WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29  |  7:00 P.M.  |  STROH CENTER  |  BOWLING GREEN, OHIO

JUMP BALL
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team closes the month of January with a midweek home game. Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons face the University of Akron in Mid-American Conference action on Wednesday night (Jan. 29), with tipoff set for shortly after 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: Wednesday's UA game will be streamed via ESPN+.
• RADIO/AUDIO: The Akron affair, 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.

AUTISM AWARENESS
• Wednesday's game will be Autism Awareness Night at the Stroh Center. In addition to other events and promotions, blue shirts will be given out to the first 250 fans.

FLEMING FLIES PAST 1,000-POINT PLATEAU
• Lexi Fleming scored the first basket of the win over Northern Illinois on Jan. 18, 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 under 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.

• Heading into the Akron game, Fleming has a career total of 1,042 points, and now is ranked 29th in BGSU history.

• Fleming has led the Falcons in scoring, or tied for the team lead, in four of the last five games. She is averaging 17.0 ppg during that time, with a pair of 23-point contests.

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

FLEMING CLIMBS CAREER CHARTS
• Lexi Fleming has been moving up the BGSU career scoring list at a rapid rate since returning to the court in early December, and enters the Akron contest with 1,042 career points, ranking 29th in BGSU history. With an average of 12.40 points per game, Fleming is 11th on that BG career list.

• In her career, Fleming has now made 156 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 last Wednesday (Jan. 22), Fleming moved up three spots on that career list. Heading into the UA game, she now has 182 steals as a Falcon, tying her for 13th in BGSU history, and she is currently third in career steals per game (2.17).

VELASCO CONTINUES TO MOVE UP THE SCORING LIST
• Amy Velasco is putting together a stellar senior season. Velasco has scored in double digits in 17 of the Falcons' 19 games to date, and is averaging a team-high 16.4 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 1,349 career points, Velasco currently ranks 16th on that chart. Her next target is Elissa Brett (1,358 points from 2019-23). The list of BG's top scorers can be found elsewhere in these very notes.

• Velasco has a career scoring average of 11.24 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 16th 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.

• In Saturday's UT contest, Velasco moved past her former teammate, Kadie Hempfling (432 assists from 2018-23), into sixth place on the BGSU career list. Velasco now has 434 career dimes.

• Velasco currently ranks seventh in BGSU history in assists per game, with 3.61. 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.

THE FALCONS – A QUICK OVERVIEW
• The Falcons are 9-10 on the season, and BGSU is 3-5 in MAC play. BG is looking to snap a two-game losing streak after a narrow 63-60 setback against Western Michigan last Wednesday (Jan. 22) and an 80-68 outcome at Toledo on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 25).

• Prior to the WMU game, the Falcons had 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.

• In addition to the Ohio and NIU games, the Falcons have a MAC win over Eastern Michigan. BGSU has conference losses against Buffalo at home and Kent State and Miami on the road.

• 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, 1-8 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 1-3 at hostile venues.

• Overall, the Falcons have a scoring margin of +0.8 and a rebounding margin of +4.8 this year. BG has outrebounded 12 of this season's first 19 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 16.4 ppg, and she also paces the Falcons with 4.6 assists per contest. Velasco has scored in double figures in 17 of 19 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, ranking her second in the MAC in that category.

• Fifth-year Falcon Lexi Fleming and sophomore Paige Kohler have 12.8 and 11.9 ppg, respectively, with fifth-year collegian Erika Porter averaging 10.7 ppg. Kohler also has 4.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, and has made a team-leading 38 three-point field goals. She flirted with a triple-double in the win at Ohio, with 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

• Fleming has led the Falcons or tied for the team lead in scoring in four of the last five games, including 23-point outings on the road against Miami and Toledo. She has made 24 triples in her 11 games to date, and has 3.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game to rank third and second, respectively, on the team.

• Porter is second on the team with 5.3 rpg, and she leads the Falcons and ranks second in the MAC in field-goal percentage, at 56.1 percent. Porter was 8-of-10 from the floor last Wednesday vs. Western.

• Freshman Lauren Gerken has 7.2 ppg and 4.6 rpg, while classmate Johnea Donahue is scoring 5.6 ppg. Donahue leads BGSU and is third in the MAC with 2.4 steals per game.

• Sophomores Taya Ellis and Keiryn McGuff each are averaging 4.8 ppg. McGuff has 4.7 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. Ellis has a team-high 5.6 rpg on the season, and also leads BGSU with 0.9 blocks per game. Junior Kendal Moxey has 3.9 ppg and has gone 28-for-54 (51.9%) from the floor.

• In MAC play, Fleming (14.4 ppg), Velasco (14.0) and Kohler (12.3) all have scored between 98 and 115 points in the eight games to date. Porter has a BG-best 5.1 rpg and is shooting nearly 60% (58.2%), while Kohler and McGuff are pulling down 4.8 and 4.4 rpg, respectively, vs. the MAC. Velasco (4.4), Kohler (4.0) and Fleming (3.5) all are averaging over three assists per game through eight 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 ZIPS
• Akron is 9-11 overall, and the Zips are 3-5 in MAC play after a narrow 80-71 loss to Buffalo on Saturday (Jan. 25). UA is looking to snap a four-game losing streak, which came after wins at home vs. Northern Illinois and on the road against Eastern Michigan.

• Alexus Mobley has 12.6 ppg to pace four Zips averaging at least 9.8 points per outing, while Shelbee Brown has 11.2 ppg and ranks fourth in the MAC with 8.0 rpg. Maddie Vejsicky has made a team-leading 42 three-point field goals this season, while Zakia Rasheed has hit 35 shots from the arc to date.

• Head coach Ryan Gensler, in his second season with the Zips, has just five players on the 2024-25 roster who saw action last season, along with a total of 10 newcomers. The '23-24 team finished with records of 11-18 overall and 6-12 in the MAC.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Akron, 60-14, in the all-time series, and BGSU has captured three-straight meetings, including each of last season's two matchups. The Falcons picked up a 70-59 win at the Stroh Center (Jan. 17, 2024) and a 74-68 triumph on the road just over a month later (Feb. 21, 2024). Erika Porter had a monster game in the latter meeting, with game-high totals of 22 points and 16 rebounds.

• BGSU won the first 26 series meetings, and after Akron won two of the next five, BGSU reeled off 19 consecutive wins before UA's next victory in 2013. Akron has gone 11-9 in the last 20 meetings, after BGSU's 51-3 series start.

• BGSU is 31-5 at home, 27-8 on the road and 2-1 in neutral-site meetings with the Zips through the years. Additional series information can be found elsewhere in these very notes.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the UA game, BGSU will begin the month of February with three-straight road games. The Falcons will face  Central Michigan on Saturday (Feb. 1), in a 1:00 p.m. matchup at McGuirk Arena.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will meet league-leading Ball State in Muncie (Feb. 5), and Arkansas State in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge (Feb. 8), before hosting the Chippewas on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 15. The latter game will be BGSU's Alumni Day, with many former Falcon greats expected to be on hand at the Stroh.

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.