BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team picked up a second-straight win over a Big East Conference foe, with a 64-62 victory over Marquette University Wednesday night (Dec. 18) at the Stroh Center.

Senior Amy Velasco led a balanced scoring effort for the Falcons (6-4), with 14 points in the win. Sophomore Paige Kohler and junior Kendal Moxey scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, with five of their teammates scoring between four and six points apiece.

Lee Volker and Jaidynn Mason had 17 points apiece for the Golden Eagles (7-3), who saw a seven-game winning streak come to an end. Volker had a double-double, with a game-high 10 rebounds.

The Falcons, winners of four consecutive games overall, held a 44-36 rebounding advantage in the win. Keiryn McGuff, playing in her first game in nearly a year, led the team with eight rebounds, with Moxey pulling down six.

In addition to her 13 points, Kohler had five boards, a game-high six assists and two steals. The last steal came in the final seconds as BGSU got one final stop to secure the win.

BGSU led for over 30 minutes on Wednesday night, and never trailed after a Moxey layup midway through the second quarter. But, neither team ever led by double digits, and the Golden Eagles had an answer for each Falcon bucket or free throw to keep BG from pulling away.

The Falcons had a 28-9 advantage in bench scoring. In addition to Moxey's 12 points off the bench, freshman Johnea Donahue and redshirt soph Jasmine Fearne had six points apiece, with McGuff adding four.

Moxey scored 10 of her points in the second quarter alone, despite playing less than half of the period. She scored seven-straight points in a span of just 64 seconds, giving BGSU the lead for good.

NOTEWORTHY
• For the second consecutive game, the Falcons saw a player return to action after missing nearly a year. Last time out, Lexi Fleming came off the bench against Xavier (Dec. 7), making her first appearance since suffering an injury on Dec. 22, 2023.
• On Wednesday night, sophomore Keiryn McGuff saw her first action since Jan. 20, 2024. McGuff checked into the Marquette contest with 4:17 remaining in the first period.
• McGuff had a team-leading eight rebounds and also scored four points in just over 16 minutes of action in Wednesday's win.

Gallery: (12-18-2024) 121824 wbk v Marquette - Avery Zuercher

FIRST QUARTER
• The BGSU defense held Marquette to just a 2-for-16 (12.5 percent) effort from the floor in the opening quarter. The Golden Eagles' first basket did not come until nearly four minutes had elapsed.
• But, the Falcons did not fare much better from the floor. After Lexi Fleming hit a shot off glass with a minute gone, BGSU came up empty on the next six possessions. When Marquette's Lee Volker saw her three-point attempt bank off glass and in at the 6:11 mark, the visitors had a 5-2 lead.
• Paige Kohler hit a pair of shots at the stripe out of the game's first media timeout. A steal led to a Kennedi Perkins bucket that gave MU a 7-4 advantage with 3:56 left in the period, but the Falcons would end the quarter on an 8-0 run.
• Amy Velasco took Kendal Moxey's pass and knocked down a three-point try with just under three minutes left in the quarter, and a Johnea Donahue pass led to Kohler's and-one layup with 1:16 remaining. Kohler's free throw gave the hosts a 10-7 lead. Donahue was fouled on a baseline drive and hit both shots from the stripe with 11.8 seconds on the clock, giving BG a five-point advantage.

SECOND QUARTER
• The Golden Eagles began the second period with a 6-0 run. Olivie Porter scored on a back-door layup, before Jaidynn Mason and Halle Vice hit layups to give MU a 13-12 lead. Kohler lobbed the ball inside to Erika Porter for a layup, but Skylar Forbes hit short right-side jumpers on back-to-back possessions to put the visitors up, 17-14. But, those would be the only two shots MU's leading scorer would make in the game. Then, Moxey took over.
• The BGSU junior checked into the game with 6:34 left before halftime. Four seconds later, she scored off of a Velasco inbounds pass. After a BG defensive stop, Moxey was fouled as she grabbed an offensive rebound, hitting a free throw to tie the game at the 6:12 mark.
• BG forced a Marquette miss, and Fleming found Moxey for a shot off glass with 5:44 left in the period. MU threw a long pass downcourt and fired a shot that was off the mark, and Kohler whipped a pass to Moxey for a fast-break layup and the junior's sixth and seventh points in a 64-second span. Trailing by a 21-17 score, the Golden Eagles used a timeout.
• The visitors got two free throws, but after BGSU broke the Marquette press, Kohler took Velasco's pass, pulled up and knocked down a jumper. Vice scored inside, but Velasco found Moxey for an and-one layup, the the next possession saw Kohler take a Velasco handoff and drill a left-wing three-point try. BGSU's lead was 29-21, the largest of the game.
• Two Volker free throws and Bridget Utberg's floater cut that BG lead in half, but Keiryn McGuff was fouled and sank a free-throw try with 40.8 seconds to go. Her second shot was off the mark, but the ball went out of bounds to BG, and Velasco hit a tough shot off glass to give the Orange and Brown a 32-25 lead at the intermission.
• Moxey had 10 points in the quarter, going 4-for-5 from the field and 2-of-3 from the stripe.

THIRD QUARTER
• A corner three by Volker began the second-half scoring, but Porter's pass found Jasmine Fearne for a triple that restored the Falcons' seven-point lead. Marquette countered with a pair of Mason layups in transition, and after Velasco answered from beyond the arc, two more layups by the visitors cut BGSU's lead to just two points, 40-38.
• The Falcons answered with a 6-0 run, with three points at the charity stripe followed by a Velasco driving layup. McGuff's free throw made it a 46-38 game.
• But, Mason scored the game's next seven points, with a jumper, a trailing three and a steal and layup. BGSU's lead was down to a single point in the final minute of the third period. A Moxey free throw with 40 seconds on the clock gave the Falcons a 47-45 lead after 30 minutes.
• Mason had 11 of her 17 points in that third quarter, going 5-for-6 from the floor during the period.

FOURTH QUARTER
• The Falcons began the final period with a Fearne triple, but MU quickly answered with a layup. Then, however, neither team scored for nearly two minutes. Donahue deftly picked Volker's pocket and was fouled with 7:44 to go. The Falcon freshman split her free-throw tries, but Porter rebounded the second, and the possession ended with a Porter layup and a 53-47 lead.
• Mason hit a quick layup, but on MU's next possession, Donahue rebounded a missed shot and was fouled – Marquette's fifth foul of the quarter – with 6:26 to go. Again, she split her free-throw tries, but this time, she got her own rebound after the miss and was fouled yet again. Her two tosses were true, and BG's lead was back up to seven points, 56-49.
• A Mason jumper and a Perkins layup cut that BG lead to three, but McGuff was fouled with 4:37 to go. The foul was Perkins' fifth, and McGuff hit both shots at the line. The teams traded turnovers, before Marquette's Porter made a three-pointer with just under three minutes remaining. But, BG answered as Kohler spotted Fleming for a triple and a 61-56 lead with 2:38 left.
• Neither team would score for more than two minutes after that. Volker missed a three-pointer, and BGSU used all of the shot clock. Fleming's contested three-point try was off the mark, but Kohler tracked down the rebound. Another shot would not drop for the Falcons, and Volker rebounded that miss.
• But, Donahue took a charge on a drive by Volker, giving the ball back to the Falcons with 1:02 to go. A BG turnover near midcourt nearly 10 seconds into the next possession, however, gave the ball back to MU. BG's Porter blocked a three-point attempt by MU's Porter, but a foul was called on the Falcons as the teams battled for the rebound.
• Mason, however, 'custard clanked' both of her free-throw attempts with 36.2 seconds left. Moxey grabbed the rebound and the Falcons used a timeout to advance the ball over midcourt. The visitors immediately fouled Kohler, who made one free throw with 35.6 seconds remaining to give BG a 62-56 lead.
• After using a timeout, the Golden Eagles cut the lead in half as a rainbow three-point try by Utberg found nothing but net with 26.3 seconds left. The Falcons used a timeout, and after BG inbounded the ball, Velasco was fouled and made both of her shots for a 64-59 lead with 24.7 ticks on the clock.
• Utberg's wild one-handed three-point try would not drop, but the ball went out of bounds off of a BGSU player. That possession ended with Volker banking home a three-point shot – her second triple off glass in the game – to cut BG's lead to two. The Falcons used a timeout with 11.3 seconds remaining.
• And, the Golden Eagles were able to get a held ball, and with the possession arrow in their favor, used their final timeout with 7.7 seconds to go. The resulting possession saw MU get the ball to Porter on the right side of the court, but with BGSU's Porter playing lock-down defense, MU's Porter attempted to throw a pass inside. Kohler, however, jumped the route and came up with the clinching steal as the final seconds ticked away.
 

Some of the sights & sounds from our fourth consecutive win!#T🔵GETHER x #AyZiggy pic.twitter.com/biOYCmgpgQ

— BGSU Women's Basketball (@BGSUWBB) December 19, 2024

NOTES & NUMBERS
• BGSU shot under 30 percent from the field in three of the four quarters, but went 8-of-14 (57.1%) from the floor in the second period on Wednesday night.
• For the game, the Falcons shot 35.3%, hitting 18-of-51 shots. BG was 6-of-18 from three-point range.
• The Golden Eagles shot 38.5% (25-of-65) from the floor and 42.9% from the arc. MU's 6-for-14 effort from long range included two triples that went off glass and in.
• MU was whistled for 27 fouls, compared to just 14 for the Falcons. BGSU went 22-for-30 at the free-throw line, with Marquette going 6-of-9 from the stripe.
• The Falcons, as mentioned, had a 44-36 rebounding advantage.
• BGSU held Skylar Forbes, Marquette's leading scorer, to just four points in the game. Forbes, who entered the contest averaging 15.1 ppg, went just 2-for-10 from the field.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons will head to Pittsburgh this weekend, wrapping up the non-conference schedule at Duquesne on Saturday (Dec. 21). That game, the first half of a doubleheader, will begin at 12:00 p.m. at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
• Then, the Orange and Brown will be idle from competition until New Year's Day, when BG opens the Mid-American Conference schedule at Kent State.
• The Falcons' next home game is set for Saturday night, Jan. 4, when Eastern Michigan comes to the Stroh Center.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Sat., Dec. 21 | at Duquesne | 12:00 p.m.
Wed., Jan. 1 | at Kent State | 1:00 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 4 | EASTERN MICHIGAN | 7:00 p.m.

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
• For more information on all things BGSU women's basketball, follow the Falcons on Facebook (@BGWBB), Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUWBB) and Instagram (@bgsuwbb), as well as right here at BGSUFalcons.com.