Falcons Head to Motor City for Wednesday Matchup with UDM

THE OPENING TIP
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after posting a road victory over a nationally-ranked team in the Music City, now heads to the Motor City to continue a season-long five-game road swing ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller will face the University of Detroit Mercy on Wednesday night (Dec. 9) ... tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at Calihan Hall (8,295) ... Miller and his staff returned 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's club that won the Mid-American Conference's regular-season title for a fifth-straight season ... BGSU ended the 2008-09 campaign with an overall record of 29-5 (15-1 MAC) and advanced to the third round of the Postseason WNIT.

LINKS
BGSU NOTES & STATS - PDF
Detroit women's basketball web site
MAC Notes & Stats - PDF
Tuesday's Press Conference Audio: Curt Miller | Tracy Pontius
BGSU-UDM Live Stats
BGSU-UDM Live Audio
BGSU-UDM Live Video

(Note: The USA Today ESPN Top 25 Coaches poll was released Tuesday afternoon, after the game notes were completed, and BGSU received one vote in the poll)

GIANT KILLERS IN THE MUSIC CITY
The Falcons defeated nationally-ranked Vanderbilt Friday night (Dec. 4), earning a 66-60 win in Nashville ... the Commodores had entered the game ranked 14th in the USA Today ESPN Coaches Top 25 poll and rated 16th by the Associated Press ... it marked BGSU's first win over a ranked team since the Falcons' last meeting with Vandy ... BGSU had downed the Commodores, 59-56, in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Championships in East Lansing, Mich. (March 20, 2007) ... that win was the Falcons' school- and MAC-record 31st of the season, and made BGSU the first (and so far, the only) conference team to advance to the 'Sweet Sixteen' of the NCAA Championships ... that win was BG's first-ever victory over an SEC team, and was the Falcons' first over a top-10 team in over a decade ... after Friday's game, BGSU is now 2-11 all time against SEC teams, but 2-1 under head coach Curt Miller ... his lone loss came at Kentucky in overtime (62-66; Jan. 2, 2006).

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 5-2 on the season, and BGSU is riding a four-game winning streak entering the Detroit contest ... BG is 3-0 at home and 2-2 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 ... that victory gave the Falcons a quarterfinal matchup with Ohio State, and the third-ranked Buckeyes posted a 91-72 win in Columbus ... then, the Brown and Orange headed to Marist and suffered a 70-65 setback to end Preseason WNIT play ... BGSU bounced back with an 81-66 road win over Oakland, before downing UNC Greensboro and Saint Francis (Pa.) at home and nationally-ranked Vanderbilt on the road ... the latter win was a 66-60 result Friday night (Dec. 4).

• BGSU returns 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that posted the second-highest win total in school and MAC history ... the Falcons went 29-5 overall, including a 15-1 MAC record, in 2008-09 ... the Brown and Orange won a fifth consecutive conference regular-season title and advanced to the third round of the Postseason WNIT.

• The Falcons had just one senior on the roster a year ago, and 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, an average of 28.5 wins per season.

• Through seven games, junior Lauren Prochaska leads a balanced Falcon scoring attack, with 15.6 points per game ... Prochaska, the reigning Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, also leads BG in rebounding, with 6.6 boards per game ... she was named the league's Player of the Week on Monday (Dec. 7).

• Junior Tracy Pontius and senior Tamika Nurse have 15.0 and 13.0 ppg, respectively ... Pontius has 3.4 rpg, and leads the Falcons in assists (3.6 apg) and three-point field goals made ... she is 18-of-39 from beyond the arc ... Nurse has 3.4 assists per game, and is second on the team with 15 three-pointers made ... she has shot an even 50 percent (15-of-30) from long range.

• Junior Jen Uhl and senior Tara Breske have scored 8.1 and 7.6 ppg, respectively ... Uhl has 5.3 rebounds per game, tying her for second on the team ... she has averaged 11.0 rpg in the last two contests ... she is also shooting a team-best .622 from the field, and has gone 7-of-14 (.500) from three-point range ... Breske, who missed the UNC Greensboro and Saint Francis games with an injury suffered at Oakland, returned to action at Vanderbilt, playing 16 minutes off the bench ... she has 3.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game, tying her with Prochaska for the team lead in the latter category.

• Junior Maggie Hennegan and sophomore Jessica Slagle have 4.9 and 3.1 ppg, respectively ... Hennegen has 5.3 rebounds per game to tie for second 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 return ... 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 get to suit up in a BG uniform for the first time this year ... 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 seven games to date, while Hennegan has made six starts ... Breske started the first four games of the year, while Uhl has been in the starting lineup for each of the last four games.

• Through seven games, the Falcons are shooting .453 from the field, .420 from three-point land and .765 from the free-throw line ... BG's opponents are shooting .401 overall, .336 from long range and .728 from the stripe ... the Falcons have 36.7 rebounds per game to the opponents' 34.3.

THE BROWN AND ORANGE ARE RED HOT
The Falcons shot a season-high .561 from the field in the win at Vanderbilt, making 23-of-41 field-goal attempts ... BG has shot 50% or better from the field in three of the last four games, all wins ... in fact, in those four games – against Oakland, UNC Greensboro, Saint Francis and Vanderbilt – the Falcons have shot .510 from the floor, while holding opponents to just a .385 field-goal rate.

THREE-MENDOUS
BG has shot the ball well from three-point land this year ... through the first seven games of the year, BGSU has hit 63 treys, an average of 9.0 per game, and has shot an even 42 percent from long range ... the NCAA Division-I record is 9.9 three-point field goals per game, set by Villanova in the 2007-08 season ... heading into the Saint Francis game, the Falcons had been averaging 10.4 successful triples per contest ... against the Red Flash, BG attempted only 12 long-range shots, making four ... and, the Brown and Orange tried only 11 three-point shots at Vanderbilt, but made seven, for a season-best .636 conversion rate.

THREE-MENDOUS, PART II
BGSU has made at least seven three-point field goals in six of this year's seven games, including four games with 10 or more ... the Falcons had a total of nine games with at least 10 triples last season.

PROCHASKA MOVING UP BGSU SCORING LIST
With 27 points vs. Saint Francis (Pa.), junior Lauren Prochaska moved into 17th place on the BGSU career scoring list ... after scoring 14 more points at Vanderbilt, Prochaska now has a total of 1,199 points in her Falcon tenure ... her next target on the list is 16th-place Jacki Raterman, who scored 1,213 points from 1995-99.

PROCHASKA NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior Lauren Prochaska was named the MAC Player of the Week on Monday (Dec. 7) ... she earned the honor for the first time this season and the sixth time in her Falcon career ... Prochaska averaged 20.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game as the Brown and Orange picked up wins over Saint Francis (Pa.) and Vanderbilt ... she shot 65 percent from the field, going 13-of-20 in the two games, and also averaged 1.5 assists, 1.5 blocked shots, 1.0 steals and 39.0 minutes per game on the week.

THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 5-2 on the young season;
• 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);
• 184-75 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);
• 175-56 overall in the seven years (plus seven 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);
• 163-40 over the last six-plus years, with 2008-09 marking BG's sixth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 142-30 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 119-22 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;
• 91-19 in the last three-plus years, including a 43-5 conference ledger, since seniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 60-15 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;
• 34-7 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;
• 15-5 in MAC Tournament games in the Curt Miller Era;
• 14-3 at "The Gund"/"The Q" under Miller;
• 26-3 in non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season (including the WNIT games); and
• 22-2 against non-league foes at Anderson Arena since November of 2004.

I LOVE MY MICHIGAN
The Falcons are looking to continue a recent streak of success in the state of Michigan ... BGSU has won three consecutive games in the state, and the Falcons have won 12 of the last 13 contests played in Michigan ... BG's lone loss in the state came to Michigan State in the 2008 WNIT in East Lansing ... since the start of the 2005-06 season, the Falcons have posted two road wins each against Detroit, Oakland and each of the state's three MAC schools (Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan) ... and, the Brown and Orange downed both Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt in the 2007 NCAA Championships First & Second Rounds in East Lansing.

FALCONS LOVE HOME COOKIN', TOO
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 Tuesday's game vs. Saint Francis, were by single digits ... the lone loss in that time came to Indiana in the third round of the 2009 Postseason WNIT.

BOARDWORK
BGSU has outrebounded the opponents in six of the first seven games this year, including a +18 margin in the Saint Francis (Pa.) game ... the Falcons pulled down 48 rebounds to 30 for the Red Flash ... it marked BG's first double-digit advantage on the boards this year, and the team's first since a +15 margin vs. Central Michigan in the quarterfinals of the 2009 MAC Tournament ... it was the team's highest margin since another plus-18 performance on Feb. 23, 2008, at Miami.

BOARDWORK, PART II
No Falcon had pulled down more than eight rebounds in any of the season's first five games ... but, no fewer than three BGSU juniors had at least eight boards against Saint Francis ... Jen Uhl tied her career high with 14 rebounds, while Lauren Prochaska had 10 boards as part of a double-double ... Maggie Hennegan had eight rebounds, the highest total of her young Falcon career.

LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons shot over 56 percent from the field en route to a 66-60 win over #14/16 Vanderbilt Friday night (Dec. 4) in Nashville ... it marked BGSU's first win over a nationally-ranked team since a win over Vandy in March of 2007, in the NCAA Championships ... on Friday, junior Tracy Pontius scored a game-high 19 points to pace three players in double digits ... Pontius hit three three-pointers in the game, all coming in the early going as the Falcons exploded to a 22-4 lead out of the gate ... senior Tamika Nurse had 15 points, while junior Lauren Prochaska added 14 ... both Nurse and Pontius were 3-of-4 from three-point land as the Falcons made 7-of-11 triples on the night ... junior Jen Uhl had eight points and a game-high eight rebounds, helping the Falcons post a 32-29 rebounding margin in the game ... for the Commodores, Jence Rhoads had 17 points while Lauren Lueders added 11 ... after that 22-4 start, Vandy cut BG's lead to 10 points, before Prochaska scored six points in the final minute of the first half to give BG a 39-23 lead at the break ... the hosts came all the way back, though, forcing 17 second-half turnovers by the Falcons ... when Rhoads hit a layup with 3:25 left, the 'Dores had a 59-58 lead ... but, Pontius' layup at the 2:26 mark gave the Falcons the lead for good, and BGSU forced Vandy to go 0-of-8 from the field down the stretch ... Pontius salted the game away with four free throws in the final minute ... BG shot over 50% in each half, including a .600 rate in the second.

SCOUTING DETROIT
Detroit brings a 1-5 record into Wednesday's game ... the Titans opened the season with a 74-65 win at Oakland, but are looking to reverse a five-game losing streak ... the team has played then-#10 Michigan State, Canisius and Eastern Michigan at home and Cincinnati and Indiana State on the road ... UDM's most recent game was a 72-55 setback to EMU at Calihan Hall on Saturday (Dec. 5) ... Detroit is allowing opponents to shoot just .388 from the field, including only a .313 rate from three-point land ... a total of eight players have seen action for the Titans this year to date ... senior guard Brigid Mulroy leads the team in scoring, with 17.2 points per game, and also had 6.0 rebounds per contest ... Mulroy has hit 21 three-point field goals, and has shot .600 from long range ... sophomore forward Yar Shayok is averaging a double-double, with 14.0 points and a team-leading 10.5 rebounds per outing ... freshman guard Demeisha Fambro has 12.5 ppg and 4.8 rpg, while sophomore guard Jalesa Jones has 8.0 ppg ... Jones has a team-high 5.0 assists per game ... each of those four players has started all six games to date, while sophomore guard Lauren Allen (4.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg) has made five starts for head coach Autumn Rademacher ... the Titans returned seven letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 12-19 overall and 7-11 in Horizon League action ... Rademacher has a record of 13-24 in her second year, both at UDM and overall ... the school's athletics web site is DetroitTitans.com.

THE SERIES
The Falcons and Detroit are tied, 10-10, in the all-time series between the teams ... BGSU is 4-6 in road games vs. the Titans, but the Falcons have won two consecutive games at Calihan Hall, including a 68-37 decision in the 2006-07 season opener (Nov. 10, 2006) ... overall, BG has won four-straight meetings, the most recent a 72-42 victory at venerable Anderson Arena last Dec. 3 ... UDM's last victory came in the Motor City, a 67-62 score on Nov. 20, 2001 ... that was Curt Miller's second game, and first loss, as a collegiate head coach ... Miller has a 4-1 record against the Titans ... the complete list of game-by-game series results can be found in the PDF version of these notes.

TOUGH CROWD
The Falcons' early-season schedule has been difficult, to say the least ... BGSU's game at Oakland (Nov. 24) concluded a three-game road trip, in which the three opponents averaged 28.0 wins a season ago ... the first two foes, third-ranked Ohio State and Marist, each posted 29 victories last year, as did the Falcons ... OU went 26-7 in 2008-09 ... all three schools – like BG – advanced to national postseason play ... the Falcons' first four opponents of the season – Chicago State, OSU, Marist and Oakland – posted a total of exactly 100 wins last season ... and, BG's last opponent, Vanderbilt, was a 26-win and NCAA 'Sweet Sixteen' team a year ago.

TOUGH CROWD II
The Vanderbilt game was BG's fourth on the road this year ... those four foes – Ohio State, Marist, Oakland and VU – combined for 110 wins a year ago, and all four advanced to national postseason play (three to the NCAAs) ... the Falcons went 2-2 in those four games.

FALCONS LOOKING TO BE ROAD WARRIORS IN DECEMBER
The Falcons' game at Vanderbilt, as mentioned, began a season-long five-game road swing ... BG will also face Detroit (Nov. 9), Saint Bonaventure (Dec. 12), Canisius (Dec. 19) and Youngstown State (Dec. 21) during that stretch ... finally, the Falcons will return home to face Appalachian State on Wednesday, Dec. 23 ... after the Canisius game on Dec. 19, the Falcons will have played as many games in the state of New York as in venerable Anderson Arena.

THEY'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE
The Falcons started the 2009-10 season with a 1-2 record ... that had not happened since – well, since last year ... in fact, BG began 2008-09 with an 0-2 mark, suffering double-digit losses at Temple and Valparaiso ... then, the Brown and Orange proceeded to reel off a school-record 25 consecutive wins, en route to a 29-5 overall mark.

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.

TICKET SALES ARE ROLLING ALONG
• As of Nov. 30, a total of 583 women's basketball season tickets had been sold for 2009-10 ... according to available information, that is a new record ... the previous best had been a total of 491 season tickets sold two years ago (2007-08) ... as recently as 2005-06, the total of BGSU women's basketball season tickets sold was just 62.

• BGSU has had four-digit crowds in each of the three home games this year to date ... last season, the Falcons had seven crowds of over 2,000 fans at "The House That Roars," averaging a school-record 1,763 per game.

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.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Next Event

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Falcons Head to Motor City for Wednesday Matchup with UDM

Next Event

Related Videos