Nine different players picked up awards as the Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team celebrated another successful season Saturday night (May 1). The BGSU Women’s Basketball Awards Banquet was held at Olscamp Hall on the BGSU campus. Junior Lauren Prochaska was named the team’s Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, in a vote of team members, while senior Tara Breske was voted the Power Player of the Year for the third-straight season. Junior Tracy Pontius picked up the Playmaker of the Year Award, while classmate Kelly Zuercher was named the team’s Most Improved Player. Senior Laura Bugher was selected as the Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive season, sharing the award with junior Jen Uhl this year. Senior Tamika Nurse was the Impact Player of the Year, while senior Sarah Clapper earned the Fran and Marty Voll Senior Achievement Award. Junior Maggie Hennegan was the winner of the Falcon Award, given to the person or persons who embody qualities such as dedication, commitment, effort and being the ultimate team player. Prochaska was named the Mid-American Conference’s Player of the Year for a second consecutive season, averaging 17.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in 2009-10. She scored a school-record 609 points on the year, and also set a BGSU single-season record with 92 three-point field goals made, the second-highest total in MAC history. Prochaska, who was also the MAC Tournament MVP in 2010, has scored 1,699 points during her first three years at BGSU, ranking third in school history. Breske, a team tri-captain in 2009-10, ended her career with 916 points, 561 rebounds and 104 blocked shots, ranking third in BGSU history in the latter category. She averaged 8.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, shooting .470 from the field and leading the Falcons in both steals (1.6 spg) and blocks (1.1 bpg). Breske was named to the Academic All-MAC Team for the second-straight year, and also was named to the MAC’s All-Tournament Team. Pontius, an All-MAC Second-Team selection, started all 34 games for the Falcons in 2009-10. She finished second on the team in scoring, with 11.7 points per game, and assists, with 3.0 per contest. Pontius shot .390 from three-point range, going 70-of-179 from long distance. That total placed her second on the team and sixth on the BGSU single-season list. After just two seasons as a starter, Pontius has a career total of 998 points. Zuercher set career bests in nearly every category in ’09-10, and in most cases surpassed her totals from her first two seasons combined. She played in 30 games off the bench, averaging 2.5 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. Zuercher averaged 3.4 points and 1.7 rebounds per game in MAC contests, including a career-high 10 points vs. Eastern Michigan. After playing 10 or more minutes in just three games over her first two years, Zuercher posted double-digit minutes-played totals in 14 games as a junior, including in seven of the final eight contests of the year. Bugher played in 23 games off the bench, averaging 1.1 points and 1.3 rebounds on the year. She made 11 of her 17 shot attempts (.647) on the season. Bugher was one of just two MAC players named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team, earning second-team honors, and also was selected to the Academic All-MAC Team. Bugher, named the Falcon Club Female Junior Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2008-09, has a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average as an early childhood education major with an intervention specialist minor. Uhl played in all 34 games in her junior season, starting each of the last 31. She averaged 7.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, ranking second on the team in boards. Uhl shot .497 from the field and hit 23 three-point field goals on the year. She was fifth on the team in scoring and first in rebounding in MAC games, with 7.6 ppg and 6.1 rpg. Uhl scored a season-high 20 points, going 8-of-11 from the field, in a win at Buffalo, and had a team-leading three double-doubles on the season. Nurse averaged 10.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in her lone playing season at BGSU. She started all 34 games for the Brown and Orange, and led the team in assists while ranking third in scoring. Nurse went 43-of-112 from three-point land, and was third on the team in both three-pointers made and three-point field-goal percentage (.384). She led the Falcons in free throws attempted and shot .773 from the line (133-of-172). Nurse finished third in the MAC in assist/turnover ratio (1.40). Clapper, a team tri-captain in her senior season, played in 31 games off the bench, the highest total of her career. She averaged 1.9 points in 6.5 minutes per game. Clapper shot .368 from three-point land, going 14-for-38. She scored a season-high nine points at Buffalo, including back-to-back triples midway through the second half. Clapper also made the final shot attempt of her career, hitting a three-pointer in the final minute of the Falcons’ NCAA Tournament game vs. Michigan State. For her career, Clapper played in 91 games, shooting nearly 33 percent from three-point land. Hennegan played in all 34 games in her first playing season at BGSU, making eight starts. Voted a captain by her teammates before ever playing in a game at BG, she averaged 4.5 points and 4.3 rebound per game, ranking sixth on the team in the former category and fourth in the latter. Hennegan averaged 4.7 ppg and a team-leading 7.0 rpg in the Falcons’ three MAC Tournament wins, and joined Bugher as the only two MAC players named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team. Hennegan, like Bugher, earned second-team honors. After the welcome by Master of Ceremonies Larry Weiss and the invocation by junior Chelsea Albert on Saturday evening, the crowd of several hundred banquet-goers was treated to dinner and a spectacular season video, with the latter coming courtesy of Julie Baker of BGSU Instructional Media. The team’s four seniors – Breske, Bugher, Clapper and Nurse – all had the opportunity to speak, sharing their thoughts and memories on their four years at BGSU (two years at BGSU, in Nurse’s case). Additionally, the Falcon first-year letterwinners – Hennegan, Nurse and freshmen Simone Eli, Allison Papenfuss, Chrissy Steffen and Jessie Tamerlano – were presented with their jackets. Head Coach Curt Miller also recapped the 2009-10 season and looked ahead to the 2010-11 campaign. And, the coach announced that Hennegan and Prochaska will be the team’s captains for ’10-11. The duo earned that distinction in a vote of their teammates. Hennegan will be a captain for the second-straight year. Miller also announced the formation of a team Leadership Council, a group of five players that will be involved in many of the decisions, policies, etc., regarding the program. That group will include Hennegan, Prochaska, Pontius, Zuercher and Jessica Slagle. The 2009-10 Falcons, of course, won the outright MAC regular-season championship for the sixth consecutive season, posting an overall record of 27-7 and a MAC mark of 14-2. BGSU also won the MAC Tournament for the fourth time in six seasons, advancing to the NCAA Championships. It marked BG’s sixth-straight season with a national postseason appearance. The team’s three fourth-year seniors were part of 113 wins during their time at BGSU, the second-highest win total in a four-year span school and MAC history. The Falcons went 113-24 during that time, with two NCAA Championships appearances and two trips to the Postseason WNIT. BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL AWARDS * Player of the Year: Lauren Prochaska (Sponsored by Dan & June Long/Long’s Cleaners) * Falcon Award: Maggie Hennegan (Sponsored by Joan Slebos) * Power Player of the Year: Tara Breske (Sponsored by George & Susan Long) * Playmaker of the Year: Tracy Pontius (Sponsored by Ron Thompson) * Impact Player of the Year: Tamika Nurse (Sponsored by Bill Lloyd) * Most Improved Player: Kelly Zuercher (Sponsored by Larry & Fran Weiss) * Scholar-Athletes of the Year: Laura Bugher & Jen Uhl (Sponsored by Steve & Rhonda Melchi) * Fran & Marty Voll Senior Achievement Award: Sarah Clapper
