You can go a long way with a good defense, no matter what sport you are playing.
And while Bowling Green’s women’s basketball team is known for its potent offense, averaging 76.3 points
per game, head coach Curt Miller likes the way his team has been playing defense. BG is 14-1 overall and
2-0 in the Mid-American Conference, having won 14 straight games.
The Falcons host Akron Wednesday at 7 p.m.
"The surprising thing to me … is how good our defense has been," Miller said.
The Falcons are allowing 54.7 points per game and opposing teams are shooting 37.2 percent from the
field, including 26.4 percent on 3-pointers. BG also holds a plus-5.1 rebounding advantage.
Bowling Green is putting up the big defensive numbers even after graduating Tara Breske and Tamika Nurse,
who Miller said were the two best athletes on last year’s team.
"It was a real concern on how we would be defensively," Miller said. "So far we have been
a pretty good defensive team and that will need to be even better if we are going to win the MAC. But we
like where we are defensively right now."
Seniors Lauren Prochaska (19.7 ppg) and Tracy Pontius (13.0 ppg) are BG’s top two scorers. The duo has
combined for 71 3-pointers.
AKRON: The Zips are 8-6 overall and 1-1 in the MAC, losing to Buffalo (61-45) and beating Ohio (54-45).
"They are a tough team to prepare for since they run so many different sets and have a lot of
counters for what you try to do to them," Miller said.
"They have a good balance between very, very young kids with great athleticism, but they still have
the wily veteran in Kara Murphy that you have to plan for, as a senior and one of the toughest wings in
the league," Miller continued. "It’s a team, that’s very, very dangerous."
The 5-foot-8 Murphy is averaging 10.p ppg.
Rachel Tecca, a 6-1 sophomore, also has Miller’s attention after scoring 26 points last season against
the Falcons in Anderson Arena.
This season Tecca is averaging 17.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
Taylor Ruper, a 5-9 sophomore, is averaging 10.6 ppg with a team-high 37 3-pointers.
NEXT: Bowling Green plays at Kent State Saturday with tipoff at 2 p.m.
