BUFFALO — On Tuesday, Bowling Green shook off any early ill effects from its 44-43 loss to Kent State
last Saturday, and went on to post a 72-61 Mid-American Conference victory over Buffalo.
The Falcons are 16-2 overall and 4-1 in the MAC East while Buffalo is 9-9, 2-3.
“I would love to be 5-0 (in the MAC), but I’m really pleased to be 4-1,” BG head coach Curt Miller said.
“Through the MAC East the first time at 4-1 keeps us in the race. We’re right there in the thick of
things.”
The Bulls started strong, scoring in transition and on second-chance opportunities.
The Falcons then worked hard to take those chances away and, combined with 30 points from Lauren
Prochaska, rallied for the win.
“Overall, it was another good defensive performance by us,” Miller said.
“Lauren played a fantastic game and we saw a multitude of defenses from the triangle-and-two, to zone, to
man,” Miller added. “We did a good job of attacking and taking what they gave us.
“We needed to get the game in the upper 60s and 70s and we did that.”
Buffalo was up 18-8 after a layup from Kourtney Brown with 12:22 left in the opening half.
The Falcons responded with seven straight points in less than two minutes to make sure the Bulls didn’t
run away.
The Falcons went ahead to stay, 29-27, on Prochaska’s 3-pointer with 2:58 to play in the opening half.
Prochaska followed with another three just six seconds later after a UB turnover. The BG coaching staff
was trying set up a play after the turnover, but Prochaska had an opening and let the shot fly early in
the shot clock.
Chrissy Steffen followed with a 3-pointer for the Falcons with 1:16 left as BG closed the first half on a
21-4 run to take a 38-29 lead into the break.
Prochaska had 17 of her 30 points in the first half and Steffen added eight of her 11. BG was 5-of-11 on
threes in the opening half and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.
Buffalo got within five points twice in the opening five minutes of the second half, but the Falcons
never let the Bulls get any closer.
BG was 13-of-14 from the free-throw line in the second half, making 7-of-8 in the final five minutes.
Prochaska led the way in the game, going 12-of-12 from the line and Steffen was 5-of-6.
“They certainly hit some shots in the first half to get the lead and we had some key players in foul
trouble,” said UB head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. “We did a better job defensively in the second half,
but to their credit they got to the foul line and hit their shots and that was the difference in the
game.”
Brown recorded the 40th double-double of her Buffalo career with 14 points and 15 rebounds. She also had
six blocked shots and three steals.
The Falcons held Brown nine points below her scoring averaging coming into the game.
“We did a great job against one of the best running teams in the league and really stopped them from
getting the fast-break points that they have been (scoring) against the rest of the MAC East,” Miller
said.
Miller was pleased with the defensive effort on Brown, but he said the key was slowing down Ashley Zuber,
Zuber finished with 10 points and nine assists, but BG limited her efforts in transition.
NOTES: Steffen also had nine rebounds for BG, just missing a double-double … BG starts its six-game
swing through the MAC West, hosting Central Michigan Saturday with tipoff at noon. The game will be
televised by SportsTime Ohio.