Bowling Green State University
Syracuse (Second Round)
Falcons Battle Back to Beat Syracuse, 72-69
March 22, 2009 | Women's Basketball
March 22, 2009
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POSTGAME AUDIO
BGSU Coach Miller
| Syracuse Coach Hillsman |
Pontius |
McCoyBOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Sophomore Lauren Prochaska came up big at both ends of the floor when her Bowling Green State University women's basketball teammates needed her Sunday afternoon (March 22), helping the Falcons to a thrilling 72-69 win over Syracuse University. The game, a second-round contest in the WNIT, was held at Anderson Arena.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 29-4 on the year, and BGSU advances to WNIT third-round action. The Brown and Orange will host Indiana University on Thursday (March 26) at 'The House That Roars.'
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Prochaska had 22 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, playing all 40 minutes, in the win over SU. She hit a rainbow three-pointer that gave the Falcons the lead for good with 3:30 left in the game, and went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final minute-and-a-half.
Then, at the defensive end of the floor, Prochaska picked up two of the biggest blocked shots of her career. With the Falcons leading by that 72-69 score, the soph swatted a three-point shot by Tasha Harris out of bounds with 2.0 seconds remaining. Then, on the final play, she tipped Erica Morrow's three-point try from the corner as the buzzer sounded.
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Nicole Michael led the Orange with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Chandrea Jones had 13 points and nine boards, while Morrow scored 11 points for the visitors.
Michael made 10 of her 16 shots from the field, while the BGSU defense held her teammates to 15-of-51 (29.4 percent) combined shooting.
The Falcons led for only a few seconds during the game's first 36-and-a-half minutes, prior to Prochaska's three-point field goal. The soph's go-ahead triple was reminiscent of many treys made by senior Lindsey Goldsberry during her storied Falcon career, as Prochaska's high, arcing shot seemed to hang in the air forever before dropping through the hoop.
Speaking of Goldsberry, she gets one more chance to play on the hallowed hardwood of Anderson Arena, as the win over Syracuse resulted in the WNIT third-round home game. Goldsberry, the winningest player in Mid-American Conference basketball history, has seen the Falcons go 114-19 since arriving on campus in the fall of 2005.
The Orange scored the first four points of the game, as Michael got a pair of offensive rebounds and putbacks in the first minute of play. SU held a 45-37 rebounding advantage, and grabbed 18 offensive boards on the day.
The Falcons got on the board with a jumper by junior co-captain Tara Breske, and got free throws from Pontius and Prochaska to forge a 6-6 tie at the initial media timeout of the day.
Junior Sarah Clapper gave the Falcons an 11-10 lead, the home team's first of the day, when she took a pass from McCoy and hit a right-corner three-pointer from in front of the Syracuse bench. But, as mentioned, BG held the lead only briefly, as Morrow drained a triple to begin an 11-2 run. That shot came just prior to the shot-clock buzzer.
Morrow would score seven of SU's 11 points during that run, hitting back-to-back jumpers to close the flurry and give the Orange a 21-13 lead midway through the half.
With the Orange looking to take the three-point shot out of the Falcons' offensive arsenal, BG looked to drive inside. Prochaska made one such drive, drew a foul and knocked down both free throws. But, the visitors responded by scoring five-straight points to take an 11-point lead, the largest of the game. Tyler Ash's lone shot attempt of the game was successful, giving SU a 26-15 advantage.
The Falcons had made just 3-of-16 shots to begin the game, but BG proceeded to make seven of the next eight field-goal tries. That stretch began when sophomore Chelsea Albert hit a foul-line jumper. McCoy, who had picked up the assist on that shot by Albert, made a jumper of her own to cut SU's lead to 26-19 with 6:39 left before halftime.
Michael answered with a jumper, but Prochaska found Albert in transition, and the soph converted another layup, bringing BG within 28-21.
The Orange scored the next four points, before BG went on a 7-0 run. Pontius scored five of those seven points, beginning with a pair of free throws at the 4:41 mrk. Then, Prochaska found McCoy inside for a nifty layup in traffic, and a Clapper pass found Pontius for a right-elbow triple with 3:38 on the clock.
That was part of a stretch where Pontius scored nine of BG's 11 points over a span of several minutes. The teams traded points, with two Pontius charity tosses getting BG within three points at 33-30, but a Jones jumper quieting the home fans briefly.
A Pontius layup after a Clapper steal, however, brought the crowd of 2,072 quickly back to life, and after Michael split a pair of free throws, a McCoy driving layup cut BG's deficit to just two points with a minute left in the half.
SU called a timeout, but the ensuing possession saw McCoy pick the pocket of Harris near midcourt. Several BG layup tries would not drop, but the Falcons' persistence on the offensive glass resulted in Prochaska's third-chance layup in traffic, tying the score with 39 seconds left in the half.
Jones hit two free throws to give the visitors a 38-36 lead as the teams repaired to their respective lockerrooms.
After that 3-of-16 shooting start, BG finished the half by making 8-of-11 shots. Two of the three misses came on the same possession, which finished with a Prochaska putback.
Prochaska drove down low and drew a foul on the first possession of the second half, hitting the resulting free throws to tie the game at 38-all. Neither team would score for nearly three minutes after that, until Vionca Murray's putback gave the Orange the lead once again.
The Orange then had a four-shot possession, with three offensive misses and a Falcon foul. That foul was on Goldsberry, her fourth of the day, with 16:17 still remaining in the contest. The senior headed to the bench for the next 11-plus minutes.
The teams traded two more fruitless possessions, as the Falcons (0-of-7) and Orange (1-of-9) combined to miss 15 of 16 shots to begin the half. Finally, that drought was broken when Murray hit a layup out of the 15:49 media timeout.
A McCoy 'and-one' jumper cut SU's lead to two points, but the free-throw try would not drop, marking BG's first miss of the day after 14-straight makes. Michael quickly answered with a three-pointer, for a 45-40 Orange lead.
McCoy converted again, but Murray got to the line twice in less than a minute, hitting all four free-throw attempts to put her team ahead by a seven-point margin, 49-42.
Back came the Falcons, though. Two McCoy free throws were followed by a long-range connection from Pontius, who took a pass from fellow soph Jen Uhl and hit from well beyond the three-point line. BG was within two points, bu Jones followed her own miss and hit a layup.
Uhl got to the line and made a pair of tosses with 11:07 left, and a Prochaska putback cut the 'Cuse's lead to a single point, 52-51, with 10:34 left. But, a Harris trey increased the visitors' lead to four.
After a driving layup by Prochaska, the Falcons called a quick timeout, trailing by two points with 9:13 remaining. But, Morrow responded with a layup.
Pontius made a jumper, but Harris answered at the other end. McCoy made a pair of free throws out of the eight-minute media pause, and the Falcons then forced several SU misses at the defensive end. Michael got two of her game-high seven offensive boards during that possession, but McCoy snared the rebound after SU's third miss. Prochaska's driving layup with 6:48 remaining tied the game at 59-59.
After two free throws by Morrow, neither team would score for another long stretch. Finally, McCoy got back to the line and made both of her shots to tie the game once again, with 4:08 left.
Goldsberry, who had checked back into the game a minute earlier with her four fouls, came up with a steal, leading to Prochaska's 'Goldsberryesque' triple that gave BG the lead for good. The game certainly was not in hand yet, though.
BG forced a miss, and Prochaska split a pair of free throws with 2:48 remaining. The Orange missed again, but the ball went out of bounds to SU with 2:20 on the clock.
Michael's jumper halved the home team's lead with 2:19 remaining, and a Pontius three-point try would not drop as the clock moved under two minutes. But, BG forced a miss by Jones, and Prochaska corralled the rebound as Jones went over-the-back for a foul. Prochaska's free throws both dropped, and BG led by a 67-63 count with 1:33 remaining.
Michael scored again for the visitors, but McCoy made a driving layup with just over a minute left. Again, though, Michael hit a shot, making a layup with 47.4 seconds left.
BG took a four-point lead once again when Prochaska stepped to the line with 23.5 ticks on the clock. The nation's leader in free-throw percentage went 2-for-2, giving the Brown and Orange a 71-67 lead.
The Orange brought the ball over midcourt and called time with 20.9 seconds left. With the house roaring, Jones missed a jumper. But, she got her own rebound and was fouled with 9.7 seconds left. The All-Big East First-Team selection made both free throws, and BG's lead was two points.
BG inbounded the ball to Pontius, who was fouled immediately in the backcourt with 8.2 seconds left. She went to the line and made her first toss, but saw the second fall off the rim.
Ward got the rebound, and SU quickly headed down the floor. A pass made its way to Harris at the left elbow, in front of her team's bench. She spotted up behind the arc and let a shot fly, but Prochaska came seemingly out of nowhere to swat her shot out of bounds with 2.0 seconds left.
SU tried to inbound the ball, but Breske knocked the pass away. The ball went out of play, again to SU. This time, the inbounds pass came to Morrow in the right corner, but Prochaska got a hand on her shot as well, and Pontius grabbed the ball as the horn sounded.
Prochaska, McCoy and Pontius combined to score 61 of the Falcons' 72 points. That trio had 34 of BGSU's 36 second-half points, with Prochaska nearly having a double-double in the second half alone (16 points, eight rebounds). McCoy scored 12 of her 20 points in the second half.
The Falcons shot 37.7% for the game, and BG went just 4-of-12 from three-point range. But, one of the nation's leading free-throw-shooting teams was successful at the stripe once agin. The home team made 28 tosses in 31 tries, but a 90.3% conversion rate.
SU shot 37.3% from the floor, with BG's defense holding the Orange to just a 10-of-34 effort (29.4%) in the second period. The visitors went 3-of-15 from beyond the arc, and made 16-of-20 shots from the line.
Prochaska's double-double was her third of the season and the seventh of her illustrious Falcon career. She also led the Falcons in assists, with three, and tied Breske for the team lead with two blocks.
With McCoy leading the way, the BG bench outscored the SU reserves by a 27-10 count, including a 12-0 margin in the second half.
The Falcons' WNIT third-round game vs. Indiana, as mentioned, will be held at the most venerable of venues, Anderson Arena. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. Thursday evening.
FALCON NOTES
* The 2008-09 Falcons now have 29 wins, the second-highest total in school -- and MAC -- history ... only the '07-08 BGSU team has had more victories, going 31-4 en route to the NCAA Championships' 'Sweet Sixteen.'
* BGSU's win was the program's second-ever victory in the WNIT, and the school's fifth in national postseason play ... BGSU is now 2-2 in Postseason WNIT games, and 5-11 in all postseason action (including a 3-9 record in the NCAAs).
* Four of those five national postseason wins have come in the Curt Miller Era ... BGSU is 4-4 in national tourneys under Miller, with a 2-3 mark in the NCAAs and a 2-1 record in the WNIT.
* The Falcons now have a record of 20-1 this season when playing in front of a crowd of 1,000 or more ... when the attendance is in excess of 2,000, BGSU is 9-1 ... Syracuse went 6-12 this season in front of crowds over 1,000, and the Orange finished 1-8 when the attendance was greater than 2,000.
* Falcon junior Niki McCoy has done rather well in tournaments this year ... in BGSU's eight tournament games (both in-season tournaments and postseason action), McCoy leads the team with 17.4 points per game ... she has shot 57.8% in those games ... McCoy was named the MVP of both of BGSU's in-season tourneys, at UNC-Greensboro and Dayton, and also was named to the MAC's All-Tournament Team in Cleveland.
* McCoy has averaged 17.4 ppg over the Falcons' last five games as well ... she has made 54.2% of her shots in that time ... soph Tracy Pontius has had a team-leading 18.0 ppg during that five-game span.
* The Falcons are now 14-0 at home this year, having set a new school record for home wins in a season ... the 1988-89 and 1992-93 BG teams each went 13-1 at Anderson Arena.
