BOWLING GREEN — The landscape of the 2022-23 women’s basketball season in the Mid-American Conference is fascinating.
How does Buffalo, the defending tournament champion, regroup after losing its coach and most major pieces?
Where does Toledo stand after winning the regular-season title and riding a wave of success in the Women’s NIT?
How does Akron continue on without reigning MAC player of the year Jordyn Dawson?
The top of the conference is loaded, with a few teams having a legitimate shot at winning the league next season.
Make sure to include Bowling Green State University in that conversation after its offseason haul.
The MAC regular-season champion from two years ago made splashes in the offseason and has its best player from that run returning, which could be the recipe for the Falcons to get back to the top of the mountain and a reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011.
The Falcons finished 17-16 overall and 10-10 in MAC play, but the season was riddled with injuries and constant adaptation.
BGSU was a combined 0-7 against Buffalo, Toledo, and Akron — the three teams atop the league standings and the arguably the three biggest teams in the league.
For Akron, the 5-foot-11 Dawson averaged 26.0 points in three games against BGSU, including a 22-point outing in the MAC tournament quarterfinals.
Toledo’s Jessica Cook and Hannah Noveroske, listed at 6-2 and 6-5, respectively, cleaned up in the paint in two outings against BGSU.
Buffalo out-rebounded the Falcons 91-63 combined in their two contests.
Size was a problem last season for Bowling Green, but fortunes could change this coming season. Coach Robyn Fralick said recruiting size was the No. 1 priority.
Fralick made good on that claim by going into the transfer portal and finding two major, veteran pieces to shore up the frontcourt in Payton Moore and Allison Day.
“I think one thing after our season was pretty clear about where our team was,” Fralick said. “There’s so many things we’re excited about. We have a young team. We have a team that had a great offseason, I thought our postseason gave us a lot of momentum, but it was also clear that there were things that could really help us.”
The 6-1 Moore gives the Falcons an immediate plug-and-play option at center with her length and tendencies, and those on the defensive end in particular.
Moore is an experienced forward who ruled the paint for Division III Anderson College in Indiana. She averaged a double-double and earned defensive player of the year in her conference after leading in rebounds and blocked shots.
“She’s a remarkable kid,” Fralick said, “and we’re really excited for her to join the program with her experience with the sustained success that she’s had in her college career.”
The 6-1 Day is a stretch-four with the ability to work inside and out. Day is a former All-Missouri Valley Conference first-teamer who scored 1,139 points in four years playing for former Falcon Kate Achter. She was the Ramblers’ leading rebounder last season with 5.6 per game.
“I’ve had a lot of experience guarding smaller post players and bigger post players, so I can do that on both sides,” Day said. “I think my ability to spread the floor a bit helps fit into their offense and helps run up and down the floor, too.”
In all, Fralick added five new pieces to her roster. Four of them are listed at 5-11 or taller, with the exception of freshman preferred walk-on guard Emily Siesel, the reigning Division IV player of the year at Buckeye Central High School.
Freshman guard Jasmine Fearne and former Michigan Division 1 state champion Jaci Tubergen join as freshmen with length to spare. The 5-11 Fearne averaged 11.0 points in her senior season in North Carolina, and the 6-foot Tubergen is Hudsonville High School’s all-time leading scorer.
Last season, BGSU had four players at 5-11 or taller.
The Falcons now have seven players listed at 5-11 or taller, and Moore and Day are guaranteed starters or top-of-the-rotation players.
Fralick has been impressed with the newcomers so far.
“They’ve brought a real level of maturity and a real level of commitment,” Frallick added.
Add those five to the returning pieces, and BGSU appears to be set for a run this fall and winter.
First Published July 24, 2022, 1:50 p.m.