BGSU Rolls to Eighth-Straight Win, Downing Fullerton, 91-51

Saturday, December 4

Bowling Green, Ohio

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Cal State Fullerton

Lauren Prochaska had 21 points & broke the MAC record for consecutive free throws made (Brad Phalin photo)

December 04, 2010 | Women's Basketball

Prochaska paces four double-digit scorers, breaks MAC consecutive FT record

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

It was a complete team effort as the Bowling Green State University women's basketball Falcons recorded a 91-51 win over Cal State Fullerton Saturday afternoon (Dec. 4). The non-conference game was held at Anderson Arena.

FINAL STATS - HTML | BOXSCORE - PDF
PHOTO GALLERY - photos by Nathan Dreimiller & Dave Kielmeyer
Scroll to the bottom of the page for video of postgame interviews with Curt Miller & Lauren Prochaska

With the win, the Falcons improve to 8-1 on the season, and BGSU has won eight-straight games. The Titans drop to 3-5 on the year.

Senior Lauren Prochaska scored a game-high 21 points, and continued her all-out assault on the BGSU and Mid-American Conference record books, while three other Falcons hit double digits in the scoring column.

Seniors Jen Uhl and Tracy Pontius had 13 and 11 points, respectively. Pontius dished out a career-high 10 assists, including eight in the first half alone, en route to her first career double-double.

Junior Jessica Slagle rounded out the Falcons' list of double-figure scorers with 10 points on the afternoon.

Lyndsey Grove led the visitors with 11 points, while Jenna Breite and Ashley Richie added nine apiece. Prochaska and the BGSU defense held Fullerton's leading scorer, Megan Richardson, without a point on 0-of-10 shooting. Richardson entered the day averaging 15.3 ppg.

Prochaska was perfect at the free-throw line yet again, going 8-for-8 on Saturday. She has made 61 consecutive free throws, a new MAC record. Additionally, Saturday marked the 100th time (in 111 games) that she has scored in double digits in her BGSU career.

BGSU had 21 assists on 27 baskets, with nine different players handing out at least one assist. The Falcons also had a commanding 53-34 advantage on the boards.

The Falcons never trailed, scoring the first eight points of the game. Uhl had six of those eight points, sandwiching a pair of three-point field goals around a driving finger-roll layup from sophomore Chrissy Steffen. After Uhl's second triple of the day, the visitors took time with only 2:28 elapsed.

Pontius, beginning with the second Uhl three-pointer, assisted on six of BGSU's seven baskets during an eight-minute span (the seventh basket was a shot she made herself).

Mya Olivier got the Titans on the scoreboard with an offensive rebound and layup, but Prochaska knocked down a triple, and Pontius fired a pass ahead to senior Maggie Hennegan for a transition layup and a 13-2 lead. Hennegan had nine points, a team-leading eight rebounds and a career-high four blocked shots in the win.

Back-to-back shots by Grove, the second from long range, cut the Falcons' lead to six points, but Pontius found Uhl for her third three-pointer in less than five minutes, beginning a 6-0 run that upped the lead to 12 points.

Several minutes later, Pontius dribbled around the arc, spotted up, and fired a three-point try that was right on target. After a Fullerton miss at the other end, Allison Papenfuss went to the floor to grab a long rebound near midcourt. The sophomore, while still on the ground after her headlong dive, was able to pass the ball to the streaking Pontius, who was fouled in thte act of shooting. Out of the 11:34 media timeout, Pontius hit a pair of free throws.

On BG's next possession, Papenfuss came up with an offensive board, was fouled and hit both shots from the line, giving the Brown and Orange a 26-9 lead. The Falcons made 28 free throws in 31 attempts (90.3 percent) on Saturday.

Several minutes later, Hennegan blocked a Fullerton shot, ran the floor and took a pass from Pontius as she headed down the lane. Hennegan's layup try was good, and she was fouled in the process. Hennegan's free throw put the Falcons ahead, 29-13, with nine minutes left in the half.

Hennegan made two more tosses just under a minute later, as the Falcons scored seven-straight points from the stripe.

Two of those free throws came from Prochaska, who hit a pair at the 7:30 mark to increase her consecutive-FTM streak to 55.

On the next possession, Prochaska stole a Richie pass and began a fast-break opportunity that led to a Fullerton foul. Slagle's free throws gave the Brown and Orange a 35-15 lead.

Prochaska came up with another steal, off of another Richie pass, just over a minute later. This time, the senior headed in all along for a layup.

Slagle's steal with just under five minutes left before halftime led to an easy Pontius layup and a 41-18 lead. The visitors scored five-straight points -- all by Breite -- but Prochaska hit a jumper at the 3:16 mark.

Breite scored again, but Prochaska knocked down two more free throws, then hit a crowd-pleasing layup off of yet another Pontius pass with 1:16 left in the half. The second of the two free throws, coming at the 2:06 mark, enabled her to tie the MAC record for consecutive FTM.

Pontius hit a jumper with 50 seconds left, before Olivier split a pair of tosses to cut the Falcons' lead to 49-26 at the half.

Prochaska had 15 points in the opening period, while Pontius had nine points and eight assists in the first 20 minutes.

The hosts scored eight of the first 10 points of the second half, and steadily increased the lead. Uhl hit a pair of layups, both from Pontius feeds, in the first two-plus minutes of the half. Then, Uhl spotted Hennegan as the Falcons worked inside for another layup. Two more Prochaska free throws gave her 59 in a row and gave her team a 57-28 lead.

The Titans scored five points in a row, and the visitors still were within 26 points with under 13 minutes left in the game. But, Slagle hit three-pointers on back-to-back trips down the floor, just 18 seconds apart, and the Falcons' lead was 69-37.

Slagle's first triple began a 10-0 run as part of a larger 16-2 stretch. Papenfuss and senior Chelsea Albert each scored four points in that span, with Slagle scoring the other eight. All three players had an assist during that run. When the smoke had cleared, the Falcons had a 79-39 lead with eight minutes left.

Richie hit a three-pointer to momentarily slow the home team, but Papenfuss found Albert cutting toward the hoop for a layup, and freshman Noelle Yoder's pass resulted in a three-pointer for redshirt sophomore Danielle Havel with 5:42 left. The Falcons had doubled up the Titans, 84-42, and there had been no doubt about the outcome for quite some time.

Papenfuss had seven points, six rebounds and a pair of assists, while Albert scored six points in 10 minutes of work. Havel had five points and four boards, while freshman Jill Stein scored four points and redshirt soph Maribeth Giese three.

Giese's three-point field goal on Saturday was her first of the season, as was Havel's long-distance make.

The Falcons now prepare for a two-game road swing, taking on Western Kentucky Thursday (Dec. 9) and Austin Peay Saturday (Dec. 11).

FALCON NOTES
* BGSU's 8-1 record ties the current team for the best record through nine games in school history ... the 1974-75, 1991-92 and 2005-06 teams all went 8-1 to begin the year.

* Senior Lauren Prochaska, as mentioned earlier in this long, rambling release, has made 61 consecutive free-throw attempts ... she has broken the MAC record, formerly owned by Central Michigan's Jody Beerman ... Beerman made 57 consecutive free throws during the 1986-87 season.

* According to the NCAA 2010-11 Records Book, Prochaska's streak is the second longest in NCAA Division-I women's basketball history ... Richmond's Ginny Doyle made 66-straight free-throw tries nearly two decades ago ... the list follows ...
NCAA RECORD - MOST CONSECUTIVE FREE THROWS MADE
66 - Ginny Doyle, Richmond (1991-92)
61 - Lauren Prochaska, Bowling Green (2010-11) - current
60 - Adrienne Squire, Penn State (2004-06)
57 - Jody Beerman, Central Michigan (1986-87)
53 - Katie Miller, UNI (1999-2000)

* Prochaska hit double digits in scoring in a game for the 100th time in her BGSU career ... she has played in a total of 111 games since arriving on campus in the fall of 2007.

* Prochaska now has a career total of 1,882 points in those 111 games ... she ranks second in school history, trailing only Jackie Motycka (2,122 career points from 1985-89).

* Senior Tracy Pontius had a career-high 10 assists against Cal State Fullerton, giving her a total of 310 in her career ... Pontius now ranks eighth in school history on that career list.

* Pontius had a double-double on Saturday, with 11 points ... the double-double was the first of her career.

* Senior Jen Uhl had 13 points vs. the Titans, her third consecutive game with a double-figure scoring total ... after scoring a total of 19 points in BG's first six games, Uhl has scored 45 over the last three ... she has more than doubled her season scoring average, from 3.2 ppg to 7.1 ppg, in that time.

* The Falcons are 6-0 at home this year to date ... BGSU has won those six games by an average of 30.3 points ... the Falcons are averaging 83.3 points per game at Anderson Arena, having scored at least 79 points in all six games ... BGSU is allowing 53.5 ppg at "The House That Roars," and the Falcons have held four of the six opponents to 53 points or fewer.

* BGSU has won 35 consecutive regular-season games at "The House That Roars" ... the Falcons' last regular-season loss at Anderson Arena came vs. Western Michigan on Jan. 30, 2008 .... overall, BG has won 19 home games in a row, and 38 of the last 39 ... the lone loss in that stretch came to Indiana in the third round of the 2009 WNIT ... BGSU had won 19-straight home games before losing to IU, then beginning the current 19-game streak ... 33 of the Falcons' 38 wins in that span have come by double digits.

* The Falcons outrebounded the opponent for the seventh time in nine games this season, and BG had a double-figure advantage in that category for the fourth time this year ... the Falcons have a rebounding margin of +7.8 this year to date.

* No fewer than 12 different players have hit a three-point field goal this season ... the three players who have not made a triple -- senior Chelsea Albert, sophomore Simone Eli and freshman Jill Stein -- have not attempted one.

* BGSU has won two games by 40 points or more at Anderson Arena this year to date ... prior to 2010-11, the Falcons had won a total of five home games by 40-plus points in the history of the program.

* Saturday marked BGSU's first-ever game against a Big West Conference school ... it was the Falcons' first opponent from the state of California since the Brown and Orange played UCLA in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Championships (March 19, 2006).