Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Ohio
Falcons Host Ohio in Pink Zone Game Wednesday Night
February 15, 2011 | Women's Basketball
BGSU has only three games left at Anderson Arena
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, having concluded Mid-American Conference cross-divisional play, now prepares for a second round of games vs. intradivisional foes to close the regular season ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller will play five-straight games vs. East Division opponents, beginning with Wednesday's (Feb. 16) game vs. Ohio University ... tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (3,500) ... 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
OHIO NOTES & STATS - PDF
THINK PINK
Fans are encouraged to think pink on Wednesday (Feb. 16), when the Falcons host Ohio ... the contest is the team's annual Pink Zone game, in support of breast cancer awareness ... the Pink Zone initiative, created by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), began in 2007 as a unified effort to raise awareness for breast cancer through women's basketball, both on campuses and in communities ... all fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game ... the women's basketball Falcons will be wearing special pink T-shirts during pre-game warmups, and the first 1,000 fans will receive a free pink T-shirt as well ... more information on the WBCA and the organization's Pink Zone initiative can be found at the WBCA web site, www.WBCA.org.
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER AWARD (TWO, ACTUALLY) FOR PROCHASKA
If it seems as if BGSU senior Lauren Prochaska receives some sort of honor every day; well, that's not true at all ... on Monday (Feb. 14), she received two ... Prochaska was named to the 2010-11 Naismith Trophy midseason list ... that list, announced Monday morning by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, includes just 30 players from across the nation ... Prochaska, the only MAC player to make the list, is averaging 19.4 points and 6.3 rebounds this season, leading the Falcons in both categories ... she also paces BGSU with 57 three-point field goals made, 142 free throws made and a FT percentage of 92.2% ... Prochaska is second on the team in assists, steals and blocked shots ... the midseason 30 list was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors, which based its criteria on player performances from the 2010-11 season to date ... the Naismith Trophy, presented by AT&T, will be awarded on April 4 at the Final Four in Indianapolis.
... AND, THE OTHER HONOR
Also on Monday (Feb. 14), Lauren Prochaska was named the MAC Player of the Week ... she earned the honor for the third time this season and the 12th time in her storied career ... let's continue reciting Prochaska's statistics, shall we? In MAC games, the Plain City, Ohio native has 18.6 ppg and 6.2 rpg, leading the Falcons in both categories ... she accounted for nearly two-thirds of her team's offense on Saturday (Feb. 12), scoring 37 of BG's 60 points in a 60-55 win at Eastern Michigan ... the point total was the second-highest in BGSU history, behind only Prochaska's 43-point game vs. Central Michigan in her sophomore season.
LAUREN PROCHASKA: BGSU'S CAREER SCORING LEADER
Earlier this month, senior Lauren Prochaska broke the BGSU career scoring record ... Prochaska scored a game-high 21 points in the Falcons' win over Ball State on Feb. 5, including the record-breaking layup early in the second half ... she posted up to take a pass from classmate Maggie Hennegan and hit a shot over her defender with 16:39 left in the game ... after an otherworldly performance in Saturday's (Feb. 12) win at Eastern Michigan, Prochaska now has a career total of 2,164 points ... the old BGSU scoring record, set by Jackie Motycka (2,122 points from 1985-89), had stood for over two decades ... Prochaska is averaging 17.2 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
Senior Lauren Prochaska is now the leading scorer – male or female – in BGSU history ... she is also moving up the Mid-American Conference list ... with a basket just over eight minutes into the Falcon's Jan. 12 win over Akron, 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 ... then, in the Ball State game (Feb. 5), Prochaska moved past Jackie Motycka with a layup early in the second half ... that gave her the school scoring record, and moved her into fifth ... Prochaska now ranks fourth, having passed former Toledo standout Mimi Olson (2,144 points from 1993-97) with a 37-point effort vs. Eastern Michigan on Saturday (Feb. 12) ... Prochaska's next target on the MAC list is Carrie Moore, who had 2,224 points from 2003-07 at Western Michigan.
PROCHASKA HOLDS A LOT OF CAREER RECORDS
As mentioned (at least twice now), Lauren Prochaska is the BGSU career scoring leader, with 2,164 career points ... she also is the school's all-time leader in three-point field goals made, free throws made and FT pct. ... Prochaska ranks fourth in MAC history in scoring, and is second on the conference list in three-pointers made ... and, she has a chance to finish her career in the top-five in NCAA Division-I history in free-throw percentage.
LAST TIME OUT
Since we keep alluding to senior Lauren Prochaska's monster game on Saturday (Feb. 12), we should probably go ahead and tell you all about it ... Prochaska, a two-time MAC Player of the Year, had a player-of-the-year type of performance to lead the Falcons to a 60-55 win at Eastern Michigan ... the win means that BGSU has won 20 games for the eighth consecutive year, a MAC record ... all Prochaska did was score 37 points, the second-highest single-game total in school history, and grab a game-high 12 rebounds vs. the Eagles ... not surprisingly, Prochaska owns the only higher single-game total in program annals, with 43 points in a win over Central Michigan during her sophomore season ... at the defensive end, Prochaska helped limit EMU's leading scorer, Cassie Schrock, to just five points on 2-of-12 shooting ... Schrock's only two baskets came on a putback after her own miss in the final minute of the first half, and a fast-break layup after a long outlet pass from a teammate in the second period ... Sydney Huntley led the Eagles with 20 points, while Tavelyn James added 15 and Paige Redditt 11 ... the game featured five ties and 13 lead changes ... 11 of those lead changes came in the second half, as BGSU led for just 20 seconds in the game's first 30 minutes ... Eastern led by as many as nine points on several occasions, the last with 16:41 left in the second half ... at the first media timeout of the half, just over a minute later, Falcon head coach Curt Miller inserted all three of his freshmen into the lineup ... Jillian Halfhill, Jill Stein and Noelle Yoder helped spark the visitors to a 9-4 run during the time they were on the court together, as BG trailed by just two points, 37-35, before an EMU timeout with 11:45 left in the game ... a Prochaska layup with 10:11 left gave the Falcons the lead, 38-37, for the first time since the game's opening minutes, for the first of those 11 second-half lead changes ... the senior hit a long three-pointer with two defenders charging at her, breaking a 52-all tie and giving the Falcons the lead for good with 1:42 on the clock ... the Falcons then went 5-of-6 at the free-throw line in the final 45 seconds.
THAT'S JUST THE SPARK BG NEEDED
Early in the second half of Saturday's (Feb. 12) game at Eastern Michigan, the Falcons were trailing by seven points, 33-26 ... BGSU head coach Curt Miller, looking for any kind of successful combination, inserted freshman Noelle Yoder into the game after a media timeout with 15:41 left ... she joined classmates Jillian Halfhill and Jill Stein, along with seniors Lauren Prochaska and Jen Uhl, on the court ... it marked the first time that all three frosh were on the court at the same time with a game's outcome in doubt ... the freshmen helped sparked BG to a 9-4 run during the time they were on the court together, as the Falcons trailed by just two points, 37-35, before an EMU timeout with 11:45 left in the game.
FALCONS WIN 20, AGAIN; BGSU SETS A NEW MAC RECORD
BGSU coach Curt Miller has talked about wanting his program to maintain a level of consistency, and avoid being a 'one-hit wonder' ... it is safe to say that mission has been accomplished ... the Falcons' win at Eastern Michigan Saturday (Feb. 12) enabled BGSU to reach the 20-victory total ... the Falcons have won at least 20 games in eight consecutive years, extending the school record and setting a new MAC record ... the old conference mark was set by Bob Lindsay's Kent State teams from 1995-96 through 2001-02 ... prior to the current run, the longest such streak in BGSU history was four-straight seasons, by the Fran Voll-coached teams of the late 1980s.
BGSU WAS ALREADY AT THE TOP OF THIS LIST
The Falcons have won at least 20 games for the 16th time in school history, the most of any MAC school ... other than BGSU, only Toledo (14) and Kent State (12) have posted 20 or more wins on 10 or more occasions ... both UT and KSU have a good chance to reach the 20-win plateau again this year.
A RECORD FOR A ROAD GAME
Senior Lauren Prochaska's 37-point game at Eastern Michigan was the second-highest point total in BGSU history ... the output was a school-record total for a road game ... Prochaska scored a school-record 43 points in a win over Central Michigan during her sophomore year, but that scoring outburst took place at Anderson Arena.
WHAT ELSE IS NEW?
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 112 of her 126 career games ... she has scored 20 or more points in a game 13 times this season and 46 times in her BGSU career ... Prochaska has hit the 30-point plateau three times this year and six times as a Falcon ... her total of six career 30-point games ties the school record set by Jackie Motycka.
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE (THAT ROARS)
BGSU saw a 23-game home winning streak, one of the longest in the nation at the time, snapped with a one-point loss to Toledo on Jan. 26 ... however, the Falcons have won 43 of the last 45 games in venerable Anderson Arena ... the lone losses in that stretch came to Indiana in the third round of the 2009 WNIT as well as to UT ... BG had won 19-straight home games before losing to IU, then winning the next 23 games at "The House That Roars" ... 38 of the Falcons' 43 wins in that span have come by double digits.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Senior Lauren Prochaska's double-double in the win at Eastern Michigan (Feb. 12) was her third of the season, and was the Falcons' second in as many games ... Prochaska had 37 points and 12 rebounds vs. the Eagles ... seven days prior, senior Jen Uhl had a double-double in the win over Ball State ... Prochaska now has 12 career double-doubles, while Uhl has five ... Uhl has two double-doubles this season ... two other seniors, Maggie Hennegan and Tracy Pontius, each have one double-double at BGSU, with both coming this season ... Hennegan has six in her collegiate career, with five coming during her two seasons at Saint Louis University ... her lone double-double at BGSU to date came at Evansville in the 2010-11 opener ... Pontius had a points-assists double-double in the Falcons' win over Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 4).
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons will enter the Ohio game with an overall record of 20-4, and BGSU is 8-3 in MAC play ... BG is in first place in the MAC's East Division standings, a game ahead of Kent State and two games up on third-place Buffalo ... the Falcons are 11-1 at home, 8-3 on the road and 1-0 in neutral-site games to date, and BG has won three consecutive games heading into Wednesday's contest ... most recently, the Falcons downed host Eastern Michigan, 60-55, on Saturday (Feb. 12).
• Prior to the 'bye week,' the Falcons won a pair of games ... BGSU broke a two-game MAC losing streak – the team's first such streak in three years – with a 67-64 win at Northern Illinois (Feb. 1), then returned home to top Ball State, 61-46 (Feb. 5) ... the Falcons entered the NIU game having 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 (Jan. 26) and dropping a 66-55 decision at Western Michigan (Jan. 29).
• BG is receiving votes in one of the national top-25 polls, the USA Today ESPN Coaches poll ... the Falcons, however, dropped out of the Associated Press vote-getters several weeks ago, after receiving votes in that poll nearly all season ... the Falcons were ranked 59th in the nation in the most recent NCAA RPI rankings, and BGSU is sixth in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25.
• The Falcons suffered a 63-62 loss at Evansville in the regular-season opener (Nov. 12), but BG bounced back with the 15-game win streak 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, and BGSU finished the cross-divisional phase with a 4-2 mark ... 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, then topped Akron by a 90-72 count prior to losing at Kent three days later ... the Falcons bounced back with a 72-61 win at Buffalo, then dismantled Central Michigan, 90-62, at "The House That Roars" ... but, UT snapped BGSU's lengthy homecourt winning streak four days later, and the Falcons then lost at Western before bouncing back with three-straight wins heading into the Ohio game.
• Senior Lauren Prochaska, the MAC Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons, is averaging a team-high 19.4 points per game, and also paces the Falcons with 6.3 rebounds per contest ... Prochaska has scored 20 or more points in 13 games this year, including three games of more than 30 points ... she had 31 points in the win over nationally-ranked Vanderbilt in December and exploded for 37 points and 12 rebounds in the win at Eastern Michigan (Feb. 12) ... classmate Tracy Pontius has 11.1 ppg to date, and leads the team with 3.7 assists per outing.
• Prochaska has made 57 three-point field goals this year, while Pontius has hit 49 shots from long range ... Prochaska and Pontius are shooting 40.4 and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc, respectively ... Prochaska is 142-of-154 (92.2%) from the free-throw line on the year, and was fourth in the nation in that category in the latest NCAA rankings (Monday, Feb. 14) ... she was 20th in the country in scoring, while Pontius was ranked 26th in assist/turnover ratio (1.89) in the most recent NCAA listings.
• Head coach Curt Miller's starting lineup for each of the first 24 games has remained unchanged ... that lineup has included four seniors in Pontius, Prochaska, Maggie Hennegan and Jen Uhl, along with sophomore Chrissy Steffen.
• Steffen, Uhl and Hennegan rank third through fifth on the team in scoring ... Steffen has 9.3 ppg and has hit 36 three-pointers this year to date ... she leads the Falcons in steals, with 1.8 per game (Steffen has 43 steals, Prochaska 38 and Pontius 33 this year) ... Hennegan and Uhl are averaging 8.9 and 8.8 ppg, respectively, as Hennegan has scored 213 points to Uhl's 212 ... Uhl and Hennegan have 5.8 and 5.4 rpg, respectively ... Uhl has led the Falcons in rebounding in four of the last six contests ... Hennegan is shooting a team-best 51.3% from the field, and also leads the Falcons in blocked shots (1.1 bpg).
• In MAC games, the Falcons are 4-1 at home and 4-2 on the road ... BGSU, as mentioned, has gone 4-1 vs. East Division foes and went 4-2 against the West ... Prochaska has 18.6 ppg and 6.2 rpg in the 11 conference games to date ... Hennegan has averaged 10.3 ppg in MAC contests, good for second on the team behind Prochaska, and she has 4.8 rpg and is shooting 55.9% from the field ... Steffen is averaging 9.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.0 apg and 1.9 spg, leading the team in steals and ranking second in assists ... Uhl and Pontius have 9.0 and 8.4 ppg, respectively ... Uhl leads BGSU with 6.7 rebounds, while Pontius paces the club with 3.2 apg in MAC matches.
• BGSU returned 10 letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that won 27 games, captured MAC regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Championships ... the Falcons finished the 2009-10 season with an overall record of 27-7, and BGSU went 14-2 in MAC play ... BG won an outright MAC regular-season championship for the sixth-straight season, a conference record ... the Falcons earned the league's East Division title for the fifth consecutive year (after winning the West crown in 2005) ... BGSU won three more games in Cleveland to capture the MAC Tournament title for the fourth time in those six seasons ... the Falcons went 13-0 at home, 11-6 on the road and 3-1 in neutral-site games last year ... the neutral-site games came in the MAC Tournament and in the NCAA Championships.
• The Falcons lost the services of four seniors – Tara Breske, Laura Bugher, Sarah Clapper and Tamika Nurse – from a year ago ... the three fourth-year players were part of 113 wins, the second-highest total in school and MAC annals ... Nurse was in her first playing season in 2009-10 after transferring from the University of Oregon ... Breske, Bugher and Clapper averaged 28.25 wins per season and helped the Falcons go 57-7 in MAC regular-season games after their arrival on campus.
• 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 24 games off the bench to date, and have 4.1 and 3.1 ppg, respectively ... Slagle has hit 11 of her 26 three-point attempts this year (42.3%), while Papenfuss has 2.3 rpg, ranking sixth on the team in that category.
• Havel also has seen action in all 24 games, while Albert has played in 20 games, Stein 19 and Zuercher 18 ... all 15 players on the active roster have played in at least 10 contests.
• BGSU is shooting 41.4% from the field, 36.5% from three-point land and 80.2% from the free-throw line, leading the nation in the latter category ... BG has allowed opponents to shoot 38.4% from the floor and 27.3% from beyond the arc ... Falcon foes are shooting 66.8% from the stripe ... BGSU has made 174 more free throws than the opponents, and the Falcons have made 55 more free throws than the foes have attempted.
A QUICK LOOK AT OHIO
Ohio will enter Saturday's game with an overall record of 7-17, and the Bobcats are 3-8 in MAC action ... the 'Cats are heading to Northwest Ohio for the second-straight game, having lost a 68-48 game at Toledo on Saturday (Feb. 12) ... Ohio is 4-9 at home and 3-8 on the road this year to date ... in MAC play, the Bobcats are 1-5 at the Convocation Center and 2-3 on the road ... individually, a pair of transfers are the team's top-two scorers ... redshirt junior guard Tenishia Benson leads the team in scoring and rebounding, with 13.0 points and 7.5 boards per game ... she also paces the Bobcats in steals (2.5 spg) and is second in assists (2.6 apg) ... redshirt sophomore forward Alesia Howard has 8.2 ppg and 4.0 rpg this year to date ... a pair of freshmen, guards Ashley Fowler and Shavon Robinson, each are averaging 7.3 ppg ... Fowler has a team-leading 2.8 apg, and also tops the 'Cats with 33 three-point field goals made ... Fowler and Howard have started all 24 games for head coach Semeka Randall, while Benson has made 21 starts ... Robinson and junior forward Kamille Buckner (5.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg) join that trio in the probable starting lineup ... Randall, in her third season with the Bobcats, welcomed back six letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's club ... the 2009-10 team went 8-22 overall and 4-12 in MAC play ... the school's athletics web site is OhioBobcats.com.
THOR RETURNS TO ANDERSON ARENA
Former Falcon standout Megan Thorburn is in her first season on the Ohio women's basketball staff ... Thorburn, a 2007 graduate of BGSU, was a senior on the 2006-07 team that advanced all the way to the 'Sweet Sixteen' of the NCAA Championships.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Ohio, 48-20, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won five consecutive meetings ... last month, the Falcons picked up a 66-54 win in Athens, in the MAC opener for both teams (Jan. 5, 2011) ... a year ago, BG won both matchups with the Bobcats, including a 73-57 victory at Anderson Arena (Feb. 13, 2010) ... BGSU is 27-5 all-time in home games vs. Ohio, and the Falcons have won three consecutive games at "The House That Roars" ... Ohio's last series win was a 68-66, double-overtime decision in the semifinal round of the 2008 MAC Tournament (March 14, 2008) in downtown Cleveland ... the 'Cats last won at Anderson Arena in February of 2007, upsetting the BG team that would go on to win MAC regular-season and tourney titles and advance to the "Sweet Sixteen" of the NCAA Championships ... Curt Miller has a record of 14-4 against the Bobcats in his stellar BGSU career.
ANOTHER RECORD (TWO, ACTUALLY) ON THE HORIZON FOR PROCHASKA
Senior Lauren Prochaska, who already holds four BGSU career records, is on the verge of tying two more ... should Prochaska be in the starting lineup Wednesday vs. Ohio, it would be her 127th career start, matching the record set by Liz Honegger (2003-07) ... additionally, it would be Prochaska's 127th consecutive start, tying Honegger's record in that category ... Prochaska has started every game since arriving at BG ... Honegger came off the bench to play in her first collegiate game, in November of 2003, then started each of her final 127 contests.
SENIOR PRIDE
The Falcons' five fourth-year seniors – Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher – have joined a relatively exclusive, and very impressive, group ... with the win at NIU, that quintet became 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.
UHL BE SWELL, UHL BE GREAT
Senior Jen Uhl has stepped up to give Curt Miller and the Falcons another scoring option ... Uhl has averaged 12.2 points per game over the last five contests, and also has a team-leading 8.0 rebounds per contest in that time ... the Wadsworth, Ohio, native had a season-high 18 points in the Falcons' win at Northern Illinois, then posted a double-double, with 14 points and 12 boards in a career-high 39 minutes against Ball State ... Uhl has gone 9-of-17 from three-point land during that five-game stretch, hitting a career-high four triples in the NIU game ... Uhl is averaging 9.0 ppg and a team-leading 6.7 rpg in MAC games.
HENNEGAN IS STEPPING UP, TOO
Falcon senior Maggie Hennegan, like fellow senior post player Jen Uhl, has stepped up her game in MAC play ... Hennegan, is averaging 8.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game this year ... in conference games, she is second on the team in scoring, with 10.3 ppg, and is shooting nearly 56 percent from the field ... Hennegan had 16 points, matching her BGSU career best, in the win at NIU ... she has scored in double digits nine times this year, including six in MAC play ... and, Hennegan has shot better than 83% from the three-point line in MAC games, having made five of her six attempts from beyond the arc.
STEFFEN CAN SHOOT IT
Sophomore Chrissy Steffen, in her first season as a starter, has given the Falcons another weapon at both ends of the court ... Steffen is averaging 9.3 points per game and has made 36 three-point field goals, ranking third on the team in both categories ... she is also third in assists (2.1 apg) this year ... in MAC games only, Steffen has 9.7 ppg and has made 17 shots from three-point land ... she ranks third in both categories, and is second in assists (3.0 apg) ... at the defensive end, Steffen leads the Falcons in steals, both overall (1.8 spg) and in MAC games (1.9 spg).
HENNEGAN GETS IT DONE IN THE CLASSROOM AS WELL
Falcon senior Maggie Hennegan is succeeding in the classroom as well as on the court ... on Feb. 3, Hennegan was named to the Capital One Academic All-District Team ... the Cincinnati native was named to the first team after earning second-team honors in 2009-10 ... Hennegan has started every game this season, and is averaging 8.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game ... she leads the Falcons in blocked shots (27) and field-goal percentage (51.3%) ... in MAC games, Hennegan is second on the team with 10.3 ppg, and is shooting 55.9% from the floor ... in the classroom, Hennegan is in the MBA program after earning her undergraduate degree with a perfect 4.00 GPA as a health care administration major with a minor in business.
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 Ohio game, Pontius has a total of 1,264 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 Ohio game, Prochaska has a total of 298 three-point field goals made ... she broke the BGSU record set by Liz Honegger (216 triples from 2003-07) last season ... Pontius now has 208 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.
SPEAKING OF THAT RECORD ...
As mentioned (about five seconds ago), senior Lauren Prochaska has an outside chance (no pun intended) to break the Mid-American Conference record for three-point field goals made in a career ... Prochaska has hit a total of 298 shots from beyond the arc, good for second place on the MAC list.
RANDOM STATEMENTS THAT ARE BOTH ACCURATE AND TWITTER-IFFIC
Fans of Twitter who are looking to blow their followers' minds in 140 characters or less now have two mind-blowing options ...
• Option 1: "Every time Lauren Prochaska makes a free throw, she breaks two school records."
• Option 2: "Every time Lauren Prochaska makes a three-pointer, she breaks two school records."
In addition to setting the BGSU scoring record in the Ball State game, Prochaska also became the school's career leader in free throws made ... her first FTM on Saturday moved her past Kate Achter into first place on that school list ... Achter made a total of 551 free throws in her storied career ... Prochaska, who had tied that record in the win at Northern Illinois (Feb. 1), now has hit 564 free throws in her career to date ... Prochaska broke the BGSU career record for three-point field goals made during her junior season, and now has a total of 298 in her career.
HOLDING ON TO THE BALL
For the most part, 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 has had 15 or fewer turnovers in a game 19 times this year to date ... as of the last NCAA rankings (Monday, Feb. 14), BG was 14th in the nation in fewest turnovers per game (14.3) ... the Falcons have committed more turnovers than the opponent in only two of this season's 24 games to date (Evansville and WMU) ... and, the opponent has had more points off turnovers than BG just four times ... BG has forced 15 or more opponent turnovers in 20 of this year's 24 games, including 19 or more in 12 contests.
TAKE SOME – THEY'RE FREE
As of the latest NCAA rankings (released Monday, Feb. 14), the Falcons were leading the entire nation in free-throw percentage ... BGSU is converting free throws at a rate of 80.2 percent ... individually, senior Lauren Prochaska was fourth in the country in FT pct., at 92.2% ... entering the Ohio game, Prochaska has made 142 of her 154 attempts this year to date ... believe it or not, she dropped from second to fourth in the nation after going 8-of-9 from the line in the EMU game.
FALCONS AMONG NCAA LEADERS
BGSU is ranked among the national leaders in numerous categories, according to the last NCAA statistics (released Monday, Feb. 14) ... the Falcons are ranked in the top-50 in no fewer than 11 total categories ... as mentioned, BG leads the entire nation in free-throw percentage ... the Falcons also are ranked in the top-10 in the country in three-point field goals made per game (fifth; 8.2) ... additionally, BGSU is 14th in the nation in both scoring margin (+16.3) and turnovers per game (14.3), 17th in winning percentage (83.3), 19th in three-point FG percentage defense (27.3%), 22nd in three-point FG percentage (36.5%), 28th in assist/turnover ratio (0.98), 36th in both scoring offense (72.8) and turnover margin (+3.96) and 50th in scoring defense (56.5).
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 20-4 this season to date; after finishing with a 27-7 record last season;
• 8-3 in MAC play this season; after going 14-2 last winter, in the process winning a sixth-straight league regular-season title;
• 226-84 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 116-39 in MAC games in that time:
• 217-65 overall in the eight years (plus 24 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);
• 205-49 over the last seven-plus years, with 2010-11 marking BG's eighth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 184-39 in the past six-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins and a MAC regular-season title in six-straight seasons;
• an eye-popping 161-31 overall, and 81-10 in the MAC regular season, in the last five-plus years, with at least 26 wins each year;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 133-28 in the last four-plus years, including a 65-10 conference ledger;
• 102-24 overall, and 50-9 in MAC regular-season games, since seniors Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher began their respective playing careers at BGSU;
• 76-16 overall and 37-6 in MAC action since junior Jessica Slagle and redshirt soph Maribeth Giese ventured to NW Ohio;
• 47-11 overall and 22-5 in the MAC in the BGSU playing careers of senior Maggie Hennegan and sophomores Simone Eli, Allison Papenfuss and Chrissy Steffen (2009-10 was Hennegan's first playing season at BGSU, after she sat out the prior year as a transfer from Saint Louis Univ.);
• 99-12 in the last 111 games vs. MAC opponents (regular-season and tournament);
• A perfect 52-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field in the Miller Era;
• 185-10 when having a better FG pct. than the opposition in Miller's tenure, including a 57-0 mark in the last two-plus seasons;
• 173-29 when making more free throws during Miller's first nine-plus years;
• 134-13 when outrebounding the opponent in the Miller Era;
• 48-5 in MAC home games in the last six-plus seasons;
• 40-6 in MAC road games over the last five-plus years;
• 15-2 in the MAC Tournament in the last six years, with four titles (2005, '06, '07 and 2010), a championship-game appearance in '09, and a trip to the semis in '08;
• 39-16 overall in the MAC Tournament since it was instituted in 1982;
• 27-11 in MAC Tournament contests played at a neutral site;
• 17-4 at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena, the site of the MAC Tournament;
• 18-5 in MAC Tournament games in the Miller Era; and
• 17-3 at "The Gund"/"The Q" under Miller.
