BG women at Miami

2/23/2008

BG wins 81-66. Big, big victory for the Falcons. Don't let the final score fool you. It was a very hard fought win.

OXFORD, Ohio --- I decided watching Curt Miller having a chance of breaking the program win mark was more important than a lackluster BracketBuster. This is also a big game in terms of the conference standings. Miami and BG are tied atop the MAC at 9-3 and I predict that the winner will at least share the title.

- Should Miller etch his name in history, there is a strong BG cheering section here to see it. We typically don t go on the road to cover women s game, but I m assuming this is as strong as the fans have traveled all year.

- BG played as poorly as I ve seen them all season when Miami pulled out a 63-60 victory in January at Anderson Arena. The three-point deficit was very deceiving as BG scored a lot of points with about a minute to go. Miami s zone gave the Falcons all sorts of trouble, which will likely be the story from this game as well --- good or bad.

- Amanda Jackson leads the MAC in scoring at 22.6 ppg. Kent s Anna Kowalska is a distant second at 17.2 ppg. Jackson scored 27 points against BG in January when she drove to the basket will little trouble. Aside from BG attacking Miami s zone, the biggest key to the game is containing Jackson.

- Starting lineups. BG: Murdaugh, Breske, Goldsberry, Prochaska, Achter. Miami: Jackson, Schone, Hawkins, Markwood, Ford.

Halftime update

-Miami leads 35-33 in a very good and entertaining game. Both teams are playing very well, setting up what will almost surely be an excellent second half. BG is shooting 46 percent and Miami 44. The Turnovers are about the same as well --- 13 for BG, 10 for Miami.

-Kate Achter scored all four of her points on drives to the basket late in the half, her first true chances of attacking the lane all day. Miami coach Maria Fantanarosa was livid about it when I walked into the hallway a few minutes ago.

-Jen Uhl leads BG with 11 points and hit a big 3-pointer to cut Miami s lead to 33-29. I d like to think today s feature story on Uhl provided her some good luck. Usually I jinx the topic of my stories.

-Foul trouble could become an issue this half. Tara Breske has three, and Achter and Lindsey Goldsberry have two. Chelsea Albert has been great with Breske on the bench. Goldsberry is playing great defense on Amanda Jackson (seven points on 1 of 6 shooting).