Falcons Close the Doors in Style with 92-68 Win over Buffalo

Wednesday, March 2

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Buffalo

The BG bench, including all six seniors, celebrates a Falcon basket late in the second half of Wednesday night's win (photo by Brandon Heiss)

March 02, 2011 | Women's Basketball

BGSU seniors combine for 70 points in final regular-season game at Anderson

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

On an historic night in venerable Anderson Arena, the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team rolled along to a 92-68 win over the University at Buffalo Wednesday night (March 2). The Mid-American Conference game was the final regular-season contest for both teams.

FINAL STATS - HTML
BOXSCORE - PDF
POSTGAME AUDIO: Curt Miller | Jen Uhl & Maggie Hennegan
POSTGAME VIDEO: Miller | Uhl & Hennegan
BGSU-BUFFALO PHOTO GALLERY - photos by Brandon Heiss
MAC TOURNAMENT BRACKET - PDF

The game also marked the last-ever regular-season women's game in Anderson, and was "Senior Night" for the BGSU program. The six Falcon seniors combined for 70 of the team's 92 points, and BG tied a school single-game record by making 16 three-point field goals in the win.

With the victory, the Falcons improve to 25-4 on the season, and BGSU ends MAC play with a 13-3 league mark. BG will be the second seed for the upcoming MAC Tournament, and will face either seventh-seeded Northern Illinois or 10th-seeded Ohio in the quarterfinal round.

The Bulls end the regular season with marks of 15-14 overall and 8-8 in the MAC.

BGSU rolled up season-high totals in points, field goals made (35), three-pointers made (16) and attempted (35) and assists (24). The Falcons shot better than 50 percent from the field in each half en route to a 53.8% success rate for the game.

BG had those 24 assists while committing just 10 turnovers, tying a season low in the latter category.

On the final "Senior Night" at The House That Roars, all four senior starters hit double digits in the scoring column. Two-time MAC Player of the Year Lauren Prochaska scored 22 points and dished out a game-high six assists. Jen Uhl had 18 points, tying a season best, while Maggie Hennegan and Tracy Pontius scored 13 points apiece. Pontius added five assists on the night.

Those four seniors combined to go 25-of-37 (67.6%) from the field, and hit 11 of the Falcons' three-point field goals.

Four Falcons -- Prochaska, Pontius, Uhl and sophomore Chrissy Steffen -- made at least three triples each in the win. Prochaska led the way with five, while the other three players had three apiece.

Kourtney Brown led the Bulls with a game-high 32 points. Brown went 14-of-21 from the field and added nine rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

The Falcons never trailed, and BGSU went on a 10-0 run midway through the first half to take a 29-13 lead. The Bulls got as close as six points with under four minutes left in the period, but the Falcons closed the half on a 10-3 run, then scored on five of the first six second-half possession to open up a 22-point advantage.

BGSU went 8-of-9 from the field to open that second period, and when the smoke had cleared, the Falcons led by a 62-38 score. UB got as close as 16 points before the home team blew the game open with another 10-0 run.

BG scored the first five points of the night, as Hennegan converted a layup and Uhl drained a three-point try from the right elbow.

Jessica Fortman got the Bulls on the scoreboard with a jumper at the 17:22 mark, but Hennegan took advantage of a mismatch, throwing a pass inside to Uhl, who easily scored over a smaller defender.

A three-point play by Brown was answered by another Uhl shot from beyond the arc -- Uhl had eight of BG's first 10 points -- but Fortman responded with a triple of her own, and the Bulls were within a 10-8 score with just over four minutes gone.

The Falcons scored the next six points, however, beginning with a Prochaska trey. That shot, from the left elbow, came after Uhl had saved the ball from going out of bounds to UB. Hennegan drove the lane and drew a foul on Brown, splitting the resulting free throws with 13:47 left before halftime, and with the shot clock winding down, Pontius drove into the lane and hit a jumper for a 16-8 BGSU advantage.

Point guard Ashley Zuber fed Brown for her second 'and-one' layup of the night, but Prochaska took a pass from fellow senior Chelsea Albert and hit her second three-pointer for a 19-11 BG lead.

Yet another hoop by Brown cut her team's deficit to six points with 11:10 left in the period, but Hennegan's layup began a 10-0 run. Hennegan scored six of those 10 points, including a nifty turnaround shot in the paint and a layup in transition.

Redshirt sophomore Danielle Havel, who had split two free throws at the 9:47 mark, then assisted on back-to-back BG baskets. She threw the pass to Hennegan in the lane for the turnaround jumper with 8:55 left in the period, then kicked the ball out to junior Jessica Slagle for a three-pointer from the left corner.

A steal by Steffen resulted in Slagle's long pass ahead to Hennegan for a fast-break layup that capped the 10-0 run. The hosts had a 29-13 lead as the visitors used a timeout with 7:13 on the clock.

The Bulls responded to BG's 10-0 run with a run of their own. Brown hit layups on back-to-back possessions, and Zuber then scored four-straight points, with a pair of free throws and a driving layup. That 8-0 burst cut the Falcons' lead to single digits, 29-21.

Several minutes later, UB got within six points, as Brown's layup with 3:34 left before the break made the score 31-25. But, Hennegan's sweet no-look, over-the-shoulder pass to Uhl resulted in a layup as the house roared, and Prochaska came up with a steal and hit a three-pointer on the next possession for a 36-25 advantage.

In the final minute of the period, Pontius drove the lane, drew several defenders toward her and skipped a pass to a wide-open Kelly Zuercher. The senior post knocked down her layup try to give BG a 13-point lead.

Zuber's three-pointer cut BG's lead to 10, but Pontius took a pass from Prochaska and drained a triple try of her own with mere seconds left in the half, giving the Brown and Orange a 41-28 lead at the break.

The Falcons shot 51.6% from the floor in that opening period, and BG had a 16-4 advantage in points off turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

Hennegan and Uhl combined for 21 first-half points, with Hennegan scoring 11 and Uhl 10. Prochaska had nine points in the opening period.

Brown scored 16 points in the opening half, and would match that feat with 16 more points in the second stanza.

But, in that second period, BG made eight of nine shots over the first five-plus minutes, outscoring the Bulls by a 21-10 count in that time. The Falcons went 4-for-4 during the latter stretch of that time, with all four makes coming from three-point land. The middle two threes came from the hand of Prochaska, just 24 seconds apart.

Prochaska got an assist on Uhl's layup to open the half, then drove the lane and hit a layup of her own on BG's second possession of the period. Pontius drove the baseline from left to right, dribbling under the hoop before whirling and firing a pass to a wide-open Hennegan for a layup and a 47-28 lead.

Hennegan's entry pass to Uhl resulted in another layup, giving the Falcons an 8-0 run and a 21-point lead. Bridgette Kendricks scored inside at the 16:46 mark for UB's first points of the period, but Uhl knocked down a trey for a 52-30 BG lead.

Kendricks scored again after a steal, and Brown hit a pair of layups. But, Prochaska answered each of Brown's two-pointers with three-pointers, giving the hosts a 58-36 edge.

The Falcons' career scoring leader then hit a free throw, before Pontius took a handoff from Uhl and nailed a straightaway trey. UB answered with an 8-0 surge, and the Bulls were still within 16 points after the teams traded layups midway through the period. But, the Brown and Orange scored 10-straight points to salt away the victory.

That run began with three free throws, one by Uhl and two by Prochaska. Then, Prochaska found Steffen curling around a screen for a three-pointer and a 70-48 lead with under nine minutes remaining. Freshman Jillian Halfhill knocked down an acrobatic layup, and Hennegan got a steal at the defensive end, which resulted in a Prochaska jumper and a 26-point advantage with 7:32 left.

Steffen drilled a pair of three-pointers just 20 seconds apart, and Pontius slipped out to the left corner, in front of her team's bench, and hit another trey with 4:41 left. The Falcons' lead was a game-high 29 points, 83-54.

UB scored the next six points, but Albert hit a layup with three minutes left, and sophomores Allison Papenfuss, Maribeth Giese and Simone Eli all scored before the night was done.

Eli's shot was from three-point land with approximately five seconds on the clock, and will go down as quite possibly the last basket by a BG women's basketball player in Anderson Arena history. Halfhill had the Falcons' final assist, firing the ball out to Eli after grabbing an offensive rebound.

Let the record show that UB's Nicki Hopkins scored the final points, hitting a three-pointer at the final buzzer to cap the scoring.

BGSU shot a blistering 55.9% from the field in the second period, going 19-of-34 from the field and 9-of-19 (47.4%) from three-point land after the half.

Steffen had nine points for the hosts, while a total of seven Falcons hit a shot off the bench in the victory. BG held a 36-30 rebounding edge, with Uhl grabbing six and Hennegan and Steffen four each.

Halfhill had three offensive rebounds in seven minutes of work, and also dished out a pair of assists. Havel grabbed three rebounds at the defensive end, and also had a pair of assists on Wednesday night.

Fortman had 10 points for the Bulls, while Zuber added eight and Kendricks six. Kendricks had four assists and three steals.

In the late stages of the game, Falcon coach Curt Miller took each of his seniors out of the lineup to thunderous applause from the home fans. Hennegan, who is in her second playing season at BGSU after transferring from Saint Louis University, left the game with 4:38 on the clock.

Pontius came out of the game at the 3:52 mark, and Miller called several 'substitution timeouts' in the final few minutes, removing Uhl with 3:28 left and taking Prochaska out of the game with 2:58 remaining.

With the clock stopped at 1:31, Miller took Albert, then Zuercher, out of the game for the final time. All six seniors scored at least one field goal in the victory, combining for 70 of BG's 92 points. The seniors also had 17 total assists against just seven turnovers.

The Falcons' MAC Tournament quarterfinal game, against either NIU or Ohio, will be next Wednesday, March 9, at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.

FALCON NOTES
* The Falcons tied a school record by making 16 three-point field goals in Wednesday night's win ... BG made 16 treys in a home win over Akron on Jan. 26, 2000, then tied the mark on Jan. 16, 2008, in a victory at Kent State.

* Wednesday's game, as mentioned, was "Senior Night" at Anderson Arena ... the team's six seniors -- Chelsea Albert, Maggie Hennegan, Tracy Pontius, Lauren Prochaska, Jen Uhl and Kelly Zuercher -- were recognized in pregame ceremonies ... the team's two senior managers, Kyle Jefferson and Chris Simler, also received recognition.

* The Falcons are now a perfect 10-0 in "Senior Day/Night" contests in the Curt Miller Era, and BGSU is 15-1 in the last 16 such contests.

* With the win, the Falcons improved to 14-1 at Anderson this year, tying the school record for home wins in a season ... BGSU also went 14-1 at home two years ago (2008-09).

* BGSU has won 46 of the last 48 games at venerable Anderson Arena ... 41 of those 46 wins have come by double digits.

* The Falcons improve to 333-116 all-time at Anderson Arena, a winning percentage of 74.1% ... the team's record was even better in MAC play, as BGSU had a league mark of 192-54 -- a success rate of 78.0% -- at "The House That Roars."

* BGSU has posted a record of 103-24 at Anderson Arena during the Curt Miller Era ... the Falcons are 83-7 (92.2%) at home over the last seven seasons.

* In MAC play, the Falcons went 63-16 in the Miller Era, including a conference mark of 50-5 at Anderson over the last seven years ... not coincidentally, BGSU won division titles in all seven of those seasons.

* Senior Lauren Prochaska moved into third place on the Mid-American Conference career scoring list ... Prochaska now has 2,225 career points, and has moved ahead of former Western Michigan star Carrie Moore ... Moore had 2,224 points from 2003-07 ... Prochaska now trails only Kim Knuth (Toledo, 2,509 points from 1995-99) and Caroline Mast (Ohio, 2,449 points from 1982-86) on the MAC chart.