SATURDAY, JAN. 25  |  2:00 P.M.  |  SAVAGE ARENA  |  TOLEDO, OHIO

JUMP BALL
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team makes the short trip to the Glass City on Saturday (Jan. 25), renewing the Battle of I-75. Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons face the University of Toledo in a 2:00 p.m. start at John F. Savage Arena.

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

• TV/VIDEO: Saturday's game at UT will be streamed via ESPN+.
• RADIO/AUDIO: The Toledo tussle, 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.

FLEMING FLIES PAST 1,000-POINT PLATEAU
• Lexi Fleming scored the first basket of Saturday's (Jan. 18) win over Northern Illinois, in the process becoming the 32nd player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career.

• Fleming is in her fifth year with the Falcons, but has played the equivalent of less than three seasons due to injuries. She reached the 1,000-point mark in her 82nd career game, tying her for the ninth-fastest player to reach the millennium mark in program history.

• The list of BGSU's leading career scorers can be found on page 22 of these notes, while the list of quickest Falcons to 1,000 points is on page six.

THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
• Historically, the Falcons have been one of the top programs in the Mid-American Conference. Entering the Toledo tilt, BGSU has gone 461-271 (.630) in league regular-season games. The Falcons have the second-highest winning percentage of all MAC institutions, and the second-most conference wins of all 12 programs.

• BGSU has won 15 MAC regular-season titles, which is tied for the highest total of any conference institution. And, the Falcons have won a league-best 11 MAC Tournament titles.

• BG leads the all-time series with all 11 conference foes, making the Falcons – obviously – the only team in the league with a winning record against every other school. BGSU also has the most overall victories and highest overall winning pct. of any league institution.

FLEMING CLIMBS CAREER CHARTS
• Lexi Fleming is in her fifth season with the Falcons, but she has played the equivalent of fewer than three seasons in a BG uniform. She has been moving up the BGSU career scoring list at a rapid rate since returning to the court in early December, and enters the Toledo contest with 1,019 career points, ranking 31st in BGSU history. With an average of 12.28 points per game, Fleming is 12th on that BG career list.

• In her career, Fleming has now made 154 three-point field goals, ranking her 14th in school history. She is fifth on the BGSU career list for triples made per game (1.86). And, Fleming is 15th in school history in assists per game, with 2.65.

• With a game-high five steals vs. Western Michigan Wednesday (Jan. 22), Fleming moved up three spots on that career list. She now has 179 steals as a Falcon, placing her 16th in BGSU history, and she is currently third in career steals per game (2.16).

VELASCO CONTINUES TO MOVE UP THE SCORING LIST
• Amy Velasco is putting together a stellar senior season. Velasco has scored in double digits in 16 of the Falcons' 18 games, and is averaging a team-high 16.3 points per contest in 2024-25.

• Velasco has scored at least 20 points five times this season, including game-high totals of 28 points at Horizon League favorite Cleveland State (Nov. 12) and 24 points against nationally-ranked Ohio State (Nov. 24).

• She recently moved into the top 20 on BGSU's career scoring list, and has continued to move up. With 1,331 career points, Velasco currently ranks 17th on that chart. Her next target is Carin Horne (1,341 points from 2003-07). The list of BG's top scorers can be found elsewhere in these very notes.

• Velasco has a career scoring average of 11.18 points per game, which currently places her 19th on that BGSU list. And, with a career total of 139 three-point field goals made, she is 17th on that BGSU chart.

AMY ALSO ACCUMULATES ASSISTS
• Amy Velasco, as mentioned, is now 17th on the BGSU career scoring list, and the senior also enjoys a lofty perch on the school's assists chart. In the Kent State game on New Year's Day, Velasco became just the seventh player in school history to surpass 400 career assists.

• Velasco enters the UT contest with 431 career assists. Her next target on that list is her former teammate, sixth-place Kadie Hempfling (432 assists from 2018-23).

• Velasco also ranks sixth in BGSU history in assists per game, with 3.62. If you were able to find the BGSU career scoring list elsewhere in these notes, you'll have no trouble finding the complete lists of both career assists and assists per game.

BE READY WHEN YOUR NAME IS CALLED
• The Falcons lost an estimated 126 player-games to injury last season. No fewer than 10 different players were unavailable for at least one game due to injury or illness. Despite those setbacks, BGSU, after being picked for fourth place in the 2023-24 MAC Preseason Poll, still finished in a tie for fourth in the final MAC standings and advanced to national postseason play.

• This season, the Falcons have lost 53 player-games heading into the Toledo contest. A total of eight different players have missed at least one game due to injury or illness this year to date.

WELCOME BACK!
• Some of the aforementioned injured players have begun to return to the active rotation. In back-to-back December games, the Falcons saw a player return to the court after missing nearly a year due to injury. In the Xavier contest (Dec. 7), as mentioned, Lexi Fleming came off the bench to make her first appearance since suffering an injury on Dec. 22, 2023.

• Then, in the next game (vs. Marquette on Dec. 18), sophomore Keiryn McGuff saw her first action since Jan. 20, 2024. Like Fleming, McGuff came off the bench for one game before moving into the starting lineup. McGuff scored in double digits in each of the first three MAC games.

• Another soph, Taya Ellis, was injured in the Ohio State contest in late November and missed the next seven games. Ellis returned to see action in the Buffalo game on Jan. 8. 

THE FALCONS – A QUICK OVERVIEW
• The Falcons are 9-9 on the season, and BGSU is 3-4 in MAC play heading into this season's first Battle of I-75. The Falcons posted back-to-back wins, including a 74-53 victory at Ohio – BG's first road win of the season – and a 74-60 triumph over Northern Illinois, before dropping a narrow 63-60 decision to Western Michigan Wednesday night.

• In addition to the Ohio and NIU games, the Falcons' other MAC win was a 90-76 victory over Eastern Michigan at the Stroh Center (Jan. 4). After downing the Eagles, BGSU then fell to Buffalo at home (70-60) and Miami on the road (78-63) before besting the Bobcats.

• BG posted home wins over Southern Miss, St. Bonaventure, Xavier and Marquette during non-conference play, with neutral-site victories against Stetson and Arkansas. The losses included road contests vs. two nationally-ranked teams (#13/12 West Virginia and #12/11 Ohio State), as well as a seven-point setback to Horizon League favorite Cleveland State.

• BGSU is 6-2 at home, 1-7 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site games this season to date. In MAC play, the Falcons are 2-2 at the Stroh and 1-2 at hostile venues.

• Overall, the Falcons have a scoring margin of +1.6 and a rebounding margin of +5.5 this year. BG has outrebounded 12 of this season's first 18 opponents, with a rebounding margin of 10 or more in six of those games to date.

• Four players are scoring in double digits, with two others averaging at least six points per game. Senior Amy Velasco leads the way with 16.3 ppg, and she also paces the Falcons with 4.7 assists per contest. Velasco has scored in double figures in 16 of 18 games this season, and is second on the club with 32 three-point field goals made. Velasco is shooting a BG-best 45.1 percent from the arc.

• Sophomore Paige Kohler has 12.2 ppg, with fifth-year collegians Lexi Fleming and Erika Porter scoring 11.8 and 10.8 ppg, respectively. Kohler also has 4.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, and has made a team-leading 37 three-point field goals. As mentioned, Kohler flirted with a triple-double in the win at Ohio.

• Fleming led the team in scoring at Miami (23 points) and Ohio (19), and tied for the BG lead vs. NIU (15). She has made 22 triples in her 10 games to date, and has 3.0 assists and 2.1 steals per game to rank third and second, respectively, on the team.

• Porter is second on the team with 5.4 rpg, and she leads the Falcons and ranks second in the MAC in field-goal percentage, at 56.4 percent. Porter was 8-of-10 from the floor on Wednesday vs. Western.

• Freshman Lauren Gerken has 7.2 ppg and 4.6 rpg, while classmate Johnea Donahue and sophomore Keiryn McGuff are averaging 6.0 and 5.1 ppg, respectively. McGuff has 5.0 rpg, and had a career-high 11 points at Kent State, beginning a stretch in which she scored in double figures in three-straight games. Donahue leads BGSU and is second in the MAC with 2.5 steals per game.

• Sophomore Taya Ellis and junior Kendal Moxey have 4.5 and 4.2 ppg, respectively. Ellis has a team-high 5.7 rpg on the season, and also leads BGSU with 0.9 blocks per game, while Moxey has gone 28-for-54 (51.9%) from the floor.

• In MAC play, Velasco (13.4 ppg), Fleming (13.1) and Kohler (13.0) all have scored between 91 and 94 points in the seven games to date. Porter has a BG-best 5.4 rpg and is shooting nearly 60% (59.2%), while Kohler and McGuff are pulling down 4.9 and 4.6 rpg, respectively, vs. the MAC. Velasco (4.6), Kohler (4.3) and Fleming (3.6) all are averaging over three assists per game through seven conference contests.

• 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's other returnees from last season are third-year Falcons Emily Siesel and Jasmine Fearne. Siesel played in 26 games off the bench last winter, while Fearne is back after missing the entire '23-24 campaign due to injury. Fearne is fourth on the Falcons with 17 successful triple tries in 2024-25 to date, and she set career-high totals in minutes in BG's recent back-to-back wins (24:09 at Ohio, 26:02 vs. NIU).

• The Falcons' eight newcomers include a pair of junior-college transfers in Moxey and Kristiana Kulackovska, along with six freshmen – Donahue, Gerken, Laila Harrison, Sofia Moschen, Brook Simpson and Taylor Wallace. Moschen joined the team in the first week of January.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE ROCKETS
• Toledo is 12-5 overall, and the Rockets are 4-3 in MAC play after Monday's (Jan. 20) 77-63 road loss to league-leading Ball State. UT's conference wins have come at home vs. Kent State and Ohio, and on the road vs. Akron and Central Michigan. The losses were at home to Northern Illinois and at Western Michigan and BSU.

• Sammi Mikonowicz leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 12.6 ppg and 5.8 rpg, while Khera Goss and Kendall Carruthers have 11.9 and 10.4 ppg, respectively. Carruthers paces UT in assists, with 2.7 apg.

• Head coach Ginny Boggess, in her first season with the Rockets, has eight returning players, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 28-6 overall and 17-1 in the MAC. UT won the conference regular-season title and advanced to the WBIT in 2023-24.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Toledo, 45-43, in the all-time series, but the Rockets have won the last four meetings. UT swept last season's two matchups, with an 82-70 win at Savage Arena (Feb. 3, 2024) and an 88-68 outcome at the Stroh Center (Feb. 17, 2024). BGSU's last series win was an 88-76 home triumph two years ago (Jan. 18, 2023), and the Falcons' last victory inside Savage Arena was a 69-57 decision four years ago (Jan. 16, 2021). A freshman named Lexi Fleming paced BG with 21 points in the latter game, as the Falcons led from wire to wire.

• BGSU is 22-15 at home, 15-24 on the road and 8-4 in neutral-site meetings with the Rockets through the years. Additional series information can be found elsewhere in these very notes.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the UT game, BGSU returns to the Stroh for a midweek MAC matchup, ending the month of January with a Wednesday (Jan. 29) contest vs. Akron, beginning at 7:00 p.m.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will begin February with a game at Central Michigan on Saturday, Feb. 1. That 1:00 p.m. matchup at McGuirk Arena is the first of three-straight road games.

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.