SATURDAY, JAN. 11  |  1:00 P.M.  |  MILLETT HALL  |  OXFORD, OHIO

JUMP BALL
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team hits the road for the next two games, beginning Saturday afternoon (Jan. 11). Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons meet Miami University in a Mid-American Conference matchup, beginning at 1:00 p.m. at Millett Hall.

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

• TV/VIDEO: Saturday's Miami meeting will be streamed via ESPN+.
• RADIO/AUDIO: The Miami game, 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.

RANDOM NOTE OF THE DAY: SEVENTEENTH (17TH)
• Senior Amy Velasco scored a team-high 22 points in Wednesday night's game vs. Buffalo. In the process, she moved past her former teammate, Kadie Hempfling, into 17th place on the BGSU career scoring list. Velasco now has 1,282 career points.

• In the UB contest, Velasco also moved into 17th place on the BGSU career list for three-point field goals made. And, fifth-year Falcon Lexi Fleming moved into 17th place – also moving past Hempfling – on the career steals list.

THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
• Historically, the Falcons have been one of the top programs in the Mid-American Conference. Entering the Miami contest, BGSU has gone 459-269 (.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.

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SEMESTER IN THE CLASSROOM
• To the surprise of no one, the Falcons took care of business in the classroom in the Fall 2024 semester. As a team, BGSU had a 3.717 grade-point average for the semester, with 11 student-athletes making the Dean's List and six earning perfect 4.00 GPAs in the fall.

FLEMING CLIMBS CAREER CHARTS
• Lexi Fleming is in her fifth season with the Falcons, but has played the equivalent of fewer than three seasons in a BG uniform. She has seen action in 79 career games, but recently moved into the top 40 on the BGSU career scoring list. In the Kent State contest (Jan. 1), she moved up four spots on that chart, and now ranks 34th in school history with 957 points. With an average of 12.11 points per game, Fleming is 12th on that BG career list.

• In her career, Fleming has made 145 three-point field goals, ranking 15th in school history. She is fifth on the BGSU career list for triples made per game (1.84). And, Fleming is 15th in school history in assists per game, with 2.59.

• With a game-high four steals vs. Eastern Michigan (Jan. 4), Fleming moved into the top 20 on that career list. She now has 167 steals as a Falcon, ranking her 17th in BGSU history, and she is fourth in career steals per game (2.11).

VELASCO CONTINUES TO MOVE UP THE SCORING LIST
• Amy Velasco has had a stellar start to her senior season. Velasco has scored in double digits in 13 of 14 games, and is averaging a team-high 17.4 points per contest.

• 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 1,282 career points, Velasco now 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 11.15 points per game, which currently places her 19th on that BGSU list. And, with a career total of 130 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 chart, and the senior also enjoys a lofty perch on the school's assists list. Late last season, Velasco became just the 11th player in school history to reach the 300-assist plateau.

• In the Kent State game (Jan. 1), she became just the seventh player in school history to surpass 400 career assists. Velasco enters the Miami contest with 412 career dimes (that's $41.20 in U.S. currency). Velasco's next target is her former teammate, sixth-place Kadie Hempfling, who had 432 assists from 2018-23.

• Velasco also ranks seventh in BGSU history in assists per game, with 3.58. 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 42 player-games to injury heading into the Miami contest. Six different players have missed at least one game due to injury 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 action 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 has scored in double digits in each of the last three games.

• Another soph, Taya Ellis, was injured in the Ohio State contest and missed the next seven games. Ellis returned to the court for Wednesday night's (Jan. 8) Buffalo game. 

THE FALCONS – A QUICK OVERVIEW
• The Falcons are 7-7 on the season, and BGSU is 1-2 in MAC play. The Falcons picked up a 90-76 win over Eastern Michigan at the Stroh Center on Saturday night (Jan. 4), snapping a two-game losing streak, before suffering a 70-60 home loss vs. Buffalo on Wednesday (Jan. 8)

• BGSU 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 5-1 at home, 0-6 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site games to date, and the Falcons have a scoring margin of +0.8 and a rebounding margin of +5.3 this year. BG has outrebounded nine of this season's first 14 opponents, with a rebounding margin of 10 or more in five of those games to date.

• Three players are scoring in double digits, with three others averaging more than seven points per game. Senior Amy Velasco leads the way with 17.4 ppg, and she also paces the Falcons with 4.6 assists per contest. Velasco has scored in double figures in 13 of 14 games this season, and is second on the club with 23 three-point field goals made.

• Sophomore Paige Kohler has 12.0 ppg, while fifth-year collegian Erika Porter is averaging 11.1 ppg to date. Kohler also has 4.6 rebounds per game, and has made a team-leading 27 three-point field goals. Porter has 5.7 rpg to rank third on the team, and she leads the Falcons – and the MAC – in field-goal percentage, at 54.4 percent.

• Fifth-year Falcon Lexi Fleming is averaging 9.3 ppg in her first six contests of the year. Fleming, who scored a BG-best 17 points at Kent State, has hit 13 triples in her six games to date.

• Sophomore Keiryn McGuff is averaging 8.4 ppg and 6.6 rpg in her first five games of the season, while freshman Lauren Gerken and soph Taya Ellis have 7.2 and 6.4 ppg, respectively. McGuff had a career-high 11 points at Kent State, then matched that total with 11 more points three days later vs. EMU.

• Gerken is fourth on the team in rebounding (4.6 rpg) and third in three-pointers made (14), while Ellis is averaging a BG-best 7.6 rpg and also leads the Falcons with 1.0 blocked shots per outing.

• Freshman Johnea Donahue and junior Kendal Moxey have 5.4 and 4.4 ppg, respectively. Donahue leads BGSU and is second in the MAC with 2.6 steals per game, while Moxey is 25-for-49 (51.0%) from the floor.

• In MAC play, all five BGSU starters currently average at least 10.0 points per game. Velasco has team-best averages of 15.0 ppg and 4.3 apg against conference competition, with McGuff and Porter each pulling down 6.7 rpg to date vs. the MAC.

• 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 fifth on the Falcons with 11 successful triple tries in 2024-25 to date.

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

A QUICK LOOK AT THE REDHAWKS
• Miami brings an overall record of 8-5 into Saturday's game, and the RedHawks, like the Falcons, are 1-2 in MAC play. MU picked up a conference road win at Western Michigan last weekend, but lost a narrow 47-46 decision at Central Michigan on Wednesday night.

• Enjulina Gonzales leads the team in scoring, with 16.3 ppg, while Amber Tretter has 11.0 ppg and a Miami-best 7.7 rpg. Tretter is one of three players who have started all 13 games this year to date.

• Head coach Glenn Box added seven new faces to the 2024-25 roster, and five of Miami's top-six scorers are newcomers. Last year's team finished 9-20 overall and 6-12 in the MAC.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Miami, 58-35, in the all-time series, and the teams split last season's two meetings, with the home team winning each time. Miami picked up a 56-47 win in Oxford just under a year ago (Jan. 20, 2024), with the Falcons posting a 66-47 victory on Senior Day at the Stroh Center (March 2, 2024).

• Miami's win at Millett last season snapped a six-game series winning streak for the Falcons.

• BGSU is 28-16 at home (8-5 at the Stroh), 24-18 on the road and 6-1 in neutral-site meetings with Miami through the years. Additional series information can be found elsewhere in these notes.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the Miami game, BGSU will return to the road for a Wednesday (Jan. 15) meeting with Ohio. That contest will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Convocation Center.

• Then, the Falcons will return home to  meet Northern Illinois three nights later (Sat., Jan. 18).

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.