Facing perhaps the toughest non-conference schedule in school history, Bowling Green’s women’s basketball
team opens the season Friday hosting Chicago State in the Preseason WNIT. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. in
Anderson Arena.
The Chicago State-Bowling Green winner faces the Eastern Illinois-Ohio State winner in the 16-team
Preseason WNIT. Each team is guaranteed three games.
"It’s a prestigious tournament. We’re excited to be one of the 16 teams," said BG head coach
Curt Miller. "Obviously I’m excited about it being a home game. It’s a credit to our crowds and our
support throughout the years."
In addition to a possible matchup at Ohio State, currently ranked No. 3 in the nation, the Falcons plays
road games at Vanderbilt, St. Bonaventure, Hartford, Oakland (Mich.) and Canisius.
"This year’s schedule … doesn’t have the luxury of playing through some growing pains,"
Miller said. "If we don’t play well out of the gates early this year, we’ll take on some losses.
Our team is mature enough to understand that could potentially happen, but certainly we don’t want it to
happen.
"We’ve said all along we may have more losses in non-conference this year than we’ve had in
(complete) seasons and that doesn’t mean we’re playing bad basketball," he added. "It was time
to play a tougher schedule. It might be too tough, but it can only help us going into the MAC
(Mid-American Conference)."
First up is Chicago State, 16-13 a year ago, led by sisters Alyssa Waldon, a 5-feet-9 senior, and
Courtney Waldon, a 6-1 junior. Alyssa started the first 16 games last season, averaging 11.9 ppg with 34
3-pointers, before being sidelined with an injury. Courtney averaged 10.8 ppg and 5.2 rebounds per game,
making 77 3-pointers.
The Cougars also have two transfers – Caila Desroches, 6-4 from Monroe (N.Y.) Community College and
Tressa Beckel, 6-0, from Wisconsin – who will contribute right away. Beckel was a redshirt at
Wisconsin-Green Bay in 2006-07 and competed in track at Wisconsin in 2007-08.
"Chicago State is a very, very under-rated team. They opened their year last year by beating
Northwestern of the Big Ten," Miller said.
Miller said the Falcons "got destroyed" in a closed scrimmage against Michigan earlier this
week and "is working hard trying to figure out how to win this Chicago State game."
The Falcons return 10 letter winners, including four starters, from last year’s team that posted the
second-highest win total in school and MAC history. BGSU went 29-5 overall, including a 15-1 MAC record,
in 2008-09. The Falcons won a fifth consecutive MAC regular-season title and advanced to the third round
of the WNIT.
The list of returnees 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.
Prochaska averaged 17.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last season and led the nation in free-throw
shooting at 93.3 percent. Pontius, 77 3-pointers, averaged 14.8 points and 4.1 assists per game last
season.
Prochaska has been slowed by the flu and mono during the preseason.
"She’s certainly not 100 percent. The flu bug and mononucleosis … really took a toll on her,"
Miller said. "Her conditioning is not back 100 percent.
"We’re still counting on her to be our leader and go-to player offensively."
Miller is also planning on Prochaska, Breske and transfer Tamika Nurse to lead the defensive effort.
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 letter winners.
There are also two transfers who are eligible this year. Fifth-year senior Nurse (Oregon) and redshirt
junior Maggie Hennegan (Saint Louis) participated in practices at BG last season, but sat out the year
after transferring from other NCAA Division-I schools.
The freshmen are Jessie Tamerlano, Allison Papenfuss, Anthony Wayne High School, Chrissy Steffen and
walk-on Simone Eli, Genoa High School. Danielle Havel is sitting out this season after transferring from
DePaul. – CARLE
