BGSU Battles Broncos in Blackout at the Stroh

Wednesday, February 18

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Western Michigan

Tickets From $11 - $17

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

February 17, 2026 | Women's Basketball

BGSU Notes WMU WBB BGSU-WMU Rosters Support BGSU WBB BGSU WBB Media Central

Falcons Face Western Michigan on Wednesday Night

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2026 | 7:00 P.M. | STROH CENTER | BOWLING GREEN, OHIO

BOWLING GREEN
FALCONS
(13-12, 5-8 MAC)

vs.

WESTERN MICHIGAN
BRONCOS
(7-16, 3-9 MAC)


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

WHAT, WHEN & WHERE
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team returns home for a pair of games this week, beginning with a midweek matchup with Western Michigan. Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons face the Broncos in Mid-American Conference action on Wednesday (Feb. 18), with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. at the Stroh Center.

• The game is a Blackout, with fans encouraged to wear black on Wednesday night.

CANNED FOOD DRIVE
• Fans are encouraged to bring a non-perishable canned food item to Wednesday's game, with items being donated to the Falcon Food Pantry. Fans who donate will receive a free ticket to either Wednesday's game or the March 7 game vs. Northern Illinois.

CLEAR BAG MANDATE
• Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, a clear bag mandate is now in effect for games at BGSU venues, including the Stroh Center. Media members attending games will need to use only the media entrance as part of the mandate. For more information, please click here.

PARKING CHANGES FOR 2025-26
Additional Limited Mobility Parking Now Available for All Home Basketball Games
• To better accommodate fans and guests with limited mobility, additional designated parking spaces will now be available for all upcoming home Men's and Women's Basketball games at the Stroh Center.
• Additional parking will be located on the north side of Lot 24, beginning with the first row of spaces adjacent to the grass area and including the next two rows directly behind it. Guests utilizing these spaces should enter through the Student Entrance, located on the north side of Lot 24. From there, fans may use the service elevator to access the main arena and seating areas.
• Limited mobility parking will remain paid parking and will be clearly marked with signage indicating the designated spaces and new location.

WHERE TO WATCH / LISTEN
• Wednesday's WMU game will be streamed via ESPN+. Additionally, all 2025-26 games will have an audio stream, thanks to BG Falcon Media Sports.

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 Western Michigan game, BGSU has gone 474-282 (.627) in league regular-season games over the years. 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.

DONAHUE'S DOMINANCE
• Johnea Donahue has had more than her share of well-rounded games in 2025-26. The sophomore missed two games due to injury in mid-December, but returned to action and posted a double-double in the MAC opener against Kent State back on Dec. 20. She had a game-high 19 points along with a game- and career-high 11 rebounds, and was named MAC Player of the Week for the second time this year.

• 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).

• Some of her other marquee performances this winter include...

• An eight-steal game – all in the first half and just two shy of the school single-game record – vs. Kentucky State (Dec. 3);
• A double double with 10 points and 10 boards at Eastern Michigan (Dec. 30);
• Her second eight-steal game of the season, along with 10 points, five assists and four rebounds, in the win at Northern Illinois (Jan. 10);
• A game-high six steals in back-to-back games, vs. Massachusetts (Jan. 24) and Akron (Jan. 28), with 21 points in the UA contest;
• A 19-point, seven-rebound, four-steal performance at Toledo (Jan. 31); and
• Saturday's (Feb. 14) 12-point, six-board, seven-steal game at Ball State, with six of those seven steals coming in the first half.

• Currently, Donahue is averaging 4.00 steals per game this season, which leads the MAC and ties her for fourth in the entire nation. And, she is ranked among the MAC leaders in total steals (first, 92 – 24 more than anyone else in the league), rebounds (tied for 15th), assists (seventh), blocked shots (tied for 15th) and assist/turnover ratio (10th) as well.

DONAHUE = DEFENSE (ALTERNATE TITLE: "JD = JAW-DROPPING DEFENSE")
• As a freshman in 2024-25, Johnea Donahue had a total of 69 steals, tying her for eighth on the BGSU single-season list. She averaged 2.46 steals per game a year ago, ranking 10th on that school chart.

• This winter, Donahue has a MAC-leading 92 steals, tying her for second on the school single-season chart. As mentioned in the above note, Donahue is currently averaging 4.00 steals per game, and is on pace to shatter the BGSU record in that category. Currently, the single-season record is 3.07 spg, by Talita Scott in 1993-94.

• In fact, even if Donahue were to play in six more games without recording a steal, she would still be on pace to break the BGSU seasonal record for steals per game. The single-season lists for steals and steals per game can be found on page 16.

• Donahue played in her 50th career game last Tuesday night (Feb. 10), meaning she is now eligible to be listed on BGSU's per-game career lists, and she enters the WMU contest with a career total of 161 steals. Donahue – again, only a sophomore – is just two steals shy of 20th place on the BG career list for total steals. And, she is on pace to shatter the school's career record for steals per game as well as the single-season mark. The career steals lists can be found on page 25.

MILLENNIUM FALCON: PK MOVING UP BGSU SCORING LIST
• Junior Paige Kohler reached the 1,000-point mark for her career on Jan. 21, and had a BGSU season-high 26 points last Tuesday (Feb. 10) vs. Buffalo to surpass the 1,100-point plateau.

• Kohler became the 33rd player in program history to reach the millennium mark. And, she is tied for the seventh-fastest player to get to the 1,000-point plateau, having done so in her 80th career game in the Orange and Brown. The list of fastest Falcons to 1,000 points can be found on page 7 of these very notes.

• Kohler has moved into 27th place on the BGSU career scoring list, with 1,122 career points at BG entering the Western Michigan game.

KOHLER, UNSURPRISINGLY, 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.

• This season, Kohler leads the Falcons in scoring, with 14.5 ppg, and she is second in assists (3.1 apg). Kohler is listed among the top players in the MAC in scoring (10th), assists (12th), three-pointers made per game (fourth), assist/turnover ratio (ninth) and minutes played (sixth).

• In her first two-plus seasons at BGSU, Kohler has compiled impressive totals of 1,122 points, 371 rebounds, 300 assists and 171 three-point field goals made. She has moved into 27th place on the BGSU career scoring list, and also is currently ranked on the school's career charts for points per game (10th, 12.90), assists per game (eighth, 3.45), three-pointers made (tied for 11th) and three-pointers made per game (fourth, 1.97).

• Kohler has been in the starting lineup for all 87 of BGSU's games since she arrived on campus.

SPEAKING OF THE STARTING LINEUP...
• Senior Kendal Moxey made her first start as a Falcon in the win over Coastal Carolina (Feb. 7). The Falcons have used 10 different starting lineups this season to date, after the Brown and Orange utilized five different lineups during all of last year and six the previous season (2023-24).

• A total of 11 different players each have started at least one game this year. 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, 2025, when both were in the starting five.

• Junior Paige Kohler is the only player who has started all 25 games this year, while sophomore Johnea Donahue and junior Taya Ellis have made 23 and 20 starts, respectively. Lauren Gerken and Kaia Woods each have started 17 games.

GERKEN!
• Sophomore Lauren Gerken, after missing the final 21 games of last season due to injury, scored in double digits twice in the first 12 games this winter. But, she has hit double figures 11 times in the last 13 contests, including in 10 of the Falcons' last 11 games. Gerken tied her career high with four three-point field goals made, en route to a season-high 18 points at Massachusetts (Jan. 24), and she had 13 points and six rebounds vs. Akron four days later (Jan. 28). She tied her season best with 18 points in the Coastal Carolina contest (Feb. 7), and added 16 at Ball State (Feb. 14).

• After making 14 three-point field goals in the first 14 games this season, Gerken has hit 26 long-distance shots over the last 11 contests.

• Gerken, who has played the equivalent of roughly one college season, is averaging 8.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, and has hit 54 three-pointers in 35 career games.

PROTECT THE STROH
• After beating Buffalo last Tuesday (Feb. 10), the Falcons have a record of 9-3 at the Stroh Center this season to date. That record includes a 73-69 win over preseason MAC favorite Kent State in the conference opener (Dec. 20).

• The Falcons went 11-2 in home games last winter. BGSU's home winning percentage (.846) in 2024-25 was the third best since the Stroh Center opened in 2011. Only the 2013-14 (16-1, .941) and '11-12 (14-2, .875) teams have had better marks during that time.

• Over the last five-plus seasons, the Falcons are 61-20 (.753) at the Stroh.

FAMILIAR FACES ON THE VISITING BENCH
• A BG legend will be on the visiting bench when Western Michigan comes to town Wednesday night. The Broncos are coached by BGSU Hall-of-Famer Kate Achter. During her Falcon career (2004-08), Achter helped BG to four MAC regular-season titles, three MAC Tournament crowns and four national postseason appearances. She also helped the Orange and Brown go 108-23 overall and 57-7 in the MAC. Achter had 1,580 career points as a Falcon, and remains BGSU's all-time assists leader, with 688.

• Former Falcon Andrea Cecil is an assistant coach under Achter at WMU. Cecil played three years at BGSU, scoring 891 points and earning All-MAC Third-Team honors as a junior in 2018-19. She missed the '19-20 season due to injury before playing two seasons at Florida Gulf Coast as a graduate transfer.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE BRONCOS
• Western Michigan enters Wednesday's contest with an overall record of 7-16, and the Broncos are 3-9. Western has battled two of the MAC's top-four programs right down to the wire in the last two contests, losing to then league-leading Miami, 60-55 (Feb. 10), before falling at Central Michigan by a narrow 70-67 count on Saturday (Feb. 14). The Broncos are 4-7 at home and 3-9 on the road this season to date.

• Kailey Starks leads the team in scoring, with 13.0 points per game, while Alli Carlson has 9.5 ppg and has made a team-leading 38 three-point field goals. Five different players have hit at least 20 triples this season. Carlson paces the club with 4.5 assists per contest.

• Head coach Kate Achter, in her first season with the Broncos, inherited a team that had just four players who saw action for last year's squad. The 2024-25 team went 12-18 overall and 8-10 in MAC play.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Western Michigan, 45-37, in the all-time series, and the Falcons won this season's first meeting. BG posted a 61-54 decision on the road last month (Jan. 14, 2026). The teams split last year's meetings, with the road team winning both. WMU captured a 63-60 decision at the Stroh Center (Jan. 22, 2025), with the Falcons heading to Kalamazoo and coming away with a 70-63 decision the following month (Feb. 19, 2025).

• Prior to Western's win last January, the Falcons had won seven of eight meetings with the Broncos since January of 2021. Overall, the Falcons are 23-15 at home, 19-21 on the road and 3-1 in neutral-site meetings with the Broncos over the years. More information can be found on page 27 of these very notes.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the WMU contest, the Falcons will renew the "Battle of I-75" this weekend. BGSU will face Toledo on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 21) at the Stroh Center, with tipoff at 2:00 p.m.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will hit the road to meet Ohio on Wednesday, Feb. 25.

REMAINING SCHEDULE
Wed., Feb. 18 | WESTERN MICH. | 7:00
Sat., Feb. 21 | TOLEDO | 2:00
Wed., Feb. 25 | at Ohio | 7:00
Wed., March 4 | at Central Mich. | 6:30
Sat., March 7 | NORTHERN ILL. | 2:00
all times p.m. and Eastern

STORIES & LINKS
Feb. 16 - Toledo Blade ($$$) - Former Liberty-Benton Star Gerken Finding Stride with BGSU
Feb. 5 - BG Falcon Media - From Sao Paulo to the Stroh: Moschen's Journey to BGSU
January - BGSU - The Game Within the Game: Kohler's Psychology of Winning
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.