DAYTON, Ohio -- The Western Michigan University women's basketball team takes to the road this weekend for the first time this season.

LAST TIME OUT
Junior guard Zuri Ransom led Western Michigan on offense with a career-high 15 points in a close 61-56 loss to the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons. Ransom, along with junior guard Kailey Starks and junior forward Emily Van Timmeren, all had double figure evenings for the Broncos on Tuesday.

But WMU wasn't able to overcome a fourth quarter making only 20% of its field goals (3-15) against Purdue Fort Wayne. The Brown and Gold led for the majority of the game at a little over 27 minutes as they won the turnover battle 13 to 21. Starks helped power Western Michigan in takeaways with five steals in 33 minutes of action. 

BEST AT THE LINE
The Broncos had a huge game from the free throw line on Tuesday. WMU had its first perfect game from the charity stripe in three and a half years, making 16 of 16 free throws. It was also the first time in almost a decade the Brown and Gold had a 100% game at the line with 10+ attempts. Western Michigan made all 16 of its free throws against Central Michigan back on March 1, 2017, which was also played at University Arena.

After their strong performance at the free-throw line on Tuesday, the Broncos are tied with Weber State for second in the nation in free throw percentage. WMU is making 86.7% of its free throws, leading the MAC and just 3.3% behind national leader Grand Canyon, who has made 90% in three games.

KEEP THE CAREER HIGHS GOING
For the second straight game, multiple members of the Brown and Gold roster had career performances. Junior guard Zuri Ransom set two new career highs this week as she led Western Michigan against PFW. Ransom had 15 points on 50% shooting (6-12) for a new career scoring high. The 12 field goal attempts was another offensive mark for Ransom while she also set a career high on the defensive side of the ball with a team-high eight rebounds.

But Ransom wasn't the only Bronco who set a new career high on Tuesday night. Junior guard Kailey Starks had her best game in steals with five swipes against the Mastodons. Starks is currently averaging 4.5 steals a game, which leads the Mid-American Conference. She also leads the MAC in free throw percentage at a perfect 100% along with teammates Emily Van Timmeren and Faith Wiseman.

SERIES HISTORY
Sunday will be only the third meeting in program history between the Brown and Gold and the Dayton Flyers. Dayton currently holds the series advantage, having won both contests going back to 2007. Sunday will also be the first time that the programs play each other on the Flyers home court. The first ever meeting in the series happened on a neutral site as both teams participated in the Women's Sports Foundation Challenge hosted by the New Mexico Lobos in 2007.

Last season Dayton made its first ever visit to University Arena in mid-December. Guard Alli Harness put up a new personal best against the Flyers to lead Western Michigan with 23 points. The Broncos trailed by only three points four times in the last seven minutes but weren't able to find the extra push to knock off the Flyers. For the seventh game in a row, guard Kailey Starks poured in double figures for WMU while guard Alli Carlson led the team on defense.

SCOUTING THE FLYERS
Dayton is an even 1-1 on the year heading into Sunday afternoon's game. The Flyers dropped their first game of the season in a hard fought overtime contest to the Illinois State Redbirds by only four points in the 91-87 final. Dayton was able to pick itself back up four days later as they welcomed the Penn State Nittany Lions to UD Arena on Monday. The Flyers earned their first win of 2026-27 with a 77-71 final over the Nittany Lions for a P4 victory after leading for over half the game.

Dayton is a veteran team this season, returning three starters and six players that averaged over 18.0 minutes a game. That includes one of the Flyers top three scorers last year in junior guard Olivia Leung. Leung averaged 8.7 points a game as a sophomore and has more than doubled that average early in 2026-27 at a 19 ppg clip. She is one of three Dayton players averaging over double figures