BGSU Battles Bonnies Saturday at the Stroh

Saturday, November 16

Bowling Green, Ohio

12 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

St. Bonaventure

Kristiana Kulackovska v Wittenberg - Oct. 29 2024

Photo by: Owen Fink, BGSU Athletics

November 15, 2024 | Women's Basketball

BGSU Notes BGSU-SBU Rosters Bona Women's Basketball Support BGSUWBB 2024-25 Record Book

Falcons set for a noon tipoff

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

SATURDAY, NOV. 16 | 12:00 P.M. | STROH CENTER | BOWLING GREEN, OHIO

BOWLING GREEN
FALCONS
(1-2, 0-0 MAC)

ST. BONAVENTURE
BONNIES
(1-1, 0-0 Atlantic 10)


WATCH : ESPN+ \| LISTEN : BG Falcon Media \| LIVE STATS : View \| TWITTER/X: @BGSUwbb \| INSTAGRAM: bgsuwbb

OPENING TIP
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team is home this weekend, for a rare afternoon game at the Stroh Center. Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons face St. Bonaventure University on Saturday (Nov. 16), with tipoff at 12:00 p.m.

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

• TV/VIDEO: Saturday's St. Bonaventure matchup will be streamed via ESPN+.
• RADIO/AUDIO: The SBU contest, 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.

AMY'S APPROACHING THE TOP 25
• Senior Amy Velasco had a team-high 20 points in the Falcons' game at Detroit Mercy last weekend (Nov. 8), and followed that up with a game-best 28 points on Tuesday night (Nov. 12) at Cleveland State.

• Velasco enters Saturday's St. Bonaventure game with a career total of 1,097 points. She currently ranks 26th on the BGSU career scoring list, and needs just two points to tie Stefanie Wenzel (1,099 points from 2000-04) for 25th.

• Velasco currently has a career scoring average of 10.55 points per game, which puts her 24th on that BGSU list.

AMY ALSO ACCUMULATES ASSISTS
• Amy Velasco is moving up the BGSU career scoring list, and the senior also enjoys a lofty perch on the school's career assists list. Velasco reached a career milestone late last season, dishing out the 300th assist of her career. Velasco became just the 11th player in school history to reach the 300-assist plateau.

• Velasco enters the St. Bonaventure game with a total of 360 career assists. She recently moved past Cathy Koch (347 assists from 1988-92) into sole possession of ninth place, and her next targets are Jaymee Wappes (1996-2000) and Tracy Pontius (2007-11), who dished out 387 assists each.

• Velasco currently ranks seventh in BGSU history in assists per game, with 3.46. The complete lists of both career assists and assists per game can be found on page 7 of the PDF version of these very notes. You can access the PDF version of these very notes by clicking the link near the top of this very page.

LAST TIME OUT
• Cleveland State withstood an early three-point barrage by the Falcons, and the Vikings went on to a 75-68 win Tuesday night (Nov. 12) at the Wolstein Center.

• Senior Amy Velasco had 28 points for the Falcons (1-2), with sophomores Paige Kohler and Taya Ellis joining Velasco in double digits. In front of a large contingent of fans, Kohler – a native of nearby Olmsted Falls – had 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Kohler's rebound and assist totals fell just one shy of her career bests.

• Ellis had 10 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, for the first double-double of her collegiate career.

• The Vikings (2-1), the preseason Horizon League favorites, got balanced scoring in the win. Sara Guerreiro had 19 points, with Jordana Reisma adding 17, Mickayla Perdue 16 and Destiny Leo 12.

• Guerreiro led the hosts in rebounds and assists as well as points, with nine boards and five assists. Reisma had eight rebounds in the contest.

• BGSU had a 44-37 rebounding advantage, and the Falcons had 19 offensive rebounds in the game. But, after going 10-for-23 from the field (and 5-of-6 from three-point range) in the first quarter, the Falcons were held to a 15-of-52 (28.8%) success rate thereafter.

• Cleveland State went 9-of-16 from the floor in the third quarter, and the hosts took the lead for the first time on a Colbi Maples layup midway through that period.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE
• Sophomore Taya Ellis was just one rebound shy of a double-double in each of BGSU's first two games, with 11 points and nine rebounds against both Southern Miss and Detroit Mercy. On Tuesday (Nov. 12) at Cleveland State, Ellis recorded the first double-double of her young career.

• Ellis scored 10 points and pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds against the Vikings. She is the fourth member of the current team to record a double-double in her BGSU career, joining Erika Porter (seven double-doubles), Lexi Fleming and Amy Velasco (one apiece).

THE FALCONS – A QUICK OVERVIEW
• The Falcons are 1-2 on the young season. BGSU opened the campaign with a 71-67 win over Southern Miss (Nov. 4) at the Stroh Center, but suffered a pair of seven-point losses on the road to Horizon League foes Detroit Mercy (73-66; Nov. 8) and Cleveland State (75-68; Nov. 12).

• Three players are scoring in double digits through three games, with a total of four Falcons averaging at least eight points per game. Senior Amy Velasco leads the way with 19.7 ppg, and she also paces the Falcons with 4.3 assists per contest. Velasco is averaging 24.0 ppg over the last two games.

• Sophomores Paige Kohler and Taya Ellis have 13.7 and 10.7 ppg, respectively. Kohler leads the team with eight three-point field goals made, while Ellis is averaging a double-double, with a BG-best 10.0 rebounds per contest, and she also leads the Falcons with 1.7 blocked shots per contest.

• Fifth-year collegian Erika Porter and freshman Lauren Gerken have 8.0 and 6.3 ppg, respectively, to date. Gerken is second on the team in rebounding, with 4.7 rpg.

• Freshman Johnea Donahue has 5.3 ppg and leads BGSU with 3.0 steals per game. Donahue and Porter each have 4.0 rpg to tie for second on the team in that category.

• 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.

• Five players scored in double digits a year ago, and four of those five return. Fifth-year Falcon Lexi Fleming, one of the many injured players, averaged 31.4 mpg over the first 10 contests of the season, before leaving the Indiana game (Dec. 22). Fleming also had averages of 15.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game, and led the Falcons in all three categories at the time of her injury. She was averaging 16.7 ppg prior to that IU game, in which she played just 1:10.

• The graduated Morgan.Sharps had 15.1 ppg and led the team with 84 three-point field goals made, while Velasco and Porter scored 14.5 and 12.6 ppg, respectively. Kohler had 10.9 ppg in her freshman campaign.

• Velasco paced BG (and ranked third in the MAC) with 4.7 assists per game, followed by Kohler (3.1 apg; seventh in the MAC).

• Kohler and Velasco each started all 31 games last year, while Porter started 24.

• Velasco led the Falcons – and the MAC – in assists in league games (5.3 apg), and also paced BG in steals (1.6 spg). Porter shot a team- and MAC-best 68.2% from the floor, setting a new school single-season record for highest field-goal pct. in MAC games. And, it was the second-highest average in MAC history.

• BGSU's other returnees from last season are junior Emily Siesel and sophomores Ellis and Keiryn McGuff. Siesel played in 26 games off the bench last winter, while Ellis saw action in 29 and ranked second on the team blocked shots behind Porter. McGuff played in 16 games, making two starts, before suffering an injury in January and missing the rest of the season.

• Third-year Falcon Jasmine Fearne is back after missing the entire '23-24 campaign due to injury.

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

A QUICK LOOK AT THE BONNIES
• St. Bonaventure is 1-1 on the young season. The Bonnies opened the 2024-25 campaign with a 21-point win over Binghamton (82-61; Nov. 9), before suffering a 60-52 setback at Youngstown State on Tuesday (Nov. 12).

• Dani Haskell and Isabellah Middleton are averaging 18.0 and 17.0 ppg, respectively, for head coach Jim Crowley's squad. The Bonnies returned four of their top five scorers from a year ago, welcoming nine newcomers in '24-25. St. Bonaventure went 4-26 overall and 1-17 in Atlantic 10 Conference play a year ago.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead St. Bonaventure, 6-2, in the all-time series, and BGSU has won the last two meetings. The teams' last matchup came in the 2022-23 season opener, when the visiting Falcons picked up a 77-61 victory.

• The teams' last meeting in Northwest Ohio came in the 2014 WNIT, when the Falcons downed the Bonnies, 76-65 in the tourney's second round. The Falcons are 4-0 in home games (1-0 at the Stroh) and 2-2 on the road vs. SBU through the years. Additional series information can be found on page 6 of the aforementioned PDF version of these notes.

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.