Falcons Topple Toledo, 61-52, to Capture Latest "Battle of I-75"

Saturday, February 21

Bowling Green, Ohio

2 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

15-12,7-8MAC

Toledo

14-11,8-6MAC

Toledo

Bowling Green

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

February 21, 2026 | Women's Basketball

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BGSU leads for final 32-plus minutes in victory over the Rockets

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team used a 14-point second-quarter run to take control, and the Falcons went on to a 61-52 victory over the University of Toledo Saturday afternoon (Feb. 21).

Junior Paige Kohler had a game-high 17 points to lead four players in double figures for the Falcons (15-12, 7-8 Mid-American Conference). Sophomore Lauren Gerken scored 14 points off the bench, while junior Taya Ellis and soph Johnea Donahue had 10 points apiece.

Ellis had a double-double, with a game-high 11 rebounds and a game- and career-high six blocked shots vs. the Rockets (14-11, 8-6 MAC). Donahue had seven rebounds and game-best totals of seven assists and six steals, in the process shattering the school's single-season record in the latter category.

Kendall Carruthers was the lone double-digit scorer for the Rockets, with 13 points.

The first quarter featured nine lead changes, but after Gerken hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 18-18, the soph blocked a UT shot, with Kohler grabbing the rebound and going coast to coast for a layup in the final seconds. BGSU had the lead for good.

UT got within a single point on an Alexa Hocevar three-pointer early in the second quarter, but an Ellis putback began a 14-0 run for the Orange and Brown. Gerken hit back-to-back three-point shots, and after a pair of Donahue free throws, Ellis scored another pair of layups, and BG had a 36-21 lead.

The Rockets went without a point for a six-and-a-half minute span, but UT ended the half with eight consecutive points to cut BG's advantage to seven.

Kohler began the second half with a triple that increased the lead to 39-29, and that advantage ballooned to 17 when the junior capped a 7-0 BG run with a steal and layup with three minutes left in the third period.

Senior Emily Siesel gave the Falcons an 18-point lead, the largest of the game, with a three-ball early in the fourth quarter. Toledo cut the margin to 12 with four minutes left in the game, but BG held the visitors at bay, and the lead remained double digits until the Rockets made a three-pointer with just 15 seconds on the clock.

The Falcons forced UT into 21 turnovers while committing just 11, and BG had a 19-4 lead in points off turnovers. Ellis (six) and Gerken (three) combined for nine blocked shots in the win, and Ellis led all players with a plus/minus rating of +21.

NOTE OF THE DAY
• Sophomore Johnea Donahue had a game-high six steals on Saturday. With her fourth steal of the day, she broke the BGSU single-season record.
• Donahue now has 104 steals this season, topping the record of 101 steals by Nyla Hampton in the 2022-23 campaign.
• Donahue has amassed those 104 steals in 25 games, good for an average of 4.16 steals per game. She is on pace to shatter Talita Scott's school record of 3.07 spg, set in the 1993-94 season.

Johnea Donahue with her fourth steal of the day and her SCHOOL-RECORD 102nd of the year early in the third quarter!

6:18 3Q | BGSU 43, UT 31#AyZiggy | #EarnIt pic.twitter.com/37ZuJwyJiA
— BGSU Women's Basketball (@BGSUWBB) February 21, 2026

FIRST QUARTER
• The game featured two ties and nine lead changes, all of which came in the opening quarter.
• Both teams shot well to begin the afternoon, as each club went 5-for-7 from the field in the game's first four-plus minutes. At that point, the Falcons had a 12-11 lead, with Paige Kohler having scored eight of BGSU's points. But, after hitting a jumper, Kendall Carruthers knocked down a three-point try for the visitors, giving the Rockets a 14-12 lead at the media timeout.
• The scoring slowed down after that. Carruthers made a floater to put UT up, 16-13, with 2:37 left in the quarter, but Lauren Gerken hit a long two-pointer, and after Alexa Hocevar's putback, Gerken knocked down a three-point try to tie the game at 18. Then, Gerken blocked a Patricia Anumgba layup attempt, with Kohler grabbing the rebound and going coast to coast for a layup in the final seconds of the quarter. BG led, 20-18, and the Falcons would not trail again.

SECOND QUARTER
• Kohler opened the second period with a three-pointer, but Hocevar answered from behind the arc at the other end. But, after that bucket with 8:49 left in the quarter, the Rockets would enter a prolonged scoring drought.
• Taya Ellis rebounded her own miss and put the ball back up and in, giving BG a 24-21 lead. Then, Emily Siesel found Gerken for three-pointers on back-to-back possessions, and the Falcons' lead was 30-21 as the Rockets used a timeout.
• Neither team scored for well over two minutes, but Johnea Donahue made a pair of free throws, then found Ellis for a pair of layups, and the Falcons were up 15, 36-21, with just under three minutes left in the half. The Rockets, however, ended the half with eight-straight points, as Evalyse Cole hit two free throws and Anumgba made a pair of short jumpers. Two charity tosses from Carruthers late in the half got the visitors within seven points at the break.

THIRD QUARTER
• For the second consecutive quarter, Kohler opened the scoring with a three-pointer, and another Ellis putback gave BG a 12-point advantage. Cadence Dykstra scored for the visitors, but Kaia Woods hit a pull-up jumper, and Donahue found Gerken for a three-pointer.
• Another prolonged scoring drought at both ends of the floor concluded when Kohler stole a Carruthers pass and scored in transition, giving the Falcons a 48-31 lead. That lead was 15 points, 50-35, after 30 minutes.
• The Falcons held the Rockets to just six points in the third quarter, as UT went 3-for-10 from the field and committed nine turnovers in the period.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Siesel's three-pointer just under two minutes into the period gave the Falcons an 18-point lead, the largest of the game. Toledo whittled that lead down to 12 points on a Camryn Vanden Bosch triple with 4:02 to go.
• Neither team scored for nearly two minutes, before Kohler found Donahue for a layup with 2:21 left. Carruthers hit a jumper, and after a pair of Woods free throws, the bank was open for Anumgba who hit a three-pointer off glass with 47.5 seconds to go.
• The Rockets fouled Donahue, who split her free-throw tries with 43.3 ticks on the clock. Lizzy Puot made a three-pointer with 15.7 seconds remaining to cut BG's lead to single digits, but it was too little, too late as the Falcons ran out the clock on the ensuing possession.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons hit the road for back-to-back Wednesday games, beginning with a trip to Athens to take on Ohio (Feb. 25). That game will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Convocation Center.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will close the road portion of the schedule at Central Michigan (Wednesday, March 4), before concluding the regular-season slate three days later (Saturday, March 7) against 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.