Wednesday, December 30
West Hartford, CT
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
60
at
65
Hartford
Freshman Chrissy Steffen had 8 points off the bench at Hartford
Hartford Holds Off Falcons, 65-60
December 30, 2009 | Women's Basketball
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team battled back after trailing for much of the night, but the host University of Hartford held off the Falcons down the stretch for a 65-60 win Wednesday night (Dec. 30). The non-conference game was held at the Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion.
HARTFORD 65, BGSU 60 - HTML
HARTFORD 65, BGSU 60 - PDF
Curt Miller - Postgame Audio
BGSU Cumulative Stats - HTML
BGSU Cumulative Stats - PDF
With the victory, the Hawks improve to 9-3 on the season, while dropping the Falcons to 9-4. BGSU is now 5-4 in road games this season to date, with seven of the nine away games coming against teams that advanced to national postseason play a year ago.
Junior Lauren Prochaska, despite spending much of the game in foul trouble, led all players with 18 points. She was joined in double digits by classmate Tracy Pontius, who scored 14 points on the night. The two players combined for just nine first-half points, but 23 in the second half.
Diana Delva had 15 points to lead a balanced Hartford attack. Daphne Elliott scored 14 points off the bench, while both Erica Beverly and Ruthanne Doherty had 10. Beverly had a double-double, with a game-high 10 rebounds, and also led all players with five blocked shots on the night.
Freshman Chrissy Steffen scored eight points in 11 second-half minutes, while senior co-captain Tara Breske also had eight points.
The game, while not the prettiest contest at times, had a tournament-type feel to it, with head coaches Jennifer Rizzotti and Curt Miller and their teams battling on every possession.
BGSU never led over the game's first 33-plus minutes, but forged ahead on a layup by Breske with 6:52 on the clock. The remainder of the second half featured five ties and 10 lead changes.
Breske's layup, off a pass from fellow senior co-captain Sarah Clapper, gave the Falcons a 46-45 lead. Jackie Smith responded with a pair of free throws for the hosts, but Pontius came downcourt, found herself open at the top of the key and hit a straightaway three-pointer for a 49-47 BG advantage with 6:16 remaining.
Again, the home team got to the line, a familiar refrain in the second half. Beverly converted both of her tosses to tie the game. After a BG miss, Delva's layup put the Hawks back on top by a bucket. But, Pontius responded once again.
The junior hit a driving layup while drawing a foul, and knocked down the ensuing free throw for a 52-51 Falcon lead. Back and forth the teams went, as Beverly hit a jumper before senior Tamika Nurse answered with two free throws.
A Beverly jumper gave the hosts the lead, 55-54, but Prochaska took a pass from Breske and drained a triple from the right elbow with 3:33 remaining. BG led, 57-55. But, that lead would be the Falcons' last of the evening.
Doherty's jumper tied the score on UH's next possession. Prochaska drove to the hoop with just under three minutes left, but could not get her shot to drop, and the Falcons were called for a foul on the rebound. Delva's free throws both were true, and the Hawks took a 59-57 lead.
On the next possession, Beverly blocked a shot and grabbed the rebound. Junior Jen Uhl came up with a steal, thwarting the Hawks' attempt at increasing the lead, but a BG shot would not drop, and the visitors again were called for a foul as the teams battled for the rebound.
This time, however, Doherty went to the line and missed both shots. Uhl rebounded the second miss, but BG's next shot attempt was again blocked, one of 10 Hartford rejections on the night. Delva had the block and the defensive rebound, and Elliott quickly aimed and fired at the other end, hitting a long two-pointer for a 61-57 UH lead.
Another BG shot attempt was blocked, but Breske came up with a block of Smith's layup try at the other end, with Pontius rebounding the ball. The junior point guard took the ball the length of the court and hit an 'and-one' layup with 1:02 remaining. Her free throw hit nothing but net, and BG's deficit was a single point, at 61-60.
The Hawks called a timeout during the next possession, with 49.5 seconds left, then could not inbound the ball, being whistled for a five-second violation. The Falcons' next possession resulted in an open look by Pontius, and her left-elbow three was on line. But, the shot hit the back of the iron and bounced out. Elliott got the rebound and was immediately fouled with 26.6 seconds left. Her free throws gave the hosts a 63-60 lead.
The Falcons looked to get a shot from the arc against the swarming UH defense. Miller called the team's final timeout with 8.9 seconds left, and after the Falcons inbounded the ball, a pass was knocked out of bounds with 5.1 ticks on the clock.
BG inbounded again, and the Falcons got the ball to Nurse. With the clock winding down, however, she was forced to shoot with several defenders on her. Her shot was off the mark, and Beverly rebounded the ball and was fouled. Her charity tosses clinched the UH win with 1.8 seconds left.
The Hawks had started the night by taking a 6-1 lead and forcing an early timeout by the Falcons. Pontius inbounded the ball to Prochaska, took a return pass and hit a trey with four minutes elapsed, but the hosts scored seven-straight points to forge a 13-4 lead.
Breske got an offensive rebound and hit a layup at the 12:37 mark, but the Hawks went on a 5-2 run over the next four-plus minutes of the low-scoring half. BG's only points in that time were on a jumper by Allison Papenfuss, but the Hawks got a Doherty layup on the fastbreak, and an Alex Hall free throw gave the home team a 10-point lead, the largest of the game.
After trailing by that 18-8 count with just over eight minutes left in the half, the Falcons would go on a double-digit run. BG scored 10 consecutive points, holding the Hawks without a point for 7:34 and without a basket for 9:09.
Prochaska and Breske combined for all 10 points during that run, with Prochaska scoring six. The run began with a Breske layup after Clapper's entry pass, and Prochaska stole the ball from Jenna Peterson and drove coast-to-coast for a layup, making it an 18-12 game with 6:40 left in the half.
After the Falcon defense forced one of those 13 UH misses, Prochaska's defensive rebound eventually led to another BG hoop. Prochaska scored a third-chance layup, grabbing an offensive board after a Hartford block and laying the ball in.
With 2:47 left in the half, Breske ended a lengthy scoring drought for both teams. She took a Pontius feed and hit a jumper off the glass. Then, Prochaska's layup with 52 seconds left tied the game for the first time, 18-18. But, Elliott knocked down a three to snap her team's prolonged scoring slump. Hartford took that 21-18 lead into the halftime break.
In the second half, Prochaska scored six quick points, sandwiching a three-point shot and a three-point play around a Delva jumper. Prochaska's sixth point in that span cut the Hartford lead to 25-24, and junior Maggie Hennegan's free throw at the 17:01 mark tied the score.
The Hawks, however, retook the lead with another 7-0 run. Elliott's jumper broke the tie, and Ilicia Mathis went to the line and hit two tosses at the 16:13 mark. Perhaps more importantly, both Breske and Prochaska had picked up their third foul, and each player headed to the bench. That duo had combined for 18 of BG's 25 points in the first 23-plus minutes of the game.
An acrobatic three-point play by Mathis gave the hosts a 32-25 lead, before a Pontius jumper stopped the run. With 14:18 left in the game, Steffen -- who had entered the game for the first time only a minute-and-a-half earlier -- drilled a three-ball to cut Hartford's lead to two points.
The hosts scored three more points before Steffen made a free throw with 13:08 left. But, the freshman was not finished. After two Delva tosses from the stripe were good, Steffen got an offensive rebound and putback, then drove the lane for a slicing layup in traffic. Steffen scored eight consecutive BG points, with the last bucket cutting UH's lead to 37-35.
Hartford's lead got as high as six points, as two Mathis FTs midway through the half made it a 42-36 game. But, Prochaska hit a trey, and a Clapper three at the 8:16 mark cut the Hawks' lead to a single point, at 43-42.
Beverly hit a jumper, but Hennegan answered with a pair of free throws. Then, Breske's layup gave the Falcons their first lead of the night, setting the stage for the aforementioned conclusion.
The Falcons shot .356 from the field, including just an 8-fo-30 (.267) rate in the first half. Hartford shot only .273 in the first period, but went 12-of-23 from the field in the second half en route to a .375 effort on the night.
The visitors committed 13 turnovers to the Hawks' 11, but BG had only three turnovers in the second period.
The Falcons went 7-of-22 from three-point land while holding Hartford to just a 1-of-18 night from long range. The teams each pulled down 39 rebounds, with Prochaska leading the Falcons with six boards.
Hartford went to the free-throw line 27 times, making 22, while the Brown and Orange went 11-of-16 from the stripe. The Hawks were 20-of-24 from the line in the second period.
BGSU will close the non-conference schedule, and open the New Year, with a Saturday (Jan. 2, 2010) contest vs. SIU Edwardsville. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena.
FALCON NOTES
* Freshman Chrissy Steffen scored a career-high eight points in 11 minutes off the bench ... in fact, Steffen's eight points came within a span of just 2:29 ... she scored eight consecutive BG points during that stretch.
* Steffen has posted a career-high scoring total in three consecutive games ... after scoring a total of five points in the Falcons' first 10 contests, she had three points at Youngstown State (Dec. 21), five vs. Appalachian State (Dec. 23) and eight at Hartford.
* Junior Lauren Prochaska surpassed the 1,300-point mark for her career ... her game-high 18 points at Hartford give her a total of 1,313 in her career ... Prochaska is 14th on the BGSU scoring list.
* As mentioned, the Falcon defense held Hartford without a point for a span of 7:34 in the first half, and the Hawks went a total of 9:09 without a basket ... in between buckets, the home team missed 13 consecutive shots from the field and committed five turnovers.
HARTFORD 65, BGSU 60 - HTML
HARTFORD 65, BGSU 60 - PDF
Curt Miller - Postgame Audio
BGSU Cumulative Stats - HTML
BGSU Cumulative Stats - PDF
With the victory, the Hawks improve to 9-3 on the season, while dropping the Falcons to 9-4. BGSU is now 5-4 in road games this season to date, with seven of the nine away games coming against teams that advanced to national postseason play a year ago.
Junior Lauren Prochaska, despite spending much of the game in foul trouble, led all players with 18 points. She was joined in double digits by classmate Tracy Pontius, who scored 14 points on the night. The two players combined for just nine first-half points, but 23 in the second half.
Diana Delva had 15 points to lead a balanced Hartford attack. Daphne Elliott scored 14 points off the bench, while both Erica Beverly and Ruthanne Doherty had 10. Beverly had a double-double, with a game-high 10 rebounds, and also led all players with five blocked shots on the night.
Freshman Chrissy Steffen scored eight points in 11 second-half minutes, while senior co-captain Tara Breske also had eight points.
The game, while not the prettiest contest at times, had a tournament-type feel to it, with head coaches Jennifer Rizzotti and Curt Miller and their teams battling on every possession.
BGSU never led over the game's first 33-plus minutes, but forged ahead on a layup by Breske with 6:52 on the clock. The remainder of the second half featured five ties and 10 lead changes.
Breske's layup, off a pass from fellow senior co-captain Sarah Clapper, gave the Falcons a 46-45 lead. Jackie Smith responded with a pair of free throws for the hosts, but Pontius came downcourt, found herself open at the top of the key and hit a straightaway three-pointer for a 49-47 BG advantage with 6:16 remaining.
Again, the home team got to the line, a familiar refrain in the second half. Beverly converted both of her tosses to tie the game. After a BG miss, Delva's layup put the Hawks back on top by a bucket. But, Pontius responded once again.
The junior hit a driving layup while drawing a foul, and knocked down the ensuing free throw for a 52-51 Falcon lead. Back and forth the teams went, as Beverly hit a jumper before senior Tamika Nurse answered with two free throws.
A Beverly jumper gave the hosts the lead, 55-54, but Prochaska took a pass from Breske and drained a triple from the right elbow with 3:33 remaining. BG led, 57-55. But, that lead would be the Falcons' last of the evening.
Doherty's jumper tied the score on UH's next possession. Prochaska drove to the hoop with just under three minutes left, but could not get her shot to drop, and the Falcons were called for a foul on the rebound. Delva's free throws both were true, and the Hawks took a 59-57 lead.
On the next possession, Beverly blocked a shot and grabbed the rebound. Junior Jen Uhl came up with a steal, thwarting the Hawks' attempt at increasing the lead, but a BG shot would not drop, and the visitors again were called for a foul as the teams battled for the rebound.
This time, however, Doherty went to the line and missed both shots. Uhl rebounded the second miss, but BG's next shot attempt was again blocked, one of 10 Hartford rejections on the night. Delva had the block and the defensive rebound, and Elliott quickly aimed and fired at the other end, hitting a long two-pointer for a 61-57 UH lead.
Another BG shot attempt was blocked, but Breske came up with a block of Smith's layup try at the other end, with Pontius rebounding the ball. The junior point guard took the ball the length of the court and hit an 'and-one' layup with 1:02 remaining. Her free throw hit nothing but net, and BG's deficit was a single point, at 61-60.
The Hawks called a timeout during the next possession, with 49.5 seconds left, then could not inbound the ball, being whistled for a five-second violation. The Falcons' next possession resulted in an open look by Pontius, and her left-elbow three was on line. But, the shot hit the back of the iron and bounced out. Elliott got the rebound and was immediately fouled with 26.6 seconds left. Her free throws gave the hosts a 63-60 lead.
The Falcons looked to get a shot from the arc against the swarming UH defense. Miller called the team's final timeout with 8.9 seconds left, and after the Falcons inbounded the ball, a pass was knocked out of bounds with 5.1 ticks on the clock.
BG inbounded again, and the Falcons got the ball to Nurse. With the clock winding down, however, she was forced to shoot with several defenders on her. Her shot was off the mark, and Beverly rebounded the ball and was fouled. Her charity tosses clinched the UH win with 1.8 seconds left.
The Hawks had started the night by taking a 6-1 lead and forcing an early timeout by the Falcons. Pontius inbounded the ball to Prochaska, took a return pass and hit a trey with four minutes elapsed, but the hosts scored seven-straight points to forge a 13-4 lead.
Breske got an offensive rebound and hit a layup at the 12:37 mark, but the Hawks went on a 5-2 run over the next four-plus minutes of the low-scoring half. BG's only points in that time were on a jumper by Allison Papenfuss, but the Hawks got a Doherty layup on the fastbreak, and an Alex Hall free throw gave the home team a 10-point lead, the largest of the game.
After trailing by that 18-8 count with just over eight minutes left in the half, the Falcons would go on a double-digit run. BG scored 10 consecutive points, holding the Hawks without a point for 7:34 and without a basket for 9:09.
Prochaska and Breske combined for all 10 points during that run, with Prochaska scoring six. The run began with a Breske layup after Clapper's entry pass, and Prochaska stole the ball from Jenna Peterson and drove coast-to-coast for a layup, making it an 18-12 game with 6:40 left in the half.
After the Falcon defense forced one of those 13 UH misses, Prochaska's defensive rebound eventually led to another BG hoop. Prochaska scored a third-chance layup, grabbing an offensive board after a Hartford block and laying the ball in.
With 2:47 left in the half, Breske ended a lengthy scoring drought for both teams. She took a Pontius feed and hit a jumper off the glass. Then, Prochaska's layup with 52 seconds left tied the game for the first time, 18-18. But, Elliott knocked down a three to snap her team's prolonged scoring slump. Hartford took that 21-18 lead into the halftime break.
In the second half, Prochaska scored six quick points, sandwiching a three-point shot and a three-point play around a Delva jumper. Prochaska's sixth point in that span cut the Hartford lead to 25-24, and junior Maggie Hennegan's free throw at the 17:01 mark tied the score.
The Hawks, however, retook the lead with another 7-0 run. Elliott's jumper broke the tie, and Ilicia Mathis went to the line and hit two tosses at the 16:13 mark. Perhaps more importantly, both Breske and Prochaska had picked up their third foul, and each player headed to the bench. That duo had combined for 18 of BG's 25 points in the first 23-plus minutes of the game.
An acrobatic three-point play by Mathis gave the hosts a 32-25 lead, before a Pontius jumper stopped the run. With 14:18 left in the game, Steffen -- who had entered the game for the first time only a minute-and-a-half earlier -- drilled a three-ball to cut Hartford's lead to two points.
The hosts scored three more points before Steffen made a free throw with 13:08 left. But, the freshman was not finished. After two Delva tosses from the stripe were good, Steffen got an offensive rebound and putback, then drove the lane for a slicing layup in traffic. Steffen scored eight consecutive BG points, with the last bucket cutting UH's lead to 37-35.
Hartford's lead got as high as six points, as two Mathis FTs midway through the half made it a 42-36 game. But, Prochaska hit a trey, and a Clapper three at the 8:16 mark cut the Hawks' lead to a single point, at 43-42.
Beverly hit a jumper, but Hennegan answered with a pair of free throws. Then, Breske's layup gave the Falcons their first lead of the night, setting the stage for the aforementioned conclusion.
The Falcons shot .356 from the field, including just an 8-fo-30 (.267) rate in the first half. Hartford shot only .273 in the first period, but went 12-of-23 from the field in the second half en route to a .375 effort on the night.
The visitors committed 13 turnovers to the Hawks' 11, but BG had only three turnovers in the second period.
The Falcons went 7-of-22 from three-point land while holding Hartford to just a 1-of-18 night from long range. The teams each pulled down 39 rebounds, with Prochaska leading the Falcons with six boards.
Hartford went to the free-throw line 27 times, making 22, while the Brown and Orange went 11-of-16 from the stripe. The Hawks were 20-of-24 from the line in the second period.
BGSU will close the non-conference schedule, and open the New Year, with a Saturday (Jan. 2, 2010) contest vs. SIU Edwardsville. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena.
FALCON NOTES
* Freshman Chrissy Steffen scored a career-high eight points in 11 minutes off the bench ... in fact, Steffen's eight points came within a span of just 2:29 ... she scored eight consecutive BG points during that stretch.
* Steffen has posted a career-high scoring total in three consecutive games ... after scoring a total of five points in the Falcons' first 10 contests, she had three points at Youngstown State (Dec. 21), five vs. Appalachian State (Dec. 23) and eight at Hartford.
* Junior Lauren Prochaska surpassed the 1,300-point mark for her career ... her game-high 18 points at Hartford give her a total of 1,313 in her career ... Prochaska is 14th on the BGSU scoring list.
* As mentioned, the Falcon defense held Hartford without a point for a span of 7:34 in the first half, and the Hawks went a total of 9:09 without a basket ... in between buckets, the home team missed 13 consecutive shots from the field and committed five turnovers.
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