ATHENS, Ohio -- The Western Michigan University women's basketball team will try to begin a new win streak on the road this Wednesday.

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos led for almost half the game in its 59-54 win over the Eastern Michigan Eagles. WMU brought high-pressure defense to keep the Eastern Michigan offense from finding any rhythm on Saturday afternoon. The Brown and Gold's defense forced 21 turnovers from the Eagles over 40 minutes.

Three members of Western Michigan's roster ended the game in double figures, led by sophomore guard Kailey Starks. Starks had a team-high 19 points while redshirt senior forward De'Ahna Richardson added 13 and senior guard Alli Carlson had 10 points for the Broncos. Carlson also led WMU in rebounds with 10 boards for the second double double of her career. 

PRESSURING THE COURT
The Brown and Gold's defense scrambled the EMU offense in their win last week. Western Michigan forced 21 turnovers from the Eagles, which was Eastern's third-most turnovers in a game this season. While the 21 takeaways were the second-most forced in a game this season from the Broncos. 

WMU also had its best game taking care of the ball in 2025-26 inside the Gervin GameAbove Center. The Brown and Gold turned the ball over only 10 times while assisting on 10 baskets for a perfect assist/turnover ratio. Saturday was the only time this season that Western Michigan has had a 1.00 assist/turnover ratio. But the Broncos have had five different games this season with more assists than turnovers.

GUARDING THE ARC
WMU has jumped up the MAC rankings in three point defense after limiting Eastern Michigan to only four triples on 14 attempts (28.6%). The Brown and Gold are currently fourth in the conference for opposing three-point field goal percentage, regularly limiting their opponents to only 29.8%. Western Michigan's best defensive game around the arc came only two weeks ago at Toledo. The Broncos limited the Rockets to one of their lowest three-point percentage shooting games of the season at only 18.8%. 

SERIES HISTORY
WMU will look to grow its series lead over Ohio on Wednesday night. After sweeping the series against the Bobcats last season, the Brown and Gold lead 38-35 going back to 1973-74. This week will be the 74th meeting between the two programs and their only meeting of the 2025-26 season. 

Western Michigan is currently on a two-game win streak over Ohio going into Wednesday night. In the team's last meeting on March 5, 2025 the Broncos put together a dominate 75-56 win in Athens. The win punched WMU's ticket to the Mid-American Conference Tournament after sinking 16 three-pointers to down the Bobcats. The 16 triples were the second-most in a single game in program history as the Brown and Gold shot 49 percent from the field, going 16-for-33 from behind the arc. Western Michigan also had a big advantage on the glass over OU, out-rebounding them 37-23.

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Ohio is having a resurgence this year in MAC play, currently sitting in sixth among 13 league teams with a winning record of 6-4. The Bobcats are also above .500 across the entire season at 12-8 through 20 games. Ohio is coming off a tough 0-2 week that saw losses to UMass and Miami before hosting the Broncos on Wednesday.

The Bobcats are led by junior guard Bailey Tabeling who is averaging 13.6 points a game on 39.6% shooting. Ohio also has redshirt sophomore guard Bella Ranello averaging in double figures at 11.8 points a game while adding two steals a game. Under the glass, the Bobcats rely on junior guard Asiah Baxter at 4.7 boards a game along with graduate forward Elli Garnett with 4.4 rebounds.