The new year is upon us, and in the world of college basketball, teams are also beginning their conference portions of the schedule.

For Bowling Green women’s basketball, they begin Mid-American Conference play with a road battle against the Central Michigan Chippewas in Mount Pleasant.

This is also the first game for BG without their current leading scorer Lexi Fleming, who on Dec. 22 suffered a season-ending left knee injury against Indiana.

Who will shine with Fleming out? How will first year head coach Fred Chmiel handle this latest episode of adversity? All of those answers are yet to be seen.

But for now, here is a look at who the Falcons will be facing.

CENTRAL MICHIGAN CHIPPEWAS:

Current Record: 1-8

Head Coach: Kristin Haynie (First season)

Notable Haynie Facts:

• Was a former assistant coach at CMU, where in 2017, she helped lead the Chippewas to the 2017 MAC Championship.
• Was previously an assistant coach for the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.
• Spent the last four seasons prior to the WNBA as an assistant coach at Michigan State under former head coach Suzy Merchant (who retired and was replaced by former BGSU head coach Robyn Fralick).

Notable Names:

• Karrington Gordon (Jr.)- Gordon is coming off a performance last time out in CMU’s 67-57 loss to North Dakota State in which she registered her fourth double-digit scoring output of the season. The junior from Detroit finished with 14 points, including going 8-8 from the free throw line. So far this year overall, Gordon is averaging 8.1 points off the bench, and at six foot tall, the guard will look to utilize her length to attack the smaller BG backcourt and get to the charity stripe frequently.

• Alina Anderson (Soph.)- Formerly of Ferris State, Anderson is quite the story for the Chips this season. She actually plays for the CMU volleyball team as well, and, after injuries occurred within the basketball roster, Haynie asked for Anderson to join the team mid-season. She made her first appearance of the year on Dec. 9 against Oakland and may be featured in the rotation come Wednesday night because of injuries to Tamara Ortiz and Desrae Kyles.

• Tiana Timpe (Jr.)- Timpe is a junior from Stockton, Illinois who is not afraid to shoot the three point shot if given the look. Averaging 7.6 points per game, Timpe has attempted 54 threes so far this season, an average of six attempts per game. Overall in her season, the junior is shooting 36.3% from the field, and will be called upon by Haynie to take and make some big shots all throughout the contest come Wednesday night.

Notable Numbers:

• Haynie is joined in her first year by six returning letterwinners, including two starters, from a 2022-23 team that went 6-23 overall and 4-14 in MAC play.
• Gordon’s 8-8 performance against NDSU from the free throw line was the second best output in that category in the MAC so far this season.
• The Chippewas nearly erased a 24 point deficit in the fourth quarter in their loss to NDSU, going on a 23-5 run early in the quarter before ultimately falling.

Tip-off between the Falcons and Chippewas from Mt. Pleasant is set for 7 p.m. Join Falcon Media Sports Network’s Brandon Loe as he has the call on 88.1 FM WBGU starting at 6:45.

For more stories related to BGSU Athletics, follow Falcon Media Sports Network on X (@bg_fmsn).