NCAA Tournament Blog

The BGSU Athletics Department (in particular, Jason Knavel) will be blogging during today's women's NCAA Tournament game against Georgia Tech, which is set for an 11:20 AM tip-off. Follow right here all day for the latest news.
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1:17 PM - It is now over here at St. John Arena. Georgia Tech defeats Bowling Green 69-58. So ends the careers of six Falcon players. Lauren Prochaska and Tracy Pontius got huge ovations after being checked out with 10 seconds left. We'll have much more on BGSUFalcons.com later today!

1:06 PM - Into the final media timeout, BG has begun to find the range from long distance but the Falcons will need a bunch here late. Down 63-52 with 3:53 to go, the Falcons are going to have to play perfectly down the stretch to get back into this.

12:54 PM - BG in a really critical stretch now, down 12 with 8 minutes left. Falcons are going to have to find a way to get a rhythm going offensively.

12:40 PM - Sasha Goodlett picked up a couple of fouls after Georgia Tech's lead ballooned to nine. The Falcons came back with four straight to get back to within five.With Goodlett on the bench, GT's biggest post presence can't hurt the Falcons.

12:32 PM - Lauren Prochaska has been active to start the second half but much of the rest of the team looks a bit tentative. As such, GT went on a 10-4 run to get a little breathing room. Falcons trail 43-36 with 15:40 left. Sooner or later, BG is going to need some three-pointers it appears to open things up.

12:22 PM - BGSU without a three-pointer in the entire first half and still down just one? Georgia Tech with a lot of foul trouble heading into the second half. Lauren Prochaska played the best half of basketball I've seen her play in awhile with 15 points and taking it aggressively to the tin. This second half will be a doozy.

12:08 PM - Danielle Havel provided BG with a huge lift at the end of the half. It felt like Georgia Tech was taking over with an 8-0 run to take a 33-28 lead. Havel knocked down a big jumper with 28 seconds left and the shotclock running down. After GT took a shot with about 10 seconds left, BG pushed the ball. Tracy Pontius' shot was tipped but Havel picked up the rebound and put it up and in as time expired. 33-32 Georgia Tech at the break.

11:58 AM - Crazy to think that BG has attempted just 1 three-pointer and made none but still leads Georgia Tech 28-27 at the final media timeout of the first half. Neither team has hit a long range shot yet and the Yellow Jackets are in a heap of foul trouble with two players have three fouls each and Sasha Goodlett with 2 fouls. We'll see if Georgia Tech's depth is very strong.

11:49 AM - Lauren Prochaska has come to play today. Already 13 points (7/7 FT) and will be at the line to shoot 1-and-1 following the media timeout. Georgia Tech leads 25-24 but this feels like a game that will be close late.

11:36 AM - Both offenses have settled in a bit. Georgia Tech is so much bigger and is killing the Falcons on the boards. BG, on the other hand, is running some solid offense and getting good looks in good spots. 16-14 Georgia Tech leads but Prochaska will be at the line to shoot two shots after the media timeout.

11:28 AM - At the first media timeout, BG is tied 6-6. Prochaska and Steffen have combined to go 4/4 at the free-throw line but Georgia Tech has scored four straight. The Yellow Jackets have been really physical so far but have committed five fouls. That could loom large as we get deeper into this game.

11:09 AM - National Anthem just concluded. I finally looked at the crowd behind me and the BG "unofficial" sections looked totally packed. What a GREAT crowd here today. It's awesome to see.

10:59 AM - BGSU enters the court for the final time with 18 minutes left on the clock (3 more minutes until tip after that). The Falcon fans far outnumber the Georgia Tech fans. Let's hope the sixth man is key today!

10:41 AM - Starting lineups have now been provided. For BGSU -- Guards Tracy Pontius and Lauren Prochaska, forwards Chrissy Steffen and Jen Uhl, and center Maggie Hennegan. For Georgia Tech -- Guards Deja Foster and Metra Wathour, forwards Chelsea Regins and Alex Montgomery, and center Sasha Goodlett.

10:40 AM - Got an update on the BGSU fan busses. Falcon Club brought two busses with about 85 people and they have arrived. Great to have them in the house!

10:36 AM - The BGSU band is now in the arena. Looking forward to a little Ay Ziggy Zooma this morning! The band, by the way, gets the privelege of playing the National Anthem before today's game.

10:21 AM - You can take a look at the ESPN coverage map here to see if you will be able to watch BG/Georgia Tech in your locale: ESPN Coverage Map

10:18 AM - Just received the list of officials for today's game. Mark Zentz, Michael McConnell, and Angela Enlund if that means anything to you or if you care.

10:16 AM - So, the Blade's John Wagner and I were standing on press row talking and a song came on over the PA system. Sadly, John knew that it was Justin Bieber and he started singing along to it, "Baby, Baby, Baby". I've lost all respect for him now.

10:14 AM - I'll try to do the rundown of all the ways to follow today's game. Watch it on ESPN2 or on your computer at ESPN3.com. You can listen to the game in BG on 88.1 FM or else via the live audio link at BGSUFalcons.com.

10:07 AM - Shook hands with MAC Commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher this morning when he arrived at St. John Arena. It's great to see the support from the MAC offices for the Falcons!

9:59 AM - BGSU is the first team to take to the floor this morning. Georgia Tech followed about four minutes later.

9:53 AM - The team arrived at St. John Arena safely. Saw a lot of BG fans walking from the check-in gate to the locker room. Can't wait to see the sea of orange in the arena today.

7:50 AM - There was a nice article on Lauren Prochaska in today's Columbus Dispatch. You can read it at the Dispatch Website (click here for link). As the media relations director, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the work John Wagner at the Blade and Jack Carle at the Sentinel-Tribune have done all year in covering this team. You can read John's story on the pressure BGSU will face today (click here for link). You can view Jack's stories leading up to today's game at the Sentinel-Tribune website (click here for link).

7:31 AM - Welcome to the blog for today's game against Georgia Tech. The team just finished breakfast and is getting ready to leave the hotel for the game in a couple of hours. Everyone seems pretty loose and excited to play.

Women's Basketball Housekeeping

Hello all. The women's basketball Falcons are in Athens, Ohio, preparing to begin the Mid-American Conference portion of the schedule. The team had a lovely trip from Bowling Green to Athens, by way of the Pontius household. Tracy's family treated the players, coaches and staff to a tremendous dinner -- dinner at the players' houses is always spectacular, and tonight was certainly no exception.

After dinner, several brave folks showed off their skills after a copy of Just Dance 2 was discovered. The action was as incredible as it is indescribable, and hopefully some video evidence will be made available, but that's (again, hopefully) another blog entry for another time.

While the team was en route from BGSU to Athens, a few things happened that you will not read in your game notes at BGSUFalcons.com. Among them ...

* The NCAA released the women’s basketball RPI rankings for the first time in 2011 ... the Falcons were ranked 46th in the nation in those rankings, which were through games of Sunday (Jan. 2) ... BGSU has posted five wins against teams currently ranked in the top 100 of the RPI this year to date (Vanderbilt - 52; Creighton - 55; UALR - 64; Detroit - 65; Western Kentucky - 90).

* The latest USA Today ESPN Coaches Poll was released ... BG received 26 points, making the Falcons the third team listed in the ‘others receiving votes’ category ... 25th-ranked Oklahoma State had 41 points.

* ESPN.com’s latest Mid-Major Top 10 was revealed on Tuesday ... Graham Hays, who visited a BG practice last week, had the Falcons ranked third behind Xavier and Marist ... the ESPN.com web site also unveiled a Bracketology projection on Tuesday ... the Falcons were listed as one of the 64 schools projected to make the tournament, as a number-nine seed ... the mock bracket had BG facing Northwestern in a first-round game in Storrs, Conn. ... BGSU also was mentioned in Charlie Creme's related column.

* The latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major rankings were announced on Tuesday ... the Falcons are again second, trailing only Green Bay ... BG received 741 points and two first-place votes ... Green Bay had 770 total points and 27 first-place votes ... Florida Gulf Coast, listed third, garnered the other two first-place votes.

* In another Mid-Major poll (LadySwish's Silent Majority Rankings), the Falcons were ranked third this week, behind only Xavier and Marist.

If you can't make it to Athens for Wednesday's game, you can follow it in many of the usual ways via BGSUFalcons.com. Live video, live stats and live audio will be available, all free of charge (or so I'm told). Roll Along!

Sunday in Seattle

After winning a pair of games at the Seattle University Thanksgiving Tournament, the women's basketball Falcons took a little time to visit the Space Needle before heading home. On Sunday (Nov. 28), the players, coaches and staff headed up to the observation deck and checked out the view before having brunch at the restaurant ...



After brunch, senior Jen Uhl took a few minutes to share her thoughts on the Space Needle, the Falcons' win over Seattle the night before, and a myriad of other subjects.



Jen was kind enough to film a few videos during the trip, which can be found at Inside the Nest.

Falcons in Seattle

The women's basketball trip to Seattle continued to go well on Friday night (Nov. 26), as the Falcons picked up a 56-47 win over a tough UALR team. You can read about the game here.

On Saturday (Nov. 27), the Falcons prepared for Seattle, with a film & scout session as well as an early-afternoon shootaround. The team also found time for a little bit of sightseeing, however, venturing to the Pike's Place Market area. Here are a few brief videos of that trip. In the first video, the team takes a moment to pose for photos before heading off to explore the area. See if you can spot head coach Curt Miller in the video!




Assistant coach Kevin Eckert explained to freshmen Jillian Halfhill and Noelle Yoder that rubbing the pig statue would bring good luck, so the trio did just that.




The team returned to the hotel after the pregame meal, and sophomore Allison Papenfuss took a few moments to talk about the trip, the win over UALR and the Seattle game.






If all goes well, there will be video of a postgame interview or two after the Falcons' game vs. Seattle Friday night at BGSUFalcons.com.

Checking in from Seattle ... Jill Stein

Hello, Mike Cihon here (in case the blog says 'posted by Jason Knavel' or something similar - I'm not the best at remembering my username and password, but enough about that). The women's basketball team is in Seattle to play a pair of games in Seattle University's tournament this weekend. I am going to take a page from Mr. Knavel's book and try to interview some team members periodically.

The first unfortunate victim in my great experiment is freshman Jill Stein. Jill was chosen in part because she was the only team member who had never flown before yesterday. She was kind enough to take a few minutes to chat with me, and the video is below. Enjoy!

BGSU Women's Basketball Photo Shoot

You might have noticed that I shot some video of the women's basketball team's photo shoot on Wednesday -- I will attempt to improve the quality of my filming, but that's another subject for another time. The main page of BGSUFalcons.com contains some video of the team picture and individual shots outside Anderson Arena, along with the photo shoot of the seniors inside the building.

Here, as a special bonus to you, the BGSUFalcons.com blog enthusiast, are a few additional videos of the individual sessions involving Lauren Prochaska and Tracy Pontius. Enjoy!

Women's Basketball Odds & Ends

I’ve been meaning to mention a few Falcon women’s basketball-related honors and achievements for a few weeks now, and today's the big day. Some BGSU (and former BGSU) greats have been in the news lately, and certainly deserve a mention here ...

* Former BGSU women’s basketball coach Fran Voll and one of his players, Jeanne Arnzen Gulick, were inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame over the weekend. Voll compiled an eye-popping record of 208-17 during nine years as the girls basketball coach at Delphos St. John’s High School, then came to BGSU in 1984 and went 144-60. During that time, the Falcons won three MAC regular-season championships, four MAC Tournament titles and made four consecutive trips to the NCAA Championships from 1987-90.

* Gulick, as Jeanne Arnzen, was a starter under Voll on Delphos St. John’s teams that made three consecutive trips to the state tournament, winning the Class A championship in 1977 and the Class AA title in 1979 after losing in the AA semifinals in ‘78. She played two years at Northern Kentucky University before playing her final two seasons at BGSU.

* The Delphos Herald and Marion Star each did stories on the Hall of Fame induction.

* Laura Bugher, who recently completed her four-year playing career with the Falcons, was one of three University students chosen by the BGSU Board of Trustees to receive its Leadership Scholarship. The scholarship is given to students with outstanding records of leadership, academic achievement and social commitment.

* The BGSU women’s basketball banquet was held a few weeks ago at Olscamp Hall. The list of individual award winners can be found here at BGSUFalcons.com. I don’t have a ton to add to what’s in the release, other than to say that this was truly a special night. I’ve been to many, many banquets over the years, and being old, bitter and jaded (not necessarily in that order), I have sat through a few that have lasted far, far too long. This one, though, lasted close to three hours, but was incredibly entertaining from start to finish. All of the speakers were great, and all four seniors – Bugher, Tara Breske, Sarah Clapper and Tamika Nurse – gave very good speeches. In fact, Tamika’s speech may have been the finest senior speech I have ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of them. If I were in position to hire her for an on-air job at ESPN (or TMZ, for that matter), I would do so in a heartbeat. If anyone has video of Tamika’s speech, let me know and I’ll try to link it to this blog.

* The 2009-10 team was quite successful on the court, but the student-athletes were just as stellar in the classroom. Yesterday, I posted a release on the team’s academic accomplishments, and there are a lot of them.

* Coach Curt Miller and emcee Larry Weiss provided a few pieces of information at the banquet that you may or may not be aware of. First off, Miller announced that seniors-to-be Maggie Hennegan and Lauren Prochaska will be the co-captains of the 2010-11 Falcons. The head coach also announced that rising seniors Tracy Pontius and Kelly Zuercher, along with rising junior Jessica Slagle, will join Hennegan and Prochaska on the team’s leadership council. This group will have a say in the day-to-day operation of the team, on and off the court.

* As the banquet wrapped up, Weiss mentioned that the Falcons will open the home portion of the 2010-11 schedule with a game against Creighton on Monday, Nov. 15. He added that the Creighton game will be one of at least six non-conference games at Anderson Arena. With the Falcons assured of eight MAC games at home, that means you've got 14 more chances to see BGSU play at Anderson. Along those lines ...

* As you know, the ’10-11 season will be the last at Anderson Arena, as we are “Closing the Doors on the House That Roars.” There is still time to vote for your favorite Falcons (for volleyball and men’s basketball, as well as women’s basketball) for the All-Anderson Teams, to share your favorite Anderson Memories, and to track the progress of the Stroh Center construction. You can do any or all of those things by Clicking Here. Roll Along!

Damon Beck

Hello, Falcon fans. Mike Cihon here. This is my first blog post this spring, and I'm sorry to start out on such a sad note.

Damon Beck passed away last week, and his loss is a big one for the BGSU athletic department and the Bowling Green community. He covered the BGSU women's basketball team for numerous years -- I'm not sure exactly how many, but I'm guessing it was at least 2 decades. He was a great writer and a great person. I knew of Damon when I was a student here at BGSU in the late 1980s, but didn't really get to know him personally until I returned as an assistant SID in 1996. He covered the women's basketball team for the Sentinel-Tribune, and served as a member of the AP voters as well.

It was evident that he had a real love of the game of women's basketball, and I like to think that we had a very good working relationship. I am not sure exactly which year he started spending his winters in Las Vegas, but he had covered the Falcons for approximately the first 6 or 7 years that I worked here. He was a great friend of the BGSU women's basketball program, and he will be missed.

Here is Damon's obituary from the Sentinel-Tribune. The text is below, and you can also read the story on the Sentinel's web site by clicking here ...

Damon V. Beck, 60, died Thursday (May 6, 2010) at Cleveland Clinic from complications of bladder cancer after a seven-month battle.

He was a national authority on women’s college basketball. For many years he covered the Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team for the Sentinel-Tribune, and received several writing awards. He was a member of the Associated Press panel of sports writers that weekly selected the top 25 women’s teams and cast ballots for All-America teams.

Damon coached Pee Wee League baseball in Bowling Green for many seasons during the 1980s.

Damon and his wife, Cindy, spent many years renovating an historic home on North Prospect Street in Bowling Green and in the past couple of years have been restoring a smaller home in Gibsonburg.

An aficionado of classic automobiles, Damon could identify the year, make, and model of a classic vehicle from sight and had restored a 1966 Mustang to original condition.

Damon was a graduate of Gibsonburg High School and Bowling Green State University with a degree in journalism.

He was born August 31, 1949 and married Cynthia Overbeck in 1971. Their only child, Colby, was born in 1971.

After the birth of his first granddaughter, the focus of his life turned to being a professional grandparent (or Gapa and GopGop, as he became known to his granddaughters).

After retirement he and Cindy began spending the winters in Las Vegas to be close to the grandchildren.

Damon is survived by his wife of 39 years Cindy; son Colby and daughter-in-law Stacey of Las Vegas; two granddaughters, Shelby and Kelsey; parents, Loren and Luella Beck, both of Gibsonburg; brothers Ladd and his wife Diane, of Gibsonburg, and Doug and his wife Kathy, of Holgate; sisters Renee Graser and her husband Larry, of Gibsonburg, and LaNette Beaverson and her husband Terry, of Van Wert; and nephews Jason Beck, Brandon Beck, Drew Williamson, Trevor Williamson, nieces Sheena Beaverson and her husband Mark Jones, Erin and her husband Bob and their son Travis and daughter Kaylie, Brittni Beck, and Jessica Beck and former brother-in-law Don Williamson. He is also survived by special friends Dave and Jamie Hilborn and Harold Brown and many aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Visitation will be Friday, May 14 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Herman-Kinn-Veh Funeral Home, Gibsonburg, Ohio.

Burial will be Saturday, May 15 at 11 a.m. in Oak Grove Cemetery, Bowling Green, Ohio, followed by a Celebration of Life at 1 p.m. in Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Gibsonburg.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that memorials be made to Taussig Cancer Institute in care of Dr. Dale Shepard, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave., R 35, Cleveland, Ohio, 44195.

Random Thoughts

This week’s been an interesting and exciting week for the sports I work with on a daily basis – men’s basketball, volleyball, and softball. For men’s basketball and volleyball, the Stroh Center Topping Off Ceremony took place Monday evening. As well, the men’s basketball program announced the addition of two student-athletes for next year. For softball, I’ve been working on nominations for All-MAC and preparing for the final week of the regular season. Just thought I’d pass on a few of my thoughts.

1 – We’ve had a lot of great freshmen performances this year (a couple off the top of my head are Jordan Samuels-Thomas and Susy Grunden), but I’m not sure any of those top what Paige Berger is doing in softball. Paige has already broken the program’s single-season home run record with 12 and ranks 16th nationally in homers per game. She is on pace to shatter the program’s single season slugging percentage record as she currently is slugging .800. And she’s pretty much dominating the MAC individually. In conference games, she leads the league in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, home runs, and RBI. It’s going to be interesting to see her develop over the next few years.

2 – Speaking of softball, things are going to be really interesting this weekend. Eight teams make the MAC Tournament and the Falcons are tied with Akron for seventh place in the league, just one game ahead of three other teams. In fact, BGSU plays one of those teams Friday when the Falcons are at Buffalo for a key doubleheader. The Falcons then finish the regular season at Kent State before hopefully competing in the MAC Tournament.

3 – I had a great time at the Stroh Center “Topping Off” Ceremony Monday evening. One of my favorite parts was getting to walk through the arena afterwards. You can really get a feel for what the building is going to be like and it’s going to be cozy in there. A lot of newer arenas lose a bit of the home-court advantage because of sheer size but that won’t be the case in the Stroh. I can’t wait for those first games in the new building.

4 – I’m excited about the 2010-11 men’s basketball recruiting class. As Coach Orr likes to say, this team’s DNA is built around a strong post presence offensively and defensively and it’s going to be hard to replace the three-headed monster inside of Otis Polk, Erik Marschall and Marc Larson. But an increased scoring punch and athleticism is something the team badly needs and it seems like Coach Orr, Coach Stone, Coach Twigg, and Coach Hopson addressed those needs in a big way.