Falcons Successful Both On and Off Court

With a 27-7 overall record, Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament titles and a trip to the NCAA Championships, it is obvious that the Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team had another successful year on the court in 2009-10. And, the Falcons of head coach Curt Miller have been equally successful in the classroom again this season.

The BGSU women’s basketball student-athletes had a combined grade-point average of 3.50 during the 2009-10 academic year. In the fall semester, no fewer than six student-athletes posted a perfect 4.00 GPA. Fifteen team members had a GPA of at least 3.00 in the fall, with 14 of those 15 earning a GPA of 3.25 or higher.

In the just-completed spring semester, 15 players again had at least a 3.00 GPA, with 12 earning a GPA of 3.20 or better. Three Falcon student-athletes posted a perfect 4.00 GPA in the spring semester.

Through the spring semester, 15 student-athletes have a cumulative GPA of 3.16 or higher for their BGSU academic careers.

Of course, the Falcons have had academic accomplishments all year long. Last month, the Falcons saw a league-high five student-athletes named to the 13-player Academic All-MAC Team. Seniors Tara Breske, Laura Bugher and Tamika Nurse, redshirt junior Maggie Hennegan and junior Lauren Prochaska all were voted to the team, as BGSU was the only school with more than one player selected.

Two of those five Falcons, Bugher and Hennegan, were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team, earning second-team honors. The BGSU duo were the only two MAC student-athletes named to any of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District teams.

Additionally, the women’s basketball team earned numerous honors when the BGSU Department of Athletics held its annual Athletics Honors Night in April. Bugher was one of three female finalists for the Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, while Hennegan made the list of the final three Junior S-A-O-Y Award candidates.

As a team, the women’s basketball Falcons picked up a pair of awards, earning both the female team Highest GPA award and the Most Improved Award.

The Falcons’ four seniors – Breske, Bugher, Nurse and Sarah Clapper – capped off successful undergraduate careers, both on the court and in the classroom. Breske, an exercise science major at BGSU, is planning to attend chiropractic school. Bugher, an early childhood education major, is finishing her student-teaching requirements.

Clapper, a human movement sport leisure study major as an undergrad, has been accepted into graduate school at BGSU, and will be a graduate assistant in the BGSU Department of Athletics in the fall. Nurse, a broadcast journalism major, plans to pursue a broadcasting-related career.

Last summer, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced that BGSU was ranked fifth in the entire country on the 2008-09 Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll. This year’s team has a strong chance to be on the WBCA’s list as well. The WBCA announcement is expected to come in July.

On the court, as mentioned, the 2009-10 Falcons won the MAC’s regular-season title for the sixth consecutive season, and BGSU captured the MAC Tournament crown for the fourth time in the last six years. The Brown and Orange advanced to national postseason play for the sixth-straight March, earning the league’s automatic berth to the 2010 NCAA Championships.