Last season, a weak nonconference schedule may have kept the Falcon women’s basketball team from advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
But the preseason favorites to win the Mid-American Conference Tournament likely will have a much better argument for an at-large bid to the Big Dance if they are unable to come through in the MAC at the end of the year.
While that is the end goal, coach Curt Miller and his team are focused in on one thing right now: their first Preseason WNIT game against Chicago State, which begins tonight at 7:30 in Anderson Arena.
‘It’s a prestigious tournament to be invited to,’ Miller said. ‘We’re excited to be one of the 16 teams invited the Preseason WNIT. I’m excited about it being a home game. It’s a credit to our crowd and our support throughout the years.’
BG is guaranteed to play three games in the tournament and will play at the winner of No. 3 Ohio State-Eastern Illinois if they beat Chicago State – which Miller said is no easy task.
‘Chicago State is a very underrated team; a team that returns most of the players from one of their best seasons in school history,’ he said.
The Cougars – formerly an independent – are coming off back-to-back 16-13 seasons and return four starters from last season’s team, as they start the inaugural season of the Great West Conference.
BG, meanwhile, returns three starters and welcomes two transfers to the court as they begin their journey to besting their 29-5 record from last season in hopes of making the NCAA Tournament after settling for the Postseason WNIT the past two seasons.
Reigning MAC Player of the Year Lauren Prochaska – who did not start in the team’s exhibition win against Findlay, instead playing 16 minutes off the bench – no longer has the flu and mono but still has some catching up to do before she is back to her normal strength.
While he didn’t make a clear distinction on whether or not Prochaska would start tonight, Miller did make it clear she would be a big factor in the game.
‘She’s certainly not 100 percent. Her conditioning is not back at 100 percent,’ Miller said. ‘We’re still counting on her to be our leader and go-to player offensively. She [also] has to become our defensive stopper now.’
Prochaska scored nine points, dished out three assists and had a steal against Findlay.
She knows she will be looked on tonight after leading the team in scoring (17.3 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg) last season but is more worried about using her leadership to put everyone on the team in the right mentality for the game.
‘It’s going to be a tough matchup right from the beginning,’ Prochaska said. ‘We have to get in the mindset that we can play with anybody.’
With the two new transfers – senior Tamika Nurse (Oregon) and junior Maggie Hennegan (St. Louis) – expected to start for the Falcons, BG’s returners will have to quickly adjust to their styles of play as well.
Junior point guard Tracy Pontius said figuring out their timing is more important than wins or losses at this point.
‘Even if we win or lose, it will help to play games early on in the season and get to know how we play off each other,’ Pontius said.
The transfers fit in well against Findlay, as Hennegan netted a double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Nurse added 14 points and three steals.
It’s also important for the Falcons to get wins those, as these games will help boost their RPI at season’s end and boost their confidence before the conference season – even though it doesn’t start until January.
‘The WNIT [gives] us games to prepare for the strong conference games and those are big RPI games as well,’ Nurse said.
But for Miller, he just wants the team to focus on the task at hand, letting the future come to them as it comes, even if it is a potential matchup against the Buckeyes.
‘It’s out there on the horizon. Obviously it looms,’ Miller said. ‘We can’t worry about the next opponent until we get through the Friday game, win or lose.’
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