Toledo Rallies Late to Down BGSU, 66-63

Saturday, January 30

Toledo, OH

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Toledo

Tanika Mays (30) had a game-high 20 points for UT, while Jen Uhl (left) had a double-double for BGSU (photo by Brad Phalin)

January 30, 2010 | Women's Basketball

Rockets break seven-year, 12-game losing streak to Falcons

By: TOLEDO, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The host University of Toledo scored 14 of the game's final 17 points, rallying for a 66-63 win over the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team Saturday afternoon (Jan. 30). The Mid-American Conference game was held before a record crowd at UT's Savage Arena.

Final Stats - HTML | Boxscore - PDF | BGSU's Cume Stats - PDF
Postgame Audio: Miller, Prochaska & Uhl

With the win, the Rockets improve to 17-4 overall and 7-1 in the MAC. The Falcons fall to 17-5 and 7-1, respectively. BGSU's loss was the first since Dec. 30, 2009, snapping an eight-game winning streak.

Toledo's win broke a lengthy BGSU series winning streak as well. The Falcons had won the previous 12 meetings between the arch rivals. UT's win was its first over the Brown and Orange in over seven years.

Tanika Mays had a game-high 20 points to pace three Rockets in double figures. Melissa Goodall had 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Naama Shafir scored 11 points and was credited with nine assists.

The Falcons got 17 points and nine rebounds from junior Lauren Prochaska, while classmate Jen Uhl had a double-double, with 12 points and a game-high total of 12 rebounds. Another junior, Tracy Pontius, had eight points and led the Falcons with six assists.

Pontius hit a three-point field goal -- one of 10 on the day by the Brown and Orange -- to give her team a 60-52 lead with 6:05 on the clock. From that point on, however, the Falcons went 1-for-6 from the field and had five turnovers. Still, the game was not decided until a three-point try by Pontius bounded off the backboard and rim as the final horn sounded and the UT students rushed the court.

After that Pontius trey at the 6:05 mark, the Rockets scored 10-straight points over the next two minutes, taking a 62-60 lead on a three-pointer from Jessica Williams with 4:15 remaining. Prochaska's triple with 3:37 on the clock gave the Falcons a 63-62 lead, but BG would not score again.

Toledo took the lead for good on Shafir's driving layup with just under two minutes left, And, after a BG turnover, Goodall's layup with 1:26 on the clock gave the Rockets a three-point lead and proved to be the final scoring of the game.

Following that basket, UT deflected a pass and got a steal at midcourt. Pontius nearly stole the ball right back, but it went out of bounds to Toledo at the Rockets' offensive end of the court with 48.2 seconds left.

UT inbounded, but a Shafir three-point try was swatted out of bounds by Falcon senior Tara Breske with 43.2 seconds remaining. After the next UT inbounds pass, Pontius poked the ball away from Courtney Ingersoll from behind, giving the Falcons the ball back.

On the ensuing possession, however, the best shot Falcons could get was a contested three-point try from Prochaska, which was off the mark. Goodall grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled.

Goodall went to the line with 6.1 seconds left and a chance to salt the game away for her team. She missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, and Pontius got the defensive rebound, giving her team one last chance. But, the junior's long triple try did not drop as the buzzer sounded.

The game had featured seven ties and 12 lead changes, and resembled a track meet at the outset. The teams combined for 25 points in the first four-plus minutes. The Rockets got the ball inside, taking a 4-0 lead, while the Falcons relied on the outside game. UT's first four baskets of the day all were layups, including three by Goodall, while the Falcons' first three hoops all came from outside the arc.

A Pontius three-pointer began BG's scoring, and after a Goodall layup, senior Tamika Nurse connected from long range to tie the game at 6-6. Freshman Chrissy Steffen became the third different Falcon to connect from the left corner in the first three-plus minutes, before Goodall got her third layup -- and her second putback -- of the day. Breske sandwiched a pair of shots around a Williams three-pointer, giving the Falcons a 13-12 lead at the 15:41 mark.

Neither team led by more than two points over the next four minutes, before UT's Yalonda Richardson scored four-straight points to give the hosts a 21-17 advantage. But, the Falcons responded with 11 consecutive points.

That run began innocently enough, with Nurse splitting a pair of free throws. She missed the second try, but Breske got the offensive board. Only seven seconds later, junior Maggie Hennegan was fouled and hit two tosses from the stripe.

Hennegan, who scored seven of the Falcons' 11 points during the run, hit a driving one-hander on BG's next possession, giving the visitors a 22-21 lead exactly midway through the first half. Pontius stole the ball from Shafir and fed Prochaska for a right-elbow three-pointer in transition, and the Rockets called a timeout.

Pontius again stole the ball from Shafir on the next possession, but BG could not capitalize. However, Shafir was called for an offensive foul, giving the ball back to the Brown and Orange, and this time, the Facons took advantage of the turnover. Pontius found Hennegan out top for a straightaway three-pointer, and the Falcons had a 28-21 lead.

But, back came the Rockets, as the hosts went on a 6-0 run to cut BG's lead to just one point. The Falcons answered with a 6-0 run of their own, as Prochaska hit a foul-line jumper, then got herself to the line for a pair of free throws. When Nurse raced downcourt and hit Uhl for a fast-break layup, the visitors had a 34-27 lead.

Mays stepped outside and hit a triple, but Uhl took a pass from classmate Chelsea Albert and knocked down a three-pointer of her own, salvaging what appeared to be a lost possession. Then, after a Toledo miss, Prochaska was fouled as she corralled the defensive rebound, and the junior made two more free throws for a 39-30 lead with 1:38 left in the half.

Mays converted a three-point play, and Ingersoll's jumper cut the Falcons' lead to four, but two more Prochaska tosses gave the Brown and Orange a 41-35 halftime lead.

The half ended on a strange play. After a UT miss in the waning seconds, the Falcons rebounded the ball, and Nurse attempted a 50-foot heave that was off the mark. One referee blew his whistle and signalled an offensive foul against Nurse, but after a conference with the other two officials and a wait of several minutes while they reviewed the replay, it was ruled that there was no foul on the play.

The Rockets began the second half on a 9-2 run, capped by a Mays three-pointer that gave the hosts a 44-43 lead with 16:09 left. Additionally, two Falcon post players, Breske and junior Kelly Zuercher, each picked up their third foul during that stretch.

Uhl broke a scoring drought of over three minutes for the Falcons, taking a pass from Nurse and hitting a triple from the right wing. Shafir canned a jumper, but Breske answered with a layup. Shafir scored again, tying the game at 48-48 with a layup, but the UT soph then was called for a foul, her third of the day, at the 12:28 mark.

Nurse gave the Falcons the lead once again, driving down the lane and scoring on a jump-stop layup. On the next possession, Shafir missed a three-point try, then was called for a foul -- her fourth -- on the rebound. The Rockets' point guard actually stayed in the game for another half-minute, missing two shots but getting her own rebound both times on the next possession, before finally heading to the bench with 10:10 left. Soon after, a long two-pointer by Mays tied the game midway through the half.

Breske was called for her fourth foul with 9:20 left in the game, and headed to the bench as well. But, Nurse came up with a steal, and after a BG miss, Uhl got a rebound in traffic and was fouled. Uhl's free-throw tries both went down, giving BG a 52-50 advantage.

The Falcons then put together two of their better offensive possessions of the day on back-to-back trips down the floor. First, Prochaska -- standing directly in front of BGSU head coach Curt Miller -- hit a three-pointer from the left elbow after Pontius had made the 'extra pass.' Then, after a Toledo miss and a Prochaska defensive board, Zuercher found a wide-open Uhl under the hoop for an easy lay up and a 57-50 lead with 7:44 remaining.

The Rockets got a layup from Mays before Uhl found Pontius for a long-distance connection, giving the Falcons a 60-52 lead and setting up the final six-plus minutes of action.

Goodall scored five of UT's points during the ensuing 10-0 run, which began with two free throws from Mays and culminated with the Williams three-pointer.

Toledo shot .422 from the field, while holding the Falcons to a .362 success rate. BG went just 8-of-27 (.296) from the floor in the second half.

The Falcons, as mentioned, hit 10 three-pointers on the day, with six different players hitting at least one. Prochaska had three triples, with Pontius and Uhl making two apiece. Mays and Williams each had two as the home team went 4-for-17 from long range.

The attendance at Saturday's game was 5,825, a new MAC record for an on-campus game.

The Falcons, after losing for the first time in a month, will look to bounce back on Tuesday (Feb. 2). BGSU hosts Northern Illinois University in a 7:00 p.m. tip at venerable Anderson Arena.

A FEW FALCON NOTES
* Despite Saturday's loss, the Falcons still lead the all-time series with the Rockets by a 40-26 margin ... BG had won 12 consecutive games in the series prior to Saturday.

* The win was Toledo's first over BGSU in more than seven years, since a 70-62 decision at then-Savage Hall on Jan. 15, 2003 ... since that time, the Falcons had won five home games, four road games and three neutral-site affairs (all in Cleveland in the MAC Tournament) over the Midnight Blue and Gold.

* To put that date (Jan. 15, 2003) in context, BGSU's current freshman class was in sixth grade the last time the Falcons lost to the Rockets.

* BG head coach Curt Miller has a 12-3 record vs. the Rockets since assuming the Falcon helm prior to the 2001-02 season.

* The loss was just BG's third in the last 35 MAC road games over the last four-plus years.

* Junior Lauren Prochaska now has a career total of 1,487 points ... she ranks seventh in school history ... Prochaska has scored in double digits in 82 of her 90 career games at BGSU, including 21 of this year's 22 contests.

* With three more three-point field goals on Saturday, Prochaska now has hit a total of 205 long-range shots in her career ... she is just 11 shy of tying Liz Honegger's school record ... Honegger made 216 treys between 2003 and 2007.

* Junior Jen Uhl's double-double was the second of her career, and her second in a three-game span ... Uhl had 12 points and 11 rebounds in last Saturday's (Jan. 23) win over Eastern Michigan.