Falcons Face #16/15 Indiana to Close Non-Conference Schedule

Friday, December 22

Bloomington, Ind.

6 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Indiana

South Carolina at Bowling Green
December 19, 2023
Stroh Center
Bowling Green, Ohio

Erika Porter & the Falcons head to IU for a Friday matchup with the Hoosiers

Photo by: Scott W. Grau

December 21, 2023 | Women's Basketball

BGSU Notes (PDF)IU Notes (PDF)Support BGSU Women's Basketball

BGSU takes on a nationally-ranked opponent for the second time in four days

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BGSU at #16/15 INDIANA
Friday, December 22, 2023 • 6:00 p.m.
Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall • Bloomington, Ind.
TV/Video: B1G • Audio: Falcon Media Sports Network
Live Stats: IUHoosiers.com • Twitter: @BGSUwbb

JUMP BALL
• For the second time in four days and the third time this month, the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team will meet a nationally-ranked opponent. The Falcons, under the direction of first-year head coach Fred Chmiel, head to Bloomington for a Friday (Dec. 22) matchup with the University of Indiana. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m. at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

• Indiana is ranked 16th in this week's Associated Press poll, and the Hoosiers are 15th in the USA Today poll.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• There are multiple ways to keep up with the Falcons in 2023-24...

• TV/VIDEO: Friday's Indiana game will be televiseds on the Big Ten Network.
• RADIO/AUDIO: All of BGSU's 2023-24 games are scheduled to have an audio stream thanks to the Falcon Media Sports Network.
• LIVE STATS: Again this year, live stats for all games will be available.
• TWITTER (X): In-game updates, along with key graphics and information, can be found on the BGSU women's basketball Twitter/X account, @BGSUWBB.

• 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.

THE FALCONS VS. THE TOP 25
• Entering the Indiana game, the Falcons have an all-time record of 5-38 against teams ranked in the top 25 in the Associated Press and/or USA Today polls. BGSU is 3-5 at home (1-2 at the Stroh Center), 1-23 on the road and 1-10 in neutral-site games vs. ranked opponents.

• BGSU is 2-14 against teams ranked in the top 10 of at least one poll. The wins came at home (Anderson Arena) vs. #10/10 Purdue in 1991, and against #7/8 Vanderbilt in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Championships in East Lansing, Mich.

• Of BGSU's five total victories over nationally-ranked teams, three have come over Vanderbilt, with BGSU downing Purdue and Dayton once each.

• Vanderbilt is the highest-ranked team the Falcons have ever defeated, as BGSU topped the #7/8 Commodores in the aforementioned 2007 game.

• In addition to the win over Purdue in '91, the Falcons' other home victory over a nationally-ranked team was a 65-40 triumph against #15/14 Dayton at the Stroh Center on Dec. 30, 2012. That UD game is the Falcons' most recent win over a top-25 team, and is also BG's largest margin of victory against a nationally-ranked club.

• The game vs. the Hoosiers is part of a four-game December schedule that includes three contests vs. ranked foes. BG opened the month at #4/4 Iowa (Dec. 2), and the Falcons faced #1/1 South Carolina at the Stroh Center on Tuesday (Dec. 19).

• The complete list of BGSU's games vs. nationally-ranked foes can be found on page 25 of the attached PDF.

LAST TIME OUT: SHARPS SCORES A GAME-HIGH 25 VS. #1 SOUTH CAROLINA
• Morgan Sharps erupted for a game-high 25 points as the Falcons battled the number-one ranked team in the country Tuesday evening (Dec. 19). South Carolina, however, rode a hot-shooting start to a 93-62 win at the Stroh Center.

• The Gamecocks (11-0) began the game by going 10-for-10 from the field, opening up a 28-10 lead in the process. But, the Falcons ended the first quarter on an 8-0 run, and forced the visitors to miss six-straight shots after those 10 consecutive makes.

• Over the game's final 33-plus minutes, the Gamecocks outscored the Falcons by just 13 points, 65-52.

• Sharps' point total was just one away from matching her career best. She knocked down seven three-point shots to tie her career standard, and she was just one triple away from tying the school single-game record.

• Lexi Fleming joined Sharps in double figures for the Falcons, with 11 points on the night. Chloe Kitts had 21 points to pace four double-digit scorers for the Gamecocks. The visitors got 18 points from Bree Hall, 12 from Te-Hina Paopao and 11 from Kamilla Cardoso.

SIMPLY THE BEST (BETTER THAN ALL THE REST)
• BGSU's total of 62 points on Tuesday night was the highest allowed by South Carolina in seven games vs. unranked teams this season to date. The Gamecocks surrendered an average of just 37.5 points in the first six contests vs. unranked foes this season.

MAD FALCON SUPPORT
• Tuesday night's attendance was 4,195, marking the largest crowd ever to see the women's basketball Falcons play a game at the Stroh Center and the second-largest home crowd in BGSU women's basketball history.

• The largest BG women's crowd in Stroh Center annals took place in March of 2023, when 4,155 fans came through the turnstiles for the WNIT Fab Four game vs. Columbia.

• The all-time record home crowd came in 1993, when 4,408 fans watched the Falcons battle Florida in the NCAA Championships at venerable Anderson Arena. The list of top home attendance figures can be found in the attached PDF.

B!G CROWDS BECOMING COMMONPLACE FOR BG
• The South Carolina game was the third consecutive BGSU contest to approach some sort of attendance record. BG opened the month of December against Iowa at a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena, with 14,998 fans (including basketball legend Sue Bird and actor Jason Sudeikis) on hand. It was by far the largest crowd ever to see a BGSU game.

• Then, the Falcons faced Wright State in front of 7,574 fans on Dec. 12, as the Raiders set a new single-game attendance record. It was the 13th-largest throng to see a BGSU game. The list can be found in the attached PDF>

SHARPS-SHOOTING FALCON NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Morgan Sharps was named the Mid-American Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday (Dec. 19), earning that accolade for the first time in her career. In fact, it was the Falcons' first such honor in over four years.

• Sharps, a native of Granville, Ohio (Newark), earned the award after leading all players in scoring in BGSU's lone game the previous week (and she fell just short of tying a school record in the process). Sharps had a game-high 19 points in the Falcons' 69-48 win over Wright State (Dec. 12), and tied her career high with seven rebounds.

• Sharps went 5-for-7 from three-point range against the Raiders. She had 16 points in the third quarter alone, just one shy of the school record for points in a quarter. That scoring outburst included 13 points in the last 2:48 of the quarter, as she scored on five consecutive BGSU possessions. The last of those points came on a three-pointer in the final seconds of the period.

• Tuesday's award is the Falcons' first MAC Player-of-the-Week honor since Dec. 10, 2019. Since that time, the Falcons have an overall record of 80-51. In the last three-plus seasons, BGSU is 75-33 (.694) and 38-18 (.679) against the MAC, with one conference regular-season title and three national postseason appearances.

• Sharps, a transfer from Xavier, played in each of BGSU's first 50 games after coming to BG, but was injured in the Falcons' win over Toledo in January of 2023, and did not play in another game until the Lehigh contest on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 23, 2023).

• In the five games since her return, Sharps has averaged 15.8 points per game and has shot 50 percent from three-point range. Hours after being named MAC Player of the Week, she went out and scored 25 points against #1/1 South Carolina.

THE FLEMING FACTOR
• Lexi Fleming has been a B!G part of the Falcons' success since arriving at BGSU. The MAC Freshman of the Year in 2020-21, Fleming missed the entire '21-22 season due to injury, but returned to the court last season and saw action in 36 games.

• Entering the Indiana game, Fleming has played in 72 contests as a Falcon. BGSU has a record of 55-17 in those 72 games, including a 27-8 ledger in MAC regular-season play, a 31-10 mark in all games (regular season and tournament) against conference foes and a 25-6 record at the Stroh Center.

FUN FLEMING FACTS
• Lexi Fleming currently leads BGSU in scoring and steals, and the 5-5 guard also paces the Falcons in rebounding.

• Fleming had a season-high 24 points at #4/4 Iowa – tying for scoring honors in a game that also included reigning national player of the year Caitlin Clark – and added seven rebounds.

• Fleming has led BGSU in scoring in five of the last seven games, and the 5-5 guard has led or tied for the team rebounding lead in four of those seven games.

• On the season, she leads the team in scoring (16.7 ppg), rebounding (5.1 rpg) and steals (2.7 spg), and ranks third in assists (3.1 apg).

• At Iowa, Fleming made four three-point field goals in a game for the ninth time in her career. She now has made 132 career triples, and ranks 16th in school history on that list.

• Fleming now has 901 career points in 72 games, an average of 12.5 ppg as a Falcon.

THE FALCONS – A QUICK OVERVIEW
• The Falcons enter the Indiana game with a 6-3 record on the season, with two of the three losses coming to teams ranked fourth or higher in the country. BGSU is 2-1 at home, 2-2 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site games.

• The Falcons rallied to beat Cleveland State, 89-86, in the season opener at the Stroh Center (Nov. 7), and after a loss at Texas State, BG bounced back with four-straight wins. The Falcons recorded a 73-64 victory at Xavier (Nov. 18) before heading to Georgia and posting a pair of neutral-site wins in the Savannah Hoops Invitational.

• The Falcons topped Mercer by a 59-38 final (Nov. 22), and BGSU returned to the court on Thanksgiving Day and defeated Lehigh, 85-73. BG picked up a 68-66 win over Duquesne at the Stroh on a last-second shot (Nov. 27), before opening the December slate with a 99-65 loss at fourth-ranked Iowa.

• The Orange and Brown captured a 69-48 win at Wright State (Dec. 12) before falling to #1/1 South Carolina, 93-62, on Tuesday (Dec. 19).

• A total of 13 Falcons have seen action so far this season, with nine of those 13 averaging over 10 minutes per contest. Amy Velasco leads the team with 35.2 minutes per game, followed by Lexi Fleming (34.8 mpg) and Paige Kohler (28.8).

• Fleming leads the Falcons in scoring, with 16.7 points per game, with Morgan Sharps and Velasco at 15.8 and 12.9 ppg, respectively. Kohler has averaged 8.7 points per contest, while Erika Porter has 7.4 ppg to date.

• Fleming – a 5-5 guard – leads the Falcons in rebounding (5.1 rpg) as well as steals (2.7 spg). Velasco paces BG with 4.0 assists per game, followed closely by Kohler (3.9 apg) and Fleming (3.1 apg).

• Sharps is shooting an even 50 percent from three-point range, having gone 20-for-40 from the arc in her five games. Velasco has been almost equally deadly, having made 48.4% (15-of-31) of her long-distance tries.

• Olivia Hill and Sophie Dziekan have 4.8 and 4.3 ppg, respectively. Dziekan made her first collegiate start at Wright State and responded with her first career double-double, as she had 12 points and a career-high 10 rebounds in the win.

• Hill has started all nine games this winter. After going 0-for-1 from three-point land in her first 59 games as a Falcon, she made the first – and the second – long-range shot of her career at Xavier. She is now 6-for-13 from the arc this season.

• Last year, the Falcons went 31-7 overall, and 14-4 in MAC play. BGSU tied Ball State for second in the conference, earned the number-two seed for the MAC Tournament and advanced to the championship game. Then, the Orange and Brown won four games in the WNIT to advance all the way to the semifinal round of that tourney. A total of nine student-athletes returned from that team in 2023-24.

• The Falcons lost four starters from a year ago, as Allison Day completed her eligibility and Elissa Brett, Nyla Hampton and Jocelyn Tate all entered the transfer portal. Additionally, Kadie Hempfling, the only player in school history with over 1,200 points, 800 rebounds and 400 assists, completed her eligibility.

• Fleming made 20 starts a year ago, with Sharps starting 17 games and Velasco five.

• The group of returnees also includes Jasmine Clerkley, Jasmine Fearne, Emily Siesel and Jaci Tubergen.

• Five newcomers joined head coach Fred Chmiel's 2023-24 club. That quintet includes Baylor transfer Porter as well as freshmen Kohler, Taya Ellis, Keiryn McGuff and Abbie Riddle.

• Chmiel's staff is comprised of assistant coaches Maggie Lucas, Nick DiPillo and Lexxus Graham-Blincoe, video coordinator Audra Clark, director of operations Tim Kjar and director of player personnel Zhaque Gray.

THREE-MENDOUS
• A pair of Falcons have moved into the top 20 on the BGSU career list for three-point field goals made. Morgan Sharps now has 133 career triples, ranking her 15th on the school list. Lexi Fleming has hit 132 long-distance shots in her Falcon career, putting her in 16th place on the BG chart.

• More impressively, both players currently rank among the top-five Falcons in school history in three-pointers made per game. Sharps currently is first in that category with 2.42 triples per game, just ahead of the legendary Lauren Prochaska (2.30 three-pointers per game from 2007-11). Fleming currently ranks fifth on that list, having made 1.83 treys per contest.

THAT'S A LOT OF WINS!
• BGSU's total of 31 wins tied the Falcons for fourth in all of NCAA Division-I women's basketball in 2022-23. Only South Carolina, national champion LSU and Florida Gulf Coast had more wins in the '22-23 campaign. The complete list...
MOST WINS, NCAA DIVISION I, 2022-23
36 -- South Carolina
34 -- LSU
33 -- Florida Gulf Coast
31 -- Bowling Green, Connecticut, Iowa, UNLV, Virginia Tech
30 -- Cleveland State, Villanova

TOUGH CROWD!
• The Falcons have put together arguably the toughest non-conference schedule in program history in 2023-24. Head coach Fred Chmiel's club faces a trio of top-10 teams in Iowa, South Carolina and Indiana, along with a Cleveland State squad that won 30 games last season.

• South Carolina (first), Indiana (second) and Iowa (third) finished 1-2-3 in the nation in the final Associated Press poll of the 2022-23 season, which was announced just before the NCAA Tournament began.

• Iowa was fourth on both the Associated Press and USA Today polls when the Falcons faced the Hawkeyes in Iowa City, and South Carolina was first in both polls when the teams met on Tuesday. Indiana is ranked 16th in the AP poll and 15th by USA Today.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE HOOSIERS
• Indiana enters Friday's game with an overall record of 9-1, and the Hoosiers are 1-0 in Big Ten Conference play. As mentioned, IU is ranked 15th in the USA Today poll and 16th in the Associated Press listings. The Hoosiers have won eight-straight games, including a 109-56 dismantling of Evansville on Monday (Dec. 18).

• Individually, Mackenzie Holmes leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, with 19.3 points and 7.0 boards per contest. Sara Scalia and Yarden Garzon have 14.9 and 13.3 ppg, respectively. IU is shooting 50.7% from the field as a team this season to date, and the Hoosiers have outscored opponents by 21.9 points per game.

• Head coach Teri Moren welcomed back nine letterwinners, including four starters, from a 2022-23 team that went 28-4 overall and 16-2 in Big Ten Conference play. That club won the Big Ten regular-season title.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons trail Indiana, 5-2, in the all-time series, and IU has won the last three meetings. The teams met last year, for the first time in over a decade, and the host Hoosiers picked up a 96-61 victory in Bloomington. Each of IU's four other series wins came by margins of eight to 12 points.

• The Falcons are 1-1 at home (0-0 at the Stroh) and 1-4 on the road vs. the Hoosiers over the years.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the Indiana game, the Falcons will be idle until after the New Year. BGSU will begin Mid-American Conference play at Central Michigan on Wednesday, Jan. 3, with that game set to begin at 7:00 p.m. at McGuirk Arena.

• Then, BG will open the home portion of the MAC schedule three days later (Sat., Jan. 6) against Western Michigan, in a 2:00 p.m. start at the Stroh Center.

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 right here at BGSUFalcons.com.