start at Perry Stadium Friday, in the "Battle of I-75" ... the women's basketball Falcons then take on UNCG in a 7:00 p.m. tip ... the $1 ticket offer is good for walk-up ticket purchases only, and there is a limit of one $1 ticket per football ticket stub.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 2-2 on the young season ... BGSU opened the 2009-10 campaign with three games in the Preseason NIT, starting with a 76-41 win over Chicago State at venerable Anderson Arena (Nov. 13) ... that victory gave the Falcons a quarterfinal matchup with Ohio State (Nov. 15), and the third-ranked Buckeyes posted a 91-72 win in Columbus ... then, the Brown and Orange headed to Marist and suffered a 70-65 setback Saturday (Nov. 21) ... BGSU bounced back with a road win, 81-66, Tuesday night (Nov. 24) at Oakland.
• 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 Postseason 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.
• Through four games, junior Tracy Pontius leads the Falcons in scoring, with 16.0 points per game ... she also has 4.0 rebounds and a team-high 4.5 assists per contest, and also leads the Falcons with 13 three-point field goals.
• Junior Lauren Prochaska and senior Tamika Nurse each have 12.0 ppg to date ... Prochaska leads the Falcons in rebounding (6.8 rpg) and is second in assists (4.0 apg) and blocked shots (0.8 bpg) ... Nurse has 3.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game, and is second on the team with eight three-pointers made.
• Junior Jen Uhl has scored 9.5 points per game, while senior Tara Breske has 9.0 ppg ... Uhl and is shooting a team-best 63.6 percent from the field, and has gone 7-of-12 (58.3) from long range to date ... Breske has 4.3 rebounds and a team-high 1.0 blocks per outing to date.
• Junior Maggie Hennegan and sophomore Jessica Slagle have 4.8 and 3.8 ppg, respectively ... Hennegen has 5.5 rebounds per game to rank second on the team ... Slagle is fourth on the Falcons in assists, with 1.8 helpers per game.
• The list of returnees in 2009-10 includes three seniors – 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 Prochaska and 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 Uhl, Chelsea Albert and Kelly Zuercher also return ... Uhl started the final 13 games of the year at a forward spot ... sophomores Slagle and Maribeth Giese round out the returning letterwinners.
• Two other players get to suit up in a BG uniform for the first time ... Nurse, a fifth-year senior (Univ. of Oregon), and Hennegan, a redshirt junior (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.
• Nurse has joined Breske, Pontius and Prochaska in the starting lineup for each of the first four games to date ... Hennegan has made three starts, while Uhl was in the starting lineup for the Oakland game.
• Through four games, the Falcons are shooting .417 from the field, .394 from three-point land and .797 from the free-throw line ... BG's opponents are shooting .434 overall, .333 from long range and .770 from the stripe.
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.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons scored the first 11 points of the second half to break open a close game en route to an 81-66 win at Oakland Tuesday night (Nov. 24) ... junior Tracy Pontius paced four double-digit scorers for the Falcons with a game-high 23 points, and she tied her career high with nine assists in the win ... junior Lauren Prochaska had 17 points, while seniors Tara Breske and Tamika Nurse scored 12 and 11 points, respectively ... in a fast-paced, back-and-forth game, the Falcons took a 35-30 lead into the lockerroom, but exploded for that double-digit run to begin the second half ... the run began when Breske hit a jumper on the first possession of the half, then stole the ball from Victoria Lipscomb and fired a pass ahead to Pontius for a layup in transition ... the BG defense forced an Oakland miss, and Prochaska took a Pontius pass and hit a three-pointer from the right elbow ... the Grizzlies threw the ball away on the ensuing possession, and OU coach Beckie Francis attempted to change her team's fortunes by putting in five fresh players ... but, Nurse hit a layup, and junior Jen Uhl got a steal and fed Pontius for another transition layup ... the Falcons' lead was 46-30 as OU took a timeout ... finally, the home team broke the drought, but Pontius hit an NBA-range three-pointer as the Falcons went 7-for-7 from the field to open the half ... BGSU shot an even 50.0 percent for the game, including a 60.7% rate in the second period ... the hosts shot 46.6% for the game ... the Falcons made eight three-pointers on the night, with Pontius going 5-for-7, and BG outrebounded the Grizzlies by a 34-31 count.
THREE-MENDOUS
Believe it or not, the Falcons' team total of eight three-point field goals made at Oakland was actually a season low ... BGSU had hit at least 10 triples in each of the first three games of the year, and the Falcons have made a total of 41 through four games ... that's an average of 10.25 per game.
SCOUTING UNCG
UNC Greensboro will enter Friday's game with an overall record of 1-3 ... the Spartans are looking to snap a three-game losing streak, with all three losses coming on the road ... UNCG opened the season with an 85-68 home win over Morgan State (Nov. 14), but have suffered setbacks at Liberty, High Point and #3 Ohio State ... the latter game was an 89-56 outcome in Columbus on Wednesday night (Nov. 25) ... redshirt junior guard Amanda Leigh paces the team in scoring, with 11.3 points per game, and also has 4.5 rebounds per contest ... junior guard Monique Floyd has 9.8 points and a team-leading averages of 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, while senior guard Lakiah Hyson has 8.0 ppg ... redshirt junior center Agne Girstautaite (6.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and junior forward Kendra Smith (5.8 ppg) have joined the aforementioned three players in the starting lineup for each of the first four games ... the Spartans returned four starters from last year's team that finished 13-18 overall and 9-11 in Southern Conference play ... head coach Lynne Age is in her 29th year at UNCG, and has a record of 534-278 ... she is 580-301 in her 32nd season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.uncgspartans.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead UNC Greensboro, 1-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... the only prior meeting came last season in North Carolina ... just under a year ago (Nov. 27, 2008), BGSU shot 56 percent from the field after halftime to pick up a 71-53 win in the final game of the UNCG Marriott Classic ... Lauren Prochaska had a game-high 20 points, including 13 in the second half.
