Bowling Green State University Athletics
Wednesday, December 23
Bowling Green, OH
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Appalachian State
Curt Miller and the Falcons finally return home, facing Appalachian State Wednesday night
Falcons Host Appalachian State in Final Game before Holidays
December 22, 2009 | Women's Basketball
BGSU plays 3rd game in a 5-day span
THE OPENING TIP
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, for the first time in over three weeks, will play a home game ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller conclude the pre-holiday schedule with a Wednesday (Dec. 23) game against Appalachian State University ... tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (3,500) ... the Falcons have played eight of the first 11 games this year, including each of the last five, on the road.
BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF
Appalachian State women's basketball web site
Appalachian State Notes & Stats - PDF
Appalachian State cumulative stats - PDF
MAC Notes & Stats - PDF
DOING IT WITH DEFENSE
The Falcons went 4-1 on the just-completed five-game road swing ... in each of the four wins, including a victory at nationally-ranked Vanderbilt, the BG defense held the opponent to under 40 percent shooting from the field ... in fact, the Falcons held three of the last four foes – Detroit, Canisius and Youngstown State – to 45 points or fewer, and to a field-goal rate of less than 30% ... in the last four games, which includes the loss at Saint Bonaventure, BG opponents have averaged 50.0 points per game and shot a combined .335 from the floor.
HOME COOKIN'
BGSU, as mentioned, will play a game at home for the first time since Dec. 1 ... the Falcons are 3-0 at venerable Anderson Arena this season to date, and 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.
DOING IT WITH DEFENSE, PART II
The Falcons held the offenses of both Canisius and Youngstown State in check in BG's two road wins over the weekend ... the Brown and Orange, as mentioned, held both teams to less than 30 percent shooting ... the two opponents made an average of just 15 shots from the field, scored an average of 43.5 points and turned the ball over an average of 21 times ... by contrast, BGSU averaged 28 field goals made, 12 turnovers and 70 points in the two wins.
HOLDING THEM UNDER 50
Youngstown State was the fourth Falcon opponent in 2009-10, and the third in a four-game span, to be held to fewer than 50 points by the BGSU defense ... the Falcons held only three teams to under 50 points during all of last season.
HOLDING THEM UNDER 50, PART DEUX
The Falcons held YSU to just 45 points in Monday morning's/afternoon's win ... that marked the 35th time that a Curt Miller-coached BGSU squad had held the opponent to fewer than 50 points ... Miller has been the Falcons' coach for eight years and 11 games ... prior to his arrival in Northwest Ohio, it had taken 22 seasons to amass 30 such games ... BG teams held the opponents to under 50 points 30 times from 1979-80 to 2000-01.
PROCHASKA NOW 14TH ON BGSU SCORING LIST
Roughly one-third of the way into her junior season, Lauren Prochaska already ranks 14th on the BGSU career scoring list ... Prochaska now has a total of 1,274 points in her Falcon tenure ... she passed three former Falcon greats – Jacki Raterman, Melissa Chase and Michelle Shade – in the Detroit and Saint Bonaventure games ... Prochaska's next target is 13th-place Carin Horne, who scored 1,341 points from 2003-07 ... the Falcon junior is averaging 16.1 points per game, the second-highest average in BGSU annals, in her career.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 8-3 on the season, having played eight of the first 11 games on the road ... BGSU has won seven of the last eight games ... the Falcons saw a five-game winning streak snapped with a 70-54 loss at St. Bonaventure (Dec. 12), but bounced back with wins at Canisius (67-42; Dec. 19) and Youngstown State (73-45; Dec. 21) on the just-completed weekend trip ... BG is 3-0 at home and 5-3 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 wins in the next five games, with three on the road ... included in that five-game win streak was a trip to Nashville, where head coach Curt Miller's club defeated nationally-ranked Vanderbilt, 66-60 (Dec. 4).
• 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 11 games this year, junior Lauren Prochaska leads the Falcons in both scoring and rebounding ... Prochaska, the reigning Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, is averaging 16.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game ... after averaging 10.3 ppg in the three Preseason WNIT games, she has averaged 19.1 ppg and shot a team-leading .525 from the field over the last eight contests ... Prochaska was named the league's Player of the Week on two-straight Mondays earlier this month (Dec. 7 and Dec. 14).
• Junior Tracy Pontius and senior Tamika Nurse have 12.7 and 10.8 ppg, respectively ... Pontius has 3.4 rpg, and is tied with Prochaska for the team lead in three-point field goals made ... Pontius is 23-of-57 from beyond the arc, and is second on the Falcons in assists (3.4 apg) ... Nurse has 3.7 assists per game to pace the Brown and Orange in that category ... she is third on the team with 18 three-pointers made, and has shot .419 (18-of-43) from long range.
• Senior Tara Breske and junior Jen Uhl have scored 7.6 and 7.1 ppg, respectively ... Breske, who missed two games due to injury, came off the bench for the next three contests before moving back into the starting lineup for the last two games ... she has 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots per game, leading the Falcons in the latter category ... Uhl has 4.8 rebounds per game, tying her for second on the team ... she is shooting a team-best .492 from the field, and has gone 8-of-21 from three-point range.
• Junior Maggie Hennegan and sophomore Jessica Slagle have 5.1 and 2.9 ppg, respectively ... Hennegen has 4.8 rebounds per game to tie Uhl for second on the team ... Hennegan and Slagle are tied for fourth on the Falcons in assists, with 1.2 helpers per game apiece.
• 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 11 games to date, while Hennegan has made eight starts ... Breske has made six starts, including the first four games of the year and each of the last two contests ... Uhl has been in the starting lineup for each of the last eight games.
• Through 11 games, the Falcons are shooting .442 from the field, .373 from three-point land and .776 from the free-throw line ... BG's opponents are shooting .379 overall, .339 from long range and .712 from the stripe ... the Falcons have 36.9 rebounds per game to the opponents' 34.0.
LAST TIME OUT
Junior Tracy Pontius scored 16 points to pace three double-digit scorers as the Falcons downed host Youngstown State, 73-45, Monday morning/afternoon (Dec. 21) ... the win enabled BGSU to complete a season-long five-game road swing at 4-1 ... junior Lauren Prochaska had 12 points for the Brown and Orange, while senior co-captain Tara Breske added 10 ... both Prochaska and Breske had eight rebounds as the Falcons held a 46-38 advantage on the boards ... Macey Nortey was the lone YSU player in double figures with 14 points ... Brandi Brown had nine points and a game-high 17 rebounds ... for the second-straight game, the Falcons held the opponent to less than 30 percent shooting from the field, as YSU made just 16 of 58 shots (.276) ... and, the BG defense held the opposition to under 50 points for the fourth time this year and the third time in the past four games ... the feisty Penguins battled the Falcons close for the first portion of the morning/afternoon, and YSU was within 17-14 midway through the first half ... several minutes later, however, Pontius hit a three-pointer for a 31-21 lead ... that triple began a 7-0 run, as part of a larger 13-2 surge for the Falcons ... BG took a 41-24 lead into halftime ... in the second half, the visitors' lead never dropped below 16 points ... BGSU shot .420 from the field, including a 19-for-37 (.514) effort in the opening half, and forced 23 YSU turnovers ... the Falcons had 25 points off turnovers to the Penguins' nine ... BG had 18 assists and 12 turnovers on the day.
SCOUTING ASU
Appalachian State enters Wednesday's game with an overall record of 4-5, and the Mountaineers are 1-2 in Southern Conference action this year to date ... ASU is 1-3 in home games, but 3-2 away from home this year, including 2-2 in true road games ... most recently, the team suffered a 73-56 home loss to Furman on Monday (Dec. 21), snapping a two-game winning streak ... those victories came at Davidson and against East Tennessee State ... in addition to Davidson, ASU picked up a road win over Marshall, and downed MAC member Miami in overtime in a neutral-site contest ... the team is averaging 6.9 blocked shots per game, and the Mountaineers were ranked fourth in the nation in that category in the latest NCAA stats ... freshman forward Ashlen Dewart leads the team in scoring, with 14.7 points per game ... she has averaged 7.1 rebounds per contest to place second on the team, and leads ASU with a .514 field-goal pct. ... junior guard Sam Ramirez has 13.2 ppg and 4.1 rpg, and has dished out a team-leading 3.6 assists per contest ... she has hit a team-high total of 22 three-point field goals ... three players have averaged between 8.9 and 8.6 points per game ... freshman forward Anna Freeman has 8.9 ppg and a team-best 8.4 rpg ... she also has 3.6 blocks per game, and is sixth in the nation in that category ... sophomore forward Catherine Williams and freshman G/F Courtney Freeman have 8.8 and 8.6 ppg, respectively ... both players have over five rebounds per game ... a total of nine different players have started at least one game this year ... Anna Freeman and Ramirez have started all nine contests, while Dewart and Courtney Freeman each have made eight starts ... sophomore guard Sade' Means (2.1 ppg) joined that quartet in the starting five for the Furman game ... head coach Darcie Vincent returned eight letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that finished 9-22 overall and 7-13 in the SoCon ... Vincent has a record of 13-27 in her second season at ASU, and is 277-128 in her 14th year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.GoASU.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons and Appalachian State have never met in women's basketball.
WHAT A LONG STRANGE (BUNCH OF) TRIP(S) IT'S BEEN
The Falcons' games over the weekend, at Canisius and Youngstown State, concluded a season-long five-game road swing ... BGSU went 4-1 during that stretch ... the Falcons have played eight of the season's first 11 games on the road ... heading into Wednesday's (Dec. 23) game vs. Appalachian State, BG has played as many games in the state of New York as in venerable Anderson Arena.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Falcons have posted five wins on the road this year to date ... three of those victories have come against teams – Oakland, Vanderbilt and Canisius – that qualified for national postseason play last year ... the Youngstown State game marked the eighth road contest for the Falcons this year ... six of those eight opponents are teams that won at least 23 games and advanced to national postseason play last season ... three of them – Ohio State, Marist and Vandy – went to the NCAA Championships last March, while three – OU, St. Bonaventure and CC – advanced to the WNIT ... those six teams had a total of 157 wins, an average of 26.2 victories per team, in 2008-09.
TAMERLANO TIME
Freshman Jessie Tamerlano made the most of her playing time on the Falcons' most recent trip ... she had played in just three of the team's first nine games, accumulating no statistics ... but, Tamerlano was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field at Canisius, with six points, three rebounds and two steals ... she had four points, two boards and another steal at Youngstown State ... after playing a total of 11 minutes over BG's first nine games, she played nine minutes in each of the last two contests.
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 8-3 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);
• 187-76 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);
• 178-57 overall in the seven years (plus 11 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);
• 166-41 over the last six-plus years, with 2008-09 marking BG's sixth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 145-31 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 122-23 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;
• 94-20 in the last three-plus years, including a 43-5 conference ledger, since seniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 63-16 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;
• 37-8 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);
• A perfect 46-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field in the Miller Era;
• 159-10 when having a better FG pct. in Miller's tenure, including an 8-0 mark this year to date;
• 141-23 when making more free throws during Miller's first eight-plus seasons;
• 110-11 when outrebounding the opponent in the Miller Era;
• 40-17 in December games since Miller took the helm, including 11-1 in the last two Decembers;
• 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.
THREE-MENDOUS
A pair of juniors are moving up the BGSU career list for three-point field goals made ... Lauren Prochaska hit two triples in the win at YSU, moving into sole possession of third place on that list ... with 172 long-range makes in her career to date, she is just one behind second-place Sara Puthoff (173 from 1994-98) ... Liz Honegger holds the record, having made 216 triples from 2003-07 ... Tracy Pontius, in just her second year as a starter, has moved into 10th place on that list ... Pontius also hit two triples at YSU, and has made 112 in her career ... she is 11 behind her former teammate, ninth-place Lindsey Goldsberry (123 from 2005-09).
PASSING THEIR BOARDS
Last season, the Falcons had more rebounds than the opponent just 13 times in 34 games ... this year, BGSU has outrebounded the opposition nine times in 11 games, including in eight of the last nine contests ... BG has a +2.9 rebounding margin ... when outrebounding opponents, the Falcons are 110-11 in the Curt Miller Era, including a 90-4 mark in the last five-plus seasons (since the start of 2004-05).
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, for the first time in over three weeks, will play a home game ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller conclude the pre-holiday schedule with a Wednesday (Dec. 23) game against Appalachian State University ... tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (3,500) ... the Falcons have played eight of the first 11 games this year, including each of the last five, on the road.
BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF
Appalachian State women's basketball web site
Appalachian State Notes & Stats - PDF
Appalachian State cumulative stats - PDF
MAC Notes & Stats - PDF
DOING IT WITH DEFENSE
The Falcons went 4-1 on the just-completed five-game road swing ... in each of the four wins, including a victory at nationally-ranked Vanderbilt, the BG defense held the opponent to under 40 percent shooting from the field ... in fact, the Falcons held three of the last four foes – Detroit, Canisius and Youngstown State – to 45 points or fewer, and to a field-goal rate of less than 30% ... in the last four games, which includes the loss at Saint Bonaventure, BG opponents have averaged 50.0 points per game and shot a combined .335 from the floor.
HOME COOKIN'
BGSU, as mentioned, will play a game at home for the first time since Dec. 1 ... the Falcons are 3-0 at venerable Anderson Arena this season to date, and 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.
DOING IT WITH DEFENSE, PART II
The Falcons held the offenses of both Canisius and Youngstown State in check in BG's two road wins over the weekend ... the Brown and Orange, as mentioned, held both teams to less than 30 percent shooting ... the two opponents made an average of just 15 shots from the field, scored an average of 43.5 points and turned the ball over an average of 21 times ... by contrast, BGSU averaged 28 field goals made, 12 turnovers and 70 points in the two wins.
HOLDING THEM UNDER 50
Youngstown State was the fourth Falcon opponent in 2009-10, and the third in a four-game span, to be held to fewer than 50 points by the BGSU defense ... the Falcons held only three teams to under 50 points during all of last season.
HOLDING THEM UNDER 50, PART DEUX
The Falcons held YSU to just 45 points in Monday morning's/afternoon's win ... that marked the 35th time that a Curt Miller-coached BGSU squad had held the opponent to fewer than 50 points ... Miller has been the Falcons' coach for eight years and 11 games ... prior to his arrival in Northwest Ohio, it had taken 22 seasons to amass 30 such games ... BG teams held the opponents to under 50 points 30 times from 1979-80 to 2000-01.
PROCHASKA NOW 14TH ON BGSU SCORING LIST
Roughly one-third of the way into her junior season, Lauren Prochaska already ranks 14th on the BGSU career scoring list ... Prochaska now has a total of 1,274 points in her Falcon tenure ... she passed three former Falcon greats – Jacki Raterman, Melissa Chase and Michelle Shade – in the Detroit and Saint Bonaventure games ... Prochaska's next target is 13th-place Carin Horne, who scored 1,341 points from 2003-07 ... the Falcon junior is averaging 16.1 points per game, the second-highest average in BGSU annals, in her career.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 8-3 on the season, having played eight of the first 11 games on the road ... BGSU has won seven of the last eight games ... the Falcons saw a five-game winning streak snapped with a 70-54 loss at St. Bonaventure (Dec. 12), but bounced back with wins at Canisius (67-42; Dec. 19) and Youngstown State (73-45; Dec. 21) on the just-completed weekend trip ... BG is 3-0 at home and 5-3 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 wins in the next five games, with three on the road ... included in that five-game win streak was a trip to Nashville, where head coach Curt Miller's club defeated nationally-ranked Vanderbilt, 66-60 (Dec. 4).
• 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 11 games this year, junior Lauren Prochaska leads the Falcons in both scoring and rebounding ... Prochaska, the reigning Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, is averaging 16.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game ... after averaging 10.3 ppg in the three Preseason WNIT games, she has averaged 19.1 ppg and shot a team-leading .525 from the field over the last eight contests ... Prochaska was named the league's Player of the Week on two-straight Mondays earlier this month (Dec. 7 and Dec. 14).
• Junior Tracy Pontius and senior Tamika Nurse have 12.7 and 10.8 ppg, respectively ... Pontius has 3.4 rpg, and is tied with Prochaska for the team lead in three-point field goals made ... Pontius is 23-of-57 from beyond the arc, and is second on the Falcons in assists (3.4 apg) ... Nurse has 3.7 assists per game to pace the Brown and Orange in that category ... she is third on the team with 18 three-pointers made, and has shot .419 (18-of-43) from long range.
• Senior Tara Breske and junior Jen Uhl have scored 7.6 and 7.1 ppg, respectively ... Breske, who missed two games due to injury, came off the bench for the next three contests before moving back into the starting lineup for the last two games ... she has 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots per game, leading the Falcons in the latter category ... Uhl has 4.8 rebounds per game, tying her for second on the team ... she is shooting a team-best .492 from the field, and has gone 8-of-21 from three-point range.
• Junior Maggie Hennegan and sophomore Jessica Slagle have 5.1 and 2.9 ppg, respectively ... Hennegen has 4.8 rebounds per game to tie Uhl for second on the team ... Hennegan and Slagle are tied for fourth on the Falcons in assists, with 1.2 helpers per game apiece.
• 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 11 games to date, while Hennegan has made eight starts ... Breske has made six starts, including the first four games of the year and each of the last two contests ... Uhl has been in the starting lineup for each of the last eight games.
• Through 11 games, the Falcons are shooting .442 from the field, .373 from three-point land and .776 from the free-throw line ... BG's opponents are shooting .379 overall, .339 from long range and .712 from the stripe ... the Falcons have 36.9 rebounds per game to the opponents' 34.0.
LAST TIME OUT
Junior Tracy Pontius scored 16 points to pace three double-digit scorers as the Falcons downed host Youngstown State, 73-45, Monday morning/afternoon (Dec. 21) ... the win enabled BGSU to complete a season-long five-game road swing at 4-1 ... junior Lauren Prochaska had 12 points for the Brown and Orange, while senior co-captain Tara Breske added 10 ... both Prochaska and Breske had eight rebounds as the Falcons held a 46-38 advantage on the boards ... Macey Nortey was the lone YSU player in double figures with 14 points ... Brandi Brown had nine points and a game-high 17 rebounds ... for the second-straight game, the Falcons held the opponent to less than 30 percent shooting from the field, as YSU made just 16 of 58 shots (.276) ... and, the BG defense held the opposition to under 50 points for the fourth time this year and the third time in the past four games ... the feisty Penguins battled the Falcons close for the first portion of the morning/afternoon, and YSU was within 17-14 midway through the first half ... several minutes later, however, Pontius hit a three-pointer for a 31-21 lead ... that triple began a 7-0 run, as part of a larger 13-2 surge for the Falcons ... BG took a 41-24 lead into halftime ... in the second half, the visitors' lead never dropped below 16 points ... BGSU shot .420 from the field, including a 19-for-37 (.514) effort in the opening half, and forced 23 YSU turnovers ... the Falcons had 25 points off turnovers to the Penguins' nine ... BG had 18 assists and 12 turnovers on the day.
SCOUTING ASU
Appalachian State enters Wednesday's game with an overall record of 4-5, and the Mountaineers are 1-2 in Southern Conference action this year to date ... ASU is 1-3 in home games, but 3-2 away from home this year, including 2-2 in true road games ... most recently, the team suffered a 73-56 home loss to Furman on Monday (Dec. 21), snapping a two-game winning streak ... those victories came at Davidson and against East Tennessee State ... in addition to Davidson, ASU picked up a road win over Marshall, and downed MAC member Miami in overtime in a neutral-site contest ... the team is averaging 6.9 blocked shots per game, and the Mountaineers were ranked fourth in the nation in that category in the latest NCAA stats ... freshman forward Ashlen Dewart leads the team in scoring, with 14.7 points per game ... she has averaged 7.1 rebounds per contest to place second on the team, and leads ASU with a .514 field-goal pct. ... junior guard Sam Ramirez has 13.2 ppg and 4.1 rpg, and has dished out a team-leading 3.6 assists per contest ... she has hit a team-high total of 22 three-point field goals ... three players have averaged between 8.9 and 8.6 points per game ... freshman forward Anna Freeman has 8.9 ppg and a team-best 8.4 rpg ... she also has 3.6 blocks per game, and is sixth in the nation in that category ... sophomore forward Catherine Williams and freshman G/F Courtney Freeman have 8.8 and 8.6 ppg, respectively ... both players have over five rebounds per game ... a total of nine different players have started at least one game this year ... Anna Freeman and Ramirez have started all nine contests, while Dewart and Courtney Freeman each have made eight starts ... sophomore guard Sade' Means (2.1 ppg) joined that quartet in the starting five for the Furman game ... head coach Darcie Vincent returned eight letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that finished 9-22 overall and 7-13 in the SoCon ... Vincent has a record of 13-27 in her second season at ASU, and is 277-128 in her 14th year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.GoASU.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons and Appalachian State have never met in women's basketball.
WHAT A LONG STRANGE (BUNCH OF) TRIP(S) IT'S BEEN
The Falcons' games over the weekend, at Canisius and Youngstown State, concluded a season-long five-game road swing ... BGSU went 4-1 during that stretch ... the Falcons have played eight of the season's first 11 games on the road ... heading into Wednesday's (Dec. 23) game vs. Appalachian State, BG has played as many games in the state of New York as in venerable Anderson Arena.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Falcons have posted five wins on the road this year to date ... three of those victories have come against teams – Oakland, Vanderbilt and Canisius – that qualified for national postseason play last year ... the Youngstown State game marked the eighth road contest for the Falcons this year ... six of those eight opponents are teams that won at least 23 games and advanced to national postseason play last season ... three of them – Ohio State, Marist and Vandy – went to the NCAA Championships last March, while three – OU, St. Bonaventure and CC – advanced to the WNIT ... those six teams had a total of 157 wins, an average of 26.2 victories per team, in 2008-09.
TAMERLANO TIME
Freshman Jessie Tamerlano made the most of her playing time on the Falcons' most recent trip ... she had played in just three of the team's first nine games, accumulating no statistics ... but, Tamerlano was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field at Canisius, with six points, three rebounds and two steals ... she had four points, two boards and another steal at Youngstown State ... after playing a total of 11 minutes over BG's first nine games, she played nine minutes in each of the last two contests.
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 8-3 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);
• 187-76 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);
• 178-57 overall in the seven years (plus 11 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);
• 166-41 over the last six-plus years, with 2008-09 marking BG's sixth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 145-31 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 122-23 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;
• 94-20 in the last three-plus years, including a 43-5 conference ledger, since seniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 63-16 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;
• 37-8 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);
• A perfect 46-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field in the Miller Era;
• 159-10 when having a better FG pct. in Miller's tenure, including an 8-0 mark this year to date;
• 141-23 when making more free throws during Miller's first eight-plus seasons;
• 110-11 when outrebounding the opponent in the Miller Era;
• 40-17 in December games since Miller took the helm, including 11-1 in the last two Decembers;
• 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.
THREE-MENDOUS
A pair of juniors are moving up the BGSU career list for three-point field goals made ... Lauren Prochaska hit two triples in the win at YSU, moving into sole possession of third place on that list ... with 172 long-range makes in her career to date, she is just one behind second-place Sara Puthoff (173 from 1994-98) ... Liz Honegger holds the record, having made 216 triples from 2003-07 ... Tracy Pontius, in just her second year as a starter, has moved into 10th place on that list ... Pontius also hit two triples at YSU, and has made 112 in her career ... she is 11 behind her former teammate, ninth-place Lindsey Goldsberry (123 from 2005-09).
PASSING THEIR BOARDS
Last season, the Falcons had more rebounds than the opponent just 13 times in 34 games ... this year, BGSU has outrebounded the opposition nine times in 11 games, including in eight of the last nine contests ... BG has a +2.9 rebounding margin ... when outrebounding opponents, the Falcons are 110-11 in the Curt Miller Era, including a 90-4 mark in the last five-plus seasons (since the start of 2004-05).
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