Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Cal State Fullerton
Falcons Face Fullerton
December 03, 2010 | Women's Basketball
BGSU battles the Titans Saturday afternoon at Anderson
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, coming off a win over a top-25 program, will look to continue that momentum this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller will conclude a brief two-game homestand with a Saturday (Dec. 4) matchup against Cal State Fullerton ... tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena ... 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 | CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTES & STATS
Note of the day... SHE'S DEADLY FROM 15 FEET
Most people couldn't make 53 consecutive layups in an empty gym ... senior Lauren Prochaska, however, has hit 53 consecutive shots from 15 feet away ... Prochaska was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line in Wednesday night's (Dec. 1) win over nationally-ranked Vanderbilt, in the process increasing her streak of consecutive free throws made to a school-record total ... Prochaska's current streak of 53-straight free throws made breaks the old BGSU record of 45, held by ... Lauren Prochaska, of course ... she made 45-straight shots from the stripe during her sophomore season of 2008-09 ... continue reading for more notes about Prochaska's proclivity from the line.
PROCHASKA AT THE STRIPE
Senior Lauren Prochaska, as mentioned, continues to rewrite BGSU's free-throw records – and, for the most part, they were records that she already owned ...
• Prochaska topped her own single-game mark in last Friday's (Nov. 26) win over UALR, shooting a perfect 15-for-15 from the stripe ... her 'old' mark was 13-for-13, set last season against Miami (Jan. 19, 2010) ... she has gone at least 10-of-10 from the line in three of the last four games, making 10 free throws vs. both Detroit and Vanderbilt.
• Prochaska has made 61 of her 62 shots from the stripe this year, a 98.4-percent success rate ... she ranked sixth in the country in the most recent NCAA Division-I statistics, released Monday (Nov. 29) ... of the five players ahead of her, none had attempted more than 23 free throws this year (Prochaska was 51-of-52 at the time).
• As mentioned earlier, Prochaska has made 53 consecutive free-throw attempts, tied for the fourth-longest streak in NCAA history ... the current streak marks the third time she has made over 30-straight free throws in her BGSU career ... the MAC record is 57 consecutive FTs made, and the NCAA record is 66-straight FT makes ... the Division-I list, according to the NCAA Record Book ...
MOST CONSECUTIVE FREE THROWS MADE
FTM Player, School (Years)
66 Ginny Doyle, Richmond (1991-92)
60 Adrienne Squire, Penn State (2004-06)
57 Jody Beerman, Central Michigan (1986-87)
53 LAUREN PROCHASKA, Bowling Green (2010-11) – current
53 Katie Miller, UNI (1999-00)
49 Lisa Rathburn, BYU (1990-91)
46 Brooke Lassiter, Louisiana Tech (2000-01)
45 Amy Slowikowski, Kent St. (1988-89)
45 Wendy Scholtens, Vanderbilt (1988-89)
45 LAUREN PROCHASKA, Bowling Green (2008-09)
PROCHASKA'S GOT A SHOT AT THIS RECORD
Entering Saturday's Cal State Fullerton game, senior Lauren Prochaska has made 483 free throws in 529 attempts in her career ... that is good for a percentage of 91.3 ... Prochaska is in line to finish among the NCAA's all-time leaders in free-throw pct. ... the list can be found in the PDF, which is just a click away.
FALCON WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: 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, including the Cal State Fullerton contest, 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 o' 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).
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
The Falcons will put an impressive streak on the line in Saturday's Fullerton game ... BGSU has won 34 consecutive regular-season home games at "The House That Roars" ... the Falcons' 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 18 home games in a row, and 37 of the last 38 ... the lone loss in that stretch came to Indiana in the third round of the 2009 WNIT ... BG had won 19-straight home games before losing to IU, then beginning the current 18-game streak ... 32 of the Falcons' 37 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.
HOME COOKIN'
BGSU, as mentioned, has enjoyed success at home this year to date ... the Falcons concluded a season-long four-game homestand on Nov. 24, having won each of those four games by at least at least 25 points ... after Wednesday's win over nationally-ranked Vanderbilt, the Falcons are averaging 82.4 points per game at Anderson Arena, having scored at least 79 points in all five games ... BG has won the five home contests by an average of 28.4 points per game.
PROCHASKA RANKS SECOND ON BGSU CAREER SCORING LIST
Lauren Prochaska, eight games into her senior season, resides in second place on the BGSU career scoring list, and has a total of 1,861 points in 110 games ... she now trails only Jackie Motycka (2,122 points from 1985-89) ... Prochaska moved past Ali Mann (1,825 points from 2003-07) in the win over Seattle ... Prochaska is averaging 16.9 points per game, the second-highest average in BGSU annals, in her storied Falcon career.
PONTIUS MOVES INTO THE TOP 20
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 ... heading into the Fullerton game, Pontius has a total of 1,105 points as a Falcon ... over 1,000 of those points have come since the start of her sophomore season ... Pontius has moved into 19th place on the BGSU scoring list, having passed Stefanie Wenzel (1,099 points from 2000-04) in the Vanderbilt game ... her next target is 18th-place Andrea Nordmann (1,164 points).
LAST TIME OUT
Senior Lauren Prochaska scored 31 points as the Falcons downed nationally-ranked Vanderbilt, 79-68, before a House That Roared on Wednesday night (Dec. 1) ... Prochaska went 8-of-16 from the field, including a 5-for-9 effort from three-point range, and hit all 10 of her free-throw attempts on the night ... she increased her streak of consecutive free throws made to 53, breaking her own school record ... senior Jen Uhl had 15 points, while sophomore Chrissy Steffen scored 11 ... Uhl made 7-of-9 shots from the floor, and was a perfect 6-of-6 from inside the three-point line ... the Falcons' other two starters, seniors Maggie Hennegan and Tracy Pontius, scored nine points apiece ... Hennegan, who pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, just missed a double-double ... three Vanderbilt players – Jasmine Lister, Jence Rhoads and Hannah Tuomi – scored 14 points each, while Stephanie Holzer chipped in with 10 points in 10 minutes ... Tuomi and Holzer each spent much of the night in foul trouble ... for BGSU, the win was just the fourth in program history against a nationally-ranked team ... three of those wins have come against Vanderbilt, all within the last five years ... the first half featured seven ties and seven lead changes ... a 10-0 BG run gave the hosts the lead for good late in the first half, and the Falcons went on an 11-4 run to end the period with a 44-32 lead ... VU got within three points with 14:31 left in the game, but Prochaska led BG on a 16-2 run, scoring 14 of those points herself ... 19 of her 31 points came in the second half.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons will enter the Cal State Fullerton game with a record of 7-1 ... BGSU is 5-0 at home, 1-1 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site games to date ... the Falcons suffered a 63-62 loss at Evansville in the regular-season opener (Nov. 12), but BG has bounced back with seven-straight wins ... BG swept a four-game homestand, with the victims including Creighton, Youngstown State, Oakland and Detroit ... the Falcons won a pair of games in the Seattle University Thanksgiving Tournament, with a 56-47 win over UALR (Nov. 26) and a 71-51 win over the host school in the championship game (Nov. 27) ... then, on Wednesday (Dec. 1), the Brown and Orange downed #23/23 Vanderbilt, 79-68, at Anderson Arena.
• Senior Lauren Prochaska, the MAC Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons, is averaging a team-high 20.3 points per game, and also paces the Falcons with 7.3 rebounds per contest ... Prochaska has scored 20 or more points in five of this season's eight games, including a season-high 31-point performance in the win over Vanderbilt ... classmate Tracy Pontius has 13.4 ppg, and has a team-leading 20 three-point field goals made, one more than Prochaska ... Prochaska and Pontius are shooting 38.7 and 35.4 percent from beyond the arc, respectively ... Prochaska is 61-of-62 (98.4%) from the free-throw line on the year.
• Head coach Curt Miller's starting lineup for each of the first eight games has remained unchanged ... that lineup has included four seniors in Pontius, Prochaska, Maggie Hennegan and Jen Uhl, along with sophomore Chrissy Steffen.
• Steffen is third on the team in scoring, with 9.6 ppg, and leads the team in steals, with 2.0 per game ... Hennegan has 8.5 ppg and 6.3 rpg, ranking second on the team in the latter category ... she has had two double-digit rebounding games to date, and leads BGSU with 0.9 blocked shots per game ... Uhl is averaging 5.1 points and 5.0 boards, and had a double-double in the Seattle game ... that double-double was BGSU's fourth of the year, as Prochaska has had two and Hennegan one.
• Pontius paces BGSU in assists (3.4 apg), with Prochaska ranking second (3.1 apg) ... Prochaska is also second on the team in steals and blocks per game.
• 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.
• Slagle and Papenfuss each have played in all eight games off the bench to date, and have 4.0 and 3.9 ppg, respectively ... Papenfuss has 2.8 rpg to rank fifth on the team in that category.
• BGSU is shooting 41.6% from the field, 34.9% from three-point land and 82.6% from the free-throw line ... BG has allowed opponents to shoot just 37.9% from the floor and 32.8% from beyond the arc ... Falcon foes are shooting 60.7% from the stripe ... BGSU has made 40 more free throws than the opponents have attempted.
FALCONS VS. NATIONALLY-RANKED TEAMS
After the victory over Vanderbilt, BGSU now has an all-time record of 4-28 against nationally-ranked teams, including a 2-3 record at home and a 3-9 mark in the Curt Miller Era ... a few more notes about BGSU and top-25 foes(good grief, more bullet points? Yep.) ...
• All three of the Falcons' wins over nationally-ranked teams in the Miller Era have come against Vanderbilt ... BGSU downed the Commodores, 59-56, in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Championships in East Lansing, Mich.; ventured to Nashville a year ago (Dec. 4, 2009) and posted a 66-60 win; and picked up a 79-68 decision on Wednesday night (Dec. 1).
• The only other win over a nationally-ranked team in BGSU history came in the 1991-92 season opener ... in that game, the Falcons downed 10th-ranked Purdue at Anderson Arena in Jaci Clark's head-coaching debut (Nov. 23, 1991) ... that was BG's only home win over a nationally-ranked team prior to Wednesday's Vandy game.
• BG has not had many chances to defeat a top-25 team at home, as the Vanderbilt game marked only the fifth time that a nationally-ranked opponent played inside "The House That Roars" ... in addition to the wins over Purdue and Vandy, the other home games vs. top-25 foes came against Georgia (82-63 loss; Dec. 19, 1994) and Notre Dame ... the Irish have come to BG twice as a nationally-ranked team, downing BG, 85-70, in the 1996-97 opener (Nov. 23, 1996) and topping the Falcons in overtime three years ago (86-84; Dec. 5, 2007).
HOLDING ON TO THE BALL
The Falcons have been successful at limiting turnovers this season ... in each of BGSU's seven wins, the Falcons have committed fewer turnovers than the opponents ... BG and Evansville each coughed it up 19 times in the Falcons' lone loss, in the season opener ... since then, however, BGSU has committed 13.0 turnovers per game, with no more than 15 turnovers in any of the seven games ... in those seven games, the Falcons have forced the opponent into an average of exactly 19.0 turnovers per contest ... BG has forced 16 opponent turnovers in each of the eight games, including 19 or more in six of those contests.
STABILITY BREEDS SUCCESS
Part of the reason for Bowling Green's women's basketball success has been the stability at the top ... the coaching staff – head coach Curt Miller, associate head coach Jennifer Roos, and assistant coaches Brandi Poole and Kevin Eckert – has been intact for nine years ... Miller is in his 10th season at the helm of the Falcons ... Roos and Poole were on board during that 2001-02 season as well, with Eckert joining the staff in time for the 2002-03 campaign ... Bowling Green is one of just three NCAA Division-I women's basketball programs in the entire nation in which all four full-time coaches (head coach and three assistants) are in at least their ninth consecutive year at the school.
A QUICK LOOK AT CAL STATE FULLERTON
Cal State Fullerton will come to Northwest Ohio with a record of 3-4 ... the Titans are looking to reverse a three-game losing streak ... Fullerton is 2-0 at home, 1-3 on the road and 0-1 in neutral-site games this year to date ... the Titans began the year with a 3-1 mark, including wins over Seattle, San Francisco and San Jose State ... but, Fullerton suffered a road loss at San Diego just before Thanksgiving, then dropped a pair of games in Berkeley, Calif., last weekend, losing to host California (62-74; Nov. 27) as well as Tulane (62-80; Nov. 28) ... individually, junior guard Megan Richardson leads the team in scoring, with 15.3 points per game ... senior guard Lyndsey Grove has 14.6 ppg and is shooting better than 45 percent from three-point land ... Grove (11) and Richardson (10) rank one-two on the team in three-pointers made ... sophomore forward Mya Olivier and senior F/C Jenna Breite have 7.7 and 5.4 ppg, respectively ... Olivier leads the Titans in rebounds, with 5.7 per game, while Breite has 5.4 boards per contest ... Breite, Grove, Olivier, Richardson and freshman guard Alex Thomas (4.1 ppg) each have started all seven games for coach Marcia Foster ... Foster, in her second season as the Titans' head coach, welcomed back nine letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's club ... the 2009-10 team went 15-17 overall and 8-8 in Big West Conference play ... the school's athletics web site is www.FullertonTitans.com.
THE SERIES
BGSU and Cal State Fullerton have never met in women's basketball ... in fact, the Falcons have never played against any of the nine Big West Conference schools.
EVERYONE LIKES 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 82.6% to date, having gone 152-of-184 over the first eight games ... the Falcons were ranked fifth in the country as of the latest NCAA rankings (released Monday, Nov. 30).
CLEANING THE GLASS
The Falcons have outrebounded the opponent in six of this season's first eight games ... BGSU had the advantage on the boards in each of the first six games this year, before Seattle had a slim 40-37 margin in that category ... then, Vanderbilt pulled down 34 rebounds to 26 for BG ... still, the Falcons are averaging 39.5 rebounds per game, to the opponents' 33.1.
TREY BIEN! PROCHASKA, PONTIUS AMONG BGSU'S TOP THREE
A pair of BGSU seniors sit 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 three ... through three seasons (plus eight games), Prochaska has a total of 260 three-point field goals made ... she broke the BGSU record set by Liz Honegger (who made 216 triples from 2003-07) last season ... Pontius has jumped five spots on the school list this year to date ... she now has 179 threes in her career, ranking third in BG history ... Prochaska has a shot at breaking the MAC career record of 323 three-pointers made, set by Ball State's Audrey McDonald.
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 7-1 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;
• 213-81 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 108-36 in MAC games in that time:
• 204-62 overall in the eight years (plus eight 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);
• 192-46 over the last seven-plus years, with 2009-10 marking BG's seventh-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 171-36 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 148-28 overall and 73-7 in the MAC regular season in the last five-plus years, with at least 26 wins each year;
• 120-25 in the last four-plus years, including a 57-7 conference ledger;
• 89-21 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;
• 63-13 since junior Jessica Slagle and redshirt soph Maribeth Giese ventured to NW Ohio;
• 34-8 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 50-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field in the Miller Era;
• 176-10 when having a better FG pct. than the opposition in Miller's tenure, including a 48-0 mark in the last two-plus seasons;
• 164-26 when making more free throws during Miller's first nine-plus years;
• 128-12 when outrebounding the opponent in the Miller Era;
• 33-3 in all non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season; and
• 29-2 against non-league foes at Anderson Arena since November of 2004.
THE FALCON SENIORS
BGSU has posted a record of 89-21 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 63-13 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 7-1 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.
UP NEXT
The Falcons hit the road for a pair of games prior to exam week ... BGSU will face Western Kentucky Thursday (Dec. 9) and Austin Peay Saturday (Dec. 11) in Bowling Green, Ky., and Clarksville, Tenn., respectively.
