Falcons Stop Central Michigan, 90-62, in Throwback Game

Saturday, January 22

Bowling Green, Ohio

Noon

Bowling Green State University

Central Michigan

BGSU wore retro-style uniforms on Saturday, for the team's Throwback Game (Brad Phalin photo)

January 22, 2011 | Women's Basketball

Five players score in double digits for BGSU

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Five players scored in double digits as the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team ran past visiting Central Michigan University, 90-62, Saturday afternoon (Jan. 22). The Mid-American Conference game was held at venerable Anderson Arena on the BGSU campus.

FINAL STATS - HTML | BOXSCORE - PDF
POSTGAME AUDIO: Curt Miller | Chelsea Albert & Lauren Prochaska
PHOTO GALLERY: Photos courtesy Brad Phalin, BGSU Photo Services
Scroll to the bottom of the page for video of the postgame interviews

With the win, the Falcons improve to 17-2 overall and 5-1 in MAC play. BGSU is now tied with Kent State atop the MAC's East Division, after KSU lost at Ball State Saturday.

The Chippewas are now 12-6 overall and 4-2 in league play.

BGSU is now a perfect 10-0 in home games this season, and the Falcons have won 39 consecutive regular-season games at Anderson Arena.

Senior Tracy Pontius had 17 points to lead a balanced scoring attack for the Brown and Orange. Classmate Lauren Prochaska had 16 points, while sophomore Chrissy Steffen scored 15. Steffen led the team with five assists in the win.

Junior Jessica Slagle scored a career-high 13 points, while senior Maggie Hennegan rounded out the quintet of double-figure scorers with 12.

Senior Jen Uhl had eight rebounds as the Falcons held a 44-35 advantage on the glass. Prochaska had seven boards and Hennegan six.

Another BGSU senior, Chelsea Albert, had totals of seven points, six rebounds (including a team-high three at the offensive end) and two assists in 16 minutes off the bench. BG had a decisive 26-5 margin in bench scoring in the win.

Kaihla Szunko had 27 points and nine rebounds to lead all players in both categories. Szunko became the first player to score at least 20 points against the Falcons in a game this year.

Brandie Baker joined Szunko in double digits, scoring 13 points and dishing out a team-best five assists.

The Falcons never trailed, although the game got off to a slow start. Prochsaka got the home team on the scoreboard with a pair of free throws 75 seconds into the game, and Hennegan's layup gave the Brown and Orange a 4-0 lead with two minutes gone.

Skylar Miller's layup got the Chippewas on the scoreboard. CMU had turnovers on the first three possessions of the day, then missed a shot on the fourth before Miller connected on the fifth.

But, after Miller's basket, the Falcons began to heat up. BGSU scored the next nine points of the contest.

That 9-0 run began innocently enough, as Prochaska drove toward the hoop, drew a foul by Szunko and hit a pair of shots from the stripe.

After another CMU turnover, Pontius came downcourt and hit a three-point field goal. Steffen stole the ball from Central's Shonda Long, and the resulting possession saw Uhl drive the baseline and throw a reverse layup attempt up and in. The Falcons' lead was 11-2, and the Chippewas took a timeout at the 16:07 mark.

Out of the timeout, however, CMU misfired on a shot attempt, and Prochaska fired a pass inside to Hennegan for a layup and a 13-2 advantage.

Szunko got to the line and made a pair of shots, but Steffen took a pass from Hennegan and knocked down a three-point try from the right elbow, and BG had a 16-4 lead with under six minutes gone. Moments later, Uhl kicked the ball out to Prochaska for another triple and a 19-6 lead.

The Chippewas looked to battle back into the contest, holding BGSU off the scoreboard for the next several minutes. A three-pointer by Taylor Johnson and a jumper by Szunko whittled the Falcons' lead to eight points, 19-11.

After Szunko's shot, the Falcons missed a layup attempt. But, Albert came up with the rebound to keep the possession alive, and Prochaska whipped a pass to a wide-open Pontius in front of the CMU bench. Pontius connected on a three-pointer to give the Brown and Orange a 22-11 lead.

Szunko got an offensive rebound and putback, but the Falcons proceeded to score six-straight points, with the run keyed by the BGSU bench. First, Slagle was fouled and went to the line, hitting both charity tosses. Then, Albert alertly spotted redshirt sophomore Danielle Havel down low, throwing a pass into the paint that led to an easy layup.

On the next CMU possession, Slagle came up with a steal, and Pontius fired a long pass ahead to Albert for a transition layup and a 28-13 Falcon lead. The Chippewas called timeout with 9:15 left before halftime.

Central scored four quick points on back-to-back layups, but both Szunko and Johnson picked up their second fouls of the day over the next few minutes. After the latter foul, Hennegan went to the line and hit both shots for a 30-17 lead.

Hennegan hit another jumper off of Steffen's pass only 20 seconds later, and after Long's three-pointer, Havel drove the lane and fired a sweet bounce pass to Hennegan for a wide-open layup and a 34-20 lead with 7:32 left in the period.

Brandie Baker scored five-straight points for the visitors, cutting the Falcons' lead to single digits. But, Pontius hit four free throws within a 39-second span to begin an 8-0 run for the Brown and Orange.

Three-fourths of that run came at the stripe, as Prochaska went to the line and made both of her tries with 3:53 left in the half. Then, she cleaned up a teammate's miss, rebounding the ball and putting it back up and in for a 42-25 lead with 3:17 remaining.

That 8-0 run was the start of a larger 14-2 run that ended the half. After a jumper by Baker, Albert got to the line and split a pair of free throws for the Falcons, and Steffen then scored five-straight points to end the period.

First, the sophomore spotted up in the left corner, taking a pass from Pontius on the break and draining a three-point try with 1:10 left in the period. Then, after a CMU miss, the Carmel, Ind., native grabbed a defensive rebound and was fouled in the process. She went to the stripe with 43 seconds left and hit two shots, and BG's lead was 21 points, 48-27, at the intermission.

The Falcons had an 18-4 advantage in points off turnovers in that opening half. BG forced 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

Three players hit double digits in scoring in the first half alone. Prochaska scored 11 points before the intermission, while Hennegan and Pontius had 10 apiece. Hennegan was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from the line in the opening half of play.

The Chippewas turned the ball over just twice in the second half, but the Falcons' lead never fell below 17 points. BG led by at least 20 points for the final 17:19 of the game, and the margin reached a game-high 34 points with just over five minutes left.

Central scored the first four points of the half to get within that aforementioned 17-point margin. But, Henengan's jumper was followed by a three-point play from the two-time MAC Player of the Year. Prochaska hit a jumper as she was fouled by Long, and the ensuing free throw gave BGSU a 53-31 lead.

The margin stayed between 21 and 23 points for the next few moments, as the teams traded points. Steffen was fouled on a three-point try in front of the BGSU bench, and hit two of her three free-throw attempts for a 57-34 lead.

Johnson, who committed the foul on Steffen, then was whistled for a charge, her fourth foul of the game, with 16:05 on the clock.

Several moments later, Steffen drove toward the basket on the left side of the court and found an absolutely-wide-open Uhl for a layup-line type of layup. The senior easily banked her shot home for a 61-36 BG lead.

The foul trouble continued to mount for the the Chippewas, Jalisa Olive was called for her fourth foul with 11:47, and Long committed her fourth just seven seconds later. Albert's two free throws gave the Brown and Orange a 63-38 lead. After Johnson's putback, Slagle drained a triple try for a 26-point BG advantage.

Albert's aforementioned free throws began a stretch in which bench players scored 11-straight points for the Falcons. After Slagle's three, Albert threw a pass inside to Havel for a layup. Slagle made two charity tosses, and Albert hit a layup of her own. The Falcons led, 72-46, with 8:49 left.

The lead remained in the mid-20s until the Falcons went on a mini-run several moments later. Two more free throws by Slagle were followed by a Pontius runner, and the home team's lead was 29 points, 80-51, as the Chippewas used a timeout.

Slagle scored on a layup after some nifty passing. Freshman Jill Stein threw a pass across the paint to Uhl, who redirected the ball to a wide-open Slagle with a touch pass. That layup was followed by a Steffen trey, and BG's lead was 85-51. The 34-point margin was the largest of the game. Central would score 11 of the game's final 16 points to cut that lead down to the final 28-point differential.

Havel and Uhl had four points apiece. Uhl, as mentioned, had a team-leading eight rebounds, while Havel was a perfect 2-for-2 from the field.

Slagle scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half, making all three of her shots from the field and all four of her tries from the line after halftime.

The Falcons made seven three-pointers in the game, with Steffen hitting three and Pontius two. The Chippewas went 3-of-18 from beyond the arc on the day, with three different players making one apiece.

BGSU committed just 10 turnovers in the game, while picking up 18 assists in the win. Steffen, as mentioned, had five of those assists, while four teammates had at least two helpers.

The Falcons return to "The House That Roars" Wednesday night (Jan. 26), hosting arch-rival Toledo in a 7:00 p.m. start.

FALCON NOTES
* BGSU is now 10-0 at Anderson Arena this year to date, and the Falcons have won 39 consecutive regular-season home games at "The House That Roars" ... BG's last regular-season loss at Anderson came vs. Western Michigan nearly three years ago (Jan. 30, 2008).

* Overall, the Falcons have won 23 home games in a row, and 42 of the last 43 ... the lone loss in that stretch came to Indiana in the third round of the 2009 WNIT.

* BGSU now leads the overall series with CMU by a 43-13 count, and BGSU is 23-4 all-time in home games vs. the Chippewas.

* Barring a first-round meeting in this year's MAC Tournament, the Chippewas have played their final game at Anderson Arena ... BGSU has won 12-straight home games over CMU ... Central's most recent -- and likely final -- win at "The House That Roars" came on Feb. 8, 1995.

* The Falcons held Central Michigan to a season-low total of 62 points ... the Chippewas entered the game ranked second in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 84.0 points per game prior to Saturday ... CMU had not been held to fewer than 67 points in 2010-11.

* Believe it or not, BGSU's average margin of victory in home games this season actually went down ... the Falcons had entered Saturday's game having won their home contests by an average of 29 points ... that margin of victory is now +28.9, as BGSU is averaging 85.5 points per game at home this season, while allowing fewer than 57 ppg.

* The Falcons have held a double-digit lead at halftime of nine of the 10 home games this year ... BGSU and Creighton were tied, 30-30, at halftime of the home opener before the Falcons pulled away in the second half ... BG has led by at least 12 points at halftime in each of the last nine home games, with a lead of over 20 points at the break in six of those games.

* Central's Kaihla Szunko, as mentioned, became the first player this year to score 20 points in a game vs. the Falcons ... no opposing player had done so since Miami's Courtney Osborn in the final regular-season game last year (March 2, 2010).

* BGSU's total of 10 turnovers tied a season low ... the Falcons entered the weekend ranked 10th in the nation in turnovers per game (14.0).

* The Falcons had entered Saturday's action ranked second in the country in free-throw percentage (80.0 percent) ... that rate improved as BGSU went 27-of-31 (87.1%) from the line against the Chippewas ... senior Lauren Prochaska (7-of-7) and junior Jessica Slagle (6-for-6) were perfect from the stripe on Saturday, while senior Maggie Hennegan made both of her tries.

* As mentioned, Saturday's contest was BGSU's Throwback Game ... the Falcons wore retro-style uniforms somewhat similar to the team's 1985 unis ... additionally, general admission tickets for the game were just a dollar, and concessions prices on selected items were rolled back to mid-1980s prices.