Falcons Shut Down Canisius, 67-42

Saturday, December 19

Buffalo, NY

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Canisius

Senior Tamika Nurse was one of four BGSU double-digit scorers in the win at Canisius

December 19, 2009 | Women's Basketball

Prochaska paces four double-digit scorers; BG holds CC to under 30% shooting.

By: BUFFALO, N.Y. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team put the clamps on the Canisius College offense, picking up a 67-42 win over the Golden Griffins Saturday afternoon (Dec. 19). The non-conference game was held at the Koessler Athletic Center.

BGSU 67, Canisius 42 - Final Stats
BGSU 67, Canisius 42 - PDF
BGSU Cumulative Stats - PDF
Curt Miller Postgame Audio

With the win, the Falcons improve to 7-3 on the season, while the hosts fall to 5-4.

Junior Lauren Prochaska scored a game-high 17 points to pace four double-digit scorers for the Brown and Orange. BG held the home team to just 29.8 percent shooting from the field en route to the win.

Senior Tamika Nurse and junior Tracy Pontius scored 11 points apiece, while junior Maggie Hennegan had 10. Freshman Jessie Tamerlano scored the first six points of her young career, going a perfect 3-for-3 from the field.

BGSU had advantages of 32-6 in points in the paint, 15-6 in second-chance points and 22-7 in points off turnovers.

The Griffs came out hot, hitting their first three shots of the night to take an 8-3 lead with less than two minutes gone. After Falcon head coach Curt Miller called an early timeout, however, the BG defense held CC to just 10 points over the final 18:06 of the half.

Canisius, the NCAA Division I record-holders for consecutive games with a made three-point field goal, wasted little time in extending that record. Micayla Drysdale hit a shot from beyond the arc with 26 seconds gone, marking the 463rd consecutive game the Griffs had hit a trey and giving the home team a 3-0 lead.

Pontius answered with a triple at the other end, but Brittane' Russell hit from long range, then fed Melissa Gardner for a jumper and an 8-3 CC lead.

The Falcons missed a shot on the ensuing possession, and the home team had four chances to extend the lead. Three misses were followed by three offensive boards for Canisius -- all by Gardner -- but the fourth shot also was off the mark.

Eventually, the Falcons erased the lead. Pontius scored a transition layup, then took a pass from senior Tara Breske and knocked down a three-pointer to tie the game. The score was Pontius 8, Canisius 8 with just over five minutes elapsed.

BG took the lead for good on a pair of Nurse free throws at the 14:14 mark, and Prochaska took a pass from Hennegan and nailed a triple, capping a 10-0 BG run and giving the Falcons a 13-8 lead.

Tasia Lee answered with a jumper, but Prochaska hit her second three-pointer in a 30-second span, for a 16-10 Falcon lead.

Several minutes later, a nifty offensive board and putback by junior Chelsea Albert gave the Falcons an 18-12 lead heading into the game's second media timeout, and a Hennegan putback 70 seconds later upped that lead to eight points.

Hennegan made a three-pointer off of Nurse's feed, then, after a Pontius steal, Hennegan fired the ball inside to Breske for a layup and a double-digit lead, 25-15.

Ellie Radke split a pair of free throws, ending a Canisius scoring drought of over five minutes, but BGSU would go on an 8-2 run over the final three minutes of the half. After an offensive board by Breske, Prochaska hit a driving layup, and Hennegan again spotted Breske inside for a layup at the 2:23 mark.

Another layup by Prochaska, late in the shot clock, gave the Brown and Orange a 31-16 lead. Radke hit a jumper in the paint, but Prochaska got herself to the foul line and hit both shots to restore the Falcons' 15-point advantage heading into the half.

In that first 20 minutes, BG had a 14-2 margin in points in the paint, and the Falcons also enjoyed leads in points off turnovers (15-3) and second-chance points (12-0).

In the second half, the home team scored the first four points to cut the Falcons' lead to 11, but Canisius would get no closer. Junior Jen Uhl knocked down a jumper, and a Prochaska three-pointer gave BG a 38-22 lead heading into the initial media timeout of the half.

Several minutes later, Allison Braun's jumper got the home team within 13 points, but Nurse answered with a tough running layup in traffic, and the Falcons had a 43-28 lead.

Neither team would score for two and a half minutes, before CC's Ashley Durham made a pair of free throws. But, Tamerlano drained a foul-line jumper, and Nurse hit another layup for a 47-30 lead.

After a Prochaska layup at the 8:20 mark, Tamerlano picked Radke's pocket near midcourt and sailed in for a layup and a 51-32 BG lead, prompting Canisius to take a timeout with just over eight minutes left.

The lead reached 20 points for the first time after Nurse stole the ball from Drysdale, then fired a long pass ahead to Hennegan. The redshirt junior made a nifty play, catching the pass on the run, stopping under the hoop and hitting a layup while drawing contact. After a Canisius timeout, Hennegan's free throw gave BG a 56-36 lead with 4:01 left.

After Hennegan spotted junior Kelly Zuercher for a layup, Nurse made an 'and-one' layup of her own at the 2:29 mark. Russell split a pair of charity tosses, but the Falcons then scored the final six points of the afternoon.

A Nurse jumper was followed by another steal and transition layup from Tamerlano. Freshman Allison Papenfuss closed the game's scoring with a jumper with 1:14 remaining.

Prochaska played a team-high 35 minutes, adding four rebounds and two blocks to her game-high point total. Pontius and Prochaska each hit three three-pointers for the Brown and Orange, with Pontius adding a game-best three steals.

Breske had four points and led the Falcons with seven rebounds, as the Falcons held a 36-31 lead on the boards. Nurse had a season-high six rebounds and led all players with five assists.

Hennegan's 10-point total marked her first double-digit game as a Falcon, and the transfer from Saint Louis University added five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Russell was the lone Canisius player with a double-figure scoring total, with 11 points, while Radke added eight. The Falcons held the duo to a combined 5-of-26 shooting.

Gardner had a team-leading seven rebounds for the hosts, but only two in the game's final 37 minutes.

BG, as mentioned, held Canisius to a .298 field-goal percentage, including just a .280 success rate in the second half. The Falcons shot .450 for the game, going 15-for-28 (.536) in the second period.

The Falcons forced Canisius into 19 turnovers, including 14 in the first half.

BGSU will remain on the road, heading back into the state of Ohio for a Monday (Dec. 21) game vs. Youngstown State. Tipoff for that game is 11:00 a.m. at YSU's Beeghly Center.

A FEW FALCON NOTES
* The game was the first-ever meeting between the Falcons and Canisius.

* It marked the second-straight Saturday that a BGSU basketball team picked up a win at the Koessler Athletic Center ... last weekend (Dec. 12), Louis Orr's men's team downed the Golden Griffins, 58-54.

* Freshman Jessie Tamerlano, as mentioned, scored the first six points of her young career ... Tamerlano had played in three of the Falcons' first nine games, and had not attempted a shot or compiled any stats whatsoever ... at Canisius, however, she was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, and added three rebounds and two steals in a career-high nine minutes.

* Senior Tara Breske returned to the starting lineup for the first time since Nov. 24 ... after suffering an injury in that night's game vs. Oakland, she missed two games before coming off the bench in the next three contests.

* The Falcons have posted four wins on the road this year to date ... three of those victories have come against teams that qualified for national postseason play last year ... that group includes Oakland, Vanderbilt and Canisius.

* Canisius entered the week ranked 12th in the nation in scoring defense, and had held 24 of their previous 27 opponents to 60 points or fewer in regulation.

* Redshirt junior Maggie Hennegan's 10-point effort Saturday was her first double-digit effort as a Falcon, but was her second double-figure output against Canisius ... as a true sophomore at Saint Louis University, Hennegan had 12 points along with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals in the Billikens' 67-55 win over the Griffs exactly two years ago (Dec. 19, 2007).