Falcons Face Flashes in First February Foray

Wednesday, February 4

Kent, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Kent State

Buy tickets

Johnea Donahue (left), Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick | Jan. 28, 2026, v Akron

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

February 03, 2026 | Women's Basketball

BGSU Notes Kent State WBB BGSU WBB Media Central Support BGSU WBB

BGSU heads to Kent for a Wednesday-night meeting

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2026 | 7:00 P.M. | M.A.C. CENTER | KENT, OHIO

BOWLING GREEN
FALCONS
(11-10, 4-6 MAC)

KENT STATE
GOLDEN FLASHES
(9-12, 4-6 MAC)


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

WHAT, WHEN & WHERE
• The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team begins the February portion of the 2025-26 schedule with a midweek Mid-American Conference matchup at the M.A.C. Center. Head coach Fred Chmiel and the Falcons head to Northeast Ohio to take on Kent State University on Wednesday (Feb. 4), with tipoff at 7:00 p.m.

WHERE TO WATCH / LISTEN
• Wednesday's Kent State kerfuffle – as is the case with all of BGSU's MAC games – 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 Kent State contest, BGSU has gone 473-280 (.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.

MILLENNIUM FALCON: PK REACHES 1K (AND TOP 30)
• Junior Paige Kohler was recognized on a brief on-court ceremony prior to last Wednesday's (Jan. 28) win over Akron. One week prior (Jan. 21), Kohler knocked down a corner three on the opening possession of the Falcons' game vs. Ohio, in the process surpassing the 1,000-point milestone for her BGSU career.

• 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 is now 30th in career scoring, with 1,050 career points at BG entering the Kent State game.

DONAHUE'S DOMINANCE
• Sophomore Johnea Donahue has had more than her share of well-rounded games in 2025-26. After missing two games due to injury in mid-December, Donahue returned to action and posted a double-double in the MAC opener against Kent State (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), followed by a 16-point performance at Marquette two nights later.

• The guard had eight steals, falling just two shy of the school record, in BGSU's win over Kentucky State (Dec. 3). All eight steals came in the first half.

• After her performance v Kent State, she posted her second-straight double-double at Eastern Michigan (Dec. 30), with 10 points and 10 boards.

• Donahue had her second eight-steal game of the season in the win at Northern Illinois (Jan. 10), adding 10 points, five assists and four rebounds vs. the Huskies. And, the sophomore had a game-high six steals in back-to-back games, vs. Massachusetts (Jan. 24) and Akron (Jan. 28). She has averaged 20.0 points per game over the last two contests, vs. UA and Toledo (Jan. 31).

• Currently, Donahue is averaging 4.16 steals per game this season, which leads the MAC and ranks third in the entire nation. And, she is ranked among the MAC leaders in total steals (first, 79 – 20 more than anyone else in the league), scoring (20th), rebounds (16th), assists (seventh), free-throw percentage (12th), assist/turnover ratio (10th) and minutes played (15th) as well.

DONAHUE = 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 79 steals, ranking seventh on the school single-season chart at the end of January. As mentioned in the above note, 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, if Donahue were to go without a steal in each of the next seven games, 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.

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 13.9 ppg, and she is second in assists (3.3 apg). Kohler is listed among the top players in the MAC in scoring (11th), assists (10th), free-throw pct. (14th), three-pointers made per game (sixth), assist/turnover ratio (eighth) and minutes played (fifth).

• In her first two-plus seasons at BGSU, Kohler has compiled impressive totals of 1,050 points, 352 rebounds, 293 assists and 156 three-point field goals made. She has moved into 30th place on the BGSU career scoring list, and also is currently ranked on the school's career charts for points per game (10th, 12.65), assists per game (eighth, 3.53), three-pointers made (16th) and three-pointers made per game (sixth, 1.88).

• Kohler has been in the starting lineup for all 83 of BGSU's games since she arrived on campus.

SPEAKING OF THE STARTING LINEUP...
• The Falcons have used nine 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). The total is the program's highest since the 2021-22 team also had nine different starting-lineup combinations.

• A total of 10 different players each have started at least one game this year to date. 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, when both were in the starting five.

• Junior Paige Kohler is the only player who has started all 21 games this year, while sophomore Johnea Donahue and junior Taya Ellis have made 19 and 18 starts, respectively. Lauren Gerken has made 14 starts and Kaia Woods 13.

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 seven times in the last nine contests, including in six of the Falcons' last seven 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).

• After making 14 three-point field goals in the first 14 games this season, Gerken has hit 19 long-distance shots over the last seven contests.

• Gerken, who has played the equivalent of one college season. is averaging 8.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, and has hit 47 three-pointers in 31 career games.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE GOLDEN FLASHES
• Kent State enters Wednesday's contest with an overall record of 9-12 and a MAC mark of 4-6. Like the Falcons, the Golden Flashes are looking to bounce back after a 10-point loss over the weekend, as KSU fell to Ball State by a 101-91 score on Sunday (Feb. 1). The Flashes are 5-3 at home, 3-8 on the road and 1-1 at neutral sites this season to date.

• Mya Babbitt leads the team in scoring, with 16.5 points per game, and has hit 48 three-point field goals this season to date. Riley Rismiller has a KSU-best 6.0 rebounds per game to go along with 8.8 ppg, while Dionna Gray has 5.4 assists per contest. Babbitt, Gray and Rismiller each have started all 21 games this winter.

• Head coach Todd Starkey welcomed back eight letterwinners, including three starters, from the 2024-25 team that went 21-12 overall and 12-6 in the MAC.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Kent State, 64-39, in the all-time series, and BGSU captured this season's first meeting, with a 73-69 win at the Stroh Center in the MAC opener (Dec. 20, 2025). Last season, the teams split their two matchups, with the Golden Flashes capturing an 81-71 decision on New Year's Day in Kent (Jan. 1, 2025), and the Falcons posting an 84-61 win at the Stroh two months later (March 5, 2025).

• The teams have split the last four meetings after BGSU had captured six-straight contests from 2021-23. Overall, the Falcons are 33-14 at home, 24-23 on the road and 7-2 in neutral-site meetings with the Flashes over the years. More information can be found on page 26 of these very notes.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the KSU contest, the Falcons will return home for the next two games. BGSU will take on Coastal Carolina on Saturday (Feb. 7) afternoon. That game, part of the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge will begin at 2:00 p.m. at the Stroh, and will be BGSU's annual Play4Kay Game.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will welcome Buffalo to town for a Tuesday (Feb. 10) tussle, with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. inside the Stroh.

STORIES & LINKS
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.