BOWLING GREEN — As a high school athlete, Kate Achter had options.

A three-sport standout, Achter could have opted for golf, basketball, or track in college.

But there was just something about the team aspect of basketball that appealed to Achter like nothing else in sports. The Clay High School graduate found what she wanted at Bowling Green, and the best run in the history of the program followed.

In fitting fashion, Achter — the program’s all-time leader in assists — will enter BGSU’s athletics hall of fame this weekend with a teammate. The five-person class also includes Liz Honegger, with whom Achter played for three seasons.

“I think that just embodies exactly what we were about as a program,” Achter said. “Liz is one of the most selfless, most caring, kind human beings that I’ve ever been around. It means a lot to her, so I’m honored to go in with her.”

The Falcons went 108-23 and won the Mid-American Conference regular-season championship all four years in which Achter played. They earned the league’s NCAA tournament bid three times, and in 2007 the Falcons set a conference record with 31 wins and became the first MAC women’s team to advance the Sweet 16.

Achter became the standout point guard the Falcons needed after a memorable, if nerve-wracking, recruitment for former BG coach Curt Miller. After seeing her run a pick-and-roll heavy offense in AAU, the Falcons became convinced Achter was their answer at point guard.

As Achter narrowed her options, she had the choice of running track at Notre Dame or playing basketball at BG. During a home visit with the Achters, Miller almost panicked when Kate’s mother, Maryann, excused herself and returned minutes later wearing a Fighting Irish sweatshirt.

There was no message intended, but for a moment Miller’s inner dialogue was one of sheer dread — and at least a few confession-worthy words.

“I looked at my assistant, and on the inside I literally wanted to walk out of the house right then,” said Miller, now the head coach of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun. “Fortunately, something told me not to leave, and lo and behold, during the visit she committed that night.”

For the next four years, Achter became an indispensable part of the Falcons’ MAC dominance. She remains the only player in program history to have topped 1,000 points and 600 assists. Achter is first in assists (688) and free throws made (551), and fifth in points (1,580).

The Falcons of that era were an especially close team, and Miller said Achter played a major role in that.

“No matter if she had a good game or a bad game, she was the consummate team player and a tremendous leader,” Miller said.

Achter since has converted to the other end of the sideline, and is now entering her third season as the head coach at Loyola Chicago.

She played professionally in Greece for one season before returning to BG to be a graduate assistant, then spent five years as an assistant at St. Bonaventure and one at Xavier before accepting the head coaching position at Loyola.

Along the way, Achter has taken parts of her BG tenure with her.

“From stuff we believe in offensively or defensively, from the way I recruit to the way I want our culture to be, I rely very heavily on those times from Bowling Green,” Achter said. “Every single day, I use something that I did at Bowling Green.”

This weekend will be a reminder of what the Falcons created, and Achter said she couldn’t be more thankful to have been part of it.

“What we did was pretty remarkable,” Achter said. “Now, as a mid-major head coach, you want that. You’d be lucky to have that once in your career.

“It’s not a bad blueprint to follow.”

Contact Nicholas Piotrowicz at: npiotrowicz@theblade.com, 419-724-6110, or on Twitter @NickPiotrowicz.

First Published September 21, 2018, 7:00 p.m.