Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Northern Illinois
BGSU Heads to Northern to Begin Second Half of MAC Schedule
January 31, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Falcons brace for snowy trip to the league's "West Coast"
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, having reached the halfway point of the Mid-American Conference schedule, is in the unfamiliar position of looking to break a two-game losing streak ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller will conclude a two-game road swing by heading to the MAC's "West Coast" for a Tuesday (Feb. 1) game against Northern Illinois University ... tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. locally (8:00 p.m. Eastern) at the Convocation Center (9,100) in DeKalb, Ill. ... Miller and his staff returned 10 letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's 27-7 team that won the MAC regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Championships.
BGSU NOTES & STATS - PDF
THE PROCHASKA WATCH
Senior Lauren Prochaska is moving ever closer to the BGSU career scoring record ... Prochaska enters the NIU game with a career total of 2,096 points at BGSU ... she currently resides in second place on the school's career scoring list, and is 26 points shy of matching the BGSU record ... that record is held by Jackie Motycka (2,122 points from 1985-89) ... Prochaska is averaging 17.0 points per game, the second-highest average in BG annals (behind Motycka's 18.1 ppg), in her storied Falcon career.
PROCHASKA MOVING UP ON MAC LIST AS WELL
BGSU senior Lauren Prochaska recently joined a very exclusive club ... with her basket just over eight minutes into the win over Akron (Jan. 12), the native of Plain City, Ohio surpassed the 2,000-point mark for her career ... Prochaska became just the second player in school history, and only the 10th in MAC annals, to reach that milestone ... she now ranks sixth in scoring in conference history ... in the Central Michigan game (Jan. 22), Prochaska moved past former Kent State star Tracey Lynn into seventh place on the MAC list, and she passed Tamara Bowie (Ball State) in Wednesday's (Jan. 26) Toledo game ... the MAC list can be found in the PDF version of these notes, just a click away at the top of the page.
IT HASN'T HAPPENED VERY OFTEN
The Falcons, as mentioned, are looking to snap a two-game losing streak, having fallen to Toledo Wednesday (65-66; Jan. 26) and Western Michigan on Saturday (55-66; Jan. 29) ... the Falcons' consecutive MAC losses are the team's first since a three-game conference losing streak almost exactly three years prior ... the 2007-08 Falcons won their first four MAC games, then lost to Miami (Jan. 22, 2008), Ball State (Jan. 26, 2008) and WMU (Jan. 30, 2008) ... that club rebounded to win the final nine games of the regular season to capture the MAC title.
A FEW MORE 'NEGATIVE' STATS
Here are a few more stats that are 'negative' at first glance, but actually help to illustrate the massive amount of success that Curt Miller's program has had over the past six or seven years ...
• The Falcons have dropped back-to-back games for the first time since November of 2009 ... the last time BG lost two games in a row came early last season, in Preseason WNIT road setbacks to Ohio State (Nov. 15, 2009) and Marist (Nov. 21, 2009).
• Prior to Saturday's WMU game, BGSU had not lost a MAC game by double digits since the aforementioned streak in 2007-08 ... Ball State posted a 68-47 win in Muncie in the middle game of that streak ... prior to that BSU game, BG hadn't lost to a MAC foe by a double-digit score since Feb. 3, 2004 (92-81 at Miami).
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons will enter the Northern Illinois game with an overall record of 17-4, and BGSU is 5-3 in MAC play ... BG is in second place in the MAC's East Division standings, a game behind Kent State ... the Falcons are 10-1 at home, 6-3 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site games to date ... BGSU is looking to break a two-game losing streak – the team's first such streak in three years – and the Falcons have lost three of the last five games after winning 15 in a row.
• That 15-game winning streak was one of the longest in the nation at the time it was snapped ... it came to an end with a 44-43 loss at KSU on Jan. 15 ... the Falcons rebounded to win the next two games, before losing to Toledo, 66-65, Wednesday night (Jan. 26) ... then, the Brown and Orange dropped a 66-55 decision at Western Michigan Saturday afternoon (Jan. 29).
• BG has received votes in each of the national top-25 polls, the Associated Press and USA Today ESPN Coaches poll, for nearly the entire season ... that trend, however, likely will end this week (these notes were completed prior to the release of this week's polls) ... the Falcons were ranked 44th in the nation in the most recent NCAA RPI rankings (released last Monday, Jan. 24) ... BGSU was second in the last (Jan. 25) CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 ... both of those rankings, though, came prior to the Falcons' two losses last week.
• The Falcons suffered a 63-62 loss at Evansville in the regular-season opener (Nov. 12), but BG bounced back with 15-straight wins before losing at KSU ... in non-conference play, BGSU's victims included Creighton, Youngstown State, Oakland, Detroit, #23/23 Vanderbilt, Cal State Fullerton and Canisius at Anderson Arena; Seattle, Western Kentucky, Austin Peay and Butler on the road; and UALR at a neutral site.
• The Brown and Orange went 4-1 in the first round-robin swing through the MAC's East Division ... the Falcons opened league play with a win at Ohio (Jan. 5), before returning home and scoring 90 points in back-to-back victories ... BG downed Miami, 90-52 (Jan. 8), then topped Akron by a 90-72 count (Jan. 12) prior to losing at Kent three days later ... the Falcons bounced back with a 72-61 win at Buffalo (Jan. 18), then dismantled Central Michigan, 90-62, at "The House That Roars" (Jan. 22) ... but, UT snapped BGSU's lengthy homecourt winning streak four days later, and the Falcons then lost at Western on Saturday.
• Senior Lauren Prochaska, the MAC Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons, is averaging a team-high 18.9 points per game, and also paces the Falcons with 6.0 rebounds per contest ... Prochaska has scored 20 or more points in 11 games this year, including a season-high 31-point performance in the win over Vanderbilt in December ... classmate Tracy Pontius has 12.0 ppg to date, and leads the team with 4.0 assists per outing.
• Prochaska has made 50 three-point field goals this year, while Pontius has hit 47 shots from long range ... Prochaska and Pontius are shooting 40.7 and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc, respectively ... Prochaska is 123-of-133 (92.5%) from the free-throw line on the year, and was second in the nation in that category in the latest NCAA rankings (Friday, Jan. 28) ... she was 20th in the country in scoring and 28th in three-point field-goal percentage, while Pontius was ranked 22nd in assist/turnover ratio (2.08) in the most recent NCAA listings.
• Head coach Curt Miller's starting lineup for each of the first 21 games has remained unchanged ... that lineup has included four seniors in Pontius, Prochaska, Maggie Hennegan and Jen Uhl, along with sophomore Chrissy Steffen.
• Steffen, Hennegan and Uhl rank third through fifth on the team in scoring ... Steffen has 9.6 ppg and has hit 32 three-pointers this year to date ... she leads the Falcons in steals, with 1.9 per game (Steffen has 40 steals, Prochaska 35 and Pontius 31 this year) ... Hennegan and Uhl are averaging 8.7 and 8.4 ppg, respectively, and each player is averaging 5.5 rpg ... both Hennegan and Uhl have pulled down 116 boards this year to date ... Hennegan has averaged 10.4 ppg in the eight MAC contests, good for third on the team behind Prochaska (17.1) and Steffen (10.5) ... Hennegan leads the Falcons in blocked shots this season (1.1 bpg) ... Uhl has averaged 10.5 ppg and a team-leading 6.1 rpg over the last 15 contests, shooting 52.1% from the floor in that time.
• 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 year ... 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 has joined 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 21 games off the bench to date, and have 4.2 and 3.4 ppg, respectively ... Slagle, who had a career-high 13 points in the win over CMU, has hit 11 of her 25 three-point attempts this year (44.0%), while Papenfuss has 2.4 rpg, ranking sixth on the team in that category.
• Havel also has seen action in all 21 games, while Albert has played in 18 games and Stein and Zuercher 16 each ... all 15 players on the active roster have played in at least 10 contests.
• BGSU is shooting 41.9% from the field, 36.9% from three-point land and 80.5% from the free-throw line ... BG has allowed opponents to shoot 38.3% from the floor and 27.4% from beyond the arc ... Falcon foes are shooting 67.9% from the stripe ... BGSU has made 149 more free throws than the opponents, and the Falcons have made 46 more free throws than the foes have attempted.
LAST TIME OUT
Western Michigan, trailing by double digits at the half, began the second period on a huge run to surge past the Falcons, 66-55, Saturday afternoon (Jan. 29) in Kalamazoo ... the result gave BGSU back-to-back MAC losses for the first time in three years ... Brenna Banktson scored 19 points for the Broncos, while Taylor Manley added 14 and Ebony Cleary 11 ... Banktson and Manley combined for 22 points in the second half as Western outscored the Falcons, 42-18, in the period ... sophomore Chrissy Steffen was the lone BGSU player in double digits, with 12 points on the day ... trailing by 15 points late in the first half, the Broncos got a steal and basket in the final seconds, then began the second period on a 25-4 run ... WMU scored the first 10 points of the half before senior Lauren Prochaska split a pair of free throws with nearly five minutes gone, and BG did not make a field goal in the second period until 14:31 was left ... but, the Broncos answered that hoop by scoring nine-straight points to take the lead for good ... during that run, a pair of charity tosses from DeAirra Goss put the Broncos ahead, 41-40, with 11:06 on the clock, and the Falcons never led again ... the Broncos shot over 59 percent in the second half, while holding BGSU to just a 6-of-27 (22.2%) effort in the final 20 minutes ... BG committed a season-high 22 turnovers, while Western turned the ball over just 11 times, a season low for a Falcon opponent.
BIZARRO WORLD
The Falcons had enjoyed distinct advantages in two categories – turnovers and points off turnovers – in nearly every game this season ... such was not the case in Kalamazoo on Saturday ... BGSU turned the ball over a season-high 22 times against Western Michigan ... WMU had just 11 turnovers, a season low for a BG opponent ... and, the Broncos had 27 points off turnovers, tying a season high for a Falcon foe ... Evansville also had 27 points off turnovers vs. BGSU, in the teams' season opener.
HOLDING ON TO THE BALL
The Western Michigan game notwithstanding, the Falcons have been successful at limiting turnovers this season ... BGSU turned the ball over just 10 times, tying a season low, in the win over Central Michigan, and BG had 13 turnovers against Toledo ... as of the last NCAA rankings (Friday, Jan. 28), BG was seventh in the nation in fewest turnovers per game (13.8) ... that average is now at 14.1 heading into the NIU game ... the Falcons have committed more turnovers than the opponent in only two of this season's 21 games to date ... and, the opponent has had more points off turnovers than BG just twice as well ... in each case, those games were the road losses vs. Evansville and WMU ... BG has forced 15 or more opponent turnovers in 17 of this year's 21 games, including 19 or more in 12 contests.
A QUICK LOOK AT NIU
Northern Illinois will enter Tuesday's game with an overall record of 9-12, and the Huskies are 3-5 in MAC action ... Northern has won three of the last four games, with the lone loss a two-point overtime setback on the road against MAC East Division-leading Kent State last week (54-56; Jan. 26) ... the Huskies bounced back with a 56-48 win at Ohio Saturday afternoon (Jan. 29) ... NIU is 4-3 at home, 4-9 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site games ... the Huskies are 2-2 in MAC games at the Convocation Center this year, with wins over Ball State and Miami and losses vs. Toledo and Eastern Michigan ... individually, senior guard Marke Freeman leads the team in scoring, with 16.6 points per game ... she has hit a team-leading 37 three-point field goals this season to date, and also averages 6.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a team-best 2.7 steals per game ... the 5-5 Freeman had 17 rebounds in the win at Ohio ... senior center Ebony Ellis and junior guard Courtney Shelton have 10.3 and 9.2 ppg, respectively ... Ellis paces the Huskies with 8.0 rpg, while Shelton has a team-high 2.7 apg and has hit 32 three-pointers ... sophomore forward Kim Davis has 7.7 ppg and 7.0 rpg this year ... Ellis, Freeman and Shelton each have started all 21 games to date ... Davis has made 19 starts and freshman guard Danielle Pulliam (3.4 ppg) 15 for head coach Kathi Bennett ... Bennett, in her first season with the Huskies, inherited seven letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's club ... the 2009-10 team went 10-19 overall and 4-12 in MAC play ... the school's athletics web site is NIUHuskies.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Northern Illinois, 18-12, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has captured each of the last eight meetings ... last season, four Falcons scored in double digits in an 85-67 win at Anderson Arena (Feb. 2, 2010) ... in the teams' last meeting 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 ... NIU has a narrow 7-6 lead in series meetings in DeKalb ... Curt Miller has a record of 9-4 against the Huskies in his stellar BGSU career.
PONTIUS MOVING UP BGSU SCORING LIST
As mentioned earlier in this long, rambling game-notes packet, Falcon senior Lauren Prochaska has surpassed the 2,000-point mark for her career ... classmate Tracy Pontius, like Prochaska, resides in the BGSU top-20 in career points ... with her first basket this season (in the opener at Evansville on Nov. 12), Pontius surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career ... Pontius became the 24th player to reach the milestone ... heading into the NIU game, Pontius has a total of 1,251 points as a Falcon ... over 1,000 of those points have come since the start of her sophomore season ... Pontius currently sits in 15th place on the BGSU scoring list, having passed both Melissa Chase (1,223 points from 1979-83) and Michelle Shade (1,233 points from 1991-95) in the Central Michigan game ... for Pontius, her next target on the list is 14th-place Carin Horne, who had 1,341 points from 2003-07.
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 long-range shooter in school history, and Tracy Pontius has moved into the top three ... entering the NIU game, Prochaska has a total of 291 three-point field goals made ... she broke the BGSU record set by Liz Honegger (216 triples from 2003-07) last season ... Pontius now has 206 career threes, ranking third at BGSU ... she became just the 18th player in MAC history to reach the 200-trey milestone ... Prochaska ranks second on the conference career list, and has a shot at breaking the MAC career record of 323 three-pointers made, set by Ball State's Audrey McDonald.
SENIOR PRIDE
The Falcons' five fourth-year seniors – Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher – need just one more win to join a relatively exclusive, and very impressive, group ... with one more win, that quintet would become the sixth class in school history, and the fifth in a row, to be a part of at least 100 career wins at BGSU ... last year's group of fourth-year Falcons (Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper) helped the Falcons to 113 wins, the second-highest win total in school and MAC annals ... the record is held by the one-woman class of two seasons ago ... Lindsey Goldsberry ended her career with a total of 114 wins, the most by any player (male or female) in MAC basketball history ... BGSU's sixth senior in 2010-11, Maggie Hennegan, is in her second playing season after transferring from Saint Louis University.
FALCONS VS. THE MAC
The Falcons, along with the rest of the Mid-American Conference teams, are in the cross-divisional phase of the league schedule ... BGSU enters the NIU game with an all-time record of 340-145 (.701) 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 MAC SCHEDULE
• The 2010-11 season is the sixth utilizing the current MAC scheduling format for women's basketball ... each of the 12 schools opens conference action with five intra-divisional games, followed by six cross-divisional games and five more intra-divisional contests to close the regular season ... so, BGSU plays five games vs. East Division schools to begin and end the MAC season, with six games vs. the West Division teams in the middle of the league schedule.
• Over the first five years of that scheduling format, the Falcons have finished the first swing through the East Division with a perfect 5-0 record four times, and BGSU has gone 4-1 on two occasions (2007-08 and this season) ... the Falcons are a combined 28-2 against East Division foes during the first round-robin phase of the season in the last six years.
IT DOESN'T HAPPEN OFTEN
Falcon women's basketball followers have gotten used to the consistent scoring prowess displayed by senior Lauren Prochaska over the years ... Prochaska has scored in double digits in 109 of her 123 career games ... her four-point game on Saturday at Western Michigan was the second-lowest point total of her BGSU career ... Prochaska was held to two points in a game at Akron during her freshman year (March 5, 2008) ... she has scored six or more points in 121 of her 123 games as a Falcon.
THIS HAPPENS EVEN LESS OFTEN
As mentioned, BGSU's leading scorer, senior Lauren Prochaska, scored four points in the game at Western Michigan on Saturday ... the Falcons' second-leading scorer, senior Tracy Pontius, had nine points vs. the Broncos ... since the start of the 2008-09 season, when Pontius joined the starting lineup, there have been a total of just four games in which both Prochaska and Pontius were held to single digits in the scoring column ... two of the prior three games came in non-conference play (vs. Gardner-Webb on Dec. 28, 2008; at Seattle earlier this season) ... the only other time neither player reached double digits in a MAC game was last year at Buffalo (Feb. 24, 2010) ... interestingly, BG had won each of those other three games.
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS MORE OFTEN
Senior Lauren Prochaska scored a game-high 30 points in the win at Buffalo (Jan. 18) ... Prochaska has scored 20 or more points in a game 11 times this season and 44 times in her BGSU career ... she has hit the 30-point plateau twice this year (31 points vs. Vanderbilt) and five times as a Falcon.
TAKE SOME – THEY'RE FREE
As of the latest NCAA rankings (released Friday, Jan. 28), the Falcons were leading the entire nation in free-throw percentage ... BGSU was converting free throws at a rate of 80.7 percent ... that percentage has dropped to 80.5% after the Falcons went 12-of-16 from the line in the WMU game ... individually, senior Lauren Prochaska was second in the country in FT pct., at 93.8% ... Prochaska's percentage has since dropped to 92.5% ... entering the NIU game, Prochaska has made 123 of her 133 attempts this year to date.
FALCONS AMONG NCAA LEADERS
BGSU was ranked among the national leaders in numerous categories, according to the last NCAA statistics (released Friday, Jan. 28) ... the Falcons were ranked in the top-25 in no fewer than 10 total categories ... as mentioned, BG led the entire nation in free-throw percentage ... the Falcons also were ranked in the top-10 in the country in three-point field goals made per game (third; 8.5) and turnovers per game (seventh; 13.8) ... additionally, the Falcons were 13th in the country in three-point pct. (37.4%), 14th in scoring margin (+18.9), 15th in winning percentage (85.0), 21st in assist/turnover ratio (1.04), 23rd in in three-point FG defense (27.2%), 24th in scoring offense (75.2 ppg) and 25th in turnover margin (+4.9) ... BGSU was ranked among the top-75 teams in the nation in 12 of the 18 categories kept by the NCAA.
THE FALCON SENIORS
BGSU has posted a record of 99-24 overall, and the Falcons are 47-9 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 73-16 overall and 34-6 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-plus 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 of 2008-09.
THE SOPHOMORES
Three sophomores have helped the Falcons to a 44-11 mark, with a 27-7 record a year ago and a 17-4 ledger 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.
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 joined the Brown and Orange this year, but will sit out the '10-11 season after transferring from Duke Univ.
70 IS A MAGIC NUMBER
BGSU has scored 70 or more points in 14 of the season's first 21 games, and the Falcons have posted a perfect 14-0 mark in those contests ... at the other end of the court, the Falcons have held 20 of the 21 foes under 70 points this year to date ... BG is 16-4 in those games ... Akron (72 points on Jan. 12) is the only Falcon foe to surpass 70 points this year.
PROCHASKA'S GOT A SHOT AT THIS RECORD
Entering the NIU game, senior Lauren Prochaska has made 545 free throws in 600 attempts in her career ... that is good for a percentage of 90.8 ... Prochaska is in line to finish among the NCAA's all-time leaders in free-throw pct.
PROCHASKA FEATURED IN SI
For her free-throw-shooting prowess, Falcon senior Lauren Prochaska was featured in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" section ... Prochaska was listed in the Jan. 10 issue of the magazine, and on SI.com, the publication's website.
CLOSING THE DOORS OF THE HOUSE THAT ROARS
The 2010-11 season is the final year that BGSU's teams will call Anderson Arena home, and there are many events planned as part of the year-long celebration ... the All-Anderson teams for men's and women's basketball, announced in October, will be recognized at a home game ... for the BGSU women, the All-Anderson Team recognition is scheduled for Saturday's (Feb. 5) game vs. Ball State ... the final women's home regular-season game inside "The House That Roars" will be March 2 vs. Buffalo ... on March 5, the festivities culminate with the B!G Event, a final farewell celebration at 8:00 p.m. ... this once-in-a-lifetime event will be attended by hundreds of Falcon faithful, as well as members of all three All-Anderson Teams, other former letterwinners, current players and coaching staff members ... for more information, contact the athletics department at 419-372-2401 or rlynv@bgsu.edu.
VERSATILITY AT THE POST
BGSU's starting post players, seniors Maggie Hennegan and Jen Uhl, displayed a tremendous amount of versatility in last week's games ... the duo combined for 31 points, with Uhl scoring 17 and Hennegan 14, and the two players combined to go 5-of-6 from three-point range ... Uhl was 3-for-4 from the arc, tying her career best for three-pointers made in a game ... Hennegan made both of her shots from long distance, and is a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point land in MAC games this year ... at Western Michigan, that duo combined for 22 rebounds, with Uhl pulling down a season-high 12 and Hennegan grabbing 10.
