Friday, Nov. 8  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Calihan Hall | Detroit, Mich.

OPENING TIP
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, coming off of a win in the 2024-25 season opener, now hits the road for the first time. Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons travel to the Motor City for a Friday (Nov. 8) meeting with the University of Detroit Mercy. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at Calihan Hall.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• There are many ways to keep up with the Falcons in 2024-25...

• TV/VIDEO: Friday's Detroit Mercy matchup will be streamed via ESPN+.
• RADIO/AUDIO: The UDM contest, as is the case for all of BGSU's 2024-25 games, is scheduled to have an audio stream thanks to BG Falcon Media Sports.
• LIVE STATS: Live stats are scheduled to be available for all games in '24-25.
• TWITTER/X & THE 'GRAM: In-game updates, along with other key information, can be found on the BGSU women's basketball Twitter/X account (@BGSUWBB), with periodic updates on the program's Instagram account (bgsuwbb) as well.

• For all of the pertinent links to any and all ways to follow the Falcons, go to BGSUFalcons.com and navigate your way to the "women's basketball schedule" page on game day.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Falcons built a double-digit lead, then held off a spirited comeback effort by Southern Miss en route to a 71-67 victory on Monday (Nov. 4) at the Stroh Center. The game, part of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge, was the 2024-25 season opener for both teams.

• Sophomores Paige Kohler and Taya Ellis combined for 30 points, and each player went 2-for-2 at the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds to help seal the win.

• In a game that resembled a prizefight at times, Kohler led the Falcons with 19 points, and also accumulated numerous cuts, bruises and floor burns in the victory.

• Ellis had 11 points and led the Falcons with nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

• Lauren Gerken had 14 points and eight boards in her collegiate debut, while senior Amy Velasco totaled 11 points and a game-best six assists.

• Melyia Grayson led all scorers with 24 points for the Lady Eagles, while Nyla Jean and Bre Sutton combined for 22 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists and 11 steals.

• BGSU went on a 13-0 run in the third quarter, holding the visitors scoreless for over five minutes and building a game-high 15 points lead. But, USM crept as close as two points in the waning stages of the game before two free throws by Ellis with just 3.2 seconds left sealed the deal.

AMY ACCUMULATES ASSISTS
• Amy Velasco reached a career milestone late last season, dishing out the 300th assist of her career. Velasco became just the 11th player in school history to reach the 300-assist plateau.

• Then, in the Falcons' very next game (on Feb. 10, 2024), Velasco handed out seven more assists, moving past Judit Lendvay (304 assists from 1989-93) into 10th place on the BGSU career assists list. 

• With six assists in Monday's (Nov. 4) season opener vs. Souther Miss, Velasco now has 353 career assists. She has moved past Cathy Koch (347 assists from 1988-92) into sole possession of ninth place on the BGSU career list. Her next targets are Jaymee Wappes (1996-2000) and Tracy Pontius (2007-11), who dished out 387 assists each

• The school record-holder is BGSU Hall-of-Famer and Detroit Mercy head coach Kate Achter, who had 688 assists from 2004-08..

• Velasco currently ranks seventh in BGSU history in assists per game, with 3.46. The complete lists of both career assists and assists per game can be found on page 7.

FALCONS TABBED FOR FOURTH IN THE MAC IN '24-25
The Falcons have been picked to finish fourth in the Mid-American Conference in the 2024-25 season. The MAC office released the Women's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Poll and the Preseason All-MAC Teams – determined via voting by the league's 12 head coaches – on Oct. 22.

• Ball State was the choice of the coaches to win the MAC regular-season crown in '24-25. The Cardinals received 120 points and 10 of the 12 first-place votes. Kent State garnered 104 points and the other two first-place votes, with Buffalo getting 98 points, BGSU 96 and Toledo 82.

• A pair of Falcons, Amy Velasco and Erika Porter, were named to the Preseason All-MAC Team, with Velasco being named to the first team and Porter earning second-team honors.

THE FALCONS – A QUICK OVERVIEW
• The Falcons are 1-0 on the young season. BGSU picked up a 71-67 win over Southern Miss in Monday night's (Nov. 4) season opener at the Stroh Center.

• The Falcons returned seven players who saw action on the 2023-24 team that went 16-15 overall and 10-8 in MAC play. BG won four of the last six regular-season games, and the Falcons advanced to national postseason play with trip to the WNIT.

• BGSU was picked to finish fourth in the MAC in the preseason coaches poll last season. Despite losing more than 120 player-games due to injury in 2023-24, the Falcons finished the regular season in a tie for fourth in the conference.

• BG was 8-5 at home, 6-9 on the road and 2-1 at neutral sites last season. In MAC play, the Falcons went 6-3 at the Stroh and 4-5 away from home.

• The Falcons rallied to beat Cleveland State in last year's season opener en route to a 5-1 start. BG had four-straight wins, downing Xavier, Mercer, Lehigh and Duquesne. The latter game was a 68-66 win on Amy Velasco's buzzer-beater at the Stroh.

• BGSU went 1-3 in December, with all three losses coming to nationally-ranked teams (#4/4 Iowa, #1/1 South Carolina and #16/15 Indiana), prior to beginning MAC play. 

• A total of 14 Falcons saw action last season, but only eight of the 14 players who began the season on the roster suited up for the last 10 games of the year.

• Five players scored in double digits a year ago, and four of those five return. Fifth-year Falcon Lexi Fleming, one of the many injured players, averaged 31.4 mpg over the first 10 contests of the season, before leaving the Indiana game (Dec. 22). Fleming also had averages of 15.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game, and led the Falcons in all three categories at the time of her injury. She was averaging 16.7 ppg prior to that IU game, in which she played just 1:10.

• The graduated Morgan.Sharps had 15.1 ppg and led the team with 84 three-point field goals made, while Velasco and Erika Porter scored 14.5 and 12.6 ppg, respectively. Paige Kohler had 10.9 ppg in her freshman campaign.

• All five of the aforementioned players had at least one 20-point game last season. No other MAC program had more than two players score 20 or more points in a game last winter.

• Velasco paced BG (and ranked third in the MAC) with 4.7 assists per game, followed by Kohler (3.1 apg; seventh in the MAC).

• Kohler and Velasco each started all 31 games last year, while Porter started 24.

• BGSU's scoring in MAC games could not have been much more balanced, as Sharps had 15.6 ppg, followed by Velasco (15.0 ppg), Porter (14.7 ppg) and Kohler (12.3 ppg). BG was the only team with four players in the top 13 in the MAC in scoring. Porter had a team-high 8.7 rebounds per game in MAC action, with seven double-doubles in conference play.

• Velasco led the Falcons – and the MAC – in assists in league games (5.3 apg), and also paced BG in steals (1.6 spg). Porter shot a team- and MAC-best 68.2% from the floor, setting a new school single-season record for highest field-goal pct. in MAC games. And, it was the second-highest average in MAC history.

• BGSU's other returnees from last season are junior Emily Siesel and sophomores Taya Ellis and Keiryn McGuff. Siesel played in 26 games off the bench last winter, while Ellis saw action in 29 and ranked second on the team blocked shots behind Porter. McGuff played in 16 games, making two starts, before suffering an injury in January and missing the rest of the season.

• Third-year Falcon Jasmine Fearne is back after missing the entire '23-24 campaign due to injury.

• The Falcons' seven newcomers include a pair of junior-college transfers in Kristiana Kulackovska and Kendal Moxey, along with five freshmen – Johnea Donahue, Lauren Gerken, Laila Harrison, Brook Simpson and Taylor Wallace.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE TITANS
• The Titans went 17-16 last season, posting a 9-11 record in Horizon League action. Head coach Kate Achter's club posted the biggest turnaround in school history, and one of the top turnarounds in the nation.

• Achter and her staff have four returning letterwinners and 11 newcomers from the '23-24 club. Myonna Hooper, the lone returning starter, averaged 7.1 points and hit 23 three-point field goals a year ago.

• The Titans went 10-3 at home, 6-13 on the road and 1-0 at neutral sites last season. UDM was picked to finish eighth in the Horizon League in the 2024-25 preseason poll.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Detroit Mercy, 16-10, in the all-time series, and BGSU has won the last 10 meetings. The most recent matchup was a 76-29 triumph for the Falcons at the Stroh Center two years ago (Nov. 28, 2022).

• BGSU picked up a narrow 85-81 win in the last trip to Calihan Hall, in November of 2017. The Falcons are 9-4 at home (2-0 at the Stroh Center) and 7-6 on the road vs. UDM through the years. Additional series information can be found on page 6 of the PDF.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following Friday's game, BGSU will prepare for another road trip to face a Horizon League foe. The Falcons will meet Cleveland State on Tuesday evening (Nov. 12), with tipoff at 7:00 p.m. at the Wolstein Center.

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
For more information on BGSU women's hoops, be sure to follow the Falcons on Facebook (@BGWBB), Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUWBB) and Instagram (@bgsuwbb), as well as on the web at BGSUFalcons.com.