BGSU women’s basketball (6-6, 0-1) began 2025 with a loss to Kent State (8-5, 1-0) 81-71 in their first Mid-American Conference (MAC) game of the season.
While every game has many takeaways, consistency is one trend plaguing Bowling Green early this season in multiple facets.
“We gotta be a little more consistent with how we’re doing things,” said BGSU assistant coach John Nicolais postgame. We gotta be consistent with the energy; our bench has got to be consistent. Our highs can’t be too high, and our lows can’t be too low. We need a little more consistency.
Kent State, the defending MAC Tournament champions, was picked to finish second in the conference this year. While this was just the first MAC game on the schedule, Golden Flashes were a test to see where Bowling Green matches up if they want to be in the upper echelon of the conference.
Statistically, Bowling Green was equal to or better than Kent State in a lot of categories. But shooting 26-72 from the floor, 6-26 from three and committing six more turnovers than the Golden Flashes were costly, especially when two of the turnovers came late in the fourth quarter when BG nearly made a comeback.
Yes, the Golden Flashes are, and will be, one of the favorites to win the MAC by the end of the season. But whether it’s the top teams in conference or the bottom, Nicolais and the Falcons know you have to be ready to compete.
“Night in and night out, it doesn’t matter who it is, top or bottom in the MAC. If you don’t come ready to play, you stand a great chance of taking the loss, said Nicolais. “Trying to get our younger ones to understand that, especially when you got a team like Kent who’s really good, you can’t afford to make a lot of mistakes, and if you do that, they do a good job of exposing them.
In the big picture this season, the Falcons are undefeated at home at 4-0, but away from the Stroh Center, Bowling Green is 0-6 on the road. Two wins came in the Daytona Beach Classic but were recorded as neutral games.
Finding ways to close out games and win on the road in the MAC is something that will propel Bowling Green up in the standings. Despite a few injuries, the talent and commitment are there; they just need to put it together consistently away from home.
Senior guard Amy Velasco, sophomore Paige Kohler, and fifth-year forward Erika Porter have started all 12 games for the Orange and Brown this season, along with the full-time return of Lexi Fleming and Keiryn McGuff. The Falcons starting five are starting to build some chemistry all together.
The only thing the Falcons can do now is put this one behind them, get back in the gym, and prepare for the 1-10 Eastern Michigan Eagles.
We’ve got to work on us. We’ve got to practice squad and everything, and they challenge us and make us work hard; we need that, said Nicolais. “To come out here on the road and kind of at times go through the motions, we looked a little uncharacteristic at times, and that’s a little frustrating. We’ll watch the film on it. We got to clean things up and be ready for Eastern [Michigan].”
The Falcons return home to the Stroh Center to take on the Eagles on Saturday, Jan. 4, with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m.
