Saturday, January 9
Athens, OH
4:30 PM
Bowling Green State University
77
at
42
Ohio
Lauren Prochaska and the Falcons downed Ohio, 77-42, on Saturday (file photo)
Falcons Run Past Ohio, 77-42, in MAC Road Opener
January 09, 2010 | Women's Basketball
BGSU hits 8 first-half three-pointers, forces 26 Bobcat turnovers in Saturday's win
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team used tough defense and deadly three-point shooting to open up a large first-half lead, and the Falcons rolled along to a 77-42 win over Ohio University Saturday afternoon (Jan. 9). The Mid-American Conference game was held at the Convocation Center.
NOTES & STATS
Postgame Notes
BGSU 77, OHIO 42 - Final Stats
BGSU 77, OHIO 42 - PDF Boxscore
BGSU Cumulative Stats - PDF
POSTGAME AUDIO
Curt Miller & Tracy Pontius
With the victory, the Falcons improve to 12-4 overall and 2-0 in MAC play, while dropping the Bobcats to 4-11 and 0-2, respectively.
Juniors Tracy Pontius and Lauren Prochaska combined for 35 points, and each player hit four three-pointers in the game. Pontius had a game-high 18 points, with Prochaska scoring 17.
Thia Gholson was the lone double-digit scorer for the Bobcats, with 15 points off the bench. BGSU held Ohio's top-three scorers, Jenny Poff, Jennifer Bushby and Da'Keisha Mann, to a combined three points.
The Falcons forced 26 Ohio turnovers in the game, and BGSU had an eye-popping 39-6 advantage in points off turnovers. BG turned the ball over just 11 times, the team's ninth consecutive game of 15 turnovers or fewer.
BGSU hit a total of 11 three-pointers, including eight in the first half. The Falcons committed only four first-half turnovers.
A total of 15 BGSU players saw action in the game, with 14 playing seven minutes or more. Thirteen Falcons found the scoresheet, with 10 different players dishing out an assist.
The Falcons held a narrow 32-31 rebounding advantage, with juniors Jen Uhl and Maggie Hennegan grabbing five apiece. Uhl also led the visitors in assists, with four.
BGSU took an early 4-0 lead after senior Tamika Nurse hit a left-side jumper, and Pontius sank a pair of free throws. Poff answered with a three-pointer, but the Bobcats would make only one more field goal in the next 12 minutes.
Pontius took a pass from Nurse and knocked down a triple from the left corner, giving the Falcons a 7-3 lead at the initial media timeout. A Prochaska jumper gave the Falcons a six-point lead, before Gholson made a layup at the 14:40 mark to cut BG's lead to 9-5.
The Falcons, however, proceeded to go on a 16-1 run to put the lead into double figures for good. BG scored 11-straight points, including three consecutive makes from behind the arc.
The run began with a Pontius triple from the top of the arc, giving her eight points and her team a 12-5 lead. Pontius got into double digits with a shot fake and right-side jumper 30 seconds later, before freshman Chrissy Steffen knocked down a left-elbow triple.
On BG's next possession, Prochaska got open in the left corner, took an inbounds pass from Pontius and connected on a long-range attempt. The Falcons' lead was 20-5 and the Bobcats took a timeout at the 11:54 mark. BGSU shot .667 from both the field (8-of-12) and from three-point land (4-of-6) in opening up that 20-5 advantage.
Maxine Ohakim briefly stopped the BG run, splitting a pair of free throws, but Prochaska fed junior Chelsea Albert for a short jumper and a 22-6 Falcon lead. Neither team scored for nearly two and a half minutes before a Prochaska trey gave the visitors a 19-point advantage with just over eight minutes left in the half.
Finally, with 6:53 left in the period, Danielle Woodmore scored the Bobcats' first basket in nearly eight minutes. But, Pontius hit back-to-back treys, giving the Brown and Orange a 31-8 lead at the 5:09 mark. When Prochaska hit yet another BGSU three-ball, the Falcons' lead was 37-13 with 2:38 left before halftime. The Bobcats scored the final five points of the period to cut the deficit to 19 at the break.
In that opening half, the Falcons had 26 points off turnovers to just two for the 'Cats.
In the second half, BGSU scored the first six points from the foul line, including three by Nurse after she was fouled attempting a trey, and the Falcons had a 43-18 lead two minutes in. The 'Cats would cut BG's lead to 18 points after Ashley Fowler's jumper at the 13:50 mark, but the visitors proceeded to score eight-straight points.
After two Prochaska free throws, Breske stole the ball from Woodmore and went in for a transition layup. Then, the senior co-captain took an entry pass from freshman Allison Papenfuss, made a jump stop and went up for a layup in traffic and a 52-28 lead.
Papenfuss came up with a steal at the other end, and would quickly turn that steal into two points. The freshman raced downcourt, took a pass from senior co-captain Sarah Clapper and hit a transition layup to give the Falcons a 54-28 lead and prompt a Bobcat timeout with 11:26 left.
The Bobcats stopped that run on Gholson's 'and-one' jumper, but Pontius hit a pair of tosses from the stripe, and Breske jumped the route on Fowler's cross-court pass, poking the ball downcourt and sailing in for an easy layup.
The lead reached 29 points on Steffen's second triple of the game, after a pass from junior Kelly Zuercher with 8:07 left. Sophomore Jessica Slagle scored five-straight points, including a three-pointer to push the lead over 30 points for the first time with 6:21 left.
Fowler made a free throw to cut the lead to 68-38, but Steffen scored a nifty layup, altering her shot in midair, and BG's lead remained over 30 points the rest of the afternoon/evening.
Steffen had nine points, the most of her young career, in 12 minutes off the bench. She went 2-of-3 from three-point land as the Falcons were 11-of-25 (.440) for the game.
Breske had six points and a game-best four steals, while Nurse and Slagle scored five apiece.
The Falcons return home to face the University at Buffalo on Wednesday evening (Jan. 13). Tipoff is 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena, "The House That Roars.'
Amy Velasco, Lexi Fleming, & Coach Chmiel Postgame Interview (Mar. 5, 2025)
Thursday, March 06
Paige Kohler, Coach Chmiel, & Amy Velasco Postgame Interview (Feb. 26, 2025)
Thursday, February 27
In the Paint: Lexxus Graham-Blincoe
Wednesday, February 26
Erika Porter, Amy Velasco, & Coach Chmiel Postgame Interview (Feb. 22, 2025)
Sunday, February 23