Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Detroit
Falcons Clash with Titans on Thanksgiving Eve
November 23, 2010 | Women's Basketball
BGSU, Detroit meet on Wednesday night at Anderson
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, having won three consecutive home games by an average of over 35 points, looks to close out a season-long four-game homestand on a winning note ... standing in the way of the Falcons of coach Curt Miller, however, is the University of Detroit Mercy ... the Falcons and Titans will put their matching 3-1 records on the line on Wednesday night (Nov. 24), with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (3,500) ... following the UDM game, the Falcons will fly to the left coast for a pair of games in the Seattle University Thanksgiving Tournament ... Miller and his staff returned 10 letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's 27-7 team that won the Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Championships.
BGSU NOTES & STATS - PDF | DETROIT NOTES & STATS - PDF
HENNEGAN STEPS UP
The Falcons returned a pair of stellar scorers, as Lauren Prochaska and Tracy Pontius are back for their senior seasons ... the duo ranked first and second on the team in scoring last year, and are one-two again this year ... but, with the graduation of the team's third- and fourth-leading scorers from 2009-10 (Tamika Nurse and Tara Breske), head coach Curt Miller was looking for someone to step up as another scoring option in '10-11 ... through the first four games, senior Maggie Hennegan has filled the void nicely, thank you very much ... Hennegan, who averaged 4.5 points per game last season, has 11.5 ppg this year ... she hit double digits in scoring twice last season, scoring exactly 10 points on both occasions ... this year, Hennegan has three double-digit games, including a 14-point outing vs. Youngstown State Wednesday (Nov. 17) and a 13-point contest Saturday (Nov. 20) against Oakland ... she is shooting a team-leading 63.3 percent from the field to date, and also has 6.8 rebounds and a BG-best 1.5 blocked shots per game.
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
BGSU will put an impressive streak on the line in Wednesday's Detroit game ... the Falcons have won 33 consecutive regular-season home games at "The House That Roars" ... BG's last regular-season loss at Anderson Arena came vs. Western Michigan on Jan. 30, 2008 ... a few more Anderson Arena-related notes ...
• Overall, BGSU has won 16 home games in a row, and 35 of the last 36 ... the lone loss in that stretch came to Indiana in the third round of the 2009 WNIT ... 30 of the Falcons' 35 wins in that span have come by double digits.
• In 2009-10, the Falcons posted a 13-0 home regular-season record for the second consecutive year ... BGSU has gone undefeated at home in the regular season seven times in program history ... in three of those years, including in 2008-09, the Falcons' lone blemish was a home loss suffered in national tournament play.
TREY BIEN! PROCHASKA PONTIUS AMONG BGSU'S TOP FOUR
A pair of BGSU seniors are high atop the school's three-point field-goal list ... Lauren Prochaska is the most prolific three-point shooter in BGSU history, and Tracy Pontius has moved into the top four ... through three seasons (plus four games), Prochaska has a total of 248 three-point field goals made ... she broke the BGSU record set by Liz Honegger, who made 216 triples from 2003-07 ... Pontius hit five triples in the win over Oakland, and jumped three spots on the school list ... with 172 threes in her career, Pontius is just one behind third-place Sara Puthoff (173 from 1994-98) ... Prochaska has a shot at breaking the MAC career record of 323 three-pointers made, set by Ball State's Audrey McDonald.
CLEANING THE GLASS
It is safe to say that the Falcons have been winning the battles on the boards this season to date ... four games in, BG has outrebounded the opponent in every contest, and the Falcons are averaging 45.0 rebounds per game, to the opponents' 31.8 ... a few more rebounding-related notes ...
• BGSU had a rebounding margin of +10 or better in each of the first three games ... it marked the first time the Falcons posted three-straight double-digit rebounding advantages in nearly three years (vs. UT Martin, Chicago State and Akron in the 2007-08 season).
• The Falcons had a double-digit rebounding advantage over the opponent only four times in 34 games last year, and turned the trick just twice in 34 contests in 2008-09 ... BG is 3-for-3 in that area, with a +6 in the other game, in '10-11.
• The Falcons' total of 56 rebounds in Wednesday's (Nov. 17) win over Youngstown State was the team's highest in just under six years, since BGSU pulled down 64 boards in a 115-84 track meet at IPFW (Nov. 19, 2004).
• BGSU had a rebounding margin of +26 vs. YSU ... the Falcons had not enjoyed such a decisive advantage on the boards since March of 1993 ... that season (March 13, 1993), BG pulled down 59 rebounds to Kent's 31, in a 96-68 victory over the Golden Flashes in the championship game of the MAC Tournament in Columbus.
FALCON HOME GAMES: A MULTIMEDIA FRENZY
BGSU fans can follow the Falcons all year long in a variety of ways ...
• AUDIO: WBGU-FM 88.1 is scheduled to carry all of this season's games ... the radio broadcasts can be heard online for free by logging on to BGSUFalcons.com ... click on 'Fan Zone' and 'Live Audio' to hear all the action.
• TELEVISION: Six of the Falcons' school-record 15 home games will be televised in the Toledo area on BCSN ... two additional games at Anderson Arena will be aired as the MAC Game of the Week by SportsTime Ohio ... the televised games can be found in the schedule on page 1 of the PDF version of these notes.
• VIDEO: All home games will be available via live video stream, through B2/America One, for a small fee ... fans can watch the Anderson Arena action on their computers by visiting BGSUFalcons.com and clicking on the America One logo on the right-hand side of the page.
• LIVE STATS: Links are also available at BGSUFalcons.com for live stats for all home games (and all road games in which the host team provides live stats).
PROCHASKA IS THIRD ON BGSU CAREER SCORING LIST
Lauren Prochaska, four games into her senior season, ranks third on the BGSU career scoring list, and has a total of 1,772 points in 106 games ... she trails only Jackie Motycka (2,122 points from 1985-89) and Ali Mann (1,825 points from 2003-07) ... Prochaska is averaging 16.7 points per game, the second-highest average in BGSU annals, in her storied Falcon career.
PONTIUS GIVES BGSU TWO 1,000-POINT SCORERS
With her first basket in the season opener at Evansville (Nov. 12), senior Tracy Pontius surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career ... Pontius became the 24th player to reach the milestone ... after scoring a game-high 17 points vs. Oakland on Saturday (Nov. 20), Pontius now has a total of 1,057 points as a Falcon ... she has moved into 22nd place on the BGSU scoring list, and is just five points behind 21st-place Megan McGuire.
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons hit 10 first-half three-pointers Saturday afternoon (Nov. 20), riding that long-distance marksmanship to an 80-46 win over Oakland ... senior Tracy Pontius scored all of her game-high 17 points in the first half, hitting five three-pointers ... BGSU made 10 treys in 21 attempts in the opening 20 minutes, opening up a 45-20 lead at the intermission ... four Falcons hit double digits in the win, as senior Maggie Hennegan had 13 points, while senior Lauren Prochaska and sophomore Chrissy Steffen had 11 apiece ... Steffen made a total of three three-pointers in the game, while Prochaska hit two ... Hennegan made her only long-distance try, while freshman Noelle Yoder had a triple as well ... BGSU went 12-of-32 from three-point range on the day, and the Falcons were 20-of-24 at the free-throw line ... Prochaska had a well-rounded game, leading all players with six assists and adding five rebounds and two steals ... Pontius had five assists in the game, as BGSU had 19 assists and 11 turnovers as a team ... Hennegan and fellow senior Jen Uhl had six rebounds each, as the Falcons held a 46-40 advantage in that category ... Malika Glover led the Grizzlies with 14 points, while Brittney Nelson had 11 points and a game-high total of seven rebounds ... the Falcons held OU's leading scorer, Bethany Watterworth, without a point in the game ... Watterworth, who entered Anderson Arena averaging 22.0 points per game on the season, went 0-of-6 from the field and was in foul trouble for much of the afternoon ... Prochaska set the tone for the game right away, hitting a three-pointer mere seconds after the opening tip, and the Falcons never trailed.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons will enter the Detroit game with a record of 3-1 ... BGSU is 3-0 at home and 0-1 on the road to date ... the Falcons suffered a 63-62 loss at Evansville in the regular-season opener (Nov. 12) ... but, the Brown and Orange bounced back with three-straight wins, by a combined 106 points ... BG posted a 79-53 win over Creighton in the home opener (Nov. 15), then dismantled Youngstown State, 86-40, two days later (Nov. 17) ... most recently, the Falcons topped Oakland by an 80-46 outcome on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 20).
• Senior Lauren Prochaska, the MAC Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons, is averaging a team-high 18.3 points per game, and also paces the Falcons with 7.8 rebounds per contest ... classmate Tracy Pontius has 14.8 ppg, and has a team-leading 13 three-point field goals made ... Pontius is shooting 44.8 percent from beyond the arc ... another senior, Maggie Hennegan, has 11.5 ppg and 6.8 rpg ... Hennegan had a double-double at UE, with 12 points and 10 boards, and Prochaska had her 10th career double-double vs. YSU, scoring 24 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.
• Head coach Curt Miller's starting lineup for each of the first four games has included four seniors in Hennegan, Pontius, Prochaska and Jen Uhl, along with sophomore Chrissy Steffen.
• Steffen is fourth on the team with 8.3 ppg, and also has 4.0 rpg ... Pontius paces BGSU in assists (3.3 apg), with Prochaska right behind (3.0 apg) ... Prochaska has a team-high average of 2.0 steals per game, while Hennegan paces the Falcons with 1.5 blocked shots per contest.
• BGSU returned 10 letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that won 27 games, captured MAC regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Championships ... the Falcons finished the 2009-10 season with an overall record of 27-7, and BGSU went 14-2 in MAC play ... BG won an outright MAC regular-season championship for the sixth-straight season, a conference record ... the Falcons earned the league's East Division title for the fifth consecutive year (after winning the West crown in 2005) ... BGSU won three more games in Cleveland to capture the MAC Tournament title for the fourth time in those six seasons ... the Falcons went 13-0 at home, 11-6 on the road and 3-1 in neutral-site games last year ... the neutral-site games came in the MAC Tournament and in the NCAA Championships.
• The Falcons lost the services of four seniors – Tara Breske, Laura Bugher, Sarah Clapper and Tamika Nurse – from a year ago ... the three fourth-year players were part of 113 wins, the second-highest total in school and MAC annals ... Nurse was in her first playing season in 2009-10 after transferring from the University of Oregon ... Breske, Bugher and Clapper averaged 28.25 wins per season and helped the Falcons go 57-7 in MAC regular-season games after their arrival on campus.
• Miller and his staff have six seniors on the 15-player active roster this year ... that group includes three returning starters in Prochaska, Pontius and Uhl ... Prochaska and Pontius each started all 34 games a year ago, while Uhl made 31 starts ... Prochaska, of course, has been named the MAC Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons, while Pontius earned all-league second-team honors in 2009-10.
• Hennegan, a co-captain along with Prochaska, played in all 34 games last season ... post players Chelsea Albert and Kelly Zuercher round out the senior class ... Zuercher played in 30 games off the bench last winter, while Albert appeared in 28 contests.
• The Falcons' lone junior is Jessica Slagle, who played in every game last season ... BG has a pair of redshirt sophomores in Maribeth Giese and Danielle Havel ... Giese played in two games early last season before suffering an injury and sitting out the rest of the season as a redshirt ... Havel sat out the entire campaign after transferring from DePaul University.
• The roster includes three true sophomores in Simone Eli, Allison Papenfuss and Steffen ... four newcomers join the program in 2010-11 ... that list includes a pair of guards in Jillian Halfhill and Noelle Yoder, along with post player Jill Stein ... additionally, Alexis Rogers joins the program, but will sit out this season after transferring from Duke University ... she will retain three seasons of eligibility.
A QUICK LOOK AT DETROIT
Detroit will bring a record of 3-1 to Anderson Arena ... the Titans began the season with three-straight wins for the first time in 19 years, before suffering an 82-42 road loss at nationally-ranked Michigan State on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 21) ... Detroit, like BGSU, is 3-0 at home and 0-1 on the road ... UDM's three wins include a pair over MAC teams ... those three wins were against Oakland (58-53; Nov. 12), Ball State (78-60; Nov. 16) and Western Michigan (66-53; Nov. 19) ... sophomore guard Demeisha Fambro leads the Titans in scoring, with 15.8 points per game off the bench ... sophomore forward Yar Shayok has 10.8 points and a team-leading 9.5 rebounds per game, while sophomore forward Cherridy Thornton and senior guard Tayler Langham have 7.5 ppg apiece ... Shayok, Thornton, junior guards Lauren Allen (6.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and Jalesa Jones (6.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, a team-leading 4.0 assists per game) and sophomore guard Dominique Dixon (2.5 ppg) each have started all four games for head coach Autumn Rademacher this season to date ... Rademacher, in her third season as head coach at her alma mater, welcomed back nine letterwinners, including four starters ... last year, the Titans went 17-14 overall and 14-4 in Horizon League play ... the school's athletics web site is www.detroittitans.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Detroit, 11-10, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won five consecutive meetings ... BG is 6-4 in home games and 5-6 in road contests vs. the Titans ... last season, the Falcons picked up a 64-43 victory at Calihan Hall in the Motor City (Dec. 9, 2009), in a game that was much closer than the final score indicated ... Lauren Prochaska scored a game-high 25 points, and BGSU went on a late 15-0 run to seal the win ... two years ago, in the most recent meeting at Anderson Arena, the Falcons posted a 72-42 win (Dec. 3, 2008) ... UDM's last series victory came at Calihan, a 67-62 decision on Nov. 20, 2001 ... that was Curt Miller's second game, and first loss, as a collegiate head coach ... Miller has a record of 5-1 vs. the Titans in his BGSU career.
FREE STUFF
Last season, the Falcons shot 75.3 percent from the free-throw line, ranking second in the MAC and 22nd in the nation ... this year, BGSU has a FT pct. of 85.9% to date, having gone 73-of-85 over the first four games.
A FEW MORE NOTES FROM THE OAKLAND GAME
Sophomore Chrissy Steffen hit a career-high three three-point field goals in the Falcons' win over Oakland ... Steffen had 11 points in the win, tying her career high that was set just five days earlier, vs. Creighton ... the Carmel, Ind., native had 11 points, five rebounds and two assists in both of those games • senior Chelsea Albert had a perfect shooting day vs. OU ... Albert was 3-for-3, both from the field and from the free-throw line, en route to nine points in the win over the Golden Grizzlies ... the point total was her highest in nearly a year, since a nine-point effort vs. Saint Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 1, 2009 • freshman Noelle Yoder had the highest-scoring game of her young career, with seven points in just seven minutes • Lauren Prochaska tied her career high with six assists in the win ... all six came in the opening half, as she played just five virtually statless second-half minutes • the win over Oakland was the Falcons' second-straight victory by over 30 points ... the last time BGSU had two 30-plus-point wins was in last year's MAC Tournament, as the Falcons downed Miami (91-58) and Akron (81-49) in the league tourney quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.
TALE OF TWO (GAME AND A) HALVES
Over the first three halves of this season – the Evansville game and the first 20 minutes of the Creighton game – BGSU allowed the opponents to shoot a combined 34-for-69 from the field, for a 49.3-percent success rate ... over the last three halves, however, BG let the foes – CU and Youngstown State – make just 24 baskets in 89 attempts, for a success rate of only 27.0% ... when the Oakland game is added in, the Falcons have allowed opponents to shoot only 27.3% since halftime of the Creighton game ... BG's opponents have shot 40-for-146 over the last two-and-a-half contests.
BOARDWORK
BGSU posted double-digit rebounding advantages in each of this season's first three games, and the Falcons have outrebounded the opponents in all four games to date ... despite the one-point loss at Evansville in the season opener, BG has a record of 126-12 when outrebounding the opponent in the Curt Miller Era.
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 3-1 this season to date;
• 27-7 last season, after going 29-5 in 2008-09;
• 14-2 in the MAC last winter, winning a sixth-straight league regular-season title;
• 209-81 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 108-36 in MAC games in that time:
• 200-62 overall in the eight years (plus four games) 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);
• 188-46 over the last seven-plus years, with 2009-10 marking BG's seventh-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 167-36 in the past six-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins and a MAC regular-season title in each of the last six seasons;
• an eye-popping 144-28 overall and 73-7 in the MAC regular season in the last five-plus years, with at least 26 wins each year;
• 116-25 in the last four-plus years, including a 57-7 conference ledger;
• 85-21 overall, and 42-6 in MAC regular-season games, since seniors Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher began their respective playing careers at BGSU;
• 59-13 since junior Jessica Slagle and redshirt soph Maribeth Giese ventured to NW Ohio;
• 30-8 in the BGSU playing careers of senior Maggie Hennegan and sophomores Simone Eli, Allison Papenfuss and Chrissy Steffen (2009-10 was Hennegan's first playing season at BGSU, after she sat out the prior year as a transfer from Saint Louis Univ.);
• 91-9 in the last 100 games vs. MAC opponents (regular-season and tournament);
• A perfect 49-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field in the Miller Era;
• 174-10 when having a better FG pct. than the opposition in Miller's tenure, including a 46-0 mark in the last two-plus seasons;
• 159-26 when making more free throws during Miller's first nine-plus years;
• 126-12 when outrebounding the opponent in the Miller Era;
• 44-4 in MAC home games in the last six seasons, including three 8-0 marks;
• 36-4 in MAC road games over the last five years (with the losses coming in 2007-08 at Ball State, in '08-09 at Miami and last year at Toledo and Central Michigan);
• 15-2 in the MAC Tournament over the last six years, with four titles (2005, '06, '07 and 2010), a championship-game appearance last year, and a trip to the semis in 2008;
• 39-16 overall in the MAC Tournament since it was instituted in 1982;
• 27-11 in MAC Tournament contests played at a neutral site;
• 17-4 at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena, the site of the MAC Tournament;
• 18-5 in MAC Tournament games in the Miller Era;
• 17-3 at "The Gund"/"The Q" under Miller;
• 31-3 in all non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season;
• 27-2 against non-league foes at Anderson Arena since November of 2004;
• 5-13 in 13 national postseason appearances (including a 3-10 record in the NCAA Championships and a 2-3 mark in WNIT trips); and
• 4-6 in national postseason action under Miller (including a 2-4 mark in the NCAAs and a 2-2 record in the WNIT).
THE FALCON SENIORS
BGSU has posted a record of 85-21 overall, and the Falcons are 42-6 in MAC regular-season games since Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher set foot on campus ... the team has won an average of 27.3 games per year to date ... the Falcons have made national postseason play in each of those three years, having gone to the NCAA once and the WNIT twice ... Maggie Hennegan joined that group for the 2009-10 season.
THE JUNIOR
The Falcons are 59-13 overall and 29-3 in the MAC since junior Jessica Slagle arrived in Northwest Ohio ... that stretch includes a 25-game winning streak in Slagle's freshman year ... redshirt sophomore Maribeth Giese has been at BGSU for those two seasons, but played in just two games a year ago before missing the rest of the year due to injury ... Giese and Slagle helped the Falcons to a total of 29 wins – the second-highest total in school and MAC history – during their freshman campaign.
THE SOPHOMORES
Three sophomores helped the Falcons to a 27-7 mark a year ago and a 3-1 record this year to date ... that group includes Simone Eli, Allison Papenfuss and Chrissy Steffen ... Danielle Havel is now a member of the sophomore class, having sat out the '09-10 season after transferring from DePaul Univ.
THE FRESHMEN
Three freshmen joined the Falcons for the 2010-11 season ... that list includes Jillian Halfhill (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield), Jill Stein (Clyde, Ohio/Tiffin Columbian) and Noelle Yoder (Millersburg, Ohio/Berlin Hiland) ... Alexis Rogers also joins the Brown and Orange this year, but will sit out the '10-11 season after transferring from Duke Univ.
CAPTAINS
Seniors Maggie Hennegan and Lauren Prochaska are the captains of the 2010-11 Falcons ... Hennegan is a captain for the second consecutive year ... she was chosen as a captain before ever playing her first game as a Falcon.
