Falcons Host NIU to Begin Second Half of MAC Schedule

THE OPENING TIP
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, in the rare position of trying to bounce back after a loss, returns home looking to do just that ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller, still atop the Mid-American Conference's East Division, continue MAC cross-divisional play with a Tuesday (Feb. 2) game against Northern Illinois University ... tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (3,500).

BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF

WISH IT WASN'T THE SHORTEST MONTH
The Falcons' game vs. Northern Illinois, obviously, is the team's first February contest this season ... BGSU has enjoyed great success in that month in recent years, having gone 7-0 in February of both 2008 and 2009 ... in fact, the Falcons have won the last 15 February contests, and have captured 32 of the last 33 games played in the second month of the year ... BG's only February loss since the 2004-05 season came in '07, when Ohio downed the Falcons by three points.

STREAKS SNAPPED
The Falcons suffered a 66-63 loss at Toledo on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 30), ending a number of lengthy streaks ... BGSU had won eight consecutive games, including the first seven MAC contests of the season, prior to the loss ... additionally, the Falcons had won 12 consecutive games vs. the Rockets, by far the longest stretch of dominance by either team in the storied 66-game series ... UT's win was the Rockets' first over the Falcons in over seven years, since Jan. 15, 2003.

DOES THIS MEAN ANYTHING? WE HAVE NO IDEA, BUT ...
The Falcons also lost a MAC game on Jan. 30 two years ago ... BGSU fell at Anderson Arena to visiting Western Michigan (the Falcons' last home regular-season loss, by the way), 79-73, on that date in 2008 ... in fact, that loss dropped the Falcons to 4-3 in the MAC ... but, BGSU proceeded to win the final nine regular-season games to win the conference title ... that winning streak reached 10 games before coming to an end in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament.

HOME COOKIN'
Wednesday's (Jan. 27) 74-56 win over Western Michigan gives the Falcons a 10-0 record at venerable Anderson Arena this season to date ... BGSU has won 27 consecutive regular-season games at "The House That Roars" ... the last regular-season home loss for the Falcons came to WMU, as the Broncos captured a 79-73 decision two years ago (Jan. 30, 2008).

HOME COOKIN' II
In addition to the regular-season wins noted above, the Falcons have played three national postseason games at Anderson Arena in the last two years ... those games include wins over Dayton in the 2008 WNIT and Syracuse in the '09 WNIT ... overall, BGSU has won 29 of the last 30 games at "The House That Roars" ... 24 of those 29 wins have come by double digits ... the lone loss in that time came to Indiana in the third round of last year's WNIT.

WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
BGSU is 41-4 in MAC home games over the last five-plus seasons ... since the start of the 2004-05 season, the Falcons have gone a perfect 8-0 in MAC home games on two occasions, with a pair of 7-1 records and one 6-2 mark ... the Falcons are 5-0 in MAC games at Anderson Arena this year to date.

ANOTHER STRONG START
Despite the loss to Toledo, the Falcons are off to a pretty good start in MAC play ... BGSU started the conference schedule with a 7-0 record for the fourth time in the last five years ... believe it or not, the Brown and Orange got off to at least a 14-0 MAC start in three of the previous four seasons.

PROCHASKA NOW SEVENTH
Lauren Prochaska, just a junior, has moved into seventh place on the BGSU career scoring list ... Prochaska now has a total of 1,487 points in her collegiate career ... she passed no fewer than four players on that list in the Miami game (Jan. 19), moving ahead of Chris Tuttle (1,420 pts.), Lori Albers (1,424), Charlotta Jones (1,430) and Talita Scott (1,432) on that night ... Prochaska's next target on the list is sixth-place Liz Honegger, who had 1,522 points from 2003-07 ... Prochaska is averaging 16.5 points per game, the second-highest average in BGSU annals, in her storied Falcon career.

LAST TIME OUT
Host Toledo scored 14 of the game's final 17 points, rallying for a 66-63 win over the Falcons Saturday afternoon (Jan. 30) ... BGSU's loss was the first since Dec. 30, 2009, snapping an eight-game winning streak ... Toledo's win broke a lengthy BGSU series winning streak as well ... the Falcons had won the previous 12 meetings between the arch rivals, and had not lost to the Rockets in over seven years ... Tanika Mays had a game-high 20 points to pace three Rockets in double figures ... Melissa Goodall had 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Naama Shafir scored 11 points and was credited with nine assists ... the Falcons got 17 points and nine rebounds from junior Lauren Prochaska, while classmate Jen Uhl had a double-double, with 12 points and a game-high total of 12 rebounds ... another junior, Tracy Pontius, had eight points and led BG with six assists ... Pontius hit a three-pointer – one of 10 on the day for the Brown and Orange – to give her team a 60-52 lead with 6:05 left ... from that point on, though, the Falcons went 1-for-6 from the field and had five turnovers ... still, the game was not decided until a three-point try by Pontius bounded off the backboard and rim as the final horn sounded and the UT students rushed the court ... after that Pontius trey at the 6:05 mark, the Rockets scored 10-straight points ... Prochaska's triple with 3:37 left gave the Falcons a 63-62 lead, but BG would not score again ... Shafir's driving layup with just under two minutes left gave UT the lead for good.

A FEW MORE NOTES FROM THE TOLEDO GAME
Despite Saturday's loss, the Falcons still lead the all-time series with Toledo by a 40-26 margin ... BG had won 12 consecutive games in the series prior to Saturday ... the win was Toledo's first over BGSU in more than seven years, since a 70-62 decision at then-Savage Hall on Jan. 15, 2003 ... since that time, the Falcons had won five home games, four road games and three neutral-site affairs (all in Cleveland in the MAC Tournament) over the Midnight Blue and Gold ... the members of BGSU's current freshman class were in sixth grade the last time the Falcons lost to the Rockets.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 17-5 on the season, and BGSU is 7-1 in MAC play ... BG is 10-0 at home and 7-5 on the road this year to date ... the Falcons have won 16 of the last 19 games, but saw an eight-game winning streak snapped with a 66-63 loss at Toledo Saturday afternoon (Jan. 30).

• BG completed the first swing through the East Division unbeaten, with home victories over Akron (74-62), Buffalo (78-60) and Miami (85-65), and road victories against Ohio (77-42) and Kent State (89-61) ... the Brown and Orange then began cross-divisional play with home wins over Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan – with the latter game a 74-56 decision on Wednesday (Jan. 27) at venerable Anderson Arena – prior to the loss at UT.

• The Falcons opened the 2009-10 campaign with three games in the Preseason WNIT, going 1-2 with road losses vs. third-ranked Ohio State and Marist ... BGSU bounced back with wins in the next five games, with three on the road ... included in that five-game win streak was a trip to Nashville, where head coach Curt Miller's club defeated nationally-ranked Vanderbilt, 66-60 (Dec. 4).

• After a loss at St. Bonaventure (Dec. 12), BG bounced back with three wins in a five-day span before Christmas ... the Falcons ended the 2009 calendar year with a five-point loss at Hartford (Dec. 30), but topped SIU Edwardsville (Jan. 2) before beginning the MAC portion of the schedule with seven-straight wins.

• BGSU returned 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that won the Mid-American Conference's regular-season title for a fifth-straight season ... the Falcons went 29-5 overall, posting the second-highest win total in school and conference history, and had a 15-1 MAC record in 2008-09 ... the Brown and Orange advanced to the third round of the Postseason WNIT.

• The Falcons had just one senior on the roster a year ago ... Lindsey Goldsberry ended her career as the winningest basketball player – man or woman – in MAC history ... BG had a record of 114-20 in her four years, for an average of 28.5 wins.

• Through 22 games this year, junior Lauren Prochaska leads the Falcons in scoring, and is tied for the rebounding lead ... Prochaska, the reigning Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, is averaging 18.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game ... Prochaska has paced BG in scoring 12 times this year ... after battling through illness and injuries and averaging 10.3 ppg in the three Preseason WNIT games, she has averaged 19.3 ppg over the last 19 contests ... Prochaska, who has been named the league's Player of the Week three times this season to date, is averaging 19.7 ppg in the Falcons' 10 home games.

• Junior Tracy Pontius and senior Tamika Nurse have 12.9 and 9.4 ppg, respectively ... Pontius has 2.7 rpg, and is second on the team behind Prochaska in three-point field goals made ... Prochaska has hit 56 shots from long range to 46 for Pontius ... Pontius, who was named MAC P-O-W last Monday (Jan. 25), leads the Falcons in assists (3.3 apg) and steals (1.6 spg) ... Nurse is second on the team in assists, with 3.1 ... her total of 69 helpers trails Pontius by three ... Nurse ranks third on the team with 23 three-pointers made this season ... Prochaska and Nurse have made 105 and 79 free throws, respectively, this season, while Pontius has hit 50 shots from the stripe ... Pontius and Prochaska each are converting their free-throw tries at a rate of 87 percent or better.

• In the post, senior Tara Breske and junior Jen Uhl have scored 7.8 and 6.8 ppg, respectively ... Breske, who missed two games due to injury in early December, has 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots per game, leading the Falcons in the latter category and ranking third in the former ... Breske also has 1.3 steals per game ... Uhl has 5.3 rebounds per game, tying her with Prochaska for the team lead ... Uhl and Breske are shooting .504 and .462, respectively, from the field.

• Junior Maggie Hennegan has 4.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, ranking fourth on the team in boards ... she has shot .474 from the field this year ... six players are averaging from 2.0 to 3.2 ppg heading into the NIU game.

• The list of returnees in 2009-10 includes three seniors – Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper – along with five juniors ... Breske started all 34 games in the post last season.

• The returnees in the junior class include a pair of highly-decorated players in Prochaska and Pontius ... Prochaska, a wing, was the 2009 MAC Player of the Year, while Pontius, a point guard, was an honorable-mention selection to the Associated Press All-America Team ... both Pontius and Prochaska earned All-MAC First-Team honors in 2008-09.

• Juniors Uhl, Chelsea Albert and Kelly Zuercher also returned ... Uhl started the final 13 games last year at a forward spot ... sophomores Jessica Slagle and Maribeth Giese round out the returning letterwinners.

• Two other players are in their first playing season at BGSU ... Nurse, a fifth-year senior (Univ. of Oregon), and Hennegan, a redshirt junior (Saint Louis Univ.), participated in practices at BGSU last season, but sat out the year after transferring from other NCAA Division-I schools.

• Five newcomers also joined the program in 2009-10 ... that list includes a quartet of freshmen in Simone Eli, Allison Papenfuss, Chrissy Steffen and Jessie Tamerlano ... Danielle Havel also joins the program, but will sit out this season after transferring from DePaul University ... she will retain three seasons of eligibility.

• Nurse, Pontius and Prochaska each have started all 22 games to date, while Uhl has made 19 starts and Breske 17 ... that quintet has started each of the last 12 games ... Breske, who had started the first four games of the year before suffering her injury, came off the bench for several contests before returning to the starting lineup ... Hennegan has made eight starts this year.

• Prochaska has 18.4 ppg in MAC games to date, while Pontius has averaged 14.4 ppg ... the duo has combined for 40 successful three-pointers in the eight conference contests ... Uhl had 8.4 ppg and a team-leading 6.4 rpg in league play, and is shooting .553 from the field, while Breske has 8.0 ppg and 4.3 rpg against MAC foes ... the Falcons have a +17.5 scoring margin and a +0.3 rebounding margin in MAC games this year to date.

• Overall, the Falcons are shooting .429 from the field, .375 from three-point land and .785 from the free-throw line ... BG's opponents are shooting .390 overall, .302 from long range and .689 from the stripe ... the Falcons have 37.0 rebounds per game to the opponents' 35.5 ... BGSU has been outrebounded only seven times in 22 games this year.

THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
BGSU heads into the Northern Illinois game with an all-time record of 328-141 (.699) in MAC regular-season contests, the most wins and highest winning pct. of all league institutions ... and, BGSU leads the series with all 11 MAC foes, making the Falcons the only team in the league, obviously, with a winning series record against every other school.

SCOUTING NIU
Northern Illinois enters Tuesday's game with an overall record of 8-12, and the Huskies are 2-6 in MAC play ... NIU is looking to break a two-game losing streak ... Northern's last win was a 93-88 OT thriller against Buffalo (Jan. 23), but the team has since suffered losses at Miami (51-96; Jan. 27) and at home against Kent State (71-80; Jan. 30) ... individually, redshirt junior guard Marke Freeman is having a solid season ... she leads the team in scoring, assists and steals ... Freeman has 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.0 steals per game ... she has averaged 22.1 ppg in MAC games, leading the entire conference ... Freeman, who stands just 5-5, had 12 rebounds to go along with 25 points in the KSU game ... redshirt junior center Ebony Ellis and junior forward Mauvolyene Adams have 13.4 and 12.8 ppg, respectively ... Ellis is averaging a double-double, with 10.4 rebounds per contest, while Adams has 8.6 rpg ... Ellis, however, has missed each of the last seven games due to injury ... senior guard Kylie York's 9.5 ppg have come largely from behind the arc, as she has made a team-leading 55 three-point field goals this year to date ... sophomore guards Sarah Rogers (4.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and Courtney Shelton (4.2 ppg) have joined Adams, Freeman and York in the starting lineup for each of the last two games ... Freeman, Shelton and York each have started all 20 games this year to date, while Adams has made 19 starts and Rogers six ... head coach Carol Owens welcomed back nine letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 15-15 overall and 10-6 in MAC action ... Owens, one of the top players in NIU history, has a record of 64-74 in her fifth season as a collegiate head coach, all at her alma mater ... the school's athletics web site is NIUHuskies.com.

THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Northern Illinois, 17-12, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has captured each of the last seven meetings ... the Falcons hold an 11-6 lead in the 17 games since the Huskies returned to the MAC, prior to the 1997-98 season ... in last year's game in DeKalb, the Falcons trailed by six points with under three minutes left in the second half, but rallied for a 76-70 win in overtime (Jan. 31, 2009) ... Tracy Pontius scored a then career-high 31 points, including 24 after halftime ... Pontius had eight points in the final two minutes of regulation ... the last time the teams met inside Anderson Arena, the Falcons won an 85-65 decision two years ago (Feb. 9, 2008), led by a 23-point, nine-rebound performance from Tara Breske ... BGSU is 10-5 in home games vs. the Huskies through the years ... Curt Miller has a record of 8-4 against Northern Illinois during his head-coaching tenure ... additional series information can be found in the PDF.

ANOTHER DOUBLE-DOUBLE FOR UHL
Junior Jen Uhl had 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds at Toledo Saturday (Jan. 30) ... the double-double was the second of her career, and her second in a three-game span ... Uhl had 12 points and 11 boards in BG's win over Eastern Michigan on the previous Saturday (Jan. 23).

FALCONS TO BE FEATURED TWICE ON MAC TV SCHEDULE
The Falcons will be featured twice on the MAC's television schedule in 2009-10, beginning this Saturday ... BGSU's games at Ball State (Feb. 6) and at home against Kent State (Feb. 27) will be televised by FOX Sports Net as part of the league's 52-game men's and women's TV package ... both games will be part of doubleheaders ... the Ball State game, a rematch of last year's MAC Tournament championship, is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. as the second half of a DH ... three weeks later, on 'Senior Day,' the Falcons will host the Golden Flashes in a noon tipoff.

THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 17-5 this season to date, after going 29-5 in 2008-09;
• 7-1 in the MAC, after finishing 15-1 last year and winning a fifth-straight league regular-season title;
• 196-78 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 101-35 in MAC games in that time:
• 187-59 overall in the seven years (plus 22 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);
• 175-43 over the last six-plus years, with 2008-09 marking BG's sixth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 154-33 in the past five-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins in each year and a MAC regular-season title in every season;
• an eye-popping 131-25 overall and 66-6 in the MAC regular season in the last four-plus years;
• 103-22 in the last three-plus years, including a 50-6 conference ledger, since seniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 72-18 overall, and 35-5 in MAC regular-season games, since juniors Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher began their respective playing careers at BGSU;
• 46-10 since sophomores Maribeth Giese and Jessica Slagle ventured to NW Ohio;
• 81-8 in the last 89 games vs. MAC opponents (regular-season and tourney games);
• A perfect 46-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field in the Miller Era;
• 165-10 when having a better FG pct. than the opposition in Miller's tenure, including a 14-0 mark this year to date;
• 148-24 when making more free throws during Miller's first eight-plus seasons;
• 115-11 when outrebounding the opponent in the Miller Era;
• 47-15 in February games since Miller took the helm, including 37-2 in the last five-plus seasons;
• 41-4 in MAC home games in the last five-plus seasons; and
• 32-3 in MAC road games over the last four-plus years (with the lone losses during that time coming in 2007-08 at Ball State, in March of 2009 at Miami and on Saturday [Jan. 30] at Toledo).

TAKE SOME, THEY'RE FREE
The Falcons are shooting .785 from the free-throw line as a team, not too far off of last year's school-record .794 pace ... four of BGSU's five starters have shot .826 or better from the stripe to date, with the fifth hitting free throws at a .767 rate.

PRODUCTIVE AT THE STRIPE
As mentioned, the Falcons are shooting a MAC-best .785 from the free-throw line this season ... last year, BGSU had a school-record FT percentage of .794, a rate that ranked fourth in the nation and was the 15th-highest figure in NCAA Division-I history ... individually, junior Lauren Prochaska is shooting .913 from the line this season to date, and was ranked fifth in the country (as of Jan. 28) ... last year, Prochaska led the nation with a .933 FT rate.

LEADERS OF THE MAC
The Falcons lead the MAC in a total of six team categories, including scoring offense, scoring margin, free-throw percentage, three-point field-goal pct., assist/turnover ratio and three-pointers made per game ... in MAC games only, BGSU leads the league in each of those categories, plus turnover margin.

TREY BIEN!
A pair of juniors are moving up the BGSU career list for three-point field goals made ... Lauren Prochaska, who hit three triples at Toledo, is in sole possession of second place on that list ... with 205 long-range makes in her career to date, she trails only school record-holder Liz Honegger ... Honegger made 216 triples from 2003-07 ... Tracy Pontius, in just her second year as a starter, ranks ninth on the list ... Pontius now has 135 threes in her career.

THE FALCON SENIORS
Fourth-year Falcons Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper helped the Brown and Orange average 28.7 wins per season in their first three years after arriving on campus ... that trio has been a part of the two winningest teams in program history, as well as four of the five national postseason wins in BG annals ... BGSU has gone 103-22 overall and 50-6 in MAC regular-season action since Breske, Bugher and Clapper came to the school ... Tamika Nurse, a fifth-year senior, is in her first playing season after sitting out last year as a transfer from the Univ. of Oregon.

THE JUNIORS
BGSU has posted a record of 72-18 overall, and the Falcons are 35-5 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 27.5 games per year through their first two seasons ... the Falcons have played national postseason tournament games at Anderson Arena in each year, beating Dayton in the '08 WNIT and facing Syracuse and Indiana in that tourney at home in 2009 ... Maggie Hennegan joined that group for the 2009-10 season ... Hennegan sat out last season as a transfer after playing two years at Saint Louis Univ.

THE SOPHOMORES
Maribeth Giese and Jessica Slagle helped the Brown and Orange to 29 wins – the second-highest total in MAC history – along with a school-record 25-game winning streak in their first year in BG ... the Falcons are 46-10 overall and 22-2 in the MAC since the duo arrived in Northwest Ohio ... Danielle Havel is a member of the sophomore class, but is sitting out the 2009-10 season after transferring from DePaul.

THE FRESHMEN
Four freshmen joined the Falcons for the 2009-10 season ... that list includes Simone Eli (Genoa, Ohio/Genoa), Allison Papenfuss (Whitehouse, Ohio/Anthony Wayne), Chrissy Steffen (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Jessie Tamerlano (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton).

CAPTAINS
Seniors Tara Breske and Sarah Clapper and redshirt junior Maggie Hennegan are the captains of the 2009-10 Falcons ... Breske is a captain for the second consecutive year ... the captains earned that distinction in a vote of their teammates ... the award is particularly impressive in Hennegan's case, as she was chosen as a captain before ever playing her first game as a Falcon.

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