Velasco Drops 30 on Toledo as Falcons Win Saturday's "Battle of I-75"

Saturday, February 22

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

15-11,8-6MAC

Toledo

19-6,10-4MAC

Toledo

Bowling Green

Photo by: Kate Laney, BGSU Athletics

Velasco Drops 30 on Toledo as Falcons Win Saturday's "Battle of I-75"

February 22, 2025 | Women's Basketball

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BGSU wins fourth-straight game, sixth of the last seven

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Senior Amy Velasco exploded for 30 points as the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team topped the University of Toledo, 81-72, Saturday evening (Feb. 22) before a raucous crowd at the Stroh Center.

With the win, the Falcons (15-11, 8-6 Mid-American Conference) have 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.

DUB. Shoutout to the best fans in the MAC‼️😤#T🔵GETHER x #AyZiggy pic.twitter.com/A7oJjLfTVQ
— BGSU Women's Basketball (@BGSUWBB) February 23, 2025

NOTE OF THE NIGHT
• 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.
• 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.

NOTEWORTHY
• Saturday's BGSU-Toledo game was the 200th Division-I women's basketball game in the history of the Stroh Center. That number includes three games in the 2012 NCAA Championships First & Second Rounds.
• Following the win over the Rockets, BGSU is now 125-72 (.635) in games played at the Stroh.

Gallery: (2-22-2025) 022225 wbk v Toledo - Kate Laney

FIRST QUARTER
• The Rockets jumped out to an early 6-2 lead. Jessica Cook had assists on each of the first three buckets for the visitors, with an Erika Porter layup serving as the Falcons' only points in the first three-plus minutes.
• Porter's putback was followed by an Amy Velasco three-pointer as the Falcons took the lead midway through the quarter. But, Sammi Mikonowicz hit a driving layup just before the shot clock expired. Paige Kohler, however, found Lexi Fleming for a corner three, giving the Falcons a 10-8 lead. Cook tied the game with a jumper, before Porter's three-point play that bridged the media timeout gave the Falcons the lead for good. Porter's free throw out of that break made it a 13-10 game.
• Then, Johnea Donahue fed Velasco for her second triple of the quarter. UT got a bucket from Faith Fedd-Robinson, but Velasco lobbed the ball inside to Porter for a layup, then took a handoff from Keiryn McGuff and drove uncontested down the lane for a layup and a 20-12 lead, prompting a UT timeout.
• Out of that break, however, the Falcons forced a miss, with Laila Harrison grabbing the rebound. The ensuing possession saw McGuff's layup give the Falcons a 10-point lead. And, after a Mikonowicz hoop with 19 seconds left in the quarter, Fleming took a Kohler pass and beat the buzzer with a long three-point try that found nothing but net. Fleming's triple gave the Falcons a 25-14 lead.
• Porter had nine points and Velasco eight in the opening period of play. Mikonowicz scored six points to lead UT in the quarter, but she would not score again until just six seconds remained in the game.

SECOND QUARTER
• Kohler came up with steals on each of UT's first two possessions of the period, but the Falcons could not take advantage. Hannah Noveroske's layup opened the second-quarter scoring, but after a nifty offensive rebound by Taya Ellis, Velasco found Fleming for a second-chance three-pointer. Then, Donahue stole a Kendall Carruthers pass and fired a long pass ahead to Fleming for a layup and a 30-16 lead.
• Moments later, Ellis faked a layup, continued under the basket and hit a reverse layup, and Kohler's steal and layup gave the Falcons a 34-18 advantage. Nan Garcia put back a teammate's missed shot, but BGSU came up with a third-chance layup after offensive rebounds by Ellis and Donahue. Fleming drove and found Ellis for a layup and a 36-22 advantage with just under five minutes left in the half.
• Destiny Robinson answered with a jumper, but Velasco's free throws at the 2:37 mark made it a 38-24 game. The Rockets, however, would end the half on an 11-2 run. Fedd-Robinson scored six of her team's 11 points during that time, with Garcia adding a three-pointer. McGuff drove, spun and scored in the paint, but Fedd-Robinson answered with a layup before Robinson's transition bucket in the waning seconds cut BGSU's lead to 40-35.

THIRD QUARTER
• Donahue's jumper gave BG a seven-point lead, but Carruthers immediately answered with a three-pointer to cut her team's deficit to four, 42-38. Porter split a pair of free throws, and after Donahue poked the ball away from Mikonowicz, Velasco took Kohler's long pass and drained a left-wing three to make it an eight-point margin.
• The teams traded baskets for the next few minutes, with Velasco hitting a jumper, then finding Donahue for a fast-break layup. Evalyse Cole quickly answered at the other end, and a Fedd-Robinson free throw cut the BG lead to 50-45 just over halfway through the period.
• But, out of the media timeout, Porter powered her way inside for a layup, and she than hit a nifty reverse layup to put the Falcons up by nine. But, Carruthers converted a three-point play, then knocked down a jumper. Suddenly, the lead was down to four points.
• McGuff took a Porter pass and hit a short jumper, and Donahue sank a free throw for a 57-50 lead. Cook made a pair of charity shots, but Velasco did the same, and the Falcon senior then hit a driving layup with just 5.2 seconds left in the quarter. She was fouled by Khera Goss on the play, and Velasco's free throw put BGSU up by 10, at 62-52.
• Velasco had 10 points in the quarter, going a perfect 3-for-3 from both the field and the line.

FOURTH QUARTER
• The lead fluctuated between eight and 11 points for the first three-plus minutes. For the Falcons, Velasco hit a jumper in the paint, and also knocked down a floater in that time. Donahue's turnaround jumper gave BG a 69-58 lead with just under three minutes gone, but Garcia answered with a three-point play just 10 seconds later. And, after a BG miss, Carruthers corralled the rebound and went all the way to the other end of the court for a layup. BGSU, now leading by just six points, used a timeout at the 6:24 mark.
• The Rockets kept coming, however, with a Fedd-Robinson free throw after a BG turnover, and a Garcia layup that cut the BG lead to 69-66 midway through the period.
• Velasco, however, hit a reverse layup out of the media timeout, and a Donahue steal gave the ball right back to the Falcons. Porter's layup made it a 73-66 lead with four minutes to go.
• Garcia hit a driving layup, and BG turned the ball back over. Donahue blocked a Mikonowicz shot and grabbed the rebound, and the next possession saw Fleming hit a three, but the bucket was nullified as it was ruled that she was out of bounds when she took the shot. It remained a five-point game, but not for long, as a Carruthers hoop cut the BGSU lead to just three, 73-70, with 1:58 remaining.
• BGSU missed a shot, but Donahue grabbed the rebound, was fouled and hit both shots with 1:36 left. The Falcon defense forced the Rockets into a shot-clock violation on the ensuing possession, giving the ball back to BG, and Donahue drove and hit a pull-up jumper over a taller defender. With 54.9 ticks on the clock, the Falcons had a 77-70 lead.
• The next two possessions each saw Velasco rebound a UT miss. On both occasions, she was immediately fouled, and she hit all four of her free-throw tries in that time. Her final charity toss in that sequence gave the Falcons an 81-70 lead with 18.7 seconds to go. Two UT free throws in the final seconds capped the scoring, and the Falcons had the win.
• Velasco scored 10 points for the second-straight quarter, while Garcia had 11 fourth-quarter points for the visitors.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons will close the February schedule by hosting Ohio on Wednesday night (Feb. 26). That game begins at 7:00 p.m., and it will be Senior Night at the Stroh.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will head to the MAC's "West Coast" next weekend, facing Northern Illinois in DeKalb next Saturday, March 1. That contest is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. local time (2:00 p.m. ET).

REMAINING REGULAR-SEASON SCHEDULE
Wed., Feb. 26 | OHIO | 7:00 p.m.
Sat., March 1 | at Northern Illinois | 2:00 p.m.
Wed., March 5 | KENT STATE | 7:00 p.m.
Sat., March 8 | at Eastern Michigan | 2:00 p.m.

FOR MORE INFORMATION...
• For more information on all things BGSU women's basketball, follow the Falcons on Facebook (@BGWBB), Twitter/X (@BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUWBB) and Instagram (@bgsuwbb), as well as right here at BGSUFalcons.com.