Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Hosts Central Michigan Sunday Afternoon
February 14, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (Happy Valentine's Day) -
BGSU vs. CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Sunday, February 15, 2009 • 3:30 p.m.Anderson Arena (3,500) • Bowling Green, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 21-2 (10-0 MAC) // Central Michigan 14-10 (6-4 MAC)
RADIO: WBGU-FM 88.1 - Kevin Zilch and Angelo Velotta
TELEVISION: BCSN - Todd Hostetler and Mark Ehlen
SERIES: BGSU leads, 40-12 // STREAK: BGSU - 7
LAST MEETING: BGSU 87, at Central Michigan 82 (Feb. 13, 2008)
BGSU Notes, Stats & Bios in PDF Format
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, currently leading the Mid-American Conference's East Division by five games with six to play, concludes cross-divisional play this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller wrap up a brief two-game homestand with a Sunday (Feb. 15) tilt against Central Michigan University ... tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (3,500) ... following the CMU contest, the Brown and Orange will prepare for the second round-robin swing through the MAC's East Division, beginning with a game at the University of Akron on Saturday, Feb. 21.
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE, DOUBLE YOUR FUN
• The BGSU-CMU game will be the first of two basketball games at venerable Anderson Arena on Sunday (Feb. 15) ... the Falcon men's basketball team, riding a six-game winning streak, will host Eastern Michigan University at 7:00 p.m.
• Fans presenting a ticket stub from the women's game will receive free admission to the men's game ... as always, fans are encouraged to $ave on walk-up prices by purchasing tickets in advance through the BGSU Athletic Ticket Office, either in person, online at BGSUFalcons.com, or by phone at 877-BGSU TICKET.
WE'RE GOING STREAKING: FALCONS HAVE WON SCHOOL RECORD-TYING 21 IN A ROW
The Falcons have won 21 consecutive contests, tied for the longest streak in school history, heading into Sunday's CMU game ... Fran Voll's 1986-87 team also won 21-straight games ... Voll coached both the Falcons and the Chippewas during his stellar career ... the current run marks the eighth double-digit win streak in BG annals, and the fourth in as many years ...
BGSU'S LONGEST WINNING STREAKS
Season // Streak // Notes
1986-87 // 21 // Falcons, at 6-2, did not lose again until NCAA Tourney
2008-09 // 21 // BG's last loss came on Nov. 19 at Valparaiso
1988-89 // 20 // Final win came vs. Cincinnati in NCAA first round
1993-94 // 20 // Falcons lost MAC opener, then won out until NCAAs
2005-06 // 19 // Included 16-0 league record and 3 MAC tourney wins
2006-07 // 18 // Part of 24-1 run that took BG all the way to 'Sweet 16'
1992-93 // 17 // BGSU, 8-4, won 14 MAC games, 3 more in MAC Ty.
2007-08 // 10 // Streak spanned all of February and half of March
20 AGAIN: BG REACHES MILESTONE FOR SIXTH-STRAIGHT YEAR
The Falcons have won 20 games for the sixth consecutive year, a school record ... prior to the current run, the longest such streak was four-straight seasons, by the Fran Voll-coached teams of the late 1980s ... the MAC record is seven consecutive 20-win seasons, set by Kent State from 1995-96 to 2001-02.
FALCONS ARE STREAKY
BGSU enters Sunday's game vs. Central Michigan with several lengthy streaks on the line ... the Falcons have won ...
• 21 consecutive overall games since a Nov. 19 loss at Valparaiso;
• 16-straight games at Anderson Arena;
• 19 consecutive MAC regular-season games;
• 11 consecutive contests in the month of February;
• nine-straight games against MAC West Division foes; and
• seven games in a row in the series with Central Michigan.
FALCONS ARE STREAKY II
• The Falcons are on a lengthy winning streak, having won 21 consecutive games ... BGSU also has win streaks against all 11 of the other MAC schools.
• The Falcons lost a total of four games to conference foes last year, with three regular-season losses (to Miami, Ball State and Western Michigan), and a setback in the semifinal round of the Kraft MAC Tournament (to Ohio in double overtime) ... BG has avenged all four of those losses this season, with wins over the Bobcats, RedHawks, Cardinals and Broncos.
• Since last year's loss to Western, the Falcons have won 30 of 32 regular-season games, including 19-straight contests in MAC play.
COULD YOU PUT THESE STREAKS IN CONTEXT?
• According to the MAC women's basketball media guide, the Falcons' current 21-game winning streak is tied for second in conference history ... Central Michigan holds the MAC record, with 26-straight wins during the 1983-84 season ... as mentioned, two BGSU teams have put together 21-game streaks.
• BGSU has now won 19 consecutive MAC regular-season gamees ... that is the fourth-longest such streak in school history, and the sixth-longest streak in MAC annals ... the Falcons hold the record with 33 consecutive conference wins, from February of 2005 to February of 2007 ... BG holds the top-two spots and four of the top-six places on that list.
BGSU MOVES TO THE TOP OF THIS LIST
The Falcons have won at least 20 games for the 14th time in school history, the most of any MAC school ... other than BGSU, only Toledo (13) and Kent State (11) have posted 20 or more wins on 10 or more occasions.
ATOP THE MAC: BG IS 10-0
• The Falcons have started MAC play with a 10-0 record for the fifth time in school history, and the third time in the last four seasons ... BGSU's 1986-87, 1988-89, 2005-06 and 2006-07 teams all won the first 10 MAC games of the year ... the first three teams went a perfect 16-0 in league regular-season play, while the '06-07 team finished 15-1 in the MAC en route to the NCAA's 'Sweet Sixteen.'
• Entering weekend action (there are four MAC games on Saturday, prior to the BG-CMU and Kent State-Toledo games the next day), the Falcons hold a five-game lead in the MAC's East Division race with six regular-season games remaining ... BGSU is 10-0 in league play, followed by Kent State and Miami at 5-5 ... in the West, Ball State is atop the division with a mark of 8-2, followed by Northern Illinois and UT at 7-3 apiece, and 6-4 Central Michigan.
• The Kraft MAC Tournament is less than a month away, with first-round games scheduled for March 11 in downtown Cleveland ... the Falcons are looking to earn a first-round bye and a berth in the quarterfinals, scheduled for March 13 ... the top-two teams in each division will earn byes ... unlike MAC men's basketball, where teams are seeded from #1 through #12, the women's basketball format seeds teams by division (#1 East, #2 East, etc.).
STREAK IS ONE OF LONGEST IN NATION
The Falcons' 21-game winning streak is the second-longest active streak in the nation ... only Connecticut is ahead of the Falcons on that list, which can be found in the PDF version of these notes.
HOME STREAK IS PRETTY LENGTHY, TOO
BGSU has a 15-game home winning streak, which also ranks among the longest in the nation ... the Falcons won the last five contests of 2007-08 at venerable Anderson Arena, and BG has begun the '08-09 campaign with 10-straight wins at 'The House That Roars' ... the list of current active homecourt win streaks is also in the ol' PDF at the top of this very page.
A WINNING MAC RECORD
With a 10-0 MAC record and six regular-season games to play, the Falcons have clinched a winning record in conference action for the sixth consecutive year ... the school record is nine consecutive winning records in MAC play, from 1985-86 through 1993-94 ... Fran Voll was the head coach for the first six years of that streak, with Jaci Clark at the helm for the latter three.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 21-2 on the season ... after opening the year with road losses against Temple and Valparaiso, BGSU has won a school record-tying 21-straight games heading into Sunday's Central Michigan contest ... BG won 11 non-conference games for the third consecutive year, then went 5-0 in the first round-robin swing through the MAC's East Division ... BG downed Kent State and Ohio on the road, and swept a three-game homestand with wins over Miami, Akron and Buffalo ... the Falcons have begun cross-divisional play with five wins as well ... BG picked up road wins at Eastern Michigan (Jan. 24), Northern Illinois (Jan. 31) and Western Michigan (Feb. 7) on three consecutive Saturdays, with the latter two victories coming in overtime ... during the week, the Falcons have won home games against Ball State (Feb. 3) and Toledo (Feb. 12), ending the latter game on a 15-4 run to pull away from the arch-rival Rockets.
• The Falcons are 10-0 at home, 9-2 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site games ... BG won two tournaments, the UNCG Marriott Classic and the Dayton Flyer Classic, during the non-league portion of the schedule ... in between, the Falcons had a 4-0 December homestand, winning the first two games by a combined 63 points, over Detroit and Youngstown State, then downing St. Bonaventure and Hartford ... at the Dayton tourney, the Falcons topped Gardner-Webb and the host Flyers to win the title ... BGSU closed the non-league slate and opened the 2009 calendar year with a win at SIU Edwardsville (Jan. 2), just prior to the MAC schedule ... senior Lindsey Goldsberry, junior Tara Breske and sophomores Tracy Pontius and Lauren Prochaska each have started all 23 games this season to date ... junior Niki McCoy started the first 21 games of the year ... McCoy is currently suspended, and sophomore Jen Uhl took her place in the starting lineup vs. WMU and Toledo.
• Prochaska leads the team in both scoring, with 17.0 points per game, and is second in rebounding, with 5.9 boards per contest ... she has had eight games of 20 points or more, including a 27-point game at WMU, and has been named MAC Player of the Week four times this season ... Prochaska leads the nation in free-throw percentage (95.2%; 100-of-105) ... Pontius, who exploded for a career-high 31 points at NIU, is second on the team with 13.7 ppg ... Pontius, named the MAC P-O-W on Feb. 1, leads the Falcons in assists, with 4.1 per game, and is second in steals (1.7 spg) ... she leads the entire MAC in assist/turnover ratio (1.70) ... McCoy, named the MAC P-O-W on Jan. 5, has 13.6 ppg, and ranks third with 5.6 rpg ... she surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career in the NIU game ... Breske and freshman Jessica Slagle have 7.0 and 5.9 ppg, respectively ... Breske, after pulling down a career-high 14 rebounds at WMU and seven more vs. UT, has taken over the team lead in that category, with 6.1 rpg ... she also tops BG in blocks (1.3 bpg) and is third in steals ... Goldsberry has 5.6 ppg ... she leads the Falcons in steals (2.0 spg) and is second in assists (2.3 apg) ... she also has an impressive assist/TO ratio of 2.26, but falls shy of the minimum number of assists to qualify for the league leaders.
• The Falcons are shooting 43.7% from the field over the first 23 games ... BG has a three-point FG pct. of 36.3%, with 7.0 triples made per game, and is shooting 79.5% from the free-throw line ... the opponents are shooting 38.4% from the floor, 32.9% from long range and 66.5% from the stripe ... the Falcons have 35.7 rebounds per game to the opponents' 38.0 ... BG has turned the ball over 15.5 times per game, but has forced the opponents into 19.7 per outing.
• The Falcons have made almost twice as many free throws (441) as the opponents (236) ... in fact, BGSU has made 86 more FTs than the foes have attempted (355).
• The Falcons returned a total of nine letterwinners, including three starters, from last season's team ... the group of returnees combined for 65.9 percent of the scoring and 75.0% of the rebounding from last year's 26-8 team ... BGSU won the MAC's regular-season title for the fourth-straight year, posting a 13-3 conference record ... the Falcons advanced to the semifinals of the MAC Tournament before falling in double OT ... Goldsberry, the team's lone senior, is one of the three returning starters from the '07-08 club ... Breske and Prochaska are the other two.
• Sophs Pontius, Uhl and Chelsea Albert each played in all 34 games last year, with Albert making six starts ... the list of returning letterwinners also includes juniors Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper and sophomore Kelly Zuercher ... McCoy is in her first playing season with the Falcons ... she sat out the 2007-08 season after transferring from Akron.
• Three freshmen joined the Brown and Orange this year ... that group includes Maribeth Giese, Slagle and Victoria McGowan ... two other newcomers have come into the Falcon fold ... transfers Maggie Hennegan (Saint Louis Univ.) and Tamika Nurse (Univ. of Oregon) will sit out this season before joining the active roster in 2009-10 ... Nurse will have one season of eligibility remaining, while Hennegan will have two.
LAST TIME OUT
Four players scored in double digits as the Falcons won the latest edition of the `Battle of I-75' with Thursday's (Feb. 12) 70-53 victory over arch-rival Toledo ... the win was the 21st-straight victory for BGSU, tying the school record ... additionally, the victory was the Falcons' 11th in a row against the Rockets, the longest winning streak for either team in the storied series ... BGSU took a five-game lead in the MAC East Division race with six games to go in the regular season ... sophomore Tracy Pontius scored a game-high 17 points, including a back-breaking three-pointer in the final minutes, and led all players with six assists ... classmate Jen Uhl had 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds, adding three steals and a pair of blocked shots ... Uhl, who played a career-high 33 minutes, fell just one rebound shy of a double-double for the second consecutive game ... for the Rockets, Tanika Mays led a balanced scoring attack with 11 points, while Allie Clifton and Naama Shafir had 10 apiece ... BGSU had 15-4 runs both at the start and at the end of the game ... the Falcons never trailed, but BG also could not put the Rockets away until the final moments ... the visitors were within six points, at 55-49, before the Falcons went on that game-ending 15-4 run ... Pontius had a dagger during that run, taking a cross-court pass from junior Tara Breske and drilling a left-side triple to put BG up by 12 points with 2:12 left ... that trey began a game-ending 8-0 run, with the last five points coming from the free-throw line.
SCOUTING CMU
Central Michigan enters Sunday's Bowling Green game with a record of 14-10, and the Chippewas are 6-4 in MAC play ... Central, two games out of first place in the MAC's West Division, already has shattered last year's overall and conference win totals ... the Chippewas, coming off a 78-57 home win over Akron Wednesday (Feb. 11), lead the MAC in scoring, averaging over 80 points per game (over 81 ppg in MAC play) ... CMU is 3-7 on the road this year to date, including a 2-3 mark in MAC contests away from home ... the Chippewas' balanced scoring attack features six different players averaging at least 7.7 points per game ... junior forward Britni Houghton leads the team, with 16.5 points per game, and also has 4.8 rebounds per contest ... senior guard Angel Chan and freshman guard Brandie Baker, have 14.6 and 12.5 ppg, respectively ... Chan has made 67 three-point field goals this year to date, while Baker has 6.0 rpg and a team-leading 3.3 assists per contest ... junior forward Kaihla Szunko is averaging 10.4 ppg and a team-high 9.6 rpg, and also paces the Chippewas with 0.9 blocks per game ... Baker, Chan and Szunko each have started all 24 games this year to date ... sophomore guard Shonda Long (8.9 ppg) and senior guard Latisha Luckett (7.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg) joined that trio in the starting lineup vs. Akron for head coach Sue Guevara ... Guevara welcomed back seven letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's club that finished 6-23 overall and 2-13 in MAC action ... Guevara, 20-33 in her second year in Mount Pleasant, has an overall record of 143-115 in her ninth season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is cmuchippewas.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Central Michigan, 40-12, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won each of the last seven meetings ... last season, the Falcons won a high-scoring affair in Mount Pleasant, 87-82 (Feb. 13, 2008) ... BGSU picked up a 70-50 win two years ago, in the teams' last matchup at Anderson Arena (Jan. 20, 2007) ... BGSU is 21-4 in home games vs. the Chippewas, and the Falcons have won the last 10 games at Anderson vs. Central, since a 60-58 CMU win on Feb. 8, 1995 ... CMU's last overall series win was a 42-30 decision in Mount Pleasant (Feb. 5, 2003), a game known in some circles as 'The Ugliest Game in Women's Basketball History' ... Curt Miller has a record of 8-2 vs. the Chippewas during his head-coaching tenure.
THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons have a proud history in the MAC ... BG enters Sunday's game vs. Central Michigan with an overall league record of 316-139 (69.4%), the best of all conference institutions ... additionally, BGSU leads the all-time series with all 11 MAC opponents ... BG, obviously, is the only team in the league with a winning series mark against every other school ... and, the Falcons now have a current winning streak against each of the other 11 teams as well.
TAKE SOME, THEY'RE FREE
BGSU shot a season-best 94.1 percent from the free-throw line in the win over Ball State, shredding the nets with 32 makes in 34 attempts ... then, the Brown and Orange shot 'only' 81.0% at Western Michigan, going 17-of-21, and 80.0% (20-of-25) vs. Toledo ... on the year, the Falcons are shooting 79.5% (441-555) from the free-throw line ... prior to the UT game, BG ranked fifth in the nation, and the Falcons' FT% went up after the win over the Rockets ... BG is shooting 83.3% (210-252) in MAC games.
TAKE SOME MORE, THEY'RE FREE
The Toledo game marked the 22nd time in 23 games this year that the Falcons have made more free throws than the opponent ... in fact, BGSU has made more free throws than the opposition has attempted in 17 of those games, with those totals being equal in one other game.
LO IS HIGH ATOP THE RANKINGS
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska leads the entire country in free-throw shooting this year to date ... in the latest NCAA statistics (through games of Sunday, Feb. 8), Prochaska led all of Division I with a free-throw percentage of 95.0% ... after going a perfect 5-for-5 vs. Toledo, she has made 100 of her 105 shots from the line (95.2%), including each of her last 43 ... Prochaska also ranked among the nation's leaders in three-point field-goal pct. (24th), three-pointers per game (40th) and scoring (51st) in the last NCAA listings.
HOT START
BGSU's overall record of 21-2 ties the school record for best start through 23 games ... this marks the fourth time the Falcons have been 21-2 in program history ... the 1986-87 squad had 21 wins in the first 23 contests ... that Falcon team won 21 consecutive games to enter the NCAA Tournament with a 27-2 record ... the 2005-06 team also began the season at 21-2 ... that club won 19-straight games to head into the NCAA Championships with a 28-2 mark, before losing to UCLA in the first round ... the next year, BGSU again was 21-2 after 23 games ... that club was 25-2 before losing to Ohio at home ... but, the team responded with a six-game win streak that took the Falcons all the way to the NCAA's "Sweet Sixteen."
UHL BE SWELL, UHL BE GREAT...
Sophomore Jen Uhl made the first start of her collegiate career in last Saturday's (Feb. 7) win at Western Michigan, and also was in the lineup vs. Toledo on Thursday (Feb. 12) ... Uhl certainly has made the most of the opportunity ... the Wadsworth, Ohio, native just missed recording a double-double in each game ... Uhl tied her season best with 11 points at WMU, and matched her career high with nine rebounds ... for good measure, Uhl led the team in assists, with a career-high four helpers, and also picked up two steals, including one in the final seconds of overtime with the Falcons hanging on to a two-point lead ... then, against Toledo, Uhl had a season-best 14 points, again pulling down nine boards ... she had three more steals and a pair of blocked shots, including one of each to thwart back-to-back UT possessions in the final minutes of Thursday's game ... Uhl is averaging 4.7 points and 3.7 rebounds this year, and has 6.5 ppg and 4.2 rpg in MAC play.
GOLDEN NUGGET: SENIOR APPROACHES RECORD WIN TOTAL
Lindsey Goldsberry, the lone senior on the 2008-09 Falcon squad, has helped the team to a great deal of success since her arrival on campus ... the Jan. 17 win over Akron was the 100th since the Dayton native joined the program ... BGSU is now 106-17 overall since the start of Goldsberry's freshman year ... the Falcons have won at least 26 games in each of her first three seasons ... 'Golds' has a chance to become the winningest player in school - and MAC - history ... currently, that distinction is shared by last year's senior class, as Kate Achter and Whitney Taylor helped the Falcons to a total of 108 wins (108-23 record) during their careers, the most wins in MAC history in a four-year period.
McCOY SUSPENDED
Junior Niki McCoy has been suspended for three games for violation of team rules, head coach Curt Miller announced ... McCoy started each of the team's first 21 games this season, and is averaging 13.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game ... she missed the Western Michigan (Feb. 7) and Toledo (Feb. 12) games, and will sit out the Central Michigan (Feb. 15) game as well.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Falcons, after the win over Western Michigan (Feb. 7), are now 28-1 in MAC road games over the last three-plus years ... the only loss during that time came in last season's trip to Ball State (a 68-47 BSU win on Jan. 26, 2008) ... prior to that, BGSU had not lost in a hostile MAC venue since Feb. 19, 2005 (57-52 at EMU).
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 171-70 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 89-33 in MAC games in that time:
• 162-51 in the six-plus years 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);
• 150-35 over the last five-plus years, with 2008-09 marking BG's sixth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 129-25 in the past four-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins in each year (21 this year, obviously) and a MAC regular-season title in every season;
• an eye-popping 106-17 overall and 54-4 in the MAC regular season in the last three-plus years, since senior Lindsey Goldsberry ventured to Northwest Ohio;
• 78-14 in the last two-plus years, including a 38-4 conference ledger, since juniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 47-10 overall, and 23-3 in MAC regular-season games, since sophomores Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher began their respective playing careers at BGSU;
• 67-5 in the last 72 games vs. MAC opponents (including regular-season and tourney games);
• 33-4 in MAC home games in the last four-plus seasons;
• 28-1 in MAC road games over the last three-plus years (with the lone loss during that time coming last season at Ball State);
• 10-1 in the MAC Tournament over the last four years, with three titles (2005, '06 and '07) and a trip to the semifinals in 2008;
• 22-2 in non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season;
• 18-1 against non-league opposition at Anderson Arena since November of 2004;
• 9-3 in games played on February 15 in program history;
• 7-2 in home games on that date (including a 72-58 victory over Central Michigan in 2005); and
• 2-1 on Feb. 15 in the Curt Miller Era, with a two-game winning streak (the win over CMU and an 80-48 win at Akron in 2006, after a 2003 home loss vs. Miami, 75-65).
LO IS A HIGH SCORER
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska has scored 893 career points in a BG uniform ... she has broken into the top-30 in scoring in school history, and moved past both Dee Knoblauch (885 points from 1979-83) and Sherry Kahle (886 points from 1996-2000) in the Toledo game ... Prochaska now ranks 27th, and needs only 10 points to move up two spots into 25th place.
HIGH-SCORING SOPHOMORE
Sophomore Lauren Prochaska leads the team in scoring this season ... this scoring success is nothing new for the Plain City, Ohio, native ... Prochaska, after just 57 career games, already has 893 points at BGSU ... she is averaging 15.7 points per game in her career, ranking her second in career ppg in BGSU history behind only the legendary Jackie Motycka, the school's all-time leading scorer (2,122 pts.; 18.1 ppg from 1985-89) ... on the season, Prochaska has 17.0 ppg overall, ranking her third in the league ... in MAC games only, she ranks second in the conference with 18.5 ppg.
