BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Western Michigan University women's basketball team completes a two game road trip on Wednesday night at Bowling Green.

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos dropped a heart breaker to in-state rival Central Michigan on Saturday afternoon. After having the most prolific scoring first quarter of the season, WMU weren't able to hold off the Chippewas in the second half. Through the second half, the lead was traded seven times with five separate ties, but it was two fouls in the final 40 seconds of the game were the difference makers in the 70-67 loss. 

 A trio of Brown and Gold players ended the afternoon in double figures with senior guard Alli Carlson leading the way with 16. She was closely followed by sophomore guard Kailey Starks with 14, and junior guard Nile Muguira Orbe with 13. Carlson and Starks both tied career highs in the close loss on Saturday. Carlson matched her made field goals in a game with seven and Starks matched her career high under the glass with nine boards to lead Western Michigan.

SCORING MILESTONES COMING UP
Multiple members of the Broncos squad are approaching round scoring numbers in the final stretch of the regular season. Sophomore guard Alli Harness is nine points away from hitting 200 career points with WMU, having scored 145 so far this season. Redshirt senior guard De'Ahna Richardson scored her 400th point in a Brown and Gold uniform over the weekend while in Mount Pleasant while having the second best offensive season of her career. 

If she scores 17 or more points on Wednesday, Carlson will make her 600th career point after matching her season point total from 2024-25 at Central Michigan. Starks' first made basket on Wednesday night will be her 300th point with Western Michigan while she is trending towards 500 career points in only two seasons by the Broncos final game on March 7. Senior forward Ariana Wilkes is the last WMU player approaching a scoring milestone as she is only a point away from 200 career points while having her best offensive season at 109 points through 22 games played with the Brown and Gold.

YOU CAN ALWAYS COME HOME
Wednesday night's game will be a homecoming for Western Michigan Head Coach Kate Achter. Achter was a four year player for the Falcons from 2004-2008 and was inducted into the Bowling Green Hall of Fame in 2018. She also continues to hold the program's career record for most assists at 688 helpers across four seasons.

Achter has faced her alma mater five times before including the meeting in January, but this week's game will be only the third at the Stroh Center and the first since 2022. Achter currently has a 2-3 record over her college team with wins in 2024 and 2019, both of which came on her home court at the time.

SERIES HISTORY
The Broncos will be looking to even the season series with BGSU after the Falcons just edged out a 61-54 win in Kalamazoo on Jan. 14. earlier this year in the series 82nd meeting. Last season WMU earned a win over Bowling Green at the Stroh Center to open the series in January of 2025. The Brown and Gold had one of their best shooting quarters of the season at the Stroh last year, making a blistering 77.8% in the fourth to take a narrow 63-60 victory. 

The win in 2025 helped Western Michigan start to close the gap in the overall series at 37-45. Prior to the win, Bowling Green had won seven of eight meetings with the Broncos since January of 2021. The Falcons continue to hold the series after its win in Kalamazoo and have a strong record at home. Bowling Green has just over half of their wins in the series at the Stroh Center with 23 dating back to 1977.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS
The Falcons are coming off a tough home loss to Ball State over the weekend to drop to 5-8 in MAC play. Overall on the season BGSU is above .500 with a 13-12 record as they have earned wins in conference action over Kent State, NIU, Akron, and Buffalo. In the month of February, the Falcons are 2-2 as both of their losses came to MAC schools and one of their wins was part of the MAC-SBC Challenge. 

Sophomore guard Johnea Donahue has been a driving force for Bowling Green across the court. Donahue is the second best scorer for the Falcons at 11.4 points a game while adding a league best 4.00 steals that ties her for fourth in the entire nation. If Donahue keeps up her current pace in steals, she will likely set the program record for steals in a season with 92 so far. BGSU's leading scorer through the season is Preseason All-MAC selection, junior guard Paige Kohler who just hit the 1,000 career point milestone last month. Kohler adds 14.5 points a game along with 3.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists.