Bowling Green State University’s women’s basketball team opened the 2026-27 season in emphatic fashion Monday night, November 2, beating Georgia Southern 82-59 at the Stroh Center in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge, Bowling Green State University Athletics reported.
The night belonged to the Falcons’ freshmen. Four players — including three freshmen — scored in double figures, led by freshman Carol Silva, who posted a double-double in her Falcon debut with 25 points and 10 rebounds, according to BGSU Athletics. Mafalda Monteiro scored 15 points, Lauren Gerken 13 and Sara Caetano 10.
The defense traveled just as well as the scoring. Bowling Green limited Georgia Southern to 25 percent shooting from the floor while shooting 50.9 percent itself, and piled up 42 points in the paint against the Eagles’ press-heavy defense, Chat Sports reported in its recap of the game. Kyla Bryant paced Georgia Southern with 13 points, according to Chat Sports.
The opener was the first meeting between the two programs, and it continues a strong run for head coach Fred Chmiel’s Falcons in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge, where Bowling Green has now won four consecutive games, according to BGSU Athletics.
The win opens a four-game homestand to start the season for a roster that returned only four players from last year’s 17-14 team and added eight true freshmen, seven of them from overseas — a group that scored 70 percent of the Falcons’ points in their exhibition win over Ohio Dominican last week.
The result carries extra weight given the opponent. Georgia Southern finished last season as the Sun Belt’s top team at 23-8 overall and 16-2 in its conference before falling to eventual champion James Madison in the league semifinals, and the Eagles arrived in Bowling Green under new head coach Heather Macy, according to BG Falcon Media’s preview of the matchup. Beating that program by 23 points — and holding it to 25 percent shooting — is an early statement from a Bowling Green team built almost entirely of newcomers.
What happens next comes quickly: Bowling Green’s schedule next brings Cleveland State to the Stroh Center on Thursday, November 5, as the season-opening homestand continues.
Photo: Bhockey10, CC BY-SA
[…] The Vikings’ next test connects directly to another Ohio opener NewsForce247 covered this week: Cleveland State travels to Bowling Green on Thursday, November 5, for a 7:00 p.m. game, according to Cleveland State athletics. Bowling Green’s women opened with their own statement win, an 82-59 rout of Georgia Southern powered by freshman Silva’s 25-point debut. […]