Bowling Green State University Athletics
Saturday, December 19
Buffalo, NY
2:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Canisius
Junior Jen Uhl and the Falcons will play 3 games in 5 days, beginning with Saturday's contest at Canisius (photo by Larry Clapper)
Falcons Head Back to Western New York
December 18, 2009 | Women's Basketball
BGSU plays Canisius to begin three-games-in-five-days stretch
THE OPENING TIP
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, for the second consecutive game and the sixth time this season, will hit the road to play a team that advanced to national postseason play last year ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller head to Western New York for the second-straight weekend, continuing a season-long five-game road swing with Saturday's (Dec. 19) game against Canisius College ... tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. at the Koessler Athletic Center (2,176).
BGSU Game Notes, Stats & Player Bios - PDF
Canisius Stats - PDF
MAC Standings & Stats - PDF
AUDIO: Curt Miller - Thursday (Dec. 17) press conf.
Canisius women's basketball home page
TOUGH CROWD, TO SAY THE LEAST
Saturday's Canisius game marks the seventh road contest for the Falcons this year ... six of those seven opponents are teams that won at least 23 games and advanced to national postseason play last season ... three of those opponents, Ohio State, Marist and Vanderbilt, went to the NCAA Championships last March, while three – Oakland, St. Bonaventure and Canisius – advanced to the WNIT ... those six teams had a total of 157 wins, an average of 26.2 victories per team, in 2008-09.
PROCHASKA NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK, AGAIN
Junior Lauren Prochaska was named the MAC Player of the Week on Monday (Dec. 14) ... she earned the honor for the second consecutive Monday, the second time this year and the seventh time in her Falcon career ... Prochaska averaged 23.0 points and shot over 51 percent from the field as the Brown and Orange split a pair of games last week ... she had a game-high total of 25 points in BGSU's 64-43 win at Detroit (Dec. 9), and also led all scorers at Saint Bonaventure, with 21 points in the Falcons' 70-54 setback (Dec. 12) ... Prochaska is averaging 21.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game over the last four contests, coinciding with her two P-O-W awards ... she is shooting .569 from the field in that time.
PROCHASKA MOVES INTO 14TH ON BGSU SCORING LIST
With 46 points in last week's two games, junior Lauren Prochaska moved up three spots into 14th place on the BGSU career scoring list ... Prochaska now has a total of 1,245 points in her Falcon tenure ... she passed Jacki Raterman (1,213 points from 1995-99) and Melissa Chase (1,223 points from 1979-83) in the win over Detroit (Dec. 9), and moved ahead of Michelle Shade (1,233 points from 1991-95) in the St. Bonaventure game (Dec. 12) ... Prochaska's next target is 13th-place Carin Horne, who scored 1,341 points from 2003-07 ... she is averaging 16.2 points per game, the second-highest average in BGSU annals, in her career.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 6-3 on the season, but BGSU saw a five-game winning streak snapped with a 70-54 loss at St. Bonaventure last weekend ... BG is 3-0 at home and 3-3 on the road this year to date ... the Falcons opened the 2009-10 campaign with three games in the Preseason WNIT, starting with a 76-41 win over Chicago State at venerable Anderson Arena ... then, however, the Brown and Orange lost road games against third-ranked Ohio State and Marist ... BGSU bounced back with a win at Oakland, before downing UNC Greensboro and Saint Francis (Pa.) ... head coach Curt Miller's club headed to Nashville and defeated nationally-ranked Vanderbilt, 66-60, two weekends ago (Dec. 4) ... then, BG picked up a 64-43 win at Detroit (Dec. 9) before losing at SBU last Saturday (Dec. 12).
• BGSU returns 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that won the Mid-American Conference's regular-season title for a fifth-straight season ... the Falcons went 29-5 overall, posting the second-highest win total in school and conference history, and had a 15-1 MAC record in 2008-09 ... the Brown and Orange advanced to the third round of the Postseason WNIT.
• The Falcons had just one senior on the roster a year ago ... 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, for an average of 28.5 wins.
• Through nine games, junior Lauren Prochaska leads the Falcons in both scoring and rebounding ... Prochaska, the reigning Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, is averaging 17.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game ... she was named the league's Player of the Week on each of the last two Mondays (Dec. 7 and Dec. 14).
• Junior Tracy Pontius and senior Tamika Nurse have 12.6 and 11.0 ppg, respectively ... Pontius has 3.6 rpg, and is tied with Prochaska for the team lead in three-point field goals made ... Pontius is 18-of-46 from beyond the arc, and is also tied for the BGSU lead in assists (3.4 apg) ... Nurse, like Pontius, has 31 total assists this year to tie for first on the Falcons ... Nurse is third on the team with 16 three-pointers made, and has shot .444 (16-of-36) from long range.
• Senior Tara Breske and junior Jen Uhl have scored 7.7 and 7.6 ppg, respectively ... Breske, who missed two games (UNC Greensboro and Vanderbilt), averaged 15.5 minutes off the bench in the next two contests before playing 25 minutes at SBU ... she has 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots per game, leading the Falcons in the latter category ... Uhl has 5.4 rebounds per game, good for second on the team ... she has led the Falcons or tied for the team lead in rebounding in each of the last four contests, averaging 8.5 rpg during that time ... Uhl also is shooting a team-best .529 from the field, and has gone 8-of-17 (.471) from three-point range.
• Junior Maggie Hennegan and sophomore Jessica Slagle have 4.9 and 3.6 ppg, respectively ... Hennegen has 5.1 rebounds per game to place third on the team ... Slagle is fourth on the Falcons in assists, with 1.4 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 returned ... Uhl started the final 13 games last year at a forward spot ... sophomores Slagle and Maribeth Giese round out the returning letterwinners.
• Two other players are in their first playing season at BGSU ... 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 joined 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, Pontius and Prochaska each have started all nine games to date, while Hennegan has made eight starts ... Breske started the first four games of the year, while Uhl has been in the starting lineup for each of the last six games.
• Through nine games, the Falcons are shooting .444 from the field, .392 from three-point land and .785 from the free-throw line ... BG's opponents are shooting .398 overall, .353 from long range and .728 from the stripe ... the Falcons have 36.0 rebounds per game to the opponents' 33.9.
LAST TIME OUT
Dana Mitchell scored 19 points as host St. Bonaventure led from wire to wire in a 70-54 victory over the Falcons Saturday afternoon (Dec. 12) ... with the win, the Bonnies remained undefeated at 10-0 on the year ... Mitchell led four double-digit scorers for the home team, which used timely shooting and solid execution to pick up the victory ... junior Lauren Prochaska led all players with 21 points, but was the only Falcon in double digits on the afternoon ... both teams shot an identical 54.2 percent from the field in the first half, making 13 shots in 24 attempts ... but, SBU shot .423 from the floor in the second half, while holding the Falcons to just a 6-for-23 (.261) second-half rate ... Chelsea Bowker scored 14 points off the bench for the Bonnies, while Megan Van Tatenhove added 12 points and Andrea Doneth 10 ... a 12-0 run gave the home team a 24-10 lead midway through the opening half ... but, the Falcons responded with a double-figure run of their own, scoring 11-straight points to cut Bona's lead to just three ... the Falcons got within a single point on several occasions, but Bowker's 'and-one' layup with 17.3 seconds left gave the Bonnies a 39-34 lead at the half ... Prochaska scored five points in the first 1:40 of the second half, including a 3-pointer that cut SBU's advantage to only three points, 43-40 ... but, BG would get no closer ... SBU scored 12-straight points over a seven-minute span, taking a double-digit lead for good ... the Falcons could get no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
SCOUTING CANISIUS
Canisius brings a 5-3 record into Saturday's game ... like the Falcons, the Golden Griffins suffered a loss the last time out, snapping a five-game winning streak ... CC lost a 72-70, double-overtime decision at Duquesne Wednesday night (Dec. 16) ... the team's other losses came in the first two games of the year, a four-point setback at Mount St. Mary's and a 65-47 loss to St. Bonaventure ... the wins have come against Binghamton and Albany at home, and on the road vs. Youngstown State, Detroit and Buffalo ... CC has held six of eight opponents to 56 points or less this year, and also held Duquesne to 56 points in regulation on Wednesday night ... the Griffs are 2-1 at home this year to date ... senior guard Brittane Russell and senior forward Ellie Radke are scoring in double digits for CC ... Russell has a team-best 13.1 points per game, while Radke is averaging 12.9 ppg and a team-leading 5.4 rebounds per outing ... Russell has 4.5 rpg to rank second on the Griffs, and leads the club with 4.3 assists per game ... last year, Russell was the MAAC's Defensive Player of the Year, while Radke earned league Sixth-Player-of-the-Year honors ... freshman guard Ashley Durham is averaging 6.5 ppg off the bench, while junior guard Micayla Drysdale also has 6.5 ppg ... senior guard Tasia Lee has 6.0 ppg on the year ... Russell, Radke and Drysdale each have started all eight games ... senior guard Brianna Lucas (3.9 ppg) and freshman forward Melissa Gardner (1.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg) joined that trio in the starting lineup at Duquesne for head coach Terry Zeh ... the Golden Griffins returned seven letterwinners, including two starters, from last year's team that finished 24-9 overall and 14-4 in MAAC action ... the '08-09 club posted the most wins in the program's Division-I history and made a first-ever WNIT appearance ... Zeh has a record of 97-65 in his sixth season as a collegiate head coach, all at CC ... the school's athletics web site is GoGriffs.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons and Canisius have never met in women's basketball.
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 6-3 in the 2009-10 season to date;
• 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);
• 185-76 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);
• 176-57 overall in the seven years (plus nine 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);
• 164-41 over the last six-plus years, with 2008-09 marking BG's sixth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 143-31 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 120-23 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;
• 92-20 in the last three-plus years, including a 43-5 conference ledger, since seniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 61-16 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;
• 35-8 since sophomores Maribeth Giese and Jessica Slagle ventured to NW Ohio;
• 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, the site of the MAC Tournament;
• 15-5 in MAC Tournament games in the Curt Miller Era;
• 14-3 at "The Gund"/"The Q" under Miller;
• 26-3 in all non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season; and
• 22-2 against non-league foes at Anderson Arena since November of 2004.
WHAT A LONG STRANGE (BUNCH OF) TRIP(S) IT'S BEEN
The Falcons' games this weekend, at Canisius and Youngstown State (Monday morning, Dec. 21), conclude a season-long five-game road swing five-game road swing ... BGSU is 2-1 during that stretch, with wins at nationally-ranked Vanderbilt and Detroit, and the lost at Saint Bonaventure ... BGSU will have played eight of the season's first 11 games on the road by the time the Falcons finally return home to prepare for Wednesday's (Dec. 23) game vs. Appalachian State ... following Saturday's game vs. CC, the Falcons will have played as many games in the state of New York as in venerable Anderson Arena.
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.
A SCHOOL RECORD? WE MAY NEVER KNOW
Falcon head coach Curt Miller has played a total of 15 different players on two occasions this season to date – the wins over UNC Greensboro (Nov. 27) and Detroit (Dec. 9) ... that total is the highest in over 25 years ... none of Miller's first eight teams at BGSU had more than 14 players on the active roster ... the last team to have as many as 15 players see action was the 1985-86 squad ... the '84-85 Falcons also had 15 players, while the 1983-84 team – like the 2009-10 team – had 16 players who saw action in at least one game.
FREE-THROW SHOOTING HAS BEEN A STRENGTH
The Falcons are shooting .785 from the field this season, continuing a trend of success from the stripe ... last year, BGSU had a school-record free-throw percentage of .794, a rate that ranked fourth in the nation and was the 15th-highest figure in NCAA Division-I history.
FREE-THROW SHOOTING, PART II
Junior Lauren Prochaska, slowed by illness in the early stages of the 2009-10 season, still is shooting .854 from the free-throw line this year to date ... last season, Prochaska led the nation with a .933 success rate from the stripe ... that was the 11th-best single-season performance in NCAA Division-I history ... Prochaska was 167-of-179 from the line last year ... none of the 10 players listed above her on that list had attempted more than 118 free throws.
23 GAMES OF 20
Junior Lauren Prochaska scored a game-high 21 points at Saint Bonaventure ... that marked her fourth game of 20 points or more this year, and the 23rd such contest of her Falcon career ... Prochaska has hit double digits in 69 of her 77 career games.
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.
HOME COOKIN'
BGSU is 3-0 at venerable Anderson Arena this season, and the Falcons have won 22 of the last 23 games in the building ... only five of those 22 wins, including the last home game – vs. Saint Francis (Pa.) – were by single digits ... the lone loss in that time came to Indiana in the third round of the 2009 Postseason WNIT.
BRESKE BLOCKS ...
Senior co-captain Tara Breske tied her career high with three blocked shots in the St. Bonaventure game ... Breske now has a team-leading nine blocks in seven games this season ... she ranks fifth in school history with 79 blocks in her Falcon career.
... AND UHL REBOUNDS
Junior Jen Uhl has led the Falcons in rebounding or tied for the team lead in each of the last four games, averaging 8.5 boards per game in that time ... after tying her career best with 14 rebounds in the win over Saint Francis (Pa.), Uhl pulled down eight boards in both the Vanderbilt and Detroit games.
BOARDWORK
Last season, the Falcons had more rebounds than the opponent just 13 times in 34 games ... this year, BGSU has outrebounded the opposition seven times in nine games, including in six of the last seven contests ... BG has a +2.1 rebounding margin ... when outrebounding opponents, the Falcons are 108-11 in the Curt Miller Era, including 88-4 in the last five-plus seasons (since the start of 2004-05).
THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS
The Falcons are allowing opponents to shoot just .398 from the field this year ... BGSU has turned up the heat on the opposition in crunch time in several recent games ... the BG defense forced Vanderbilt to go 0-for-8 from the field in the final minutes of the Falcons' win in Nashville, then pressured Detroit into missing its final nine field-goal attempts ... Vandy took the lead for the first and only time with a layup at the 3:25 mark, but the then-#14/16 Commodores would not make another shot as BG went on a game-ending 8-1 run ... then, after Detroit got within nine points with 6:17 left, the Falcons allowed only three last-minute free throws the rest of the way.
THREE-MENDOUS
BG has shot the ball relatively well from three-point land this year ... through the first nine games of the year, BGSU has hit 73 treys, an average of 8.1 per game, and has shot nearly 40 percent from long range ... the Falcons averaged 10.4 successful triples through the first five contests, hitting double digits in that category in four of those five games.
THE FALCON SENIORS
Fourth-year Falcons Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper have helped the Brown and Orange average 28.7 wins per season since arriving on campus ... that trio has been a part of the two winningest teams in program history, as well as four of the five national postseason wins in BG annals ... BGSU has gone 92-20 overall and 43-5 in MAC regular-season action since Breske, Bugher and Clapper came to the school ... Tamika Nurse, a fifth-year senior, begins her first playing season after sitting out last year as a transfer from the Univ. of Oregon.
THE JUNIORS
BGSU has posted a record of 61-16 overall, and the Falcons are 28-4 in MAC regular-season games since Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher set foot on campus ... that is an average of 27.5 wins per year through the first two seasons ... the Falcons have played national postseason tournament games at Anderson Arena in both seasons, beating Dayton in last year's WNIT and facing Syracuse and Indiana in that tourney at 'The House That Roars' in 2009 ... Maggie Hennegan joins that group in 2009-10 ... Hennegan sat out last season as a transfer after playing two years at Saint Louis Univ.
THE SOPHOMORES
Maribeth Giese and Jessica Slagle helped the Brown and Orange to 29 wins – the second-highest total in MAC history – along with a school-record 25-game winning streak in their first year in BG ... the Falcons are 35-8 since the duo arrived in Northwest Ohio ... Danielle Havel is a member of the sophomore class, but will sit out the 2009-10 season after transferring from DePaul Univ.
THE FRESHMEN
Four freshmen joined the Falcons for the 2009-10 season ... that list includes Simone Eli (Genoa, Ohio/Genoa), Allison Papenfuss (Whitehouse, Ohio/Anthony Wayne), Chrissy Steffen (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Jessie Tamerlano (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton).
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.
UP NEXT
For the Falcons, the Canisius game begins a stretch of three games in five days ... BGSU will head to Youngstown State for a Monday morning (Dec. 21) game, beginning at 11:00 a.m. ... then, the Brown and Orange will host Appalachian State on Wednesday night (Dec. 23) at venerable Anderson Arena.
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, for the second consecutive game and the sixth time this season, will hit the road to play a team that advanced to national postseason play last year ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller head to Western New York for the second-straight weekend, continuing a season-long five-game road swing with Saturday's (Dec. 19) game against Canisius College ... tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. at the Koessler Athletic Center (2,176).
BGSU Game Notes, Stats & Player Bios - PDF
Canisius Stats - PDF
MAC Standings & Stats - PDF
AUDIO: Curt Miller - Thursday (Dec. 17) press conf.
Canisius women's basketball home page
TOUGH CROWD, TO SAY THE LEAST
Saturday's Canisius game marks the seventh road contest for the Falcons this year ... six of those seven opponents are teams that won at least 23 games and advanced to national postseason play last season ... three of those opponents, Ohio State, Marist and Vanderbilt, went to the NCAA Championships last March, while three – Oakland, St. Bonaventure and Canisius – advanced to the WNIT ... those six teams had a total of 157 wins, an average of 26.2 victories per team, in 2008-09.
PROCHASKA NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK, AGAIN
Junior Lauren Prochaska was named the MAC Player of the Week on Monday (Dec. 14) ... she earned the honor for the second consecutive Monday, the second time this year and the seventh time in her Falcon career ... Prochaska averaged 23.0 points and shot over 51 percent from the field as the Brown and Orange split a pair of games last week ... she had a game-high total of 25 points in BGSU's 64-43 win at Detroit (Dec. 9), and also led all scorers at Saint Bonaventure, with 21 points in the Falcons' 70-54 setback (Dec. 12) ... Prochaska is averaging 21.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game over the last four contests, coinciding with her two P-O-W awards ... she is shooting .569 from the field in that time.
PROCHASKA MOVES INTO 14TH ON BGSU SCORING LIST
With 46 points in last week's two games, junior Lauren Prochaska moved up three spots into 14th place on the BGSU career scoring list ... Prochaska now has a total of 1,245 points in her Falcon tenure ... she passed Jacki Raterman (1,213 points from 1995-99) and Melissa Chase (1,223 points from 1979-83) in the win over Detroit (Dec. 9), and moved ahead of Michelle Shade (1,233 points from 1991-95) in the St. Bonaventure game (Dec. 12) ... Prochaska's next target is 13th-place Carin Horne, who scored 1,341 points from 2003-07 ... she is averaging 16.2 points per game, the second-highest average in BGSU annals, in her career.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 6-3 on the season, but BGSU saw a five-game winning streak snapped with a 70-54 loss at St. Bonaventure last weekend ... BG is 3-0 at home and 3-3 on the road this year to date ... the Falcons opened the 2009-10 campaign with three games in the Preseason WNIT, starting with a 76-41 win over Chicago State at venerable Anderson Arena ... then, however, the Brown and Orange lost road games against third-ranked Ohio State and Marist ... BGSU bounced back with a win at Oakland, before downing UNC Greensboro and Saint Francis (Pa.) ... head coach Curt Miller's club headed to Nashville and defeated nationally-ranked Vanderbilt, 66-60, two weekends ago (Dec. 4) ... then, BG picked up a 64-43 win at Detroit (Dec. 9) before losing at SBU last Saturday (Dec. 12).
• BGSU returns 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that won the Mid-American Conference's regular-season title for a fifth-straight season ... the Falcons went 29-5 overall, posting the second-highest win total in school and conference history, and had a 15-1 MAC record in 2008-09 ... the Brown and Orange advanced to the third round of the Postseason WNIT.
• The Falcons had just one senior on the roster a year ago ... 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, for an average of 28.5 wins.
• Through nine games, junior Lauren Prochaska leads the Falcons in both scoring and rebounding ... Prochaska, the reigning Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, is averaging 17.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game ... she was named the league's Player of the Week on each of the last two Mondays (Dec. 7 and Dec. 14).
• Junior Tracy Pontius and senior Tamika Nurse have 12.6 and 11.0 ppg, respectively ... Pontius has 3.6 rpg, and is tied with Prochaska for the team lead in three-point field goals made ... Pontius is 18-of-46 from beyond the arc, and is also tied for the BGSU lead in assists (3.4 apg) ... Nurse, like Pontius, has 31 total assists this year to tie for first on the Falcons ... Nurse is third on the team with 16 three-pointers made, and has shot .444 (16-of-36) from long range.
• Senior Tara Breske and junior Jen Uhl have scored 7.7 and 7.6 ppg, respectively ... Breske, who missed two games (UNC Greensboro and Vanderbilt), averaged 15.5 minutes off the bench in the next two contests before playing 25 minutes at SBU ... she has 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots per game, leading the Falcons in the latter category ... Uhl has 5.4 rebounds per game, good for second on the team ... she has led the Falcons or tied for the team lead in rebounding in each of the last four contests, averaging 8.5 rpg during that time ... Uhl also is shooting a team-best .529 from the field, and has gone 8-of-17 (.471) from three-point range.
• Junior Maggie Hennegan and sophomore Jessica Slagle have 4.9 and 3.6 ppg, respectively ... Hennegen has 5.1 rebounds per game to place third on the team ... Slagle is fourth on the Falcons in assists, with 1.4 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 returned ... Uhl started the final 13 games last year at a forward spot ... sophomores Slagle and Maribeth Giese round out the returning letterwinners.
• Two other players are in their first playing season at BGSU ... 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 joined 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, Pontius and Prochaska each have started all nine games to date, while Hennegan has made eight starts ... Breske started the first four games of the year, while Uhl has been in the starting lineup for each of the last six games.
• Through nine games, the Falcons are shooting .444 from the field, .392 from three-point land and .785 from the free-throw line ... BG's opponents are shooting .398 overall, .353 from long range and .728 from the stripe ... the Falcons have 36.0 rebounds per game to the opponents' 33.9.
LAST TIME OUT
Dana Mitchell scored 19 points as host St. Bonaventure led from wire to wire in a 70-54 victory over the Falcons Saturday afternoon (Dec. 12) ... with the win, the Bonnies remained undefeated at 10-0 on the year ... Mitchell led four double-digit scorers for the home team, which used timely shooting and solid execution to pick up the victory ... junior Lauren Prochaska led all players with 21 points, but was the only Falcon in double digits on the afternoon ... both teams shot an identical 54.2 percent from the field in the first half, making 13 shots in 24 attempts ... but, SBU shot .423 from the floor in the second half, while holding the Falcons to just a 6-for-23 (.261) second-half rate ... Chelsea Bowker scored 14 points off the bench for the Bonnies, while Megan Van Tatenhove added 12 points and Andrea Doneth 10 ... a 12-0 run gave the home team a 24-10 lead midway through the opening half ... but, the Falcons responded with a double-figure run of their own, scoring 11-straight points to cut Bona's lead to just three ... the Falcons got within a single point on several occasions, but Bowker's 'and-one' layup with 17.3 seconds left gave the Bonnies a 39-34 lead at the half ... Prochaska scored five points in the first 1:40 of the second half, including a 3-pointer that cut SBU's advantage to only three points, 43-40 ... but, BG would get no closer ... SBU scored 12-straight points over a seven-minute span, taking a double-digit lead for good ... the Falcons could get no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
SCOUTING CANISIUS
Canisius brings a 5-3 record into Saturday's game ... like the Falcons, the Golden Griffins suffered a loss the last time out, snapping a five-game winning streak ... CC lost a 72-70, double-overtime decision at Duquesne Wednesday night (Dec. 16) ... the team's other losses came in the first two games of the year, a four-point setback at Mount St. Mary's and a 65-47 loss to St. Bonaventure ... the wins have come against Binghamton and Albany at home, and on the road vs. Youngstown State, Detroit and Buffalo ... CC has held six of eight opponents to 56 points or less this year, and also held Duquesne to 56 points in regulation on Wednesday night ... the Griffs are 2-1 at home this year to date ... senior guard Brittane Russell and senior forward Ellie Radke are scoring in double digits for CC ... Russell has a team-best 13.1 points per game, while Radke is averaging 12.9 ppg and a team-leading 5.4 rebounds per outing ... Russell has 4.5 rpg to rank second on the Griffs, and leads the club with 4.3 assists per game ... last year, Russell was the MAAC's Defensive Player of the Year, while Radke earned league Sixth-Player-of-the-Year honors ... freshman guard Ashley Durham is averaging 6.5 ppg off the bench, while junior guard Micayla Drysdale also has 6.5 ppg ... senior guard Tasia Lee has 6.0 ppg on the year ... Russell, Radke and Drysdale each have started all eight games ... senior guard Brianna Lucas (3.9 ppg) and freshman forward Melissa Gardner (1.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg) joined that trio in the starting lineup at Duquesne for head coach Terry Zeh ... the Golden Griffins returned seven letterwinners, including two starters, from last year's team that finished 24-9 overall and 14-4 in MAAC action ... the '08-09 club posted the most wins in the program's Division-I history and made a first-ever WNIT appearance ... Zeh has a record of 97-65 in his sixth season as a collegiate head coach, all at CC ... the school's athletics web site is GoGriffs.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons and Canisius have never met in women's basketball.
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 6-3 in the 2009-10 season to date;
• 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);
• 185-76 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);
• 176-57 overall in the seven years (plus nine 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);
• 164-41 over the last six-plus years, with 2008-09 marking BG's sixth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 143-31 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 120-23 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;
• 92-20 in the last three-plus years, including a 43-5 conference ledger, since seniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 61-16 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;
• 35-8 since sophomores Maribeth Giese and Jessica Slagle ventured to NW Ohio;
• 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, the site of the MAC Tournament;
• 15-5 in MAC Tournament games in the Curt Miller Era;
• 14-3 at "The Gund"/"The Q" under Miller;
• 26-3 in all non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season; and
• 22-2 against non-league foes at Anderson Arena since November of 2004.
WHAT A LONG STRANGE (BUNCH OF) TRIP(S) IT'S BEEN
The Falcons' games this weekend, at Canisius and Youngstown State (Monday morning, Dec. 21), conclude a season-long five-game road swing five-game road swing ... BGSU is 2-1 during that stretch, with wins at nationally-ranked Vanderbilt and Detroit, and the lost at Saint Bonaventure ... BGSU will have played eight of the season's first 11 games on the road by the time the Falcons finally return home to prepare for Wednesday's (Dec. 23) game vs. Appalachian State ... following Saturday's game vs. CC, the Falcons will have played as many games in the state of New York as in venerable Anderson Arena.
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.
A SCHOOL RECORD? WE MAY NEVER KNOW
Falcon head coach Curt Miller has played a total of 15 different players on two occasions this season to date – the wins over UNC Greensboro (Nov. 27) and Detroit (Dec. 9) ... that total is the highest in over 25 years ... none of Miller's first eight teams at BGSU had more than 14 players on the active roster ... the last team to have as many as 15 players see action was the 1985-86 squad ... the '84-85 Falcons also had 15 players, while the 1983-84 team – like the 2009-10 team – had 16 players who saw action in at least one game.
FREE-THROW SHOOTING HAS BEEN A STRENGTH
The Falcons are shooting .785 from the field this season, continuing a trend of success from the stripe ... last year, BGSU had a school-record free-throw percentage of .794, a rate that ranked fourth in the nation and was the 15th-highest figure in NCAA Division-I history.
FREE-THROW SHOOTING, PART II
Junior Lauren Prochaska, slowed by illness in the early stages of the 2009-10 season, still is shooting .854 from the free-throw line this year to date ... last season, Prochaska led the nation with a .933 success rate from the stripe ... that was the 11th-best single-season performance in NCAA Division-I history ... Prochaska was 167-of-179 from the line last year ... none of the 10 players listed above her on that list had attempted more than 118 free throws.
23 GAMES OF 20
Junior Lauren Prochaska scored a game-high 21 points at Saint Bonaventure ... that marked her fourth game of 20 points or more this year, and the 23rd such contest of her Falcon career ... Prochaska has hit double digits in 69 of her 77 career games.
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.
HOME COOKIN'
BGSU is 3-0 at venerable Anderson Arena this season, and the Falcons have won 22 of the last 23 games in the building ... only five of those 22 wins, including the last home game – vs. Saint Francis (Pa.) – were by single digits ... the lone loss in that time came to Indiana in the third round of the 2009 Postseason WNIT.
BRESKE BLOCKS ...
Senior co-captain Tara Breske tied her career high with three blocked shots in the St. Bonaventure game ... Breske now has a team-leading nine blocks in seven games this season ... she ranks fifth in school history with 79 blocks in her Falcon career.
... AND UHL REBOUNDS
Junior Jen Uhl has led the Falcons in rebounding or tied for the team lead in each of the last four games, averaging 8.5 boards per game in that time ... after tying her career best with 14 rebounds in the win over Saint Francis (Pa.), Uhl pulled down eight boards in both the Vanderbilt and Detroit games.
BOARDWORK
Last season, the Falcons had more rebounds than the opponent just 13 times in 34 games ... this year, BGSU has outrebounded the opposition seven times in nine games, including in six of the last seven contests ... BG has a +2.1 rebounding margin ... when outrebounding opponents, the Falcons are 108-11 in the Curt Miller Era, including 88-4 in the last five-plus seasons (since the start of 2004-05).
THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS
The Falcons are allowing opponents to shoot just .398 from the field this year ... BGSU has turned up the heat on the opposition in crunch time in several recent games ... the BG defense forced Vanderbilt to go 0-for-8 from the field in the final minutes of the Falcons' win in Nashville, then pressured Detroit into missing its final nine field-goal attempts ... Vandy took the lead for the first and only time with a layup at the 3:25 mark, but the then-#14/16 Commodores would not make another shot as BG went on a game-ending 8-1 run ... then, after Detroit got within nine points with 6:17 left, the Falcons allowed only three last-minute free throws the rest of the way.
THREE-MENDOUS
BG has shot the ball relatively well from three-point land this year ... through the first nine games of the year, BGSU has hit 73 treys, an average of 8.1 per game, and has shot nearly 40 percent from long range ... the Falcons averaged 10.4 successful triples through the first five contests, hitting double digits in that category in four of those five games.
THE FALCON SENIORS
Fourth-year Falcons Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper have helped the Brown and Orange average 28.7 wins per season since arriving on campus ... that trio has been a part of the two winningest teams in program history, as well as four of the five national postseason wins in BG annals ... BGSU has gone 92-20 overall and 43-5 in MAC regular-season action since Breske, Bugher and Clapper came to the school ... Tamika Nurse, a fifth-year senior, begins her first playing season after sitting out last year as a transfer from the Univ. of Oregon.
THE JUNIORS
BGSU has posted a record of 61-16 overall, and the Falcons are 28-4 in MAC regular-season games since Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher set foot on campus ... that is an average of 27.5 wins per year through the first two seasons ... the Falcons have played national postseason tournament games at Anderson Arena in both seasons, beating Dayton in last year's WNIT and facing Syracuse and Indiana in that tourney at 'The House That Roars' in 2009 ... Maggie Hennegan joins that group in 2009-10 ... Hennegan sat out last season as a transfer after playing two years at Saint Louis Univ.
THE SOPHOMORES
Maribeth Giese and Jessica Slagle helped the Brown and Orange to 29 wins – the second-highest total in MAC history – along with a school-record 25-game winning streak in their first year in BG ... the Falcons are 35-8 since the duo arrived in Northwest Ohio ... Danielle Havel is a member of the sophomore class, but will sit out the 2009-10 season after transferring from DePaul Univ.
THE FRESHMEN
Four freshmen joined the Falcons for the 2009-10 season ... that list includes Simone Eli (Genoa, Ohio/Genoa), Allison Papenfuss (Whitehouse, Ohio/Anthony Wayne), Chrissy Steffen (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Jessie Tamerlano (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton).
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.
UP NEXT
For the Falcons, the Canisius game begins a stretch of three games in five days ... BGSU will head to Youngstown State for a Monday morning (Dec. 21) game, beginning at 11:00 a.m. ... then, the Brown and Orange will host Appalachian State on Wednesday night (Dec. 23) at venerable Anderson Arena.
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