Slagle honored for sportsmanship
8/7/2012BOWLING GREEN -- The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team saw its hopes of opening the Stroh Center with an upset victory over nationally ranked Purdue dashed in the final moments.
Courtney Moses made a layup in the final seconds to help the Boilermakers escape with a win. Earlier in the game, BG's Jessica Slagle had helped Moses when the Purdue guard bumped heads with another player while chasing a loose ball. The collision led to a gash, and Slagle held Moses up and applied a towel to stanch the bleeding.
While the loss still burns -- "It's still hard to think about that game," Slagle admitted -- the Falcons' recently graduated senior said she has no regrets about helping Moses.
"I don't want to be known as a player who didn't help others -- teammates or opponents," Slagle said. "Basketball is just a game. There are other things that mean more."
Slagle recently received recognition for that attitude from the NCAA, which named her one of four student-athletes nationally to receive the NCAA Sportsmanship Award, which is given for notable displays of sporting behavior.
"I've always held myself to a high standard on the court in terms of sportsmanship," Slagle said. "But I was surprised and really honored to be nominated."
Slagle's nomination form mentioned her actions in the Purdue contest as well as several other contests. In the Falcons' win over Butler, she helped a player who had blood coming from a head wound, and in the home victory over Ohio Slagle stayed with the Bobcats' Ashley Fowler when the latter appeared to suffer a shoulder injury.
SEALEY TO EUROPE: Craig Sealey, a junior forward on the Bowling Green men's basketball team, is part of an eight-man team that will play five games in Belgium and Holland over the next six days.
Last season Sealey came off the bench, playing in all 32 BG games. He finished sixth on the team in both scoring (3.8) and rebounding (2.6).
-- John Wagner