Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Central Michigan (Semifinals)
Falcons Meet Central Michigan in Friday's Semifinal Round
March 10, 2011 | Women's Basketball
BGSU looks to advance in MAC Tournament at the Q
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, having posted a win in the Mid-American Conference Tournament's quarterfinal round, has advanced to the semifinals for the eighth consecutive season ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller, the tourney's number-two seed, will face third-seeded Central Michigan University in Friday (March 11) action, with tipoff scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at Quicken Loans Arena (20.562) ... the winner will advance to Saturday's (March 12) championship game ... Miller and his staff returned 10 letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that went 27-7, won MAC regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Championships ... this year's team, for the first time since 2004, did not win the MAC regular-season championship outright, but the Falcons did capture a divisional championship for the seventh consecutive season.
BGSU NOTES & STATS | CMU NOTES & STATS
TELEVISION / VIDEO
Friday's MAC Tournament semifinal games are scheduled to be broadcast by SportsTime Ohio, with Mike Cairns and Jacki Windon handling play-by-play and analyst duties, respectively ... the game is also slated to air on Comcast Michigan, as well as on ESPN3.com and ESPN Full Court.
IMMOVABLE FORCE MEETS AN IRRESISTIBLE OBJECT
Through 30 games this season, Bowling Green has allowed the opponent to score 70 points only once ... Akron topped that plateau on Jan. 12 at Anderson Arena, in a 90-72 BGSU victory ... Central Michigan, however, enters Friday's game having averaged 81.5 points per game this season ... the Chippewas have reached the 70-point mark 25 times in 29 games to date ... CMU entered the tournament ranked third in the country in scoring offense, while the Falcons came to Cleveland listed among the nation's top 50 in scoring defense.
THE FALCONS IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
The Falcons enter the CMU game with an all-time record of 40-16 in the league tourney ... BGSU's win total is the second highest among MAC teams, and the Falcons' .714 winning percentage is the best in the league ... BG's total of 10 MAC Tournament titles is also the highest of any league institution ... BGSU has a 5-2 tournament record against CMU, including a 1-0 mark at Quicken Loans Arena ... the Falcons are 19-5 under Curt Miller in conference tourney games, including a 2-0 mark vs. the Chippewas in the Miller Era.
BACK IN THE SEMIS AGAIN
The Falcons, as mentioned, have advanced to the semifinal round for the eighth consecutive season and the 19th time in school history ... BGSU has gone 6-1 in the semifinal round over the last seven years, and the Falcons are 12-6 all-time in semifinal-round games.
RANDOM FACT THAT WE STOLE FROM CMU'S GAME NOTES
Bowling Green and Central Michigan are believed to be two of just three NCAA Division-I teams to have used the same starting lineup in every game this season ... that short list includes only the Falcons, the Chippewas and Miami (Fla.).
STREAKY FALCONS
BGSU enters the Central Michigan game riding a nine-game winning streak ... earlier this season, the Falcons won 15 consecutive games before a mid-January loss at Kent State ... BG has had a total of nine double-digit winning streaks in program history, including five in the last six seasons ... but, the Falcons have never had two double-figure win streaks in the same season.
SUCCESS VS. THE EAST
Wednesday's win over Ohio gives BGSU a record of 10-1 vs. MAC East Division foes this season ... the Falcons, the only East Division team still alive in the MAC Tournament, will not face another East team this year ... since returning to the East Division prior to the 2005-06 season, BGSU has posted an overall record of 61-5 in intra-divisional games (including regular-season and tournament contests).
BGSU AT THE Q
The Falcons enter Friday's Central Michigan game with an all-time record of 18-4 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 ... seven years ago, the Brown and Orange picked up a pair of one-point wins at then-Gund Arena, topping Western Michigan and Miami on buzzer-beating jumpers by Lindsay Austin ... that '04 team fell to Eastern Michigan in the championship game, and BG then proceeded to win 10-straight games at "The Gund"/"The Q" ... that streak included MAC Tournament titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and a quarterfinal-round win over Kent State in '08 ... the streak came to an end with a double-overtime loss to Ohio in the 2008 tourney's semifinal round ... two years ago, BGSU downed CMU and UT to advance to the title game, before falling to Ball State, 55-51, in the final ... the 2010 tournament saw the Falcons defeat Miami, Akron and UT en route to a fourth MAC Tournament title in six seasons ... BG has a record of 18-3 at the facility during Miller's head-coaching tenure.
BGSU'S MAC TOURNAMENT NOTES AND NUMBERS
The Falcons, as mentioned earlier, will enter Friday's Central Michigan game with an all-time mark of 40-16 in the MAC Tournament ... BGSU is a perfect 9-0 in home games, and the Falcons are 2-5 in road contests and 29-11 in neutral-site contests over the years ... BG has gone 3-2 in first-round games, and the team is now 15-6 in quarterfinal-round action after the win over Ohio ... the Falcons are 12-6 in semifinal games, and BG has a record of 10-2 in championship-game appearances ... of the Falcons' MAC-record total of 10 tournament titles, only one came when BG was not the top seed (#3 seed in 1990) ... the Falcons are the tourney's number-two seed in 2011.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons will enter Friday's game with an overall record of 26-4, and BGSU finished the regular season with a mark of 13-3 in MAC play ... three of BG's four losses this season have come by a single point.
• BG won the MAC's East Division title, and the Falcons are the number-two seed for the MAC Tournament ... the Falcons are 14-1 at home, 10-3 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site games to date, and BGSU has won nine consecutive games heading into Wednesday's contest in Cleveland ... the Falcons ended the regular season by downing Buffalo, 92-68, at Anderson Arena on March 2, and BG advanced to the semifinals of the league tourney with a 66-57 win over Ohio in Wednesday's (March 9) quarterfinal round.
• The regular-season-ending win over UB came after BGSU went a perfect 7-0 in the month of February ... the Falcons 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 ... the Falcons had entered the NIU game having lost three of the previous five games after winning 15 in a row ... following the BSU game and a 'bye' week, BG defeated Eastern Michigan on the road, 60-55, posted double-digit victories over Ohio at home and Miami on the road, then ventured to Akron and pulled-out a last-second win, 47-45 on Feb. 22 ... BGSU returned home and downed Kent State, 80-59 (Feb. 26), before closing the regular season with the win over UB at Anderson.
• The Falcons' 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 in the first KSU meeting, in Northeast Ohio on Jan. 15 ... the Falcons rebounded to win the next two games, before losing to Toledo, 66-65, and dropping a 66-55 decision at Western Michigan.
• BGSU received votes in both major polls – the Associated Press poll and the USA Today ESPN Coaches listings – for much of the year ... the Falcons garnered three votes in this week's (March 7) AP poll, but did not receive any votes in the USA Today ESPN rankings ... the Falcons were ranked 47th in the nation in the most recent NCAA RPI rankings, and BGSU was fifth in the latest 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 before posting a perfect 5-0 mark vs. East teams in the second go-around ... the Falcons had opened league play with a win at Ohio on Jan. 5, before returning home and scoring 90 points in back-to-back victories over Miami and Akron ... BG lost at Kent, but the Falcons bounced back with a 72-61 win at Buffalo, then dismantled Central Michigan, 90-62, at "The House That Roars" ... however, UT snapped BGSU's lengthy homecourt winning streak, and the Falcons then lost at Western before reeling off nine-straight wins heading into the MAC tourney semis.
• Senior Lauren Prochaska, a three-time All-MAC First-Team selection, is averaging a team-high 17.9 points per game, and also has 5.9 rebounds per contest ... Prochaska has scored 20 or more points in 14 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 victory at Eastern Michigan (Feb. 12) ... Prochaska hit the first game-winning shot of her career several weeks ago, draining a three-pointer at Akron (Feb. 22) with just 0.2 seconds left ... in addition to rebounding, Prochaska is second on the team in assists, steals and blocked shots ... classmate Tracy Pontius has 12.0 ppg to date, and leads the team with 3.6 assists per outing ... she went off for a season-high 29 points at Miami, part of a five-game stretch in which she averaged 16.0 points to end the regular season.
• Pontius has made 69 three-point field goals this year, while Prochaska has hit 67 shots from long range ... Prochaska and Pontius are shooting 39.4 and 36.1 percent from beyond the arc, respectively ... Prochaska is 171-of-188 (91.0%) from the free-throw line on the year, and was fourth in the nation in that category in the latest NCAA rankings (Monday, March 7) ... she was 36th in the country in scoring and 39th nationally in three-point FG percentage, while Pontius was ranked 43rd in assist/turnover ratio (1.78) in the NCAA listings.
• Head coach Curt Miller's starting lineup for each of the first 30 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 10.4 ppg and has hit 52 three-pointers this year to date ... she leads the Falcons in steals, with 1.7 per game (Steffen has 52 steals, Prochaska 42 and Pontius 38 this year), and is shooting 36.9% from three-point land.
• Uhl and Hennegan are averaging 9.3 and 9.0 ppg, respectively ... Uhl has 279 points to Hennegan's 271 this year to date ... Uhl leads the team with 6.1 rpg, while Hennegan ranks third with 5.4 rpg ... Uhl has led the Falcons in rebounding in seven of the last 12 contests ... Hennegan is shooting a team-best 52.8% from the field, and also leads the Falcons in blocked shots (1.0 bpg).
• In MAC games, the Falcons went 7-1 at home and finished at 6-2 on the road ... BGSU has gone 9-1 vs. East Division foes and 4-2 against the West ... all five starters averaged at least 9.8 points per game in league action ... Prochaska had 16.6 ppg and 5.4 rpg in the 16 conference games ... Steffen, who scored a career-high 22 points in back-to-back home games (Ohio and KSU), had 11.4 ppg in MAC contests, good for second on the team, while Pontius had 10.8 ppg vs. league foes ... Hennegan and Uhl scored 10.2 and 9.8 ppg, respectively, in conference games.
• Steffen had 4.1 rpg, 2.4 apg and 1.8 spg in MAC games, leading the team in steals and ranking third in assists ... Hennegan had 5.0 rpg and shot 57.8% from the field, ranking third in the league in the latter category ... Uhl led BGSU with 7.1 rebounds, while Pontius paced the club with 3.0 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.
• 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 was named the MAC Player of the Year as both a sophomore and a junior, while Pontius earned all-league second-team honors in 2009-10 before being named to the third team this season.
• 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.
• 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 joined 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 is sitting out this season after transferring from Duke University ... she will retain three seasons of eligibility.
• Slagle has played in all 30 games off the bench, while Papenfuss has seen action in 28 ... Slagle and Papenfuss have 3.9 and 2.8 ppg, respectively ... Slagle has hit 14 of her 34 three-point attempts this year (41.2%), while Papenfuss has 2.0 rpg, good for seventh on the team in that category.
• Havel has seen action in all 30 games, while Albert has played in 26, Stein 25 and Zuercher 23 ... all 15 players on the active roster have played in at least 13 contests.
• BGSU is shooting 41.7% from the field, 36.4% from three-point land and 79.6% from the free-throw line, leading the nation in the latter category as of the last NCAA rankings ... BG has allowed opponents to shoot 38.8% from the floor and 27.8% from beyond the arc ... Falcon foes are shooting 67.6% from the stripe ... BGSU has made nearly 200 more free throws than the opponents (504 to 313), and the Falcons have made 41 more free throws than the foes have attempted.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Central Michigan, 43-13, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU won the last meeting ... in the lone regular-season game this season, the Falcons picked up a 90-62 win inside venerable Anderson Arena (Jan. 22, 2011) ... that game, like Friday's contest, was televised by SportsTime Ohio ... in last year's meeting, CMU broke a nine-game BGSU series winning streak with a 67-65 win in Mount Pleasant (Feb. 10, 2010) ... BG is 23-4 in home games, 17-7 in road contests and 3-2 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Chippewas ... one of those neutral-site games came in downtown Cleveland (more about that in the next note) ... Curt Miller has a record of 11-3 against Ohio in his stellar BGSU career.
BGSU VS. CMU IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
The Falcons lead Central Michigan, 5-2, in MAC Tournament meetings ... in those games, the Falcons are 2-0 at home and 3-2 in neutral-site games ... BG is 1-0 in first-round games, 2-0 in the quarterfinal round, 1-2 in the semifinals and 1-0 in the championship game vs. Central ... the teams have not met this deep in the tournament since 1991 ... the last three meetings, all BG wins, included a pair of games at Anderson Arena, a 1998 quarterfinal and a 2004 first-round contest ... the last meeting – and the only prior meeting in Cleveland – was an 82-65 BGSU victory in the quarterfinal round of the 2009 tournament.
THE LAST MEETING
Five players scored in double digits as the Falcons ran past visiting CMU, 90-62, at Anderson Arena on Jan. 22 ... 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 ... another senior, Jen Uhl, had eight rebounds as the Falcons held a 44-35 advantage on the glass ... 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 ... she became the first player to score at least 20 points against the Falcons in a game this year ... the Falcons never trailed, although the game got off to a slow start ... but, BG began to heat up, scoring nine-straight points to take a 13-2 advantage ... Central got back within nine points on three occasions, but the Falcons slowly extended the lead ... Pontius hit four free throws within a 39-second span to begin an 8-0 run late in the first half ... that was the start of a larger 14-2 run that ended the half ... BG led, 48-27, at the break ... the Falcons forced 11 turnovers and had an 18-4 advantage in points off turnovers in that opening half ... the Chippewas turned the ball over just twice in the second half, but the Falcons' lead never fell below 17 points after halftime.
MEMORABLE MEETINGS
This season's BGSU-Central Michigan game saw the Falcons get out to an early lead en route to the win ... each of the two previous regular-season meetings between the teams were memorable, to say the least ...
• Two years ago, then-sophomore Lauren Prochaska scored a school-record 43 points in the Falcons' 94-79 win (Feb. 15, 2009) ... Prochaska's total fell just one point shy of the MAC single-game record, and set a new record for most points in a conference game ... that win also enabled BGSU to clinch the MAC'S East Division title.
• Last season (Feb. 10, 2010), a furious CMU comeback gave the Chippewas a 67-65 win at the Rose Center ... Central had trailed by 16 points in the second half before rallying for the victory ... Kaihla Szunko had a monster game for the hosts, with 21 points and 18 rebounds ... following that loss, the Falcons would win the next eight games, including three in the MAC Tournament in Cleveland ... BG would not lose again until the first round of the NCAA Championships.
THAT'S A LOT OF WINS!
The Falcons are 26-4 overall on the season ... BGSU has won at least 21 games in each of the last eight seasons, and the Falcons have posted 23 or more wins in each of the last seven years ... and, the 2010-11 campaign is the sixth-straight year that BG has won 26 or more games.
THAT'S A LOT OF WINS! PART 2
Over the last eight years (including 2010-11, which still has at least one game left), BGSU has AVERAGED more than 26.0 wins per season ... after posting a combined record of 21-35 in Curt Miller's first two seasons (9-19 in 2001-02, 12-16 in '02-03), the Falcons have gone 211-49 since that time ... that is an average of 26.4 wins – and just 6.1 losses – per year.
LAUREN PROCHASKA: BGSU'S CAREER SCORING LEADER
Senior Lauren Prochaska is the top scorer in BGSU history ... 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 ... Prochaska had an otherworldly performance in the win at Eastern Michigan (Feb. 12), with 37 points ... she has surpassed the 2,200-point mark, and enters the CMU game with a career total of 2,235 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 17.0 points per game, the second-highest average in BG annals (behind Motycka's 18.1 ppg), in her storied Falcon career.
BGSU LEADERS, CAREER POINTS
Player // Seasons // Points
1. LAUREN PROCHASKA // 2007-Present // 2,235
2. Jackie Motycka // 1985-89 // 2,122
PROCHASKA HOLDS A LOT OF CAREER RECORDS
As mentioned, Lauren Prochaska is the BGSU career scoring leader, with 2,235 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 third in MAC history in scoring, and is second on the conference list in three-pointers made ... she has started every game since arriving at BG ... and, she has a chance to finish her career in the top-five in NCAA Division-I history in free-throw percentage ... let's put together a list, in bullet-point form, shall we?
BGSU CAREER RECORDS HELD BY LAUREN PROCHASKA
• Points: 2,235
• Three-Point Field Goals Made: 308
• Free Throws Made: 593
• Free-Throw Percentage: 90.5%
• Games Started: 132
• Consecutive Games Started: 132
PROCHASKA MOVING UP ON MAC LIST
Senior Lauren Prochaska is the leading scorer – male or female – in BGSU history ... she is also moving up the Mid-American Conference list ... Prochaska now ranks third on the MAC list, having passed former Western Michigan standout Carrie Moore (2,224 points from 2003-07) with her 22-point effort in the final regular-season game, March 2 vs. Buffalo ... Prochaska likely will end her career in third place on that chart.
THE PROCHASKA 500
Falcon senior Lauren Prochaska now has 536 points this season to date ... she is the first player in BGSU women's basketball history to score over 500 points in each of her four years.
SHE'S A SCORER
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 116 of her 132 career games ... she has scored 20 or more points in a game 14 times this season and 47 times in her 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.
THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 26-4 this season to date; after finishing with a 27-7 record last season;
• 13-3 in MAC play this season, having won a seventh-straight division title;
• 232-84 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 121-39 in MAC games in that time:
• 223-65 overall in the nearly nine 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);
• 211-49 over the last seven-plus years, with 2010-11 marking BG's eighth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 190-39 in the past six-plus years, with no fewer than 23 wins in seven-straight seasons and a MAC regular-season title each year from 2004-10;
• an eye-popping 167-31 overall, and 86-10 in the MAC regular season, in the last five-plus years, with at least 26 wins in each of those six years;
• a/an (insert your own adjective here) 139-28 in the last four-plus years, including a 70-10 conference ledger;
• 108-24 overall, and 55-9 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;
• 82-16 overall and 42-6 in MAC action since junior Jessica Slagle and redshirt soph Maribeth Giese ventured to NW Ohio;
• 53-11 overall and 27-5 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.);
• 105-12 in the last 117 games vs. MAC foes (regular-season and tournament);
• A perfect 54-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field in the Miller Era;
• 188-10 when having a better FG pct. than the opposition in Miller's tenure, including a 60-0 mark in the last two-plus seasons;
• 177-29 when making more free throws during Miller's first nine-plus years;
• 138-13 when outrebounding the opponent in the Miller Era;
• 51-5 in MAC home games in the last seven seasons;
• 42-6 in MAC road games over the last six years;
• 16-2 in the MAC Tournament in the last six-plus years, with four titles (2005, '06, '07 and 2010), a championship-game appearance in '09, and a trip to the semis in 2008 (and 2011, obviously);
• 40-16 overall in the MAC Tournament since it was instituted in 1982;
• 28-11 in MAC Tournament contests played at a neutral site;
• 18-4 at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena, the site of the MAC Tournament;
• 19-5 in MAC Tournament games in the Miller Era;
• 18-3 at "The Gund"/"The Q" under Miller;
• 35-3 in all non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season;
• 31-2 against non-league foes at Anderson Arena since November of 2004;
• 5-13 in 13 national postseason appearances (including a 3-10 record in the NCAA Championships and a 2-3 mark in WNIT trips); and
• 4-6 in national postseason action under Miller (including a 2-4 mark in the NCAAs and a 2-2 record in the WNIT).
