Falcons Venture to Athens for Wednesday-Night Meeting with Ohio

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

February 24, 2026 | Women's Basketball

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BGSU Battles the Bobcats at Basketball-Thirty at The Convo

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2026 | 7:00 P.M. | CONVOCATION CENTER | ATHENS, OHIO

BOWLING GREEN
FALCONS
(15-12, 7-8 MAC)

OHIO
BOBCATS
(15-10, 9-5 MAC)


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

WHAT, WHEN & WHERE
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team, coming off of a win in the "Battle of I-75," hits the road for the next two games, beginning Wednesday night (Jan. 25). Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons venture to Athens to face Ohio University, with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. at the Convocation Center.

WHERE TO WATCH / LISTEN
• Wednesday's Ohio game will be streamed via ESPN+. Additionally, all 2025-26 games will have an audio stream, thanks to BG Falcon Media Sports. Lucas Kleimeyer will have the call on Wednesday night in Athens.

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.

LAST TIME OUT: FALCONS TOPPLE TOLEDO TO TAKE "BATTLE OF I-75"
• The Falcons used a 14-point second-quarter run to take control, and BG went on to a 61-52 victory over Toledo Saturday afternoon (Feb. 21) at the Stroh Center.

• Junior Paige Kohler had a game-high 17 points to lead four players in double figures for the Falcons (15-12, 7-8 MAC). 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 that 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 then 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.

NUMBER THREE IS NUMBER ONE
• Sophomore Johnea Donahue had a game-high six steals in Saturday's (Feb. 21) win over Toledo. With her fourth of those six steals, she broke the school record.

• Heading into the Ohio game, Donahue has a MAC-leading 104 steals. She broke the school record of 101 steals, set by Nyla Hampton three years ago (2022-23).

• Donahue, in her second season as a Falcon, has two of the top-10 single-season steals totals in school history. She recorded 69 steals as a freshman, a total which is now tied for ninth on the BGSU single-season list. She averaged 2.46 steals per game a year ago, ranking 10th on that school chart.

• Donahue is currently averaging 4.16 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 the Falcons' three remaining regular-season games and come up with zero steals in that time, she would still be on pace to break the BGSU seasonal record for steals per game by a wide margin. The single-season lists for steals and steals per game can be found on page 16.

• Donahue – again, just a sophomore – has moved onto the Falcons' top-20 list for career steals. After recording six in each of the last two games (wins over Western Michigan and UT), she enters the Ohio contest with a career total of 173 steals, tying her for 17th in school history. And, she is on pace to obliterate 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.

TOP-TEN TAYA
• Junior Taya Ellis had a career-high six blocked shots in Saturday's win over Toledo, in the process moving into the top 10 on BGSU's career list in that category. Ellis now has 67 blocked shots as a Falcon.

• Those 67 rejections have come in 78 career games. Ellis currently ranks fourth on the BGSU career list for blocks per game, with 0.86.

DONAHUE'S DOMINANCE
• Johnea Donahue has had more than her share of well-rounded games in 2025-26. The sophomore was named MAC Player of the Week after scoring a career-high 24 points and adding six rebounds, six assists and six steals at Wisconsin (Nov. 12).

• She missed two games due to injury in mid-December, but returned to action and posted a double-double in the MAC opener vs. Kent State (Dec. 20). She had a game-high 19 points and a career-high 11 boards en route to another MAC P-O-T-W honor.

• 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);
• A 12-point, six-board, seven-steal game at Ball State (Feb. 14), with six of those seven steals coming in the first half;
• Six more steals, along with 14 points, six caroms and three assists and a 7-for-7 fourth-quarter free-throw performance, in Wednesday's (Feb. 18) win over WMU; and
• A stuffed stat sheet that included 10 points, seven rebounds, a career-high seven assists and six steals in Saturday's (Feb. 21) victory vs. the Rockets.

• Currently, Donahue is averaging 4.16 steals per game this season, which leads the MAC and ranks her third in the entire nation. And, she is ranked among the MAC leaders in total steals (first, 104 – 31 more than anyone else in the league), rebounds (15th), assists (eighth), free-throw pct. (14th) and assist/turnover ratio (ninth) as well.

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 vs. Buffalo (Feb. 10) 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, and now has 1,155 career points at BG entering the Ohio game.

THE FALCONS VS. THE MAC
• Historically, the Falcons have been one of the top programs in the Mid-American Conference. Entering the Ohio game, BGSU has gone 476-282 (.628) 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.

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 14.7 ppg, and she is second in assists (3.0 apg). Kohler is listed among the top players in the MAC in scoring (eighth), assists (13th), three-pointers made per game (third), assist/turnover ratio (10th) and minutes played (fifth).

• In her first two-plus seasons at BGSU, Kohler has compiled impressive totals of 1,155 points, 381 rebounds, 304 assists and 177 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 (ninth, 12.98), assists per game (eighth, 3.42), three-pointers made (tied for ninth) and three-pointers made per game (fourth, 1.99).

• Kohler has been in the starting lineup for all 89 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 27 games this year, while sophomore Johnea Donahue and junior Taya Ellis have made 25 and 22 starts, respectively. Kaia Woods has started 19 games and Lauren Gerken 17.

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 12 times in the last 15 contests, including in 11 of the Falcons' last 13 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), then had 13 points and six rebounds vs. Akron (Jan. 28). She tied her season best with 18 points against Coastal Carolina (Feb. 7), and added 16 at Ball State (Feb. 14) and 14 vs. Toledo (Feb. 21).

• After making 14 three-point field goals in the first 14 games this season, Gerken has hit 30 long-distance shots over the last 13 contests.

• Gerken, who has played the equivalent of just over one college season, is averaging 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, and has hit 58 three-pointers in 37 career games.

LEADERS OF THE MAC
• Johnea Donahue and Paige Kohler, as mentioned earlier, each are ranked among the MAC leaders in numerous statistical categories. But, they are far from the only Falcons who are ranked among the conference's top performers...

• Junior Taya Ellis is ranked in the top 10 in three different categories, including blocked shots (fourth, 1.00 bpg), free-throw percentage (seventh) and rebounding (10th), while sophomore Lauren Gerken is second in blocks (1.63) and 12th in three-point field goals per game.

• Additionally, senior Kaia Woods is ninth in the MAC in free-throw pct. (.783) and 14th in assists, while redshirt junior Jasmine Fearne is 27th in three-point pct.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE BOBCATS
• Ohio enters Wednesday's contest with an overall record of 15-10, and the Bobcats are 9-5 in MAC play. Ohio has been idle since last Wednesday (Feb. 18), when the 'Cats fell, 108-105, in double overtime at Akron. That snapped a two-game winning streak which included victories against Toledo and Kent State. The Bobcats are 9-5 at home and 6-5 on the road this season to date. In MAC action, OU is 5-2 at "The Convo" and 4-3 inside hostile venues.

• Bailey Tabeling leads the team in scoring, with 13.8 points per game, while Bella Ranallo has 11.4 ppg. Tabeling is second in the MAC in three-point field goals made per game, and is one of six Bobcats who have made at least 25 triples this season. One of those six, Monica Williams, leads the league in three-point percentage (.456).

• Head coach Bob Boldon and the Bobcats have more than doubled the team's win totals for all of last season, as the 2024-25 team went 6-23 overall and 4-14 in MAC play.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Ohio, 61-35, in the all-time series, but the Bobcats captured this season's first meeting, an 82-57 decision at the Stroh Center last month (Jan. 21, 2026). That game snapped a four-game BGSU series win streak, including last season's wins in Athens (74-53; Jan. 15, 2025) and BG (91-61; Feb. 26, 2025).

• BGSU has won six of the last nine meetings, after Ohio had taken the previous 11 games from 2015-20. Overall, the Falcons are 35-12 at home, 23-21 on the road and 3-2 in neutral-site meetings with Ohio over the years. More information can be found on page 27 of these very notes.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the Ohio contest and a weekend 'bye,' the Falcons will return to the road to meet Central Michigan next Wednesday (March 4). That game will begin at 6:30 p.m. at McGuirk Arena.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will close the regular-season schedule by hosting Northern Illinois on Saturday, March 7. That game will begin at 2:00 p.m. and will be preceded by Senior Day festivities at the Stroh Center.

REMAINING SCHEDULE
Wed., Feb. 25 | at Ohio | 7:00
Wed., March 4 | at Central Mich. | 6:30
Sat., March 7 | NORTHERN ILL. | 2:00 (Senior Day)
all times p.m. and Eastern

STORIES & LINKS
Feb. 19 - BG Falcon Media - "Bowling Green Has My Heart": Inside the Return of Hempfling
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.