Pontius Pilots Falcons to 73-61 Win at Miami

Saturday, February 19

Oxford, Ohio

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Miami

Tracy Pontius (5) had a season-high 29 points in the Falcons' win at Miami

February 19, 2011 | Women's Basketball

Senior point guard scores season-high 29

By: OXFORD, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Senior Tracy Pontius exploded for a season-high 29 points to lead the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to a 73-61 win over Miami University Saturday afternoon (Feb. 19). The Mid-American Conference game was held at Millett Hall.

FINAL STATISTICS - HTML | BOXSCORE - PDF
POSTGAME AUDIO: Curt Miller | Tracy Pontius

With the win, the Falcons improve to 22-4 overall and 10-3 in MAC action. The RedHawks drop to 10-16 and 2-11 respectively.

BGSU took a double-digit lead midway through the first half and weathered several Miami comeback bids. The home team got as close as four points on multiple occasions, but never could make it a one-possession game.

Senior Jen Uhl had 15 points, while sophomore Chrissy Steffen added 13. Uhl had seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots, while Steffen pulled down six rebounds.

Senior Maggie Hennegan just missed posting a double-double, with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The Falcons had a 40-30 advantage on the boards.

Kirsten Olowinski and Courtney Osborn had 14 points apiece for the RedHawks, while Lillian Pitts added 12.

Pontius started the scoring, hitting a three-pointer on the first possession of the game, after Uhl had kept the possession alive with an offensive rebound and pass to the BG point guard.

After a Miami hoop, the BGSU senior duo hooked up again, as Uhl hit a layup off of an inbounds pass from Pontius. The Falcons' lead was 5-2 with 80 seconds elapsed.

The RedHawks battled back, taking the lead on jumpers by Olowinski and Osborn. But, Pontius rebounded her own miss and hit a jumper in traffic in the lane, giving the Falcons a lead they would never relinquish. After a Miami miss, Steffen hit a long three-pointer, from beyond the men's basketball three-point line on the right wing, and BG's lead was 10-6 as Miami took a timeout at the 16:02 mark.

The teams traded missed shots, but after BG's miss, Pontius stole an outlet pass in the Miami end of the court. She pulled up and hit a straightaway trey, giving the Falcons a 13-6 lead. Moments later, the senior knocked down a pull-up jumper, with her ninth and 10th points of the day putting the visitors ahead, 15-6, with 14:22 left before halftime.

The hosts traded points with the Falcons over the next few possessions. Two Pontius free throws, though, gave BG a 19-11 lead and began an 8-0 run.

That run continued as Steffen made a pair of charity tosses, then hit a layup at the 11:18 mark. Uhl's free throws put the Brown and Orange ahead by a 25-11 count with just over nine minutes gone.

Hannah Robertson scored to snap that run, but Pontius drained a jumper in the lane, then nailed a three-pointer from dead center, and BG's lead was 15 points, the largest of the game, at 30-15. With less than 12 minutes gone, Pontius had 17 points.

A mini-run by the RedHawks cut BGSU's advantage into single digits, and the Falcons' lead stayed between eight and 11 points for the next several minutes. With 2:55 on the clock, Hennegan drove down the lane, spun and banked a shot over her defender and through the hoop, giving the visitors a 39-29 lead.

The 'Hawks, however, scored the next six points, capped by a Pitts layup, to cut BG's lead to just four points. Senior Lauren Prochaska got to the line and made a pair of free throws with 1:33 left in the period to stop MU's run. Olowinski's bucket was answered by two Pontius free throws with 18.8 seconds remaining, and the Falcons took a 43-37 lead into the half.

Pontius led all players with 19 points in the opening period, while Steffen scored nine points and Prochaska seven.

The teams got off to a slow start offensively in the second period. The only points in the first two-plus minutes were two charity tosses from Pitts. Pontius got herself to the line at the 17:38 mark and hit a pair of free throws of her own, but Pitts countered with a layup to cut BG's lead to 45-41.

The Falcons responded, though, with back-to-back baskets by Uhl. First, Prochaska spotted the senior post slipping her defender, and lobbed a pass inside for an easy layup. Then, freshman Jill Stein, after blocking a shot at the defensive end, threw a pass inside to Uhl for another layup and a 49-41 lead as the RedHawks burnt a timeout with 16:34 remaining.

Several moments later, the Falcons salvaged a possession that had seemingly gone awry. After a near-turnover, Uhl went to the ground to grab the ball a split-second ahead of two Miami players. Uhl flipped the ball to Prochaska, who passed it to Steffen in the left corner. Steffen drove the baseline, then whipped a pass to Pontius at the top of the arc. The senior's three-point try found only net, giving the Brown and Orange a nine-point lead.

After a Miami miss, Pontius and Prochaska worked a give and go. Pontius hit Prochaska with a pass, then slipped out beyond the arc to take a return pass and drain another triple try, this time from the left corner. BG led by a 55-43 score with 12:58 remaining, and Pontius had 27 points.

Osborn answered with a layup, but Pontius faked a three-pointer, took a dribble as her would-be defender went flying by, and knocked down a long two-point try for a 57-45 lead.

Back came the RedHawks, as Osborn scored five quick points to cut the Falcons' lead to seven. Hennegan scored in the lane, but Olowinski's free throws were followed by Maggie Boyer's three-pointer. With 8:20 left, the home team was back within four points, 59-55.

Junior Jessica Slagle's entry pass resulted in a Uhl layup, but Hannah Robertson hit a pull-up jumper at the other end. Another Uhl layup, this time from Steffen after the Falcons broke Miami's half-court press, gave BG a six-point lead, but Boyer's layup cut the advantage to 63-59 at the 6:52 mark.

Then, however, the Falcons scored the next eight points to take control of the game. Another Uhl layup gave the visitors a 65-59 advantage, and Steffen's driving layup put BG ahead by eight points as the RedHawks took time with just over five minutes left.

After a Miami turnover, though, Prochaska threw a pass inside for another easy layup, this time from Hennegan, and the Falcons led by a 69-59 count with 4:29 remaining. The lead remained in double digits the rest of the way.

Two Steffen tosses put BG ahead by a 71-59 count at the 3:02 mark, and the teams each scored two points apiece over the final 180 seconds.

The Falcons shot 43 percent from the field, holding the RedHawks to a 39% success rate. BGSU hit six three-point shots, with five coming from Pontius, while MU was just 2-of-8 from long range. The Falcons also had an advantage at the free-throw line, going 21-of-26 from the stripe. MU was 11-of-12 from the line on the day.

BGSU takes to the road for one final time in the regular season, heading to Akron for a Tuesday (Feb. 22) game vs. the Zips. Tipoff is 7:00 p.m. at Rhodes Arena. The Falcons then close the regular season with home games vs. Kent State (Feb. 26) and Buffalo (March 2), as BGSU is "Closing the Doors of The House That Roars."

A FEW FALCON NOTES
* Senior Lauren Prochaska set two more BGSU records on Saturday ... Prochaska was in the starting lineup for the 128th time in her career, breaking the record of 127 set by Liz Honegger (2003-07).

* Prochaska has started every game since arriving at BG ... Saturday's start, then, was her 128th in a row, another school mark ... Honegger had started 127-straight games after coming off the bench in the first game of her collegiate career.

* With five three-point field goals made on Saturday, Pontius moved into second place on the BGSU career list ... she now has hit 217 treys as a Falcon, and passed Honegger (216) on that chart ... Prochaska is the career leader in that department, having made 298 three-point shots in her career.

* The Falcons' win on Saturday was the 118th MAC victory for BGSU head coach Curt Miller ... Miller has moved into sole possession of third place on the MAC list for wins in conference games, having passed former BGSU and Central Michigan coach Fran Voll ... Miller now trails only Kent State's Bob Lindsay and former Toledo coach Mark Ehlen on the MAC list for conference victories ... that trio ranks 1-2-3 in overall wins at a MAC institution as well.