Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
UNC-Greensboro
Prochaska, Falcons Shoot Past UNCG, 80-51
November 27, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Junior scores 20 points; 15 different BG players see action
Junior Lauren Prochaska scored a game-high 20 points to help the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to an 80-51 victory over the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Friday night (Nov. 27). The non-conference game was held at venerable Anderson Arena on the BGSU campus.
LINKS
BGSU 80, UNC GREENSBORO 51 - HTML Stats
BGSU 80, UNC GREENSBORO 51 - PDF Boxscore
POSTGAME AUDIO: Curt Miller | Lauren Prochaska
With the win, the Falcons improve to 3-2 on the season, while the Spartans drop to 1-4.
Senior Tamika Nurse scored 16 points in the Falcons' win. Fifteen different BGSU players saw action in the game, with none playing over 28 minutes.
The Falcons shot over 50 percent in each half en route to a 53.8% rate for the evening. For the fourth time in this season's five games, BGSU hit double digits in three-point field goals made. The Brown and Orange went 11-of-23 from beyond the arc.
Nurse went 4-of-5 from three-point range, while Prochaska was 4-of-7 from long distance.
Prochaska and Nurse were the only two players to score in double digits for the Falcons, but a total of six of their teammates scored between five and eight points. Freshman Allison Papenfuss had the first eight points of her young career, while senior Laura Bugher and juniors Maggie Hennegan and Jen Uhl had six apiece.
Kendra Smith led the Spartans with 12 points, while Amanda Leigh added nine points and Lakiah Hyson eight.
The Falcons made five of the first six shots of the night, enabling BG to lead from wire to wire. Prochaska hit a three-pointer on the home team's first offensive possession of the night, and canned a jumper at the 18:20 mark. Nurse hit a three-pointer of her own a minute later, and a Prochaska layup gave the junior seven points within the game's first three-plus minutes. The Spartans were converting at the other end, however, and kept the BG lead in single digits for much of the first half.
The visitors were within six points after an Agne Girstautaite layup at the 13:29 mark when BG went on a quick 5-0 run. First, a steal by Uhl resulted in a layup for sophomore Jessica Slagle. Then, after a UNCG miss, Prochaska took a pass from Nurse and hit a three-pointer for a 21-10 Falcon lead.
The Falcon defense forced a shot-clock violation midway through the half, and a Nurse triple gave the home team a 24-11 lead. But, the Spartans proceeded to score the game's next seven points. Brey Dorsett scored the first five, banking in a three-point shot and hitting a layup, and Girstautaite's layup cut BG's advantage to six points, 24-18.
Hennegan, however, responded with a three-pointer, and a Nurse jumper put the lead back into double digits. The lead got as high as 14 points after Prochaska made a pair of free throws with 5:08 on the clock. The Falcons led by that same margin before Leigh's triple try beat the buzzer, bringing the Spartans within 37-26 at the half.
The Falcons got off to a fast start in the second half, scoring on the first three possessions. Hennegan hit a jumper just 16 seconds into the period, then worked the inside-out game with Uhl, taking a kick-out pass and returning the ball to her teammate down low. Uhl's layup gave BG a 41-28 lead.
After a defensive stop by the Brown and Orange, Prochaska's three-point shot barely rippled the net as it went through, giving the hosts a 16-point advantage and prompting a UNCG timeout.
Again, though, the visitors rallied, scoring eight of the next 10 points to get within 10. Hyson's two free throws capped that run and made it a 46-36 game.
But, Nurse knocked down a three-pointer, and Prochaska then hit a triple of her own, with junior Tracy Pontius assisting on both shots. When Papenfuss made a turnaround jumper just seconds after checking into the game for the first time, the Falcons had a 54-36 advantage.
Smith snapped that run with a line-drive three-pointer, but Nurse made a three of her own. Then, after a missed shot by the Spartans, Slagle made a diving save of the ball near midcourt, directly in front of the scorer's table. She saved the ball to Nurse, who fired a long cross-court pass to a wide-open Sarah Clapper in the right corner. The senior co-captain's three-point try found nothing but net, giving the Falcons a 60-39 lead and prompting a timeout by the visitors.
Clapper's shot was part of an 11-0 run that gave the Falcons a 65-39 advantage midway through the half. After a pair of Papenfuss free throws, Slagle capped the run with a three-pointer.
Bugher scored four-straight points to give the Falcons a game-high 29-point lead with just over five minutes left, and the home team wound up winning by that same margin.
As mentioned, all 15 healthy Falcons got into the game, with 11 finding the scoresheet. Pontius and Slagle each had five points and three assists, while junior Kelly Zuercher scored four points in the win.
In addition to her 16 points, Nurse had a game-high six assists. No Falcon had more than five rebounds, but BGSU held a 38-32 advantage on the boards.
The Falcons held UNCG to a 31.7% field-goal percentage, including an 8-for-27 (29.6%) output in the second half.
BGSU will conclude a brief two-game homestand with a Tuesday (Dec. 1) game vs. Saint Francis (Pa.). That will mark the last chance for fans to see the Brown and Orange at Anderson Arena for over three weeks, as BG then embarks upon a five-game road swing. Tuesday's Saint Francis game will begin at 7:00 p.m. at "The House That Roars."
