Falcons Face Akron in MAC Tournament Semifinals

THE OPENING TIP
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after winning a conference-record sixth consecutive Mid-American Conference regular-season championship, has advanced to the semifinal round of the 2010 MAC Tournament ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller, the tourney's top seed, will face the fourth-seeded University of Akron on Friday afternoon (March 12) ... tipoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Quicken Loans Arena (20,562) in downtown Cleveland ... the winner will advance to Saturday's (March 13) championship round, playing the survivor from Friday's first semifinal game pitting Toledo against Kent State.

BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF

25 WINS, AGAIN (AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND...)
Wednesday's (March 10) 91-58 victory over Miami gives BGSU an overall record of 25-6 heading into the Akron game ... the Falcons have won 25 games for the fifth consecutive season, the longest such streak in MAC history ... prior to BGSU's current four-year streak, conference schools had only won 25 games in back-to-back seasons twice ... the 1992-93 (25) and '93-94 (26) BGSU teams each reached the 25-win mark, and the Toledo clubs in 1995-96 (25) and 1996-97 (27) also turned the trick.

BACK IN THE SEMIS AGAIN
The Falcons have advanced to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament for the 18th time in program history, and the seventh consecutive season ... BGSU made it to the semifinals in a school-record nine-straight years, from 1986 through 1994, and also got to the semis in 1997 and 1998 ... after a five-year drought, BG advanced to (and past) the semifinals in 2004, and Falcons have been one of the final four conference teams playing in every year since.

FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
The Falcons enter the Akron game with an all-time record of 37-16 in the league tourney ... BGSU's win total is the second highest among MAC teams, and the Falcons' .698 winning percentage is also second in the league ... BG's total of nine MAC Tournament titles is the highest of any league institution ... the Falcons have the following records in league tournament action ...
• 16-5 in MAC Tournament games in the Curt Miller Era;
• 11-6 in previous MAC Tournament semifinal-game appearances;
• 3-2 in first-round games;
• 14-6 in the quarterfinal round, after Wednesday's win over Miami;
• 9-2 in MAC Tournament championship-game appearances;
• 0-1 vs. Akron in the MAC Tournament;
• 15-4 in games played at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena;
• 16-3 in the last seven tournament appearances; and
• 13-2 in the league tourney over the last six seasons.

SIX SHOOTERS: FALCONS WIN SIXTH-STRAIGHT MAC TITLE
BGSU has won six consecutive MAC regular-season titles, a new conference record ... and, the Falcons won all six titles outright ... Kent State won five-straight MAC East Division crowns from 1998 through 2002 ... the Golden Flashes had the league's best overall record in three of those five seasons, tying for the top overall mark in one other year.

SIX-SHOOTING FROM A NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
The Falcons, as mentioned, have won six consecutive MAC regular-season titles ... all six of BGSU's crowns have been outright ... BG has won one West Division championship (2005) and five East Division titles (2006-10), but the Falcons had the MAC's best overall record in all six years ... in the history of NCAA Division-I women's basketball, the list of teams to have accomplished this feat is a relatively short one ... and, here it is ...
AT LEAST SIX-STRAIGHT OUTRIGHT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
(all NCAA Division-I conferences; no ties for the title)
10 - UC Santa Barbara (Big West; 1996-2005)
9 - Liberty (Big South; 1998-2006)
7 - Old Dominion (CAA; 1996-2002)
7 - S.F. Austin (Southland; 1988-94)
7 - Texas (Southwest Conf.; 1983-89)
6 - Bowling Green (Mid-American; 2005-10) – current
6 - FIU (Atlantic Sun; 1993-98)
6 - Marist (MAAC; 2005-10) – current
6 - Missouri State (Missouri Valley; 1991-96) ^*
6 - Montana (Big Sky; 1986-91)
6 - Stanford (Pac-10; 2005-10) – current
6 - Virginia (ACC; 1991-96)
^ formerly SW Missouri State
* first two titles were Gateway Conf.

CHAMPIONS AGAIN
For the sixth consecutive year and the 11th time in school history, Bowling Green has captured a regular-season championship ... the Falcons won the East Division and posted the league's best overall regular-season mark, with a 14-2 record against conference competition ... BGSU won league regular-season titles in three consecutive years from 1986-87 to 1988-89, and captured back-to-back crowns in the 1992-93 and '93-94 campaigns ... five years ago, the Falcons had the MAC's best overall record at 13-3, and won the West Division ... and, BG has won the East Division five years running, with MAC marks of 16-0, 15-1, 13-3, 15-1 and 14-2.

POSTSEASON AGAIN
The Falcons, as mentioned, compiled the best record in the MAC ... BGSU earned the outright conference crown for the sixth consecutive year ... that distinction assures the Falcons of a berth in a national postseason tourney ... should BGSU not make the NCAA Championships, the Falcons would earn the MAC's automatic bid to the WNIT ... the Falcons will participate in national postseason play for the sixth consecutive year, having advanced to the NCAA Tournament in three-straight years before participating in the WNIT in March of both 2008 and 2009.

BGSU AT THE Q
The Falcons enter the Akron game with an all-time record of 15-4 at Quicken Loans (formerly Gund) Arena ... in their first-ever appearance, the Falcons, seeded ninth, led top-seeded Toledo at halftime before losing in the quarterfinals of the 2001 tourney ... that was BGSU's final game before the Curt Miller Era began ... six years ago, the Brown and Orange picked up a pair of one-point wins, topping Western Michigan and Miami on buzzer-beating jumpers by Lindsay Austin ... that '04 team fell to Eastern Michigan in the championship game ... BG then proceeded to win 10-straight games at "The Gund"/"The Q," winning MAC Tournament titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007 ... that streak came to an end with a double-OT loss to Ohio in the semifinal round in '08 ... last year, BGSU downed Central Michigan and UT to advance to the title game, before falling to Ball State, 55-51 ... BG has a record of 15-3 at the facility during Miller's head-coaching tenure.

PROCHASKA MOVES TO THE TOP OF THIS THREE-POINT LIST
Junior Lauren Prochaska has displayed a level of three-point consistency unmatched in BGSU history ... Prochaska made four treys in the final regular-season game, at Miami, in the process breaking the school's single-season record ... Prochaska now has made a total of 83 treys this season, topping the old record of 78 (set by Angie Farmer in 1999-2000) ... Prochaska is the only player in BG history to make more than 70 triples in a season three times ... in fact, she has three of the five such seasons in school annals (Farmer and Tracy Pontius have made 70 threes in a season once each) ... the MAC record is 96 three-pointers made, by Toledo's Kelly Savage in 1988-89.
BGSU RECORD BOOKS: THREE-POINT FG MADE, SEASON
1. Lauren Prochaska (2009-10) -- 83
2. Angie Farmer (1999-2000) -- 78
3. Tracy Pontius (2008-09) -- 77
4. Lauren Prochaska (2008-09) -- 75
5. Lauren Prochaska (2007-08) -- 74

TREY BIEN! PROCHASKA WAS ALREADY AT THE TOP OF THE LIST
Junior Lauren Prochaska has become the most prolific three-point field-goal shooter in BGSU history ... she broke Liz Honegger's record early in the Central Michigan game (Feb. 10) ... entering the Akron game, Prochaska now has a total of 232 three-point field goals made ... Honegger made 216 triples from 2003-07 ... Tracy Pontius, in just her second year as a starter, has moved into eighth place on the list, with 152 threes in her career.

TREY MAGNIFIQUE! FALCONS GO 13-FOR-20 VS. MIAMI
The Falcons shot an eye-popping 65.0 percent from three-point range in Wednesday's win over Miami ... BG's total of 13 three-pointers made was the second-highest in MAC Tournament history, while the team's long-range percentage ranks third on the league tournament list ... four of the five starters – senior Tamika Nurse and juniors Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska and Jen Uhl – made two or more triples in the Miami game.

WE NEED A NURSE, STAT
Senior Tamika Nurse was a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range in the win over Miami ... she was one triple shy of matching the MAC Tournament single-game record ... BGSU's Paulette Backstrom was 5-for-5 from long range in the 1989 MAC Tournament championship-game win over Toledo ... UT's Kahli Carter made all four of her long-range tries in a 2000 game against Ball State.

MILLER IS FASTEST MAC COACH TO 200 WINS
BGSU's 66-56 win at Akron on Feb. 20 was Falcon head coach Curt Miller's 200th win ... Miller, now 203-79 at the BGSU helm, became the fastest coach to 200 wins in MAC women's basketball history ... he is third on the MAC list for overall career wins, and trails only Kent State's Bob Lindsay and former Toledo coach Mark Ehlen on the list ... Miller reached the 200-win mark in his 279th career game... the lists of winningest MAC women's basketball coaches can be found in the PDF version of these notes

MILLER HOLDS THIS RECORD, TOO
BGSU's Curt Miller is believed to be the fastest basketball coach – in MAC men's or women's basketball annals – to 200 wins ... since the inception of the MAC, a total of six men's coaches have amassed 200 career wins at one or more conference institutions ... that list includes Bob Nichols (Toledo), James Snyder (Ohio), Charlie Coles (Central Michigan and Miami), Darrell Hedric (Miami), Larry Hunter (Ohio) and Stan Joplin (Toledo) ... none of those six coaches are believed to have reached 200 wins faster than Miller.

SENIOR PRIDE
The Falcons' win over Miami was the 111th victory for the team's three fourth-year seniors ... even if BGSU doesn't win another game this year, those three players – Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper – will have finished their careers with an average of 27.75 wins per season ... the three fourth-year seniors have helped the Falcons to an overall record of 111-23 (the second-most wins in a four-year span in school history) ... they finished with a MAC regular-season mark of 57-7 ... BGSU's other senior, Tamika Nurse, is in her first playing season with the Falcons after transferring from the University of Oregon.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 25-6 on the season, and BGSU finished the regular season with a record of 14-2 in MAC play ... BG won the MAC's East Division title for the fifth consecutive year (after winning the West crown in 2005), and the Falcons won the MAC's overall regular-season championship outright for a sixth-straight season ... the Falcons, 13-0 at home and 11-6 on the road this year, have won six consecutive games entering Friday's Akron contest ... Wednesday's (March 10) 91-58 win over Miami came in BG's first neutral-site contest of the season.

• BGSU is 8-2 over the last 10 games, after winning the previous eight contests ... BGSU has won 24 of the last 28 games ... after losing a 67-65 verdict at Central Michigan (Feb. 10), the Brown and Orange bounced back for a 73-57 win over Ohio (Feb. 13), then beat Akron (66-56; Feb. 20), Buffalo (81-64; Feb. 24), Kent State (69-55; Feb. 27) and Miami (March 2) ... the win over KSU clinched the divisional title for the Falcons, and the 63-58 triumph at MU gave BG the outright conference crown.

• BG's two losses in MAC play came to Toledo and CMU ... the Falcons saw that aforementioned eight-game winning streak snapped with a 66-63 loss at UT (Jan. 30), but rebounded with wins over Northern Illinois at home (85-67; Feb. 2) and Ball State (80-76; Feb. 6) on the road, prior to the CMU game.

• BG completed the first swing through the East unbeaten, meaning that the Falcons now have gone a perfect 11-0 vs. East Division opponents this season to date ... the Brown and Orange began cross-divisional play with home wins over Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan, before losing to UT.

• The Falcons went 10-4 in non-conference play ... BG 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.

• Junior Lauren Prochaska leads the Falcons in scoring and rebounding ... Prochaska, a two-time Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, is averaging 17.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game ... she has paced BG in scoring 16 times this year to date.

• Prochaska leads the MAC in three-point field-goal pct. (.449) and ranks second in both three-pointers made per game (2.68) and free-throw percentage (.900), and third in scoring.

• Junior Tracy Pontius and senior Tamika Nurse have 11.9 and 10.8 ppg, respectively ... Pontius has 2.6 rpg, and is second on the team in three-point field goals made ... Prochaska has hit a school-record 83 shots from long range to 63 for Pontius ... Pontius is second on the Falcons in assists (3.1 apg) ... Prochaska (first), Nurse (fourth) and Pontius (fifth) all are ranked in the top-five in the MAC in three-point percentage.

• Nurse has a team-high 3.2 assists per game, and ranks third on the team with 42 made threes ... Nurse has averaged 17.8 points per game over the last four contests, including back-to-back games of 20 points or more in the wins over Buffalo and Kent State ... Prochaska and Nurse have made 135 and 124 free throws, respectively, while Pontius has hit 61 shots from the stripe ... Pontius and Prochaska each are converting their free-throw tries at a rate of better than 84 percent.

• In the post, senior Tara Breske and junior Jen Uhl have scored 8.3 and 7.0 ppg, respectively ... Breske, who missed two games due to injury in early December, has 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots per game, leading the Falcons in the latter category and ranking third in the former ... Breske also has a team-leading 1.6 steals per game ... Uhl has 5.5 rebounds per game, ranking her second on the team, and paces the Falcons with three double-doubles this year to date ... Uhl and Breske are shooting .503 and .469, respectively, from the field.

• Junior Maggie Hennegan has 4.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, placing her fourth on the team in boards ... she has shot .440 from the field this year ... six players are averaging from 1.9 to 3.0 ppg heading into the MAC Tournament.

• A total of six players have played in all 31 games this year ... that list includes Hennegan, Nurse, Pontius, Prochaska, Uhl and sophomore Jessica Slagle.

• 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, has been named the MAC Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons ... Pontius, a point guard, was an honorable-mention selection to the Associated Press All-America Team in '09 ... both Pontius and Prochaska earned All-MAC First-Team honors in 2008-09 ... Prochaska was a repeat selection to the first team in 2010, with Pontius earning second-team honors.

• Juniors Uhl, Chelsea Albert and Kelly Zuercher also returned ... Uhl started the final 13 games last year at a forward spot ... sophomores 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 31 games to date, while Uhl has made 28 starts and Breske 26 ... that quintet has started each of the last 21 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 had 17.4 ppg and 5.5 rpg in MAC games, while Pontius averaged 12.2 ppg ... the duo combined for 79 successful three-pointers in the 16 conference contests ... Nurse finished with 11.0 ppg and a team-leading 3.1 apg in league play, while Breske had 8.1 ppg and 4.6 rpg ... Uhl had 7.6 ppg and a BG-best 6.1 rpg, and shot .523 from the field ... Hennegan, Steffen and Zuercher all scored at least 3.4 ppg in MAC action ... the Falcons finished with a +13.9 scoring margin, a rebounding margin of +0.9 and a +4.8 turnover margin in MAC games.

• Overall, the Falcons are shooting .428 from the field, .384 from three-point land and .760 from the free-throw line ... BG's opponents are shooting .396 overall, .304 from long range and .699 from the stripe ... the Falcons have 37.3 rebounds per game to the opponents' 35.6 ... BGSU has been outrebounded only 10 times in 31 games this year.

PROCHASKA NOW FOURTH ON BGSU SCORING LIST
Lauren Prochaska, just a junior, has moved into fourth place on the BGSU career scoring list, and now has a total of 1,634 points ... she passed Francine Miller, who had 1,574 points from 1998-2003, in the second Akron game (Feb. 20), and moved ahead of Kate Achter (1,580 points from 2004-08) in the Buffalo contest (Feb. 24) ... Prochaska's next target is third-place Sara Puthoff (1,678 points from 1994-98) ... Prochaska is averaging 16.5 points per game, the second-highest average in BGSU annals, in her storied Falcon career.

BLOCK BY BRESKE
Senior Tara Breske blocked three shots in Wednesday's Miami game, passing the century mark in that category for her career ... she has moved into sole possession of third place on the BGSU career list, and now has a total of 101 blocks as a Falcon.

THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
BGSU closed the 2009-10 regular season with an all-time record of 335-142 (.702) 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.

THE BGSU-AKRON SERIES
The Falcons lead Akron, 43-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won the last 14 meetings ... the Brown and Orange captured this season's two regular-season games, with a 74-62 triumph inside Anderson Arena in the MAC opener for both teams (Jan. 6, 2010) and a 66-56 win at UA's Rhodes Arena (Feb. 20, 2010) ... the 12-point win at Anderson is tied for BGSU's slimmest margin of victory at home this season ... the Zips, however, have won the only previous meeting between the teams in MAC Tournament action, with a convincing 74-56 win over the Falcons in the quarterfinal round of the 1999 tourney in Akron ... overall, the Falcons won the first 26 series meetings before UA's initial win, that '99 MAC Tournament matchup ... the Zips' other win was an 88-63 blowout in the Rubber City in February of 2001 ... Curt Miller has a record of 14-0 against Akron during his head-coaching tenure ... additional series information can be found in the PDF version of these often-tedious game notes.

BGSU-AKRON COACHING TIES
BGSU head coach Curt Miller and UA coach Jodi Kest were on the same staff for one season, the 1992-93 campaign, at Cleveland State ... Kest came to Akron after spending four years as the head coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ... Kest and Miller met as head coaches for the first time in the 2003-04 season, as the Islanders posted a 68-59 win in Corpus Christi, in the championship game of the Islander Classic (Nov. 29, 2003) ... Friday will mark the ninth time they have met since Kest took the Akron job.

THE FALCONS ARE ...
• 25-6 this season to date, after going 29-5 in 2008-09;
• 14-2 in the MAC, having won a sixth-straight league regular-season title;
• 204-79 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 108-36 in MAC games in that time:
• 195-60 overall in the nearly eight years 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);
• 183-44 over the last six-plus years, with 2009-10 marking BG's seventh-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 162-34 in the past five-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins and a MAC regular-season title in each of the last six seasons;
• an eye-popping 139-26 overall and 73-7 in the MAC regular season in the last four-plus years (with at least 25 wins every year);
• 111-23 in the last three-plus years, including a 57-7 conference ledger, since seniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 80-19 overall, and 42-6 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;
• 54-11 since sophs Maribeth Giese and Jessica Slagle ventured to NW Ohio;
• 89-9 in the last 98 games vs. MAC opponents (regular-season and tournament);
• A perfect 48-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field in the Miller Era;
• 169-10 when having a better FG pct. than the opposition in Miller's tenure, including a 41-0 mark in the last two seasons;
• 154-25 when making more free throws during Miller's first eight-plus seasons;
• 121-11 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 this year at Toledo and Central Michigan);
• 13-2 in the MAC Tournament over the last five-plus years, with three titles (2005, '06 and '07), a championship-game appearance last year, and a trip to the semis in 2008;
• 37-16 overall in the MAC Tournament since it was instituted in 1982;
• 25-11 in MAC Tournament contests played at a neutral site;
• 15-4 at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena, the site of the MAC Tournament;
• 16-5 in MAC Tournament games in the Miller Era;
• 15-3 at "The Gund"/"The Q" under Miller;
• 28-3 in all non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season;
• 24-2 against non-league foes at Anderson Arena since November of 2004.
• 5-12 in 12 national postseason appearances (including a 3-9 record in the NCAA Championships and a 2-3 mark in WNIT trips); and
• 4-5 in national postseason action under Miller (including a 2-3 mark in the NCAAs and a 2-2 record in the WNIT).

UP NEXT
The BGSU-Akron winner returns to Quicken Loans Arena Saturday afternoon (March 13), taking on either Kent State or Toledo in the MAC Tournament's championship game ... the title game is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. tipoff.

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