2008 Woodie Awards
Prochaska, Keane give fans glimpse into bright futures
By: Chris Voloschuk
Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: Sports
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Although the BG women's basketball team fell short of beating Michigan State in the waning moments of regulation Saturday afternoon, the play of their host of young players continued to impress.
MSU was also paced by youth, with a freshman and a sophomore leading the team in points and rebounds.
While the big story of the game was the fact that it was the second round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament, a side story that may have gone fairly unnoticed was the stellar play of two freshmen.
On the one hand, there was BG guard Lauren Prochaska, who connected on five three-pointers and finished with a game-high 24 points in 38 minutes of action. Her shots from beyond the arc allowed the Falcons to majorly cut into an 18-point MSU lead and get back in the game.
BG coach Curt Miller said he told Prochaska and the rest of the team to keep gunning.
"I was begging our kids to not shy away from those threes, and Lauren was the recipient of a lot of good kick-outs, and she stepped up and made some shots," Miller said.
On the other hand was MSU forward Kalisha Keane, who led her team in scoring with 20 points and also pulled down six rebounds. Despite being in foul trouble for most of the game, she was able to play some of her best basketball of the season in a winning effort.
After the game, MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said that Keane played one of her smartest games of the year.
"I thought that early on [in the season], she took some ill-advised shots," Merchant said. "Now, when she takes a bad shot, she knows it. Tonight she did not take one bad shot; she did a great job on the boards for us and got a couple of key steals as well."
Even though Prochaska and Keane wear different uniforms and play in different conferences, they share a commonality in that they were both highly touted high school players who made major impacts in their first college seasons.
Prochaska is a product of Jonathan Alder High School in Plain City, Ohio. As a four-year letter winner, she never averaged less than 23 points per game. During her senior year, she averaged 32.3 points on the way to being named co-Player of the Year at the Ohio Div. III level and winning a state championship.
MSU was also paced by youth, with a freshman and a sophomore leading the team in points and rebounds.
While the big story of the game was the fact that it was the second round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament, a side story that may have gone fairly unnoticed was the stellar play of two freshmen.
On the one hand, there was BG guard Lauren Prochaska, who connected on five three-pointers and finished with a game-high 24 points in 38 minutes of action. Her shots from beyond the arc allowed the Falcons to majorly cut into an 18-point MSU lead and get back in the game.
BG coach Curt Miller said he told Prochaska and the rest of the team to keep gunning.
"I was begging our kids to not shy away from those threes, and Lauren was the recipient of a lot of good kick-outs, and she stepped up and made some shots," Miller said.
On the other hand was MSU forward Kalisha Keane, who led her team in scoring with 20 points and also pulled down six rebounds. Despite being in foul trouble for most of the game, she was able to play some of her best basketball of the season in a winning effort.
After the game, MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said that Keane played one of her smartest games of the year.
"I thought that early on [in the season], she took some ill-advised shots," Merchant said. "Now, when she takes a bad shot, she knows it. Tonight she did not take one bad shot; she did a great job on the boards for us and got a couple of key steals as well."
Even though Prochaska and Keane wear different uniforms and play in different conferences, they share a commonality in that they were both highly touted high school players who made major impacts in their first college seasons.
Prochaska is a product of Jonathan Alder High School in Plain City, Ohio. As a four-year letter winner, she never averaged less than 23 points per game. During her senior year, she averaged 32.3 points on the way to being named co-Player of the Year at the Ohio Div. III level and winning a state championship.
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