Falcons Open 2009-10 Season vs. Chicago State Friday

Friday, November 13

Bowling Green, OH

7:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

Chicago State

Curt Miller and the Falcons open the 2009-10 season with a first-round Preseason WNIT game Friday vs. Chicago State

November 11, 2009 | Women's Basketball

Ring ceremony, banner unveiling to precede WNIT first-round game

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

THE OPENING TIP
The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team opens the 2009-10 season by participating in the Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament ... the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller will host Chicago State University in a first-round Preseason WNIT game Friday (Nov. 13) ... tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena (3,500) ... Miller and his staff return 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's 29-5 team that won the Mid-American Conference's regular-season title for a fifth-straight season ... BGSU ended the campaign with an overall record of 29-5 and a MAC mark of 15-1, and advanced to the third round of the WNIT.

BGSU-CHICAGO STATE LINKS
BGSU Notes & Stats - PDF | Preseason WNIT Bracket - PDF
Curt Miller Press Conference (Nov. 10) - Audio & Video
Chicago State women's basketball home page
Live Stats for Friday's game
WNIT website

POTENTIAL SECOND-ROUND OPPONENTS
Eastern Illinois women's basketball home page
Ohio State women's basketball home page

BANNER CEREMONY AND RING UNVEILING
Prior to Friday's Chicago State game, the Falcon returning players and coaches will participate in a ring ceremony and banner unveiling ... the ceremony will recognize the team's 2009 Mid-American Conference regular-season championship, the Falcons' fifth consecutive conference crown.

WHAT IS THIS "WNIT" YOU SPEAK OF?
The Preseason WNIT involves 16 teams from 16 different conferences that were included by invitation only ... all games are hosted by participating schools, and each team is guaranteed three games ... a few more pieces of information about the Preseason WNIT ...

• FIRST-ROUND WINNERS: The initial round of the event involves eight games at eight sites ... the eight round-one winners will continue on in traditional bracket play, with half of them hosting the other half in separate host sites ... the winning teams in subsequent rounds will continue on, with separate host sites throughout the semifinals and championship ... the two teams that advance to the championship game will play four games in the tournament.

• FIRST-ROUND LOSERS: The eight teams who lose their first games will be re-grouped into 'consolation bracket quads,' which are two four-team pools ... one team in each pool will be selected to host the other three teams ... the host sites will be announced after the completion of all round one games ... each team in this consolation round will play two games, for a total of three in the tournament.

• QUARTERFINAL-ROUND LOSERS (FROM ORIGINAL BRACKET): Of the four quarterfinal teams that lose in that round, two teams will be selected to host one of the other quarterfinal-round losers in a single game at separate sites ... this game provides the third game for each of these schools.

• DATES: The Preseason WNIT opens with eight first-round games on Friday, Nov. 13 ... second-round games will be played on Nov. 15-16; semifinals will be Nov. 18-19; and the championship is set for Sunday, Nov. 22 ... teams that lose in the first two rounds will play consolation games on the second weekend (Nov. 20-22) ... all sites are announced by the end of the preceding round.

• THE FIRST-ROUND SCHEDULE is as follows ... all games are on Friday, Nov. 13 (2008-09 team records in parentheses) ...

Eastern Illinois (24-9) at Ohio State (29-6), 5:00 p.m. ET
UTEP (18-12) at Florida Gulf Coast (26-5), 7:00 p.m. ET
Arkansas-Little Rock (26-7) at Oklahoma State (17-16), 7:00 p.m. ET
Towson (17-13) at West Virginia (18-15), 7:00 p.m. ET
Chicago State (16-13) at Bowling Green (29-5), 7:30 p.m. ET
Winthrop (16-16) at Georgia Tech (22-10), 7:30 p.m. ET
North Carolina A&T (26-7) at Marist (29-4), 7:30 p.m. ET
Northern Colorado (12-18) at New Mexico (25-11), 9:00 p.m. ET

SECOND TIME AROUND
The 2009-10 season marks the Falcons' second appearance in the Preseason WNIT, but BG's first since the tourney went to the current format ... BGSU's lone prior Preseason WNIT game was an 89-41 loss at Ohio State on Nov. 12, 2004 ... that Falcon team went on to win the first of five-straight MAC regular-season titles under head coach Curt Miller, a streak that remains active.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• BGSU returns 10 letterwinners, including four starters, from last year's team that posted the second-highest win total in school and MAC history ... the Falcons went 29-5 overall, including a 15-1 MAC record, in 2008-09 ... the Brown and Orange won a fifth consecutive conference regular-season title and advanced to the third round of the WNIT.

• The Falcons had just one senior on the roster a year ago, and Lindsey Goldsberry ended her career as the winningest basketball player – man or woman – in MAC history ... BG had a record of 114-20 in her four years, an average of 28.5 wins per season.

• The list of returnees in 2009-10 includes three seniors – Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper – along with five juniors ... Breske started all 34 games in the post last season.

• The returnees in the junior class include a pair of highly-decorated players in Lauren Prochaska and Tracy Pontius ... Prochaska, a wing, was the 2009 MAC Player of the Year, while Pontius, a point guard, was an honorable-mention selection to the Associated Press All-America Team ... both Pontius and Prochaska earned All-MAC First-Team honors in 2008-09.

• Juniors Jen Uhl, Chelsea Albert and Kelly Zuercher also return ... Uhl started the final 13 games of the year at a forward spot ... sophomores Maribeth Giese and Jessica Slagle round out the returning letterwinners.

• Two other players get to suit up in a BG uniform for the first time ... fifth-year senior Tamika Nurse (Univ. of Oregon) and redshirt junior Maggie Hennegan (Saint Louis Univ.) participated in practices at BGSU last season, but sat out the year after transferring from other NCAA Division-I schools.

• Five newcomers also join the program in 2009-10 ... that list includes a quartet of freshmen in Simone Eli, Allison Papenfuss, Chrissy Steffen and Jessie Tamerlano ... Danielle Havel also joins the program, but will sit out this season after transferring from DePaul University ... she will retain three seasons of eligibility.

PURA VIDA!
Head coach Curt Miller and the Falcons jump-started their season in August, heading to Costa Rica on the first foreign tour in program history ... the Falcons benefitted from four games vs. local competition, in addition to 10 days of practices leading up to the tour ... in addition to the practices and games, the 12 players (the 10 returnees from 2008-09, plus the two transfers who sat out last season at BGSU) were able to bond together through a week and a half of diverse experiences, including whitewater rafting, zip-lining through the rainforest and hiking on a volcano.

MORE HONORS FOR PONTIUS & PROCHASKA
Falcon juniors Tracy Pontius and Lauren Prochaska already have received several honors in the 2009-10 preseason ... both players were voted to the Preseason All-MAC Team, as mentioned earlier ... additionally, both players have been named to the Full Court Press Preseason Mid-Major Top 25 list ... Prochaska was named to the third team, while Pontius received honorable mention ... according to the site's criteria, the list included players from a pool of all NCAA Division I schools outside of the six major conferences ... the BGSU duo were the only two MAC players to be listed.

FALCONS TO BE FEATURED TWICE ON MAC TV SCHEDULE
The Falcons will be featured twice on the MAC's television schedule in the 2009-10 season ... BGSU's games at Ball State (Feb. 6) and at home against Kent State (Feb. 27) will be televised by FOX Sports Net as part of the league's 52-game men's and women's TV package ... both games will be part of doubleheaders, with each of the respective men's games part of the TV schedule as well ... the Ball State, a rematch of last year's MAC Tournament championship, is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. as the second half of a doubleheader ... three weeks later, on 'Senior Day,' the Falcons will host the Golden Flashes in a noon tipoff.

CLASSY. VERY CLASSY.
The Falcons had one of the most successful seasons in program history on the court in 2008-09 ... head coach Curt Miller's program had one of its most successful campaigns in the classroom as well ... BGSU was ranked fifth in the entire nation on the WBCA's Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for 2008-09 ... the awards recognized teams throughout the country that had the highest grade point averages for 2008-09 ... as a team, the Falcons had a GPA of 3.470 in '08-09 ... BGSU was the only MAC program on the list, and the Falcons were also the only program from the state of Ohio in the Division-I Top 25.

TICKET SALES ARE ROLLING ALONG
As of the close of the business day on Monday (Nov. 9), a total of 555 women's basketball season tickets had been sold for 2009-10 ... according to available information, that is a new record ... the previous best had been a total of 491 season tickets sold two years ago (2007-08) ... as recently as 2005-06, the total of BGSU women's basketball season tickets sold was just 62.

FALCONS RECEIVE VOTES IN NATIONAL POLLS
The Falcons have received votes in each of the two major preseason polls ... BGSU got eight votes in the initial Associated Press poll of the season (Oct. 30), and the Brown and Orange earned seven votes in the first USA Today ESPN poll (Nov. 4).

MILLER, ROOS RECEIVE CONTRACT EXTENSIONS
Head coach Curt Miller and associate head coach Jennifer Roos received two-year contract extensions in late September, BGSU Assistant V.P./Director of Athletics Greg Christopher announced ... the contracts of both Miller and Roos now run through June 30, 2015.

LAST TIME OUT
In her first U.S. appearance as a member of the BGSU women's basketball team, redshirt junior Maggie Hennegan had a double-double to help the Falcosn to an 80-50 exhibition win over Findlay Wednesday night (Nov. 4) at Anderson Arena ... Hennegan tied for game honors with 14 points, and led all players with 12 rebounds ... Tamika Nurse, like Hennegan a Division-I transfer in her first game in the Brown and Orange in this nation, had 14 points on the night as well ... the duo each sat out last season, but played four games for the Falcons during the team's foreign tour to Costa Rica in August ... senior Tara Breske rounded out BGSU's double-figure scorers with 10 points vs. the Oilers ... Ashley Andrews paced the visitors with 11 points off the bench ... the Falcons held UF to just a 7-for-37 (18.7%) field-goal rate in the second half, while making 57.7% of their own shots after halftime ... all 16 players on head coach Curt Miller's active roster saw action, with no fewer than 14 finding the scoresheet.

SO WHAT'D I MISS?
If you've been away since the 2008-09 season ended, without access to a computer, you might have missed these Falcon women's basketball notes ...

• In May, Falcon associate head coach Jennifer Roos was named a winner of BasketballScoop.com's "Rising Star" Award ... Roos was one of five national winners of the honor.

• In June, Falcon head coach Curt Miller was named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Board of Directors.

• In early July, Miller was named to the list of top Mid-Major head coaches in NCAA Division I by the National Women's Basketball Insider website ... Miller, ranked ninth on that list, was the only MAC head coach to be named.

• In mid-July, Miller was one of 17 current NCAA Division I head coaches to take part in a mock selection exercise at the NCAA national office in Indianapolis ... the group worked with members of both the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball staff and the Division I Women's Basketball Committee to demystify the process that the 10-person committee goes through each March when the much-anticipated championship brackets are constructed and announced.

• In August, the Falcon coaches and returnees went on a nine-day foreign tour to Costa Rica ... more about that trip can be found elsewhere in these notes.

• Senior captain Sarah Clapper served as an emcee for the Stroh Center groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 3 ... the $36 million facility, which will be the new home to Falcon basketball and volleyball, is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2011-12 basketball season.

SCOUTING CHICAGO STATE
Chicago State has posted a school-record 16 wins in each of the last two seasons, going 16-13 in both years ... the Cougars, who competed as an independent in 2008-09, are a member of the brand-new Great West Conference ... CSU was picked to finish second in the league in the preseason coaches poll ... North Dakota was picked to win the league, which also includes Houston Baptist, NJIT, South Dakota, Texas-Pan American and Utah Valley ... two CSU players, senior guard Alyssa Waldon and junior forward Courtney Waldon, earned preseason all-conference first-team honors ... Alyssa Waldon averaged 11.9 points and 3.5 assists per game a year ago, before missing the final 13 games due to injury ... Courtney Waldon had 10.9 points and 5.2 boards per game a season ago ... junior center Caila Desroches earned second-team accolades on the preseason all-league team, while junior forward Tressa Beckel and junior center Elana Wroten garnered honorable mention ... Wroten averaged 7.4 ppg and 5.5 rpg last season ... Desroches (Monroe [N.Y.] CC) and Beckel (Univ. of Wisconsin) are transfers who are entering their first playing seasons at CSU ... the Cougars defeated St. Francis (Ind.) by an 83-75 outcome in the team's lone exhibition on Nov. 1 ... head coach Angela Jackson enters her seventh season at CSU ... she has a record of 74-97 with the Cougars ... the school's athletics web site is GoCSUCougars.com.

THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Chicago State, 2-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... the Falcons and Cougars did not play last season, but squared off in each of the previous two years ... BG picked up an 80-50 victory in the most recent meeting, at Anderson Arena on Jan. 5, 2008 ... in that game, Tara Breske led three BGSU double-digit scorers with 20 points, while then-freshmen Jen Uhl and Lauren Prochaska added 13 and 10, respectively ... the prior year, BGSU's "Sweet Sixteen" team led by single digits at halftime before posting a 72-55 win in the Windy City (Jan. 30, 2007) ... of the current Falcons, only Breske and Laura Bugher saw action in that contest ... Curt Miller has a record of 2-0 vs. the Cougars in his Falcon head-coaching tenure.

TWENTY NINE WINS
The Falcons posted 29 wins in 2008-09 ... that total ranks second on both the school and Mid-American Conference lists ... all three of the MAC's top win totals have been compiled by the Falcons over the last four seasons ... the 2006-07 team had 31 wins en route to the NCAA "Sweet Sixteen," a year after the 2005-06 Falcons had picked up 28 victories.

LET'S PUT IT ANOTHER WAY ...
Prior to the start of the 2005-06 season, no MAC women's basketball team had ever won more than 27 games ... a total of four teams – including the 1986-87 and '88-89 Falcon squads – had reached that mark ... in the last four years, though, three BGSU teams topped that total, and the Falcons averaged more than 27 wins per season during that time ... the Brown and Orange went 114-20 over the last four years, an average of 28.5 wins per season.

THE FALCONS ARE/WERE ...
• 29-5 overall in the 2008-09 season;
• 29-3 in the final 32 games, after an 0-2 start to the season;
• 15-1 in MAC play last year, good for a fifth-straight league regular-season title;
• 5-12 in 12 national postseason appearances (including a 3-9 record in the NCAA Championships and a 2-3 mark in WNIT trips);
• 179-73 since Curt Miller took the BGSU helm in May of 2001;
• 94-34 in MAC games in that time:
• 4-5 in national postseason action under Miller (including a 2-3 mark in the NCAAs and a 2-2 record in the WNIT);
• 170-54 overall in the seven 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);
• 158-38 over the last six years, with 2008-09 marking BG's sixth-straight season of at least 20 wins;
• a staggering 137-28 in the past five years, with no fewer than 23 wins in each year and a MAC regular-season title in every season;
• an eye-popping 114-20 overall and 59-5 in the MAC regular season in the last four years, coinciding with the career of Lindsey Goldsberry;
• 86-17 in the last three years, including a 43-5 conference ledger, since seniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper joined the program;
• 55-13 overall, and 28-4 in MAC regular-season games, since juniors Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher began their respective playing careers at BGSU;
• 74-7 in the last 81 games vs. MAC opponents (including regular-season and tourney games);
• 36-4 in MAC home games in the last five seasons;
• 30-2 in MAC road games over the last four years (with the lone losses during that time coming in 2007-08 at Ball State and last March at Miami);
• 12-2 in the MAC Tournament over the last five years, with three titles (2005, '06 and '07), a championship-game appearance last season, and a trip to the semifinals in 2008;
• 36-16 overall in the MAC Tournament since it was instituted in 1982;
• 24-11 in MAC Tournament contests played at a neutral site;
• 14-4 at Gund/Quicken Loans Arena;
• 15-5 in MAC Tournament games in the Curt Miller Era;
• 14-3 at "The Gund"/"The Q" under Miller;
• 23-3 in non-conference home games since the start of the 2003-04 season (including the WNIT games); and
• 19-2 against non-league foes at Anderson Arena since November of 2004.

HIT THE BOARDS
The Falcons have a record of 102-10 when outrebounding opponents during the Curt Miller Era ... over the last five seasons, BGSU has gone 82-3 in such games.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
• In 2008-09, the Falcons went 11-2 in non-conference play, posting a winning non-league record for the seventh consecutive year ... BGSU is the only Mid-American Conference school to have turned that trick.

• BGSU had not had as many as three consecutive winning seasons in over a decade (since 1991-92 to 1993-94), prior to beginning the current streak ... now, of course, the Falcons have posted seven-straight winning seasons in non-conference action, for the longest such streak in school history.

• The 2008-09 team was the fourth in a row to tie or break the school record for non-conference wins in a season ... BGSU's total of nine non-league wins in 2005-06 tied the school record, before the '06-07 team had 11 to set a new mark ... the '07-08 and '08-09 teams had 11 non-league wins as well ... the Falcons have had at least seven non-league victories in each of the last seven seasons.

• Since the start of the 2002-03 season, BG is 63-21 in regular-season, non-league games, for the most wins and highest winning percentage (75.0%) of any MAC school in that time ... the Falcons have set school records for non-league wins in a three-year period, with 33 from 2006-07 to '08-09, as well as victories in a four-year (42) and a five-year (49 since 2004-05) span.

ANOTHER IMPRESSIVE STREAK
BGSU has won 20 games in six consecutive seasons for the first time in school history ... the Falcons have averaged 26.3 wins per season during that span.

THE SENIORS
Fourth-year Falcons Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Sarah Clapper have helped the Brown and Orange average 28.7 wins per season since arriving on campus ... that trio has been a part of the two winningest teams in program history, as well as four of the five national postseason wins in BG annals ... BGSU has gone 86-17 overall and 43-5 in MAC regular-season action since Breske, Bugher and Clapper came to the school ... Tamika Nurse, a fifth-year senior, begins her first playing season with the Falcons after sitting out last year as a transfer from the Univ. of Oregon.

THE JUNIORS
BGSU has posted a record of 55-13 overall and 28-4 in MAC regular-season games since Chelsea Albert, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher set foot on campus ... that is an average of 27.5 wins per year ... the Falcons have played national postseason tournament games at Anderson Arena in both seasons, beating Dayton in last year's WNIT and facing Syracuse and Indiana in that tourney at 'The House That Roars' in 2009 ... Maggie Hennegan joins that group in 2009-10 ... Hennegan sat out last season as a transfer after playing two years at Saint Louis Univ.

THE SOPHOMORES
Maribeth Giese and Jessica Slagle helped the Brown and Orange to 29 wins – the second-highest total in MAC history – along with a school-record 25-game winning streak ... Danielle Havel is a member of the sophomore class, but will sit out the 2009-10 season after transferring from DePaul Univ.

THE FRESHMEN
Four freshmen join the Falcons for the 2009-10 season ... that list includes Simone Eli (Genoa, Ohio/Genoa), Allison Papenfuss (Whitehouse, Ohio/Anthony Wayne), Chrissy Steffen (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Jessie Tamerlano (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton).

CAPTAINS
Seniors Tara Breske and Sarah Clapper and redshirt junior Maggie Hennegan are the captains of the 2009-10 Falcons ... Breske is a captain for the second consecutive year ... the captains earned that distinction in a vote of their teammates ... the award is particularly impressive in Hennegan's case, as she was chosen as a captain before ever playing her first game as a Falcon.

IT'LL STILL ROAR
On Sept. 3, BGSU broke ground on the Stroh Center, the new home of Falcon men's and women's basketball and volleyball ... Anderson Arena, "The House That Roars," will continue to serve as the Falcons' home through the end of the 2010-11 season ... the Stroh Center will seat approximately 4,700 fans, and will be located southwest of Doyt Perry Stadium ... Anderson Arena, of course, is named after long time BGSU men's basketball coach and athletic director Harold Anderson ... the Stroh Center will continue to honor him, as the club area in the new facility has been named the Anderson Club.

NOW THAT'S A FIVE-YEAR PLAN
Over the last five years (since the start of the 2004-05 season), the Falcons have won a total of 137 games ... BGSU has averaged over 27 wins per season during that time ... in fact, the Falcons' average win total (27.4) nearly matches the program's total number of losses (28) during that five-year span ... BGSU has won five MAC regular-season titles and made five national postseason appearances in that time.

NOW THAT'S A FIVE-YEAR PLAN, CONFERENCE-ONLY VERSION
In MAC games over the last five years, the Falcons have no fewer than 72 victories ... that's an average of 14.4 wins per year (a pretty impressive feat considering each team plays just 16 MAC games per season) ... BGSU's average win total in MAC play nearly DOUBLES the program's total number of losses (eight) during that five-year span.