BGSU Battles EMU in Tuesday's MAC Road Opener

Tuesday, December 30

Ypsilanti, Mich.

5 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Eastern Michigan

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Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

December 26, 2025 | Women's Basketball

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Falcons head to Ypsilanti to take on the Eagles

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2025 | 5:00 P.M. | GEORGE GERVIN GAMEABOVE CENTER | YPSILANTI, MICH.

BOWLING GREEN
FALCONS
(8-4, 1-0 MAC)

EASTERN MICHIGAN
EAGLES
(6-5, 0-1 MAC)


WATCH: ESPN+ \| LISTEN: Falcon Media Sports \| LIVE STATS: BGSU-EMU \| TWITTER/X: @BGSUwbb \| INSTAGRAM: bgsuwbb

WHAT, WHEN & WHERE
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, after going undefeated during a six-game homestand, closes the 2025 calendar year by beginning the road portion of the Mid-American Conference schedule. Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons head to Ypsilanti, Mich., for a Tuesday (Dec. 30) matchup with Eastern Michigan University. Tipoff is set for 5:00 p.m. at the George Gervin GameAbove Center.

WHERE TO WATCH / LISTEN
• Tuesday's EMU encounter – as is the case with all of BGSU's home games and many road contests – will be streamed via ESPN+. Additionally, all 2025-26 games will have an audio stream, thanks to Falcon Media Sports Network.

STATS & SOCIAL MEDIA
• Links to audio, video and live stats for all 2025-26 games can always be found on the web at BGSUFalcons.com – both on the women's basketball schedule page and in the right column on the main 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 Eastern Michigan game, BGSU has gone 470-274 (.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 13 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.

• BGSU leads the all-time series with all 12 conference foes, making the Falcons – obviously – the only team in the league with a winning record against every other school. BG also has the most overall victories and highest overall winning pct. of any league institution.

FAMILIAR FACE ON THE OTHER BENCH
• Falcon fans will undoubtedly recognize the head coach on the opposite bench on Tuesday. Sahar Nusseibeh, now in her second season as head coach at Eastern Michigan, was an assistant coach for the Falcons for three seasons (2013-16).

• In 2013-14, Nusseibeh's first season on the staff, the Falcons went 30-5 overall, won the MAC's regular-season title and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the WNIT.

DONAHUE'S BEEN DOMINANT
• Sophomore Johnea Donahue has had several well-rounded games, to say the least, in the early portion of the 2025-26 campaign. After missing the previous two games due to injury, Donahue returned to action and posted a double-double in the MAC opener against Kent State (Dec. 20). She had a game-high 19 points along with a game- and career-high 11 rebounds in the win, and was named MAC Player of the Week for the second time this season.

• Donahue also had been named MAC P-O-T-W after stuffing the stat sheet with a career-high 24 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals at Wisconsin (Nov. 12), followed by a 16-point performance at Marquette two nights later.

• The guard had eight steals, falling just two shy of the school record, in BGSU's win over Kentucky State (Dec. 3). All eight steals came in the first half.

• Donahue is averaging 3.70 steals per game, which leads the MAC and ranks ninth in the entire nation. And, she is ranked among the MAC leaders in total steals (first), scoring (T-10th), rebounds (15th), assists (seventh), free-throw percentage (fifth) and assist/turnover ratio (third) as well.

KOHLER NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-MAC TEAM
• BGSU junior Paige Kohler was named to the 2025-26 Preseason All-MAC First Team, which was determined via voting by the league's 13 head coaches.

• Kohler, a native of Olmsted Falls, Ohio, earned All-MAC Honorable mention last season, and also was named to both the Academic All-MAC Team and the Academic All-District® Team, selected by College Sports Communicators. The guard started all 31 games in 2024-25, and averaged 35.0 minutes, 13.6 points and 4.6 boards per game, finishing second on the club in both scoring and rebounding.

• Kohler made a team-leading 76 three-point field goals last winter, shooting 36.7% from the arc. She averaged 3.58 steals and had a 1.82 assist/turnover ratio, ranking second on the Falcons in both areas. Kohler was second in the entire MAC in both minutes per game and three-pointers made per game (2.5).

• This season, Kohler leads the Falcons in scoring, with 14.8 ppg, and she is second in assists (3.9 apg). She is listed among the MAC leaders in scoring (seventh), assists (eighth), three-pointers (also seventh), assist/turnover ratio (second) and minutes played (seventh).

• In her first two seasons at BGSU (plus 12 games), Kohler has compiled impressive totals of 936 points, 326 rebounds, 270 assists and 138 three-point field goals made. She is currently ranked on the BGSU career lists for points per game (10th, 12.65), assists per game (seventh, 3.65), three-pointers made (18th) and three-pointers made per game (sixth, 1.86).

• Kohler has been in the starting lineup for all 74 of BGSU's games since she arrived on campus.

SPEAKING OF THE STARTING LINEUP
• The Falcons have used seven different starting lineups through 12 games this season, after the Brown and Orange had five different lineups during all of last year and six the previous season (2023-24).

• A total of 10 players have started at least one game this year to date. That group includes a pair of fourth-year Falcons (senior Emily Siesel and redshirt junior Jasmine Fearne) who had never started a collegiate contest prior to Nov. 22. Junior Paige Kohler is the only player who has started all 12 games this season, while classmate Taya Ellis and sophomore Johnea Donahue have made 10 starts apiece.

LEADERS OF THE MAC
• Johnea Donahue and Paige Kohler are far from the only Falcons who are listed among the MAC leaders in various statistical categories...

• Junior Taya Ellis is second in the league in blocked shots (1.40 bpg), and is also in the top 10 in free-throw percentage (eighth) and rebounding (ninth).

• Senior Emily Siesel is seventh in the conference in three-point field-goal percentage (.382), while redshirt junior Jasmine Fearne is seventh in three-pointers per game (1.83).

• Sophomore Lauren Gerken is third in the league in blocked shots (1.25), while junior Jaedyn Cook is tied for ninth in that category (0.83 bpg in just 9.4 minutes per game). And, senior Kaia Woods is 12th in the MAC in free-throw pct. (815).

A TRIPLE-DOUBLE – THE FIRST ONE EVER! – FOR PK10
• While BGSU set team marks in the Kentucky State and Defiance games, junior Paige Kohler set an individual record in the Lourdes matchup (Dec. 14). Kohler recorded the first triple-double in BGSU women's basketball history, with 17 points along with game- and career-high totals of 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

• Kohler's performance came in the 1,491st game in program history.

LAST TIME OUT: FALCONS FOIL FLASHES IN MAC OPENER AT THE STROH
• The Falcons opened the MAC schedule on a successful note (Dec. 20), picking up a victory over the preseason league favorite. BGSU topped 73-69, at the Stroh Center.

• Johnea Donahue had a double-double for the Falcons (8-4, 1-0 MAC), who increased the current winning streak to seven games. The sophomore, who missed the last two games due to injury, had game-high totals of 19 points and 11 rebounds, and went 3-for-4 from three-point range.

• Kaia Woods had 18 points and eight boards for the Falcons, with Paige Kohler scoring 14 points to round out BGSU's double-digit trio.

• The Golden Flashes (5-7, 0-1 MAC) got 17 points from Corynne Hauser and 10 from Mya Babbitt.

• KSU came out hot, scoring the game's first seven points, but BGSU battled back to take a two-point lead after the opening quarter. Then, the Orange and Brown forged ahead by as many as 15 points late in the second period, before taking a 14-point advantage into the half.

• BGSU answered each third-quarter foray by the Flashes, and the Falcons led by 10 heading to the fourth. The visitors got within three points on three occasions in the game's last three minutes, but the hosts had an answer each time, as Lauren Gerken hit a layup and Donahue went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line in the game's final 14 seconds.

SIX OF ONE, HALF DOZEN OF ANOTHER
• The Falcons definitely racked up the frequent flyer miles during the month of November, as BGSU opened the 2025-26 season with six consecutive games away from home. Then, BG played six-straight games inside the Stroh Center.

• The six-game road odyssey included trips to the states of Louisiana, South Carolina (to face the #2/2-ranked Gamecocks), and Wisconsin, before BGSU headed all the way to Alaska for a pair of games in the ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout.

• Then, the Falcons went unbeaten during the longest regular-season homestand in program history. BGSU defeated Purdue Fort Wayne (Nov. 30), Kentucky State (Dec. 3), Defiance (Dec. 7), Lourdes (Dec. 14) and Le Moyne (Dec. 16) in non-conference action, before beginning the MAC slate with the win over Kent State (Dec. 20).

• BGSU did play six-straight games at the Stroh in 2014, but the first four came in the WNIT in March of that year, before the Falcons began the 2014-15 regular-season schedule with a pair of November home games.

• Prior to this season, the Falcons' longest-ever regular-season homestand was five games, which occurred on two occasions – Jan. 22 to Feb. 3, 1982; and Dec. 30, 2012, to Jan. 16, 2013.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE EAGLES
• Eastern Michigan has already tripled the win total for all of last season. The Eagles enter Tuesday's BGSU game with an overall record of 6-5, and EMU dropped a narrow 78-74 decision at Ball State in the MAC opener. Eastern is a perfect 3-0 at home and 3-5 on the road this season to date.

• Sisi Eleko is averaging a double-double, with 17.7 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. She leads the entire MAC in scoring and ranks second in rebounding.
Peyton Hill (12.9 ppg) and Fernanda Ovalle (10.7 ppg) also are scoring in double digits, while Ainhoa Cea has 5.6 assists per game to rank second in the league. Those four players, along with Brooklyn Thrash, have started all 11 games this season.

• Head coach Sahar Nusseibeh welcomed back just two players (Eleko and Thrash) from the 2024-25 team that went 2-27 overall and 1-17 in the MAC.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Eastern Michigan, 59-21, in the all-time series, and BG captured last season's two meetings. BGSU picked up a 90-76 win at the Stroh Center just under a year ago (Jan. 4, 2025), then downed the Eagles, 87-67, on the final day of the regular season in Ypsilanti (March 8, 2025).

• BGSU has won eight of the last nine meetings after EMU had captured five-straight contests from 2017-20. Overall, the Falcons are 32-6 at home, 22-14 on the road and 5-1 in neutral-site meetings with the Eagles over the years. More information can be found on page 21 of these very notes.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the EMU contest, the Falcons will return home to face Central Michigan on Saturday, Jan. 3. That game will begin at 2:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will return to the road to face Northern Illinois (Jan. 10) and Western Michigan (Jan. 14), before hosting Miami on Saturday, Jan. 17.

STORIES & LINKS
Dec. 18 - Lorain Morning Journal - Olmsted Falls Grad Kohler Looks to Lead Falcons
Nov. 25 - Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum - Walk-on to Captain: Siesel's Patience Pays Off at Bowling Green

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.