WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26  |  7:00 P.M.  |  STROH CENTER  |  BOWLING GREEN, OHIO

JUMP BALL
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, coming off of a win in the "Battle of I-75," puts a four-game winning streak on the line Wednesday night (Feb. 26). Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons will face Ohio University, with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center.

SENIOR NIGHT
• The game, as mentioned, begins at 7:00 p.m., but you will want to be in your seat early, as Senior Night festivities will take place prior to tipoff.

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

• TV/VIDEO: Wednesday's Ohio game will be streamed via ESPN+.
• RADIO/AUDIO: The Ohio matchup, as is the case for all of BGSU's 2024-25 games, is scheduled to have an audio stream thanks to Falcon Media Sports Network.
• 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: VELASCO DROPS 30 ON UT AS FALCONS WIN "BATTLE OF I-75"
• Senior Amy Velasco exploded for 30 points as the Falcons topped Toledo, 81-72, Saturday evening (Feb. 22) before a raucous crowd of over 3,600 fans at the Stroh Center. With the win, BGSU (15-11, 8-6 MAC) has won four-straight games and six of the last seven contests.

• Fifth-year collegian Erika Porter had 16 points in the win, going 7-for-9 from the field. Freshman Johnea Donahue and fifth-year Falcon Lexi Fleming scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.

• Donahue had eight steals, just two shy of the school record, in the win.

• Nan Garcia scored 18 points for the Rockets (19-6, 10-4 MAC), with Kendall Carruthers and Faith Fedd-Robinson adding 16 and 14, respectively.

• The teams had identical field-goal percentages, each going 30-for-56 (53.6 percent) on the night. But, the Falcons hit six three-pointers to the Rockets' two, and made 15 free throws to UT's 10.

• The Rockets got 42 points from the bench, and UT had a 32-23 rebounding lead. But, the Falcons forced the Midnight Blue and Gold into 18 turnovers while committing 12 themselves, and BGSU had a 23-12 advantage in points off turnovers.

• BGSU led for the final 34-plus minutes of the game. The Falcon starters had 71 points in the win, while the UT starting five had a combined 30 points.

AMY MOVES INTO THE TOP 10
• With her 30-point outburst on Saturday night, senior Amy Velasco moved into the top 10 on the BGSU career scoring list. In fact, she moved up three spots on that chart in the win over Toledo.

• Velasco, who began the night in 11th place, passed Lori Albers (1,424 points from 1989-94), Charlotta Jones (1,430 points from 1994-98) and Talita Scott (1,432 points from 1990-94) to move into eighth.

• Velasco now has a career total of 1,453 points as a Falcon. More about Velasco's rankings on numerous BG career charts can be found elsewhere in these notes.

VELASCO IS ON A VERY SHORT LIST
• Amy Velasco enters the Ohio contest with career totals of 1,453 points and 466 assists at BGSU. She is one of only two players in program history to score more than 1,400 points and dish out more than 400 assists.

• The only other player in that exclusive club is BGSU Hall-of-Famer Kate Achter, who had 1,580 points and a school-record 688 assists from 2004-08.

EP = ELITE PERFORMER
• It's no secret that Erika Porter can shoot the ball well. How well? Very well. So well, in fact, that she has already set several school records and is on pace for another.

• Last season, Porter shot 66.3 percent from the field, making 159 of her 240 shots to set a new school single-season record in that category. In fact, she broke not only the BG record, but the MAC single-season mark as well, and she ranked second in the entire nation in field-goal percentage a year ago.

• Porter shot 68.2% from the field in MAC games last season, making 107 of her 157 attempts. She shattered that BGSU record (65.5%, Talita Scott in '92-93) and fell just shy of breaking the conference mark (68.9%, Buffalo's Heather Turner in 2006-07).

• Porter, who went 7-for-9 from the floor in Saturday's (Feb. 22) win over Toledo, is on pace to shatter another BGSU record – the school career record for field-goal pct. Entering the Ohio game, Porter has shot 60.9% (268 of 440) from the field in her BG tenure – well ahead of the current record of 57.0% (Jacki Raterman, 1995-99). At the risk of being mentioned by @OldTakesExposed, we'll just go ahead and say it – Porter is a virtual lock to break this record.

• The complete list of BGSU career FG pct. leaders can be found on page 25 of the PDF version of these very notes.

PK10 GETS IT DONE
• Sophomore Paige Kohler had a monster game in the Falcons' 82-69 win over Akron (Jan. 29). Kohler had 28 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to lead the team in all three categories. She tied her career scoring high, and fell just two rebounds and one assist shy of matching each of those career standards.

• Then, three days later, she had a team-leading 17 points in the win at Central Michigan (Feb. 1), including arguably the biggest bucket of the game. With under a minute to play and the Falcons leading by a single point, Kohler hit a long three-point attempt to give BGSU a 71-67 lead with 42.0 seconds to go.

• With 15 points at Ball State (Feb. 5) and 18 more in the home win over CMU (Feb. 15), she led the Falcons in scoring in each of four-straight MAC games.

• Kohler, who has started all 57 of BGSU's games since her arrival on campus, heads into the Ohio game with impressive career totals of 671 points, 245 rebounds and 198 assists. She currently ranks 16th in BGSU history in career scoring average (11.77 ppg), and is eighth in career assists per game (3.47).

THE FLEMING FACTOR
• Lexi Fleming has been a B!G part of the Falcons' success since arriving at BG. The MAC Freshman of the Year in 2020-21, Fleming missed the entire '21-22 season due to injury, but returned to the court in 2022-23 and saw action in 36 games as BGSU went 31-7. She was injured in December of 2023 and missed nearly an entire year, before returning to the court for this season's Xavier game (Dec. 7).

• In the seasons in which Fleming has been healthy for the majority of the year (i.e., more than 10 games), the Falcons' records are as follows...
    • 2020-21:    21-8, 14-4 MAC (MAC regular-season champions; WNIT)
    • 2022-23:    31-7, 14-4 MAC (T-second in the MAC; WNIT Fab Four)
    • 2024-25:    15-11, 8-6 MAC (heading into Wednesday's Ohio game)

• Fleming surpassed the 1,000-point mark last month (Jan. 18). She became the 32nd player to reach that plateau, and she did so in her 82nd career game, tying her for the ninth-fastest player to reach the millennium mark in program history.

• Entering the Ohio game, Fleming has played in a total of 91 contests as a Falcon. BGSU has a record of 66-25 in those 91 games, including a 35-14 ledger in MAC regular-season play, a 39-16 mark in all games (regular season and tournament) against conference foes and a 32-8 record at the Stroh Center.

• Four of those losses have come against nationally-ranked opponents, including a game at Indiana (Dec. 22, 2023), when Fleming played just 70 seconds before leaving due to injury. Heading into that IU game, Fleming had led the 2023-24 team in scoring (16.7 ppg), rebounding (5.1 rpg for the 5-5 guard) and steals (2.7 spg).

• The list of BGSU's leading career scorers can be found on page 25 of these notes, while the list of quickest Falcons to 1,000 points is on page six.

FLEMING CONTINUES TO CLIMB CAREER CHARTS
• Lexi Fleming is in her fifth season with the Falcons, but has played the equivalent of roughly 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 Ohio game with 1,128 career points, ranking 26th 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 169 three-point field goals, ranking her 12th in school history. She is fifth on the BGSU career list for triples made per game (1.86). And, Fleming is 16th in school history in assists per game, with 2.73, and 17th in career free-throw percentage (79.3%).

• Additionally, she continues to move up on the career steals list. Fleming now has 199 steals as a Falcon, good for ninth in BGSU history, and she is currently third in career steals per game (2.19).

VELASCO CONTINUES TO MOVE UP THE SCORING LIST AS WELL
• Amy Velasco is putting together a stellar senior season. Velasco has scored in double digits in 23 of the Falcons' 26 games to date, and is averaging a team-high 15.4 points per contest in 2024-25.

• Velasco has scored at least 20 points six times this season, including game-high totals of 28 points at Horizon League favorite Cleveland State and 24 points at nationally-ranked Ohio State. On Saturday (Feb. 22), she had a season-high 30 points in the Falcons' win over Toledo. 

• She recently moved into the top 20 on BGSU's career scoring list, and has continued to climb the leaderboard. With 1,453 career points, as mentioned earlier, Velasco currently ranks eighth on that list.

• Velasco has a career scoring average of 11.44 points per game, which currently places her 21st on that BGSU list. And, with a career total of 147 three-point field goals made, she is 16th on that BGSU chart.

• Velasco has a career free-throw rate of 83.5%, having made 318 of her 381 attempts from the stripe. She is ranked ninth on that BGSU career list.

AMY ALSO ACCUMULATES ASSISTS
• Amy Velasco, as mentioned, is now eighth on the BGSU career scoring list, and the senior also enjoys a lofty perch on the school's assists chart. She moved past her former teammate, Kadie Hempfling (432 assists from 2018-23), into sixth place on the BGSU career list a few weeks ago, and now has 466 career dimes. Lindsay Austin (508 assists from 2000-04) holds down the fifth-place spot.

• Velasco currently ranks sixth in BGSU history in assists per game, with 3.67. 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.

DONAHUE = DEFENSE
• Freshman Johnea Donahue has stepped up her production at both ends of the floor in recent weeks. She moved into the starting lineup prior to the Akron game on Jan. 29, and the Falcons have gone 6-1 in that time.

• Donahue has scored in double figures in five of those seven games, including each of the last four, but arguably has made her biggest contributions at the defensive end of the court. Donahue had a total of eight steals – just two shy of the school's single-game record – in Saturday's (Feb. 22) win over Toledo, and currently leads the entire MAC in steals per game, with 2.70.

THE FALCONS – A QUICK OVERVIEW
• The Falcons are 15-11 on the season, and BGSU is 8-6 in MAC play. BG is currently tied for fifth place in the 12-team league. The Falcons have won four games in a row after Saturday's (Feb. 22) 81-72 victory over arch-rival Toledo at the Stroh Center.

• BGSU has won six of the last seven games, with the lone loss in that time coming at  MAC-leading Ball State (71-51, Feb. 5). The Falcons rebounded from that setback, hitting the road and beating Arkansas State, 75-73, in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge (Feb. 8). That BG win snapped A-State's 11-game winning streak.

• Then, the Orange and Brown returned home and picked up a 70-55 win over Central Michigan (Feb. 15), before taking to the road once again and posting a 70-63 win at Western Michigan (Feb. 19).

• The loss at BSU had snapped a two-game winning streak that included an 82-69 home win over Akron (Jan. 29) and a 76-69 road victory against CMU (Feb. 1).

• In addition to the aforementioned victories, the Falcons have MAC wins over Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois at home, and Ohio on the road. BGSU also has conference losses at home against Buffalo and WMU, and on the road vs. Kent State, Miami and Toledo.

• In non-league play, BG posted home wins over Southern Miss, St. Bonaventure, Xavier and Marquette, with neutral-site victories vs. 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 Horizon League favorite Cleveland State.

• BGSU is 9-2 at home, 4-9 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site games this season to date. In MAC play, the Falcons are 5-2 at the Stroh and 3-4 at hostile venues.

• Overall, the Falcons have a scoring margin of +1.9 and a rebounding margin of +2.7 this year. BG has outrebounded 14 of this season's first 26 opponents, with a rebounding margin of 10 or more in seven of those games to date. That includes a school record-tying four games with a rebounding margin of +18 or better.

• Four players are scoring in double digits for the Orange and Brown. Senior Amy Velasco leads the way with 16.0 ppg, and she also paces the Falcons with 4.6 assists per contest. Velasco has scored in double figures in 23 of 26 games this season, including a 30-point explosion in the win over Toledo, and she is second on the club with 40 three-point field goals made. She is shooting a BG-best 40.8 percent from the arc, good for third in the MAC. Velasco leads the entire conference in both free-throw pct. (93.4%) and minutes played (35.56 mpg). She has made 92 career starts and has 74 career double-digit scoring games.

• Sophomore Paige Kohler and fifth-year Falcon Lexi Fleming have 12.8 and 12.6 ppg, respectively. Kohler also has 4.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, and has made a team-leading 60 three-point field goals. She flirted with a triple-double in the win at Ohio, with 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and had a 28-point, seven-board, seven-assist performance vs. Akron. Kohler is fourth in the MAC in minutes (34.14 mpg) and fifth in the league in assist/turnover ratio (1.67).

• Fleming had 23-point outings on the road against both Miami and Toledo, part of a five-game stretch in which she led BG in scoring four times. She has made 37 triples in her 19 games to date, and has 3.2 assists and 2.3 steals per game to rank second on the team in both categories.

• Fifth-year collegian Erika Porter is averaging 10.2 ppg, and has a team-leading 5.5 rpg. Porter also leads the Falcons and is second in the MAC in field-goal pct. (54.5%).

• Freshmen Johnea Donahue and Lauren Gerken have 7.4 and 7.2 ppg, respectively. Donahue has scored in double digits in each of the last four games, and the leads the MAC with 2.70 steals per game after picking up a career-high eight in the win over Toledo.

• Sophomores Keiryn McGuff and Taya Ellis are averaging 4.6 and 3.9 ppg, respectively. McGuff also has 3.9 rpg, and scored in double figures in three-straight games to begin MAC play. Ellis has 4.6 rpg on the season, ranking second on the team, and she leads BGSU with 0.8 blocks per game. Junior Kendal Moxey has 3.2 ppg and has gone 30-for-58 (51.7%) from the floor.

• In MAC play, Velasco (14.4 ppg), Fleming (13.9) and Kohler (13.6) all have scored between 190 and 201 points in the 14 games to date. Porter and Kohler have 5.2 and 4.1 rpg, respectively, while Velasco (4.2 apg), Kohler (3.7) and Fleming (3.3) all are averaging over three assists per game vs. conference competition.

• Donahue and Fleming rank 1-2 in the entire MAC in steals in conference games, and Kohler, Fleming and Velasco all are sixth or better in assist/turnover ratio. Porter is second in the conference in field-goal percentage in league action.

• 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 19 successful triples in 2024-25 to date, and set career-high minutes totals in the back-to-back wins at Ohio (24:09) and Northern Illinois (26:02).

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

A QUICK LOOK AT THE BOBCATS
• Ohio is 6-19 overall, and the Bobcats are 4-10 in MAC play. Ohio brings a two-game winning streak into Wednesday night's game at the Stroh, including a 74-70 home win over Northern Illinois last Wednesday (Feb. 19) and a 70-62 road win over Akron on Saturday (Feb. 22).

• Ohio is 4-9 in home games and 2-10 in road matches this season to date. In MAC play, the Bobcats are 2-5 at home and 2-5 on the road.

• Kennedi Watkins leads the team in scoring, with 15.1 ppg, while Bailey Tabeling has 12.3 ppg and has hit a team-high 56 three-point field goals. Anyssa Jones has 8.1 ppg this season, and all three players are averaging over four rpg.

• Head coach Bob Boldon welcomed back a total of nine players from last year's team that finished 11-19 overall and 8-10 in the MAC.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Ohio, 60-34, in the all-time series, and BGSU has won the last three meetings, including this season's first matchup. Last month (Jan. 15, 2025), Lexi Fleming scored 19 points and Paige Kohler flirted with a triple-double as the Falcons picked up a 74-53 win in Athens. In last season's lone meeting, the Orange and Brown picked up a 69-52 victory at the Stroh Center (Feb. 7, 2024).

BGSU is 34-11 at home, 23-21 on the road and 3-2 in neutral-site meetings with the Bobcats through the years. Additional series information can be found elsewhere in these very notes.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the Ohio game, the Falcons will head to the MAC's "West Coast" to face Northern Illinois in DeKalb on Saturday (March 1). That contest is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. local time (2:00 p.m. ET) at the Convocation Center.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will close out the home schedule next Wednesday (March 5), taking on Kent State in a 7:00 p.m. start at the Stroh. The regular-season schedule concludes with a game at Eastern Michigan on Saturday, March 8.

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.