BOWLING GREEN — A red-hot Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team put up a historic night from beyond the arc in continuing its late-season surge.

The Falcons made a program-record 18 3-pointers, scored at least 20 points in every quarter, and dished out a season-high 26 assists on 31 made field goals in cruising past Ohio 91-61 in a Mid-American Conference game on Wednesday at the Stroh Center.

“The stat that I really love is the 26 assists. Any time we move the ball like that, we’re a really, really good team and hard to stop on the offensive end,” BGSU coach Fred Chmiel said. “We did hit a couple lulls there when we got into some foul trouble, and our synergy kind of fell off a little bit.

“But I was really happy that we won all four quarters, and I think that’s only like the second time this season that we’ve done that. So really proud of our team, especially our seniors.”

BGSU notched its fifth straight victory and its seventh in the past eight games to improve to 16-11 (9-6 MAC). The Falcons’ 91 points were their most in MAC play this year and one point off their season high in a 92-41 nonleague win over St. Bonaventure.

They matched last year’s win total, as well, with three regular season games remaining.

“It was definitely a special night,” said BGSU guard Amy Velasco, who along with Lexi Fleming and Erika Porter were honored for senior night before the game. “I’ve been here for four years, so it’s just such a special place to be and I feel really blessed to come through this program.”

Velasco scored 16 of her 22 points in the first half and dished out eight of her career-high tying 11 assists in the opening 20 minutes, as well. BGSU used a 29-9 advantage in the second quarter to take a 50-27 halftime lead.

Velasco found Paige Kohler for a score on a backdoor cut and a deep 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions, then connected with Emily Siesel for a 3-pointer as BGSU scored 11 points in the final 2:33 of the second quarter to extend its lead.

“The coolest part about assists are they’re literally not possible without your teammates, so I think having a lot of assists, it’s just a testament to our teammates because it wouldn’t be possible without them,” Velasco said.

Kohler also tallied 22 points with six assists and five rebounds, while Fleming and Porter both had 12 points.

Even with a couple field goal droughts of nearly five minutes in the second quarter and four minutes in the third, the Falcons scored quickly and in bunches with their guard-heavy lineup. BGSU had a 15-6 advantage in fast-break points and dominated the rebounding battle 43-22, which helped set up its offense.

“Tonight, those dry stretches will be the only thing I remember about the game besides the end,” Chmiel said with a laugh. “But I think we’ve got some scorers.

“... Our guards were phenomenal tonight just getting downhill and finding each other. It’s hard to stop. Once they get their wheels rolling and we have those kickout passes, it’s near impossible to shut down.”

BGSU shot 53.4 percent from the floor overall, 50 percent from 3-point range, and 61.1 percent (11 of 18) from the free-throw line. Ohio shot a respectable 46.3 percent (25 of 54) from the floor, but was just 23.5 percent (4 of 17) from beyond the arc and 43.8 percent (7 of 16) from the free-throw line.

BGSU had a 17-7 edge in points off turnovers and an 11-2 advantage in second chance points.

“It makes it a little easier when we can get stops on defense and we can get out and run,” Kohler said. “But that just shows our ball movement tonight. We’re finding the hot hand, getting downhill, looking for kickouts, and then just finding the open player.”

Kennedi Watkins and Bailey Tabeling had 16 and 14 points, respectively, to lead Ohio (6-20, 4-11 MAC).

The Falcons improved to 10-2 at home this season, which is among their best marks in the past handful of seasons (10-2 in 2020-21 and 14-3 in 2022-23). BGSU travels to Northern Illinois on Saturday, hosts Kent State on March 5, and heads to Eastern Michigan on March 8 to close out the regular season.

“The community really comes out and supports,” Kohler said. “We had a lot of people at our games, but that gives us momentum. The gym’s loud, it gets us rolling down the stretch.”

First Published February 27, 2025, 2:14 a.m.