| (Photo: Andrew Weber/Sentinel-Tribune) |
The mission for Bowling Green’s Tracy Pontius— stop Miami’s Courtney Osborn.
Advantage Pontius after the Falcons’ 90-52 shellacking of the RedHawks Saturday afternoon in Anderson
Arena.
During the entire preparation for the game with Miami, BG head Curt Miller kept telling Pontius that
Osborn was the best point-guard in the Mid-American Conference and she would go off for 50 points
against the Falcons. PHOTO
GALLERY
Pontius and her
teammates accepted the challenge and Osborn, who was averaging 17.7 points per game heading into
Saturday’s action, was held to four points.
“I heard about it all week,” Pontius said. “That was one of my goals. I knew if I could get stops on
defense, that would get my offense going.”
Osborn was 1-of-6 from the floor, 0-of-2 on threes, and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line while playing 37
minutes before fouling out. Osborn had four assists and five turnovers.
“Tracy took it personally,” Miller said. “I think they were tired of hearing us tell them that Courtney
Osborn is the best player in the league.
“I won’t back off that Courtney Osborn is a once-in-a-lifetime player in this league. But it was team
defense — Tracy’s work on her, but our team calling screens, making it hard for her to get open looks
off the screens,” Miller added.
Miami’s other double-digit scorers were also held in check. Maggie Boyer, who was averaging 13.5 points a
game, was held to five points and Rachael Hencke, who was averaging 10.2 ppg, scored six points. Lauren
Prochaska had the primary assignment on Boyer and Chrissy Steffen was on Hencke.
“It was a great performance trying to take their superstars away,” Miller said.
“I just knew we had to keep them off the foul line,” Steffen said.
Miami had 24 turnovers in the game, with BG making eight steals, leading to 40 points for the Falcons.
“We came out and we got deflections which was a big key,” Pontius said.
The points off turnovers were a big factor with the Falcons putting 90 points on the board. Four of the
five starters scored in double-digits for BG, including Steffen who matched her career-high with 15
points.
The Falcons also got good play off the bench and were able to work the ball inside for 30 points in the
paint. The Falcons’ bench out-scored the RedHawks, 33-18.
“Our bench, I give them a lot of credit. They contributed to our success and that’s what we need is bench
scoring,” Pontius said.
Bowling Green was going so well to start the game that Prochaska, BG’s leading scorer at 20.2 ppg., did
not score until the Falcons had already put 30 points on the board.
“When they elected to basically face-guard Lauren … We were not getting many open looks for her, (it)
created more openings for other people,” Miller said. “We stuck with the game plan and Lauren became
more of a distributor, more of a decoy, early in the game.”
Prochaska finished with 12 points.
“Teams key on her, which opens it up for the others,” Pontius said.
The Falcons started quickly and was up 14-2 with 14:34 left in the first half. BG’s lead never went under
double figures the rest of the way.
BG was up 42-20 at the half as Pontius scored 10 of her 13 points and Maggie Hennegan added nine of her
11. Hencke, Osborn and Boyer were held scoreless in the first half.
The second half was more of the same for the Falcons as Steffen scored 10 of her 15 points in the second
half.
“For us to be able shut them down and keep them in the 50s is a credit to our kids’ attention to detail
in the scouting report and really trying each and every possession to make them work as hard as
possible,” Miller said.
NOTES: BG is now 14-1 overall and 2-0 in the MAC, having won 14 straight games … Miami is 8-7, 0-2 …
The Falcons have won 21 straight home games and 40 of their last 41 at home … The RedHawks used three
time outs in the first 12:40 of the game, but could not slow the Falcons down … Freshman Jill Stein
was the first post player off the bench for BG and she finished with four points and two rebounds in 11
minutes of play … Miami had three players foul out … The Falcons host Akron Wednesday with tipoff at
7 p.m.
