Crowd a factor in BG's win over No. 23 Vanderbilt

It was loud and the chants were concise.

Over 2,000 fans packed Anderson Arena Wednesday night to watch BG take down No. 23 Vanderbilt 79-68 and improve to 7-1 on the season.

"The crowd was awesome," said Falcon senior Lauren Prochaska, who scored a game-high 31 points on 8-of-16 from the field. "They knew when to really get into the game and cheer louder to get us going. The crowd was a huge factor for us and also in intimidating the other team."

Chants of "BGSU," and "Defense" circulated throughout the arena the entire night as Falcon fans watched their team defeat Vanderbilt for the third time since 2007.

"That's a huge win for us," said BG coach Curt Miller. "There's not many SEC teams that are undefeated since 2007 against Vanderbilt. That's a great victory for our program."

Something's gotta give

The Falcons lead the Commodores 3-2 in the all-time series, winning the last three games, games in which Vanderbilt was nationally ranked each time.

BG defeated Vanderbilt in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Championships to advance to the Sweet 16, picked up a 66-60 win in Nashville a season ago and now just won its third straight over the team from the SEC Conference.

Vanderbilt entered the game having more of a post presence than BG, better team speed, more players who can make shots and bigger size.

But that didn't seem to faze the Falcons. So how was BG able to defeat the Commodores for the third straight time? How was it able to take a 12-point lead into halftime, increase its lead to as much as 17 and then win by 11?

"Our coaches to a great scout and they run a lot of set plays," said Jen Uhl, who was second on the Falcons in scoring with 15. "Everytime [the Commodores] called a play we pretty much knew what they were running, so I think that might help that our coaches have scouted so well."

Automatic

Prochaska, one of the best free-throw shooters in the country, showed just that Wednesday, knocking down all 10 of her free throws.

She has now made 53 consecutive shots from the charity stripe, which broke her own school record of 45, set in 2008-09 during her sophomore year.

Prochaska needs just four straight free throws to tie the Mid-American Conference record of 57 consecutive free throws, set in 1986-87 by Central Michigan's Jody Beerman.

The NCAA record for consecutive free throws made is 66, set by Ginny Doyle of Richmond in 1991-92.

To see where Prochaska and the Falcons rank among the top free-throw shooting teams in the country, click here.

Home cookin'

BG has now won 34 consecutive regular-season games at Anderson Arena. The Falcons have not lost a regular-season game at home since Jan. 30, 2008 against Western Michigan.

BG has won 18 straight home games and 37 of the last 38, with that lone loss coming to Indiana in the third round of the 2009 WNIT.

2010-11 BG season schedule.