Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head to Cleveland for Kraft MAC Tournament
March 11, 2009 | Women's Basketball
March 11, 2009
CLEVELAND, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU vs. AKRON/CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Friday, March 13, 2009 • 11:00 a.m.Quicken Loans Arena (20,562) • Cleveland, Ohio
RECORDS: BGSU 26-3 (15-1 MAC) // UA 11-18 (6-10) // CMU 17-13 (9-7)
RADIO: WBGU-FM 88.1 - Mike Castellano and Alex Mikos
SERIES WITH AKRON: BGSU leads, 41-2 // STREAK: BGSU - 12
LAST MEETING: BGSU 81, at Akron 70 (Feb. 21, 2009)
SERIES WITH CMU: BGSU leads, 41-12 // STREAK: BGSU - 8
LAST MEETING: at BGSU 94, Central Michigan 79 (Feb. 15, 2009)
FALCON WOMEN'S HOOPS MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA
BGSU Notes, Stats & Player Bios (38 pages) in PDF Format
BGSU Game-by-Game Boxscores (15 pages) in PDF Format
2009 MAC Tournament Bracket (1 page) in PDF Format
Selected 2008-09 Newspaper/Internet Articles in PDF Format
Coach Miller's Monday (March 9) Press Conference Audio Prochaska's Monday (March 9) Press Conference AudioMiller, Pontius and Prochaska win awards at MAC Tournament banquet
THE GAME
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after a fifth consecutive Mid-American Conference regular-season championship, heads to Cleveland for a quarterfinal-round game in the Kraft MAC Tournament ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller, the top seed in the East Division, will face either the University of Akron or Central Michigan University in the quarterfinals ... UA will meet CMU on Wednesday (March 11) in first-round action, with the winner moving on to face the Falcons ... tipoff for BGSU's game is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Friday (March 13) at Quicken Loans Arena (20,562) ... the winner will advance to Saturday's (March 14) semifinal round, playing in the day's first game (noon tip).
FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
The Falcons enter the 2009 Kraft MAC Tournament with an all-time record of 34-15 in the league tourney ... BGSU's win total is the second highest among MAC teams, and the Falcons' .694 winning percentage is also second in the league ... BG's total of nine MAC Tournament titles is the highest by any league institution ... of the Falcons' potential quarterfinal-round opponents in 2009, BGSU has an 0-1 tournament record against Akron and a 4-2 mark vs. Central Michigan ... the Falcons are 13-4 under Curt Miller in the conference tourney ... more information on BGSU and the MAC Tournament can be found on pages 13 and 14 of this game notes package.
BASKETBALL U.
The 2008-09 season has seen both BGSU basketball teams enjoy success ... the women's basketball Falcons, as you will hear countless times in these notes, have won the MAC's regular-season title for the fifth consecutive year ... meanwhile, the BGSU men's basketball team tied for the MAC's East Division title and earned the #1 seed for the league tournament ... a few notes about the teams' success ...
• This marks the first time in school history that both the men's and women's teams have earned MAC regular-season titles in the same year ... it is the first time any MAC team has done so since 2001-02 ... that year, Kent State won the East Division in both men's and women's hoops, while Ball State won the West and KSU was the #1 seed for each tournament.
• The BG men's and women's teams combined for a record of 26-6 in MAC games this year, five games better than any other school in the conference (see box in the PDF version of these notes).
• 2009 marks just the second time in school history that both BGSU teams will advance to national postseason play ... both Louis Orr's men's team and Curt Miller's women's program have clinched at least an NIT berth.
• The first such occasion came in 1990 ... that year, Fran Voll's women's basketball Falcons earned their fourth consecutive NCAA berth, while the men's team advanced to the NIT under Jim Larranaga.
• Orr was named the MAC Coach of the Year on the men's side, while Miller earns the honor for the women ... Miller earns the award for a MAC-record fifth year in a row (more about that later).
PROCHASKA NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Lauren Prochaska has been named the 2009 MAC Player of the Year ... the announcement was made Tuesday night (March 10) at the MAC Tournament banquet ... Prochaska is just the fourth Falcon to earn a league player-of-the-year honor, but the third in as many seasons ... she joins Jackie Motycka (1986-87 and 1987-88), Ali Mann (2006-07) and Kate Achter (2007-08) as MAC Players of the Year.
MILLER NAMED MAC COACH OF THE YEAR, AGAIN
Falcon head coach Curt Miller has been named MAC Coach of the Year ... Miller shared the honor with Toledo's Tricia Cullop after earning it outright in each of the previous four seasons ... he is the first coach in MAC history to win the Coach-of-the-Year award in five consecutive campaigns ... no other coach has won it more than twice in a row ... additionally, Miller's five total awards puts him at the top of that MAC list ... former UT boss Mark Ehlen is the only other MAC coach to have won the award more than twice in his career ... 2009 marks the eighth time that a BGSU coach has earned the league award ... in addition to Miller's five such awards, Fran Voll (1986-87 and 1988-89) and Jaci Clark (1992-93) each were named MAC C-O-Y while at BGSU.
CRADLE OF COACHES
Both BGSU basketball coaches have picked up some hardware this season ... Falcon men's coach Louis Orr was named the MAC Coach of the Year on Monday (March 9), and Curt Miller was announced as a co-recipient of the same honor the following evening.
THREE OF A KIND
BGSU has had the MAC Player of the Year in each of the last three seasons ... prior to Lauren Prochaska's award this season, Ali Mann earned the honor in 2006-07, sharing it with Western Michigan's Carrie Moore, and Kate Achter was named the MAC P-O-Y last March ... this marks only the second time that three different players from the same school have won the award in a three-year span (Toledo from 1991-93).
TWO OF A KIND
Tracy Pontius joined Lauren Prochaska to give the Falcons a pair of sophomores on the All-MAC First Team ... that dynamic duo has combined for over 32 points per game this season, and each player ranks among the NCAA leaders in at least four categories ... they have combined for 130 three-point field goals this winter, with Prochaska hitting 69 and Pontius 61.
SKEET + LO = DOUBLE TROUBLE
Stellar sophomores Tracy Pontius and Lauren Prochaska become the first set of teammates named to the All-MAC First Team since 2005-06, when Western Michigan's Carrie Moore and Casey Rost earned the honor ... the last time two BGSU players made the All-MAC First Team was in 1997-98, when Charlotta Jones and Sara Puthoff each earned the award.
THANKS, FANS
The Falcons averaged over 1,600 fans per game at home for the third consecutive year ... BGSU's average attendance was 1,660 in this year's 13 home regular-season games .... that is the Falcons' highest average attendance at Anderson Arena in at least two decades.
WHOA! YOU JUST BLEW MY MIND!
Two years ago, the Falcons advanced to the 'Sweet Sixteen' of the NCAA Tournament ... that team finished the regular season with records of 26-3 overall and 15-1 in MAC play ... BGSU opened that season by scoring 90 points in a home exhibition win over Findlay ... then, the 2006-07 Falcons proceeded to reel off a lengthy winning streak that came to an end in the 15th MAC game of the year, before responding with a win on 'Senior Day' ... you know where we're going here, but keep reading anyway ... this season, the Falcons scored 90 points in the exhibition opener, at home vs. Findlay ... BG reeled off a long winning streak that came to an end in the 15th game of the conference schedule ... but, the Falcons rebounded with a home win on 'Senior Day,' ending the regular season with records of 26-3 overall and 15-1 in MAC play ... eerily enough, both teams also had players on the roster named Lindsey Goldsberry, Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper.
WHOA! YOU JUST BLEW MY MIND AGAIN!
Here's a note that Curt Miller can use to illustrate the parity in MAC women's basketball this season ... the Falcons are the #1 seed in the East, but needed overtime to defeat the #6 seeds in each division, Buffalo in the East (89-82, Feb. 25) and Western Michigan in the West (79-77, Feb. 7).
GOLDEN NUGGET: LINDSEY IN A CLASS BY HERSELF
Lindsey Goldsberry, the lone senior on the 2008-09 Falcon squad, has experienced success - a lot of success - since her arrival on campus ... the Falcons' win at Buffalo on Feb. 25 made Goldsberry the winningest player - man or woman - in MAC basketball history ... the Falcons have a record of 111-18 since 'Golds' ventured to Northwest Ohio prior to the start of the 2005-06 season ... a few more Goldsberry-related notes ...
• The 'old' MAC record was held by last year's BGSU women's basketball senior class, which consisted of Kate Achter and Whitney Taylor ... that duo helped the Falcons go 108-23 during their careers;
• The Falcons have posted at least 26 wins in each of Goldsberry's four seasons in the Brown and Orange;
• Despite last Wednesday's (March 4) loss at Miami, BG finished 59-5 in MAC regular-season play and currently is 66-6 against conference opponents (7-1 in the MAC Tournament) during Goldsberry's four years;
• Perhaps the most impressive note? Entering the MAC Tournament, Goldsberry has never lost to seven of the 11 MAC opponents during her career, including Akron (8-0), Buffalo (8-0), Central Michigan (4-0), Eastern Michigan (5-0), Kent State (10-0), Northern Illlinois (5-0) and Toledo (6-0) ... BG's six losses to MAC opponents have come vs. Ohio in February of 2007; Miami, Ball State and Western Michigan during a three-game span in January of 2008; OU again in the semifinal round of last year's conference tournament in Cleveland; and MU last Wednesday night in Oxford.
• Goldsberry's Falcon teams have a record of 29-3 in home games vs. MAC opponents, 7-1 in neutral-site contests vs. league foes (all in Cleveland), and a mind-boggling 30-2 mark in road games vs. conference competition ... prior to last week, the only MAC road loss of her career had come last season at BSU;
• Goldsberry's former high-school classmate is the winningest manager in MAC hoops history ... Randall Clark, like Goldsberry a graduate of Chaminade-Julienne High School in Dayton, is a senior at BGSU, and is in his fourth year as a student manager with the Falcons.
CHAMPIONS AGAIN
For the fifth consecutive year and the 10th time in school history, Bowling Green has captured a MAC regular-season championship ... the Falcons won the East Division and posted the league's best overall regular-season mark, with a 15-1 record against conference competition ... BGSU won league regular-season titles in three consecutive years from 1986-87 to 1988-89, and captured back-to-back crowns in the 1992-93 and '93-94 campaigns ... four years ago, the Falcons had the MAC's best overall record at 13-3, and won the West Division ... and, BG has now won the East Division four years running, with MAC marks of 16-0, 15-1, 13-3 and 15-1.
POSTSEASON AGAIN
The Falcons, as mentioned, compiled the best record in the MAC ... BGSU earned the outright conference crown for the fifth consecutive year ... that distinction does not have a bearing on the MAC Tournament ... but, it assures the Falcons of a berth in a national postseason tourney ... should the Falcons not make the NCAA Championships, BGSU would earn the MAC's automatic bid to the WNIT ... the Falcons will participate in national postseason play for the fifth consecutive year, having advanced to the NCAA Tournament in three-straight years before participating in the WNIT last March.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 26-3 on the season, and BGSU finished MAC play with a 15-1 league ledger ... after opening the year with road losses against Temple and Valparaiso, BGSU won a school-record 25-straight games ... but, that streak ended with a 45-40 loss at Miami last week (March 4) ... BG was ranked 25th in the nation in one Associated Press poll (March 2) and two USA Today ESPN (Feb. 24 and March 3) polls, before dropping out after the Miami loss.
• BG won a school-record 11 non-conference games for the third-straight year, then went 5-0 in the first round-robin swing through the MAC's East Division and 6-0 against the West ... the Falcons began the second trip through the East with road wins over Akron and Buffalo ... the latter game saw the Falcons win in overtime for the third time in a span of four road contests ... the Brown and Orange returned home and downed Kent State, 61-54 (Feb. 28), before falling at MU ... BG bounced back with Saturday's (March 7) 79-64 win over Ohio.
• The Falcons are 13-0 at home, 11-3 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, just prior to the MAC schedule ... senior Lindsey Goldsberry, junior Tara Breske and sophomores Tracy Pontius and Lauren Prochaska each have started all 29 games this season to date ... junior Niki McCoy started the first 21 games of the year, and sophomore Jen Uhl has been in the starting lineup for each of the last eight.
• Prochaska leads the team in scoring, with 17.9 points per game, and is second in rebounding, with 6.0 boards per contest ... she has had 11 games of 20 points or more, including a school-record 43-point explosion vs. CMU, and was named MAC Player of the Week five times this season ... Prochaska leads the nation in free-throw percentage (94.5%; 138-of-146), and averaged 19.6 ppg in MAC games to lead the entire conference ... Pontius is second on the team with 14.3 ppg ... the sophomore, named the MAC P-O-W on Feb. 1, leads the Falcons in assists, with 4.3 per game, and is second in steals (1.5 spg) ... she exploded for 17 points in the overtime period alone at Buffalo, hitting three-pointers on five consecutive trips down the floor ... Pontius leads the entire MAC in assist/turnover ratio (2.00) ... both Prochaska and Pontius were named to the All-MAC First Team, with Prochaska being named the league's Player of the Year ... McCoy, who was named a conference player of the week once this year (Jan. 5), has 12.6 ppg, and ranks third with 5.5 rpg ... she surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career in the Northern Illinois game on Jan. 31, and scored a season-high 21 points in the Ohio game Saturday (March 7).
• Breske has scored 7.6 ppg this season to date, while Goldsberry and Uhl have 5.4 and 5.2, respectively ... Breske holds the BG rebounding lead, with 6.2 rpg ... Breske has averaged 9.9 points and 7.5 boards over the last eight games, including a career-high 14 rebounds at Western Michigan ... Breske also tops BG in blocks (1.2 bpg) ... Goldsberry leads the Falcons in steals (1.9 spg) and is second in assists (2.3 apg) ... she also has an impressive assist/TO ratio of 2.03, but falls shy of the minimum number of assists to qualify for the league leaders ... Uhl, in addition to her 5.2 points, has 4.1 boards per game ... she has averaged 8.3 ppg and 6.5 rpg since moving into the starting lineup, and had a career-high 14 boards at Miami ... freshman Jessica Slagle has played in all 29 games off the bench, and has 5.1 ppg.
• The Falcons are shooting 43.2% from the field over the first 29 games ... BG has a three-point FG pct. of 36.4%, with 7.1 triples made per game, and is shooting 79.3% from the free-throw line ... the opponents are shooting 39.3% from the floor, 31.7% from long range and 66.2% from the stripe ... the Falcons have 35.7 rebounds per game to the opponents' 37.6 ... BG has turned the ball over 15.2 times per game, but has forced the opponents into 19.1 per outing.
• The Falcons have made almost twice as many free throws (562) as the opponents (302) ... in fact, BGSU has made 106 more FTs than the foes have attempted (456).
• In MAC games, BG shot 42.2% from the floor, 36.5% from the arc and an impressive 81.5% from the stripe ... the opponents shot 40.0% from the field, 29.6% from three-point range and 67.0% from the line ... Prochaska, as mentioned, led the league with 19.6 points in MAC games, and also had 5.9 boards ... Pontius had 15.9 ppg and 4.8 assists per outing, while McCoy had 10.5 ppg and 5.2 rpg ... Breske averaged 8.4 points and 6.8 boards in MAC games, while Uhl had 6.6 ppg and 4.8 rpg.
• The Falcons returned a total of nine letterwinners, including three starters, from last season's team ... the group of returnees combined for 65.9% of the points and 75.0% of the rebounds from last year's 26-8 club ... that BGSU team won the MAC's regular-season title, 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 squad ... 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 sophomores 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 - 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) are sitting out the season ... Nurse will have one season of eligibility remaining, while Hennegan will have two.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons honored the individual efforts of its fourth-year members in pregame 'Senior Day' festivities, then went out and used a team effort to pick up a 79-64 win over Ohio to close the regular season Saturday afternoon (March 7) ... for the first time this season, the Falcons had five players score in double digits ... junior Niki McCoy led the way with a season-high 21 points in 21 minutes, while junior Tara Breske had 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field ... sophs Jen Uhl, Tracy Pontius and Lauren Prochaska scored in double figures as well, with Uhl and Pontius scoring 11 apiece and Prochaska 10 ... BG's balanced attack offset a stellar shooting game by Ohio's Jennifer Bushby ... Bushby paced all players with 25 points, and her 10-of-12 shooting day included a 5-of-6 performance from three-point land ... Lauren Hmiel had 13 points for the Bobcats, while Da'Keisha Mann had a double-double, with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds ... the 'Cats had a 35-24 advantage on the boards, and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds in the game ... BG bounced back after a poor shooting night at Miami (March 4), shooting 56.0% vs. Ohio, including a 63.0% effort in the second half ... BGSU built a 28-15 lead, before the Bobcats went on an 11-0 run late in the first half ... in the second half, the 'Cats got within one point twice, the latter with 7:46 left ... but, a McCoy jumper began a 6-0 run, and the lead never got lower than five points thereafter.
THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons have a proud history in the MAC ... BG ends the 2008-09 regular season with an overall league record of 321-140 (69.6%), 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.
THE STREAK IS OVER: FALCONS SHATTER SCHOOL RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE WINS
The Falcons saw their school-record 25-game winning streak snapped on March 4 at Miami ... BG's win over Central Michigan (Feb. 15) broke the old school mark of 21-straight wins, set by Fran Voll's 1986-87 team ... the recently-ended run marked the eighth double-digit win streak in BG annals, and the fourth in as many years.
THESE STREAKS ARE OVER ...
BGSU saw several streaks snapped last Wednesday (March 4) at Miami ... prior to the loss to the RedHawks, BG had had ...
• 25 overall wins since a Nov. 19 loss at Valparaiso (the second-longest winning streak in the nation behind only #1 Connecticut);
• 12 consecutive MAC road wins;
• 23-straight overall MAC regular-season victories; and
• 198 games in a row without being held to 40 points or fewer (since Feb. 5, 2003).
... BUT THIS STREAK CONTINUES
One streak that continues is the Falcons' homecourt winning streak ... BGSU has won 18-straight games at Anderson Arena ... the Falcons won the last five contests of 2007-08 at "The House That Roars," and BG reeled off 13-straight home wins during the '08-09 regular season ... the Falcons' streak of 18 consecutive home victories is tied for the sixth longest in the nation.
MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH
The Falcons fell just one win shy of tying the MAC record for longest winning streak ... BG's 25-game streak is the second-longest in conference history, behind only a 26-game streak put together by Central Michigan in the 1983-84 season ... the list, according to the MAC media guide.
SECOND ON THIS LIST
BGSU's streak of 23 consecutive MAC regular-season wins also ended at March 4 ... that streak winds up tied for the second longest, in both school history and 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-three spots and four of the top-six places on that list.
BGSU AT THE Q
The Falcons enter this year's Kraft MAC Tournament with an all-time record of 12-3 at Quicken Loans (formerly Gund) Arena ... the Falcons, seeded ninth, led top-seeded Toledo at halftime before losing in the quarterfinals of the 2001 tourney ... that was BG's final game before the Curt Miller Era began ... five years ago, the Brown and Orange picked up a pair of one-point wins at then-Gund Arena, topping Western Michigan and Miami on buzzer-beating jumpers by Lindsay Austin ... that '04 team fell to Eastern Michigan in the championship game, and BG then proceeded to win 10-straight games at "The Gund"/"The Q" ... that streak included MAC Tournament titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and a quarterfinal win over Kent State last year ... the streak came to an end with a double-overtime loss to Ohio in the 2008 tourney's semifinal round.
'SENIOR DAY' SUCCESS
BGSU continued a streak of success with the win over Ohio Saturday afternoon (March 7) ... the Falcons are now a perfect 8-0 in 'Senior Day/Night' games in the Curt Miller Era, and BG is 13-1 in the last 14 such contests ... the lone loss in that time came to Miami in February of 2001.
THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 176-71 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 94-34 in MAC games in that time:
• 167-52 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);
• 155-36 over the last five-plus years, with 2008-09 marking BG's sixth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 134-26 in the past four-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins in each year (including this year) and a MAC regular-season title in every season;
• an eye-popping 111-18 overall and 59-5 in the MAC regular season in the last three-plus years, since senior Lindsey Goldsberry ventured to Northwest Ohio;
• 83-15 in the last two-plus years, including a 43-5 conference ledger, since juniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 52-11 overall, and 28-4 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;
• 72-6 in the last 78 games vs. MAC opponents (including regular-season and tourney games);
• 36-4 in MAC home games in the last four-plus seasons;
• 30-2 in MAC road games over the last three-plus years (with the lone losses during that time coming last season at Ball State and last week at Miami);
• 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;
• 34-15 overall in the MAC Tournament since it was instituted in 1982;
• 12-6 in quarterfinal-round games in the league tourney;
• 23-10 in MAC Tournament contests played at a neutral site;
• 12-3 at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena;
• 13-4 in MAC Tournament games in the Curt Miller Era;
• 12-2 at "The Gund"/"The Q" under Miller;
• 4-2 against Central Michigan and 0-1 vs. Akron in the league tourney;
• 2-2 vs. the Chippewas in MAC Tournament neutral-site games;
• 0-0 against the Zips in league tourney games at a neutral site;
• 22-2 in non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season;
• 18-1 against non-league foes at Anderson Arena since November of 2004;
• 1-3 in games played on March 13 in program history (with three of those games coming in the MAC Tournament);
• 1-2 in both MAC Tournament games and neutral-site contests on that date;
• 0-1 in games played in Cleveland on March 13 (a 65-56 loss to Eastern Michigan in the championship game of the 2004 MAC Tournament at then-Gund Arena - Note: BGSU averaged 96.3 ppg in the other three games on that date; against Kent in the 1992 and 1993 league tourneys, and a home contest vs. Butler in the 1998 WNIT; but went 1-2 in those three games); and
• 0-1 on March 13 in the Curt Miller Era, that '04 game vs. EMU.
STILL PRETTY SUCCESSFUL
Despite the loss to Miami, the Falcons now have won 24 of the last 25 MAC regular-season games, and BG has won 35 of the last 38 overall regular-season contests.
25 WINS, AGAIN (AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND...)
The Falcons have posted back-to-back-to-back-to-back seasons of 25 wins, the longest such streak in MAC history ... prior to BGSU's current four-year streak, conference schools had only won 25 games in back-to-back seasons twice ... the 1992-93 (25) and '93-94 (26) BGSU teams each reached the 25-win mark, and the Toledo clubs in 1995-96 (25) and 1996-97 (27) also turned the trick.
LAUREN IN A CLASS (PRETTY MUCH) BY HERSELF
Falcon sophomore Lauren Prochaska scored 25 second-half points in the win over Kent State (Feb. 28) ... with two free throws with just 36.4 seconds left in the game, Prochaska reached 1,000 points for her career ... she became the 23rd player in school history to hit the millennium mark, but only the second to do so as a sophomore ... the legendary Jackie Motycka (1985-89) is the only other player to have reached the milestone as a soph, on her way to a school-record 2,122 career points.
A FEW MORE PROCHASKA-RELATED NOTES
• Sophomore Lauren Prochaska now has 1,021 points, through just 63 career games ... the Plain City, Ohio, native is averaging 16.2 points per game in her career, a ppg average which would rank her second in school history, behind only Motycka (18.1 ppg).
• Prochaska, not surprisingly, was the second-fastest player to reach 1,000 points, getting there in her 61st career game ... Motycka reached the 1,000-point mark in her 54th career contest at BGSU ... no other player in school history has gotten to that plateau in fewer than 72 games.
• Prochaska's 43 points in the CMU game (Feb. 15) set a new school record ... the next time out, at Akron (Feb. 21), she added 25 more points ... her total of 68 points during that period set a new school record for points in a two-game span.
• She set a school record for consecutive free throws made, sinking 45-straight ... that streak, tied for the seventh-longest in NCAA history, came to an end late in the CMU game ... but, after that miss, Prochaska proceeded to make 33 more free throws in a row, the second-longest streak in BGSU history ... she sank her first 11 tries in the home game vs. Kent State, before missing her final attempt of the day.
• Prochaska continues to lead the entire country in free-throw percentage ... she has shot 94.5% from the stripe this year, making 138-of-146 tries ... in MAC games, her percentage rises to an even more impressive 95.4% ... Prochaska made 103 free throws in 108 attempts against conference foes this season ... she had made 78 of her last 79 before missing her final toss vs. KSU ... that streak included a 12-for-12 performance at Akron (Feb. 21), tying the school single-game record ... after a miss at Miami, she is 'only' 81 of her last 85.
MILLER MOVING UP
The Feb. 28 win over Kent State was the 93rd conference win since Curt Miller came to BG, breaking the school record and moving him into sole possession of eighth in MAC history ... Miller moved past Jaci Clark to the top of the BGSU list ... through the end of the 2008-09 conference season, Miller is now tied for seventh on the MAC list with former Toledo coach Bill Fennelly ... if anyone is still actually reading this, please know that this list, as is the case with many lists, can be found in the PDF version of these notes.
MILLER MOVING UP II
The win over Ohio (March 7) gives Falcon head coach Curt Miller a total of 176 overall wins since coming to BGSU ... he is tied for fourth with current MU head coach Maria Fantanarosa ... Kent State's Bob Lindsay tops both conference lists, with 372 overall wins and 232 MAC victories, while Mark Ehlen ranks second and Fran Voll third.
FALCONS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
The Falcons are ranked among the nation's leaders in several categories (rankings as of Monday, March 9) ... BGSU is fifth in the country in free-throw percentage (79.3) and seventh in win-loss pct., and the Falcons are now 16th in scoring offense (74.4), 19th in three-point field-goal pct. (36.4) and 20th in three-pointers per game (7.1) ... BG is 22nd in scoring margin (+13.1) ... individually, sophomore Lauren Prochaska leads the country in free-throw pct. (94.5) and ranks 14th in three-point FG pct. (42.1) ... Prochaska is also 39th in three-pointers per game and 42nd in scoring ... classmate Tracy Pontius is 16th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (2.0) and 22nd in three-point FG pct. (41.2) ... Pontius was also listed among the leaders in FT pct. (76th), assists (80th) and three-pointers per game (97th).
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.
CAPTAINS
Senior Lindsey Goldsberry and junior Tara Breske are the co-captains of the 2008-09 women's basketball Falcons.
