Falcons Ride Fast Start to 88-63 Win over Detroit

Wednesday, November 24

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Detroit

Lauren Prochaska had 26 points in BGSU's win over Detroit (Craig Bell photo)

November 24, 2010 | Women's Basketball

Prochaska paces three double-digit scorers with 26

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team scored the first 13 points of the game en route to an 88-63 win over the University of Detroit Mercy Wednesday night (Nov. 24). The non-conference game was held at venerable Anderson Arena.

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With the win, the Falcons are 4-1 on the season. BGSU has won four consecutive games. The Titans drop to 3-2 on the year.

Senior Lauren Prochaska had 26 points to lead all players. Prochaska hit three-pointers to start and end the game-opening 13-0 run.

Seniors Tracy Pontius and Jen Uhl joined Prochaska in double figures. Pontius scored 18 points and Uhl added 11 in the win. Uhl had a game-high eight rebounds as the Falcons enjoyed a 33-26 advantage on the glass.

Jalesa Jones led the Titans with 16 points, while Yar Shayok chipped in with 13.

Prochaska, the BGSU career leader in three-point field goals made, was 4-of-8 from long range vs. the Titans. She now has 252 triples in her three-plus years.

In addition to her total of 26 points, Prochaska's well-rounded game included seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocked shots. She led all players in blocks and tied for game honors in both assists and steals.

Senior Maggie Hennegan and sophomore Chrissy Steffen each had nine points in the win, while junior Jessica Slagle added seven off the bench. Senior Chelsea Albert scored five points in 10 minutes, making both of her field-goal attempts.

BGSU shot an even 50 percent from the field in each half, winding up with the team's highest field-goal percentage of the season. The Falcons were an otherworldly 27-of-28 from the free-throw line, good for a 96.4% success rate. BG made 26 consecutive foul shots after a 1-for-2 start.

For their part, the Titans shot 44.6% from the floor, including a 51.6% rate in the second 20 minutes.

BG held the visitors off of the scoreboard for the game's first five minutes. After the Falcons began the game with a defensive stop, Prochaska began the scoring with a three-pointer just 35 seconds in. Hennegan, who assisted on that triple, blocked a UDM shot on the next possession, then got herself to the foul line and split two shots for a 4-0 BG lead.

Seconds later, Pontius picked the pocket of Demeisha Fambro at midcourt and swooped in for a layup. When Steffen banked a driving layup attempt off the square and in, the Falcons had an 8-0 lead and the Titans took a timeout.

BG forced turnovers on the next two UDM possessions and, after the second turnover, Prochaska drove around three players and flipped a pass to Uhl for a layup and a ten-point lead. All five BGSU starters had scored within the first 4:16 of the game.

Prochaska then capped the 13-point run, taking a Slagle pass and knocking down her 250th career three-pointer. Jones threw in a shot to get the Titans on the scoreboard at the 14:59 mark, but the BGSU lead never fell below double figures after that game-opening run.

Prochaska's steal and layup gave the home team a 15-2 lead, and her free throws with less than eight minutes elapsed put BG ahead, 19-6. The second free throw gave her 10 points on the evening, her fifth double-digit effort in as many games this season and her 11th in a row dating to last year.

A Pontius triple opened the BGSU lead to 16 points, 28-12, with eight-plus minutes left before halftime. Shayok put back her own miss, but Hennegan's driving layup restored the 16-point advantage.

Detroit converted layups on back-to-back possessions to cut BG's lead to 30-18, and Falcon head coach Curt Miller took time. Moments later, Steffen's jumper began a 7-0 run. Prochaska scored the next five points, with two shots from the stripe and another three-pointer.

The teams traded free throws, before Pontius made a pair of layups less than a minute apart. Her second shot in that stretch, with 35.8 seconds left in the half, was an 'and-one' layup, and the free throw gave BG a 22-point lead. Then, Pontius stole the ball back for the Falcons, and dished the ball to Uhl for a last-second layup and a 46-22 lead at the break.

Pontius picked up another assist to begin the second half, spotting Steffen in the corner for a long-range connection, and BG's lead was 27 points. That advantage got to 29 points on another Prochaska trey less than two minutes later.

UDM cut the lead to 21 points, before Albert banked in a shot while being fouled. She hit the free throw, then knocked down another jumper on BG's very next trip downcourt. The Falcons' lead was 65-39, and Detroit got no closer than 22 points thereafter.

For the fourth consecutive game, all 15 players on the active roster saw action. Eight different Falcons had at least three points, and 12 players had at least one rebound.

BGSU hit nine three-pointers in 22 attempts, with six different players hitting from long range. Prochaska, as mentioned, went 4-of-8 from beyond the arc, while five teammates hit one three-pointer apiece.

The Falcons jet westward on Thanksgiving Day, heading to Seattle, Wash., to take part in this weekend's Seattle University Thanksgiving Tournament. BGSU opens the tournament with a Friday (Nov. 26) game vs. UALR, with tipoff at 6:00 p.m. locally (9:00 p.m. Eastern Time).

FALCON NOTES
* BGSU has won 34 consecutive regular-season home games at Anderson Arena ... the Falcons' last regular-season loss at "The House That Roars" came vs. Western Michigan on Jan. 30, 2008 ... overall, BGSU has won 17 home games in a row, and 36 of the last 37 ... the lone loss in that stretch came to Indiana in the third round of the 2009 WNIT ... 31 of the Falcons' 36 wins in that span have come by double digits.

* As mentioned, Lauren Prochaska is the BGSU career leader in three-point field goals made ... she became the first Falcon to make 250 triples, and now has 252 made threes in her career.

* Three of the top-four Falcons in that category were in the building on Wednesday night ... Tracy Pontius hit a trey to match Sara Puthoff (1994-98) on that list ... both Pontius and Puthoff have/had 173 three-point field goals in their careers ... Liz Honegger (216 successful treys from 2003-07) is in second place on that list ... Honegger was in attendance at "The House That Roars" on Wednesday night.

* Prochaska is just two points away from becoming only the third BGSU player to score 1,800 career points ... her total of 26 points on Wednesday gives her 1,798 in the Brown and Orange ... she trails only Jackie Motycka (2,122 points from 1985-89) and Ali Mann (1,825 points from 2003-07) on the BG scoring list.

* Pontius now has 1,075 career points at BGSU ... she moved past Megan McGuire (1,062 pts. from 1985-89) into 21st place, and is just three points shy of 20th-place Judit Lendvay (1,078 pts. from 1989-93).

* Prochaska was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line vs. Detroit ... she is 32-of-33 from the stripe this season (97.0%), and is 454-for-500 in her career ... she holds the BGSU career lead in FT pct., with a success rate of 90.8%.

* BGSU's five starters -- Prochaska, Pontius (23-of-24), Maggie Hennegan (10-of-11), Chrissy Steffen (9-of-10) and Jen Uhl (2-of-2) --- are a combined 76-for-80 from the stripe ... in case you are not a math major or don't have a calculator handy, that's a free-throw percentage of exactly 95 percent.