Kent State Kerfuffle Kicks Off Conference Play

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 1 | 1:00 P.M. | M.A.C. CENTER | KENT, OHIO

BOWLING GREEN
FALCONS
(6-5, 0-0 MAC)

KENT STATE
GOLDEN FLASHES
(7-5, 0-0 MAC)


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

JUMP BALL
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team heads to Northeast Ohio to begin the Mid-American Conference portion of the schedule with a New Year's Day matinee. Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons meet Kent State University on Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 1), with tipoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center.

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

• TV/VIDEO: Wednesday's Kent State matchup will be streamed via ESPN+.
• RADIO/AUDIO: The KSU kerfuffle, 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.

THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
• Historically, the Falcons have been one of the top programs in the Mid-American Conference. Entering the Kent State contest, BGSU has gone 458-267 (.632) 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.

WELCOME BACK!
• In back-to-back December games, the Falcons saw a player return to action after missing nearly a year. In the Xavier contest (Dec. 7), Lexi Fleming came off the bench to make her first appearance since suffering an injury on Dec. 22, 2023. Fleming went 3-for-4 from three-point range en route to nine points vs. the Musketeers.

• Then, in the next game, sophomore Keiryn McGuff saw her first action since Jan. 20, 2024. McGuff checked into the Marquette contest (Dec. 18) with 4:17 remaining in the first period. McGuff scored four points and had a team-leading eight rebounds in just over 16 minutes of action in the win.

• Fleming moved into the starting lineup for the Marquette match, and McGuff joined her in the starting five for the Duquesne game three days later (Dec. 21).

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 '22-23 and saw action in 36 games as BGSU went 31-7.

• Fleming has played in a total of 76 contests as a Falcon. BGSU has a record of 57-19 in those 76 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 27-6 record at the Stroh Center.

• Four of those 19 losses came against nationally-ranked opponents, including a game at Indiana (Dec. 22, 2023), when Fleming played just 70 seconds before leaving due to an 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).

• Fleming returned to action 11-and-a-half months later, scoring nine points on three three-point field goals vs. Xavier (Dec. 7).

• In the last few games, she has passed several former Falcons to move into the top 40 on the BGSU career scoring list. Fleming now ranks 38th in school history with 927 points. With an average of 12.2 points per game, she is 12th on that BG career chart.

• In her career, Fleming has made 139 three-point field goals, ranking 16th in school history. She is fifth on the BGSU career list for triples made per game (1.83). And, Fleming is 15th in school history in assists per game, with 2.57.

VELASCO JOINS THE TOP 20
• Amy Velasco has had a stellar start to her senior season. Velasco has scored in double digits in every game, and is averaging a team-high 18.1 points per contest.

• Velasco had a game-high 28 points at Horizon League favorite Cleveland State (Nov. 12) and again led all players in scoring at Ohio State (Nov. 24), with a 24-point effort against the nationally-ranked Buckeyes.

• In the Falcons' five true road games – which include a pair of games against top-15 teams – Velasco is averaging 20.0 points per outing.

• She moved into the top 25 on BGSU's career scoring list in the win over St. Bonaventure (Nov. 16), and moved up another spot during BGSU's trip to Daytona Beach. And, at Duquesne (Dec. 21), Velasco moved into 20th place on that list. With 1,237 career points, she has passed Michelle Shade (1,233 points from 1991-95).

• Velasco has a career scoring average of 11.04 points per game, which currently places her 20th on that BGSU list. And, she now has a career total of 127 three-point field goals made, tying her for 17th on that BGSU chart.

AMY ALSO ACCUMULATES ASSISTS
• Amy Velasco, as mentioned, is now 20th 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 Falcons' win over Arkansas, Velasco moved past Jaymee Wappes (387 assists from 1996-2000) and Tracy Pontius (387 dimes from 2007-11), and she now ranks seventh in school history with 399 career assists. Her next target is her former teammate, Kadie Hempfling, who had 432 assists from 2018-23.

• Obviously, Velasco is just one dime away from becoming only the seventh player in school history with 400 career assists. Velasco also ranks seventh in BGSU history in assists per game, with 3.56.

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, finished in a tie for fourth in the final MAC standings and advanced to national postseason play.

• This season, the Falcons have lost 34 player-games to injury heading into the Kent State contest. Six different players have missed at least one game due to injury this year to date.

THE FALCONS – A QUICK OVERVIEW
• The Falcons are 6-5 on the season, after seeing a four-game winning streak snapped with a 67-59 loss at Duquesne in the final non-conference contest (Dec. 21). BGSU is 4-0 at home, 0-5 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site games to date, and the Falcons have a scoring margin of +1.5 and a rebounding margin of +4.5.

• BGSU opened the campaign with a 71-67 win over Southern Miss at the Stroh Center, but suffered a pair of seven-point losses on the road to Horizon League foes Detroit Mercy and Cleveland State. Then, however, the Orange and Brown returned home and exploded for a 51-point win over St. Bonaventure.

• The Falcons went on the road and faced a pair of nationally-ranked teams, falling to #13/12 West Virginia and #12/11 Ohio State, but BG posted a 2-0 record over the Thanksgiving holiday, downing Stetson and Arkansas at the Daytona Beach Classic.

• The Orange and Brown flattened Stetson, 79-43 (Nov. 29), before picking up a 79-78 victory over Arkansas the following afternoon (Nov. 30), in a game that featured four lead changes in the final 30 seconds. Then, the Orange and Brown returned home and picked up a 78-59 win over Xavier (Dec. 7), before taking a break for fall semester exams.

• The Falcons then captured a second consecutive win over a Big East Conference foe, with a 64-62 victory against Marquette (Dec. 18), before the loss at Duquesne.

• Three players are scoring in double digits, with three others averaging more than seven points per game. Senior Amy Velasco leads the way with 18.1 ppg, and she also paces the Falcons with 4.7 assists per contest. Velasco has scored in double figures in all 11 games this season and in 12-straight games dating to last winter.

• Sophomore Paige Kohler has 11.7 ppg, while fifth-year collegian Erika Porter is averaging 11.4 ppg along with 5.5 rebounds per game. Kohler has 4.6 rpg, and she has made a team-leading 22 three-point field goals, including seven in the win over Arkansas. Porter is shooting a BG-best 55.0 percent from the field.

• Sophomore Taya Ellis and freshman Lauren Gerken have 7.5 and 7.2 ppg, respectively. Fifth-year Falcon Lexi Fleming made her return to the court in the Xavier game and has averaged 8.7 points per contest in the last three games. Gerken is third on the team in rebounding (4.6 rpg) and three-pointers made (14), while Ellis is averaging a BG-best 8.8 rebounds per contest and also leads the Falcons with 1.2 blocked shots per outing.

• Sophomore Keiryn McGuff is averaging 5.0 ppg and 6.5 rpg in her first two games of the season, while junior Kendal Moxey also averages 5.0 ppg and freshman Johnea Donahue 4.9. Donahue leads BGSU with 2.9 steals per game, while Moxey is 23-for-43 (53.5%) from the floor and posted season-high totals of 12 points and six rebounds in the Marquette matchup.

• 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 was picked to finish fourth in the MAC in the preseason coaches poll last season. Despite losing more than 120 player-games due to injury in 2023-24, the Falcons finished the regular season in a tie for fourth in the conference.

• The Falcons got off to a 5-1 start last season, before ending pre-conference play with a 6-4 mark. Three of those four losses came to nationally-ranked teams (#4/4 Iowa, #1/1 South Carolina and #16/15 Indiana) in the month of December.

• A total of 14 Falcons saw action last season, but only eight of the 14 players who began the season on the roster suited up for the last 10 games of the year.

• 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.

• 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 GOLDEN FLASHES
• Kent State enters MAC play with an overall record of 7-5, and the Golden Flashes have won six of the last eight contests after a 1-3 start. Four of KSU's seven wins have come against NCAA Division-I foes, including a pair of common opponents with the Falcons in Duquesne and Xavier. Most recently, the Flashes picked up a 97-59 win over John Carroll on Sunday (Dec. 29).

• Jenna Batsch leads the team in scoring, with 14.2 ppg, and also has 4.1 apg. Mya Babbitt has 12.8 ppg and has hit a KSU-best 31 three-point field goals, while Dionna Gray has 11.9 ppg and a team-leading 5.3 apg. In all, five players are scoring in double digits, with a total of 10 players averaging over five points per game.

• Head coach Todd Starkey welcomed back 11 letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 21-11 overall and 13-5 in the MAC. The 2023-24 Flashes finished third in the conference regular-season standings, then proceeded to win the MAC Tournament and advance to the NCAA Championships.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Kent State, 62-38, in the all-time series. BGSU has played KSU more than any other opponent. Last season, the Flashes snapped a six-game BG series winning streak with an 82-74 win over the Falcons at the Stroh Center (Jan. 27, 2024). BGSU had picked up a pair of single-digit wins the previous season, including a 75-69 victory in the teams' last meeting in Kent (Feb. 11, 2023). Prior to BGSU's six-game series win streak, the Flashes had captured seven of nine matchups.

• The Falcons are 31-14 at home, 24-22 on the road and 7-2 at neutral sites vs. KSU through the years.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the KSU game, BGSU will return to the Stroh Center for the next two contests. The Falcons will begin the home portion of the MAC schedule with a Saturday (Jan. 4) game vs. Eastern Michigan. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will face Buffalo four days later (Wed., Jan. 8), with that game also set for a 7:00 p.m. start 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.

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WEDNESDAY, JAN. 1 | 1:00 P.M. | M.A.C. CENTER | KENT, OHIO

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Players Mentioned

Johnea Donahue

Taya Ellis

Jasmine Fearne

Lexi Fleming

Lauren Gerken

Laila Harrison

Paige Kohler

Kristiana Kulackovska

Keiryn McGuff

Kendal Moxey

Erika Porter

Emily Siesel

Brook Simpson

Amy Velasco

Taylor Wallace

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