Monday, Nov. 4  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Stroh Center | Bowling Green, Ohio

OPENING TIP
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team begins the 2024-25 season on Monday evening (Nov. 4). Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons face the University of Southern Mississippi in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge, with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center.

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

• TV/VIDEO: Monday's Southern Miss matchup will be streamed via ESPN+.
• RADIO/AUDIO: The Southern Miss 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 shot better than 58 percent from the field in every quarter, as BGSU downed Wittenberg, 102-47, on Tuesday (Oct. 29). The exhibition, a School Day game, was played before a crowd of over 1,500 fans at the Stroh Center.

• BGSU shot 66 percent for the game, making 33-of-50 shots from the floor. All 13 Falcons who saw action scored at least two points in the win.

• Erica Porter had a game-high 25 points to pace five double-figure scorers for the Falcons. She was 8-of-12 from the field and a perfect 9-for-9 from the free-throw line. As a team, the Falcons went 31-of-36 (86.1%) from the stripe.

• Paige Kohler had 13 points on her birthday, with Amy Velasco and Brook Simpson scoring 11 points apiece and Johnea Donahue chipping in with 10. Donahue had a game-high five steals.

• Taya Ellis had eight points and led the Falcons with seven rebounds and four blocked shots.

• For the Tigers, Karsen Karlblom had a team-best nine points, with Kelsey Ragan adding eight.

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.

VELASCO, PORTER EARN PRESEASON ALL-MAC ACCOLADES
• 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.

• Velasco, a native of Centerville, Ohio (Centerville), was named to the All-MAC Second Team last season, and also became BGSU's first Academic All-America® Team selection in 20 years, earning third-team honors by College Sports Communicators. One of just two Falcons to start all 31 games, Velasco averaged a team-high 35.5 minutes per game and also averaged 14.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and a team-leading 4.7 assists per contest.

• Velasco hit 43 three-point field goals to rank second on the team, and led the Falcons with a free-throw percentage of 87.5%, going 105-for-120 from the stripe. She finished seventh in the MAC in scoring, and ranked among the conference leaders in numerous other categories, including FT pct. (third), assists (also third), assist/turnover ratio (third), minutes (fourth), three-point FG pct. (seventh), three-pointers made per game (16th), steals (20th) and field-goal pct. (21st). Velasco led the entire league in assists in MAC games, (5.33 apg), while ranking in the top 10 in a total of six categories.

• Porter, a native of West Windsor, N.J. (Notre Dame), shattered the BGSU single-season records for field-goal percentage, both overall and in MAC games, in her first year with the Falcons. She was named to the All-MAC Third Team, and recorded three of the top-nine single-game field-goal pct. performances in school history. Porter played in all 31 games, making 24 starts, and averaged 12.6 ppg. She lead the team in both rebounding (6.6 rpg) and blocked shots (23 total, 0.74 bpg).

• Porter made 66.3% of her shots from the field, going 159-for-240 and breaking both the BGSU and the MAC records in that category. She finished second in the nation in field-goal pct. In MAC games only, Porter shot 68.2% from the floor, breaking that school mark and posting the second-best rate in MAC history. She also averaged 14.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game in MAC play, leading the Falcons in both rebounds and blocks. Porter was one of just two players in the league to be ranked in the top 10 in both scoring and rebounding in MAC games.

AMY ACCUMULATES ASSISTS
• Amy Velasco reached a career milestone in the win over Ohio last Feb. 7, dishing out the 300th assist of her career. Velasco became just the 11th player in school history to reach the 300-assist plateau.

• Then, three days later, Velasco handed out seven more assists, moving past Judit Lendvay (304 assists from 1989-93) into 10th place on the BGSU career assists list. Entering the 2024-25 season, Velasco now has 347 career assists, tying her for ninth place with Cathy Koch, who had 347 assists from 1988-92.

• Velasco currently ranks seventh in BGSU history in assists per game, with 3.44. The complete lists of both career assists and assists per game can be found on page 7.

THE FALCONS – A QUICK OVERVIEW
• The Falcons return seven players from 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 LADY EAGLES
• Southern Miss went 20-14 last season, posting a 10-8 record in Sun Belt Conference action. Head coach Joye Lee-McNelis, in her 21st season at the helm, welcomes back five letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that advanced to the WNIT.

• Melyia Grayson, one of those five returnees, started all 34 games a year ago, and averaged 12.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. She is a Preseason All-SBC Second-Team selection in 2024-25. Both Jacorriah Bracey (10.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and Morgan Sieper (5.3 ppg, 40 three-point field goals made) started 25 games a year ago.

• The Lady Eagles went 14-3 at home, 5-9 on the road and 1-2 at neutral sites last season. In MAC-Sun Belt Challenge games, Southern Miss defeated Akron at home and lost to Buffalo on the road.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons and Southern Miss have never met in women's basketball. BGSU has an all-time record of 14-6 against Sun Belt Conference teams, with 15 of the 20 previous games coming against former MAC member Marshall (12-3).

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following Monday's game, BGSU will prepare for back-to-back trips to face Horizon League foes, beginning with a Friday (Nov. 8) meeting with Detroit Mercy. That contest begins at 7:00 p.m. at Calihan Hall in the Motor City. The Titans are coached by BGSU Hall-of-Famer Kate Achter.