BGSU Makes Plays Down the Stretch to Top WMU, 67-63

Wednesday, February 18

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

14-12,6-8MAC

Western Michigan

7-17,3-10MAC

Western Mich.

Bowling Green

Johnea Donahue (left) & Lauren Gerken celebrate Kendal Moxey's (33) 'and-one' layup in the third quarter

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

February 18, 2026 | Women's Basketball

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By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team made numerous key plays down the stretch Wednesday night (Feb. 18), posting a 67-63 win over Western Michigan University in Mid-American Conference action at the Stroh Center.

Junior Paige Kohler scored 16 points for the Falcons (14-12, 6-8 MAC), while sophomore Johnea Donahue had 14 points, including nine in the fourth quarter. Junior Taya Ellis had a double-double, with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

De'Ahna Richardson scored 13 points to lead three players in double figures for the Broncos (7-17, 3-9 MAC), who have lost their last three games by a combined 12 points.

Western led for a total of just 48 seconds over the first three quarters, but got back-to-back three pointers from Alli Carlson and Alli Harness to take a 54-50 lead early in the fourth. But, Donahue's responded with a driving 'and-one' layup, completing the three-point play, and after a WMU miss, Donahue found senior Kaia Woods in transition to give the Falcons a 55-54 lead with seven minutes to go.

The teams traded three-pointers before the media timeout, but after those triples – from BGSU's Jasmine Fearne and WMU's Richardson – neither team would score for nearly three minutes.

A Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick steal and layup put BG up by three, but Kailey Starks hit two free throws, then answered a pair of Donahue charity tosses with a layup with 47.3 seconds left.

BG turned the ball over, and the Broncos used a timeout. Out of that timeout with 22.0 seconds to go, however, Donahue stole Western's inbound pass. After another timeout and a loss pass ahead, Donahue was fouled and hit both free-throw tries to give the Falcons a 64-61 lead with 17.7 seconds remaining.

After a timeout, a BG foul and a pair of Carlson charity tosses, the Falcons inbounded the ball after yet another timeout and Donahue was fouled. With 16.4 seconds left, the sophomore hit both shots from the stripe. The next WMU possession saw a three-point try miss the mark, and Kohler rebounded the ball, was fouled and hit a free throw to make it a two-possession game with 5.4 seconds left.

Donahue went a perfect 7-for-7 from the line, all in the final quarter, in Wednesday's win. In addition to her 14 points, she had six rebounds, three steals and a game-high six assists.

Ellis had 11 points and six boards in the first half, while Donahue scored 11 points and Kohler 10 after halftime.

Kohler was 3-for-5 from the arc in the victory, while Fearne hit a pair of triples en route to six points. Senior Kendal Moxey came off the bench to score seven points and grab three offensive rebounds in just over three minutes of action.

NOTE OF THE NIGHT
• Sophomore Johnea Donahue had a game-high six steals on Wednesday. She now has a total of 98 steals in 2025-26, good for second on the BGSU single-season list.
• Donahue is just three steals shy of tying the school record. Nyla Hampton currently holds the BGSU record, with 101 steals in the 2022-23 campaign.
• Donahue has amassed those 98 steals in 24 games, good for an average of 4.08 steals per game. She is on pace to shatter Talita Scott's school record of 3.07 spg, set in the 1993-94 season.

FIRST QUARTER
• The Falcons jumped out to a 5-0 lead as Paige Kohler hit a three-pointer on BGSU's first possession, then fed Taya Ellis for a layup, but the Broncos answered with a pair of layups to cut the BG lead to one. Ellis, however, made two more shots from inside the paint to give the Falcons a 9-4 lead with six minutes gone.
• Again, the visitors responded with back-to-back buckets to cut the Falcons' margin to one, but Johnea Donahue knocked down a three-point try in the final minute of the period, then stole the ball and found Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick for a layup and a 14-8 lead after 10 minutes.

SECOND QUARTER
• The Broncos opened the second period on a 6-2 run, cutting the BG lead to two points on a Nile Muguira Orbe three-pointer. The score remained the same for nearly two minutes, before a three-point play by Ellis gave BG a 19-14 lead with 6:20 left before halftime.
• The Broncos, however, never let the Falcons pull away. A De'Ahna Richardson made it a 20-17 game, and after Ellis hit a short jumper, Ariana Wilkes converted a three-point play. Kohler knocked down a three-point try, but Alli Harness answered at the other end, and BG's lead was 25-23 at the intermission.

THIRD QUARTER
• Western opened the second half with four-straight points from Kailey Starks to take the lead for the first time in the game. Kohler found Jasmine Fearne for a three-pointer, and after Alli Carlson's second-chance three, a Kaia Woods handoff resulted in a Kohler three from in front of the BG bench. BG had a 31-30 lead.
• That lead quickly increased to five points, as Kohler stole a pass and hit a transition layup, and Ellis put back a teammate's miss. The Falcons had a 7-0 run and a 35-30 lead as the Broncos used a timeout.
• As was the case all night, Western would respond. The Broncos scored six of the game's next eight points, with a Richardson three-pointer cutting the Falcons' lead to 37-36.
• Kohler hit a pair of free throws, and Kendal Moxey then was fouled and split a pair of free throws. Moxey got an offensive rebound on BG's next possession, putting the ball back up and in, and after another offensive board, she was fouled and hit both resulting shots from the stripe for a 44-36 lead, the Falcons' largest of the game.
• Harness hit from the arc, before another Moxey offensive board resulted in a layup by the senior. BG led by seven, but the Broncos then came all the way back, scoring the game's next seven points. That run was capped by a Harness triple that tied the game, 46-46, with 41 seconds left in the period. Lauren Gerken's jumper gave BG a two-point lead after 30 minutes.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Kohler answered a pair of Richardson tosses with a driving layup, but Carlson and Harness each connected from long range to give WMU a 54-50 lead with 7:32 to go. But, the Falcons scored five-straight points, with Donahue converting a three-point play, then finding Woods for a transition layup and a 55-54 advantage.
• Woods found Fearne for a three-point make with 5:30 to go, but Richardson's three-pointer a minute later made it a one-point game once again. BG missed a floater on the next possession, but the Falcons forced a shot-clock violation with 3:24 left.
• Each team missed a three-pointer, and after another Falcon miss, the Broncos had a third-straight possession with a chance to take the lead. But, Bland-Fitzpatrick came up with a steal and a layup with 1:35 remaining, and BG led by a 60-57 count.
• The Broncos got a pair of Starks free throws, but Donahue answered with two tosses with 1:01 to go. Starks hit a layup to cut the Falcons' lead to one point yet again, but after BG turned the ball over on the next possession, Donahue came up with the steal on a WMU inbound pass, and the sophomore would go 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the game's final 17-plus seconds. Kohler's free throw would make it a two-possession game with just 5.4 seconds left.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons are home again on Saturday (Feb. 21), facing Toledo in the "Battle of I-75" at the Stroh. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will hit the road for back-to-back Wednesday games, taking on Ohio (Feb. 25) and Central Michigan (March 4). The regular-season schedule concludes on Saturday, March 7, when BGSU hosts Northern Illinois on Senior Day at the Stroh.

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