Chmiel loads up on height, versatility in 2nd season as BGSU women’s basketball coach

BOWLING GREEN — The roster for Fred Chmiel in his second season coaching Bowling Green State University’s women’s basketball team has a common theme.

There is a whole lot of height, length, and versatility.

With eight of the 15 players that comprise BGSU’s 2024-25 squad standing at least 6-feet, the Falcons will not only have one of their tallest rosters in the last 15 years, but one of the tallest in the Mid-American Conference this season. As BGSU continues to go through summer workouts and build chemistry with a handful of key veterans returning and a solid group of newcomers, Chmiel is excited for the possibilities of his versatile unit.

“I think it’s a game changer,” he said. “Last year, we were a little handcuffed with personnel and size, and mostly, our numbers. It’s a great deal to have some people that can fill in at any spot.

“Injuries are going to happen, of course. I don’t think we’ll drop that far off. I think there’s plenty of support there for somebody to step in, whether it’d be from the next position or the same position. So that versatility and that size, it’s going to allow us to do a multitude of things. We can do a variety of defenses and some different offensive scenarios, so we’re excited.”

BGSU’s eight players who are at least 6-foot are its most since having 10 in the 2010-11 campaign, which was the last time the Falcons won the MAC tournament title and reached the NCAA tournament. BGSU is tied with Toledo for the most 6-footers in the MAC this season.

“I think with the game the way it is, you’ve got to have some versatility,” Chmiel said. “Defensively, it’s much easier to play switching defense than it is to have to play through matchups and different ball screen strategies. So it’s good to have length.”

During the past year, Chmiel and his staff were busy with bringing in a significant freshman class, as well as a couple of players from junior college. Of the seven newcomers this season, four are at least 6-foot.

Kendal Moxey, a 6-4 junior forward who transferred from Daytona State College, and Kristiana Kulackovska, a 6-0 junior guard/forward who came from Eastern Florida State, are looking forward to playing with a taller group at the NCAA Division I level.

“Playing JUCO the last two years, there hasn’t been many people that were my size,” Moxey said. “So being on a team full of 6-footers, it’s extremely exciting, and I know they’ll have my back like I have theirs. It should be a great season and [teams] should be scared of us.”

Here is a look at her playing last season:

Moxey averaged 10.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game last season, while Kulackovska averaged 8.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per outing.

“Last year, I played as a four, so I didn’t really play as a guard. So this is like a big adjustment for myself, just getting comfortable because we didn’t have size at Eastern Florida,” Kulackovska said. “So I had to adjust again, and I can do that.

“I can play any position, I have the strength and the skills, I feel like. I am very glad that there’s size and strength in our team, I think it’ll very much benefit us.”

Along with Moxey and Kulackovska, freshmen Lauren Gerken (6-1 forward) and Laila Harrison (6-1 guard/forward) add multiple dimensions to the team as well. Gerken, a Liberty-Benton High School graduate, finished as Hancock County’s all-team leading scorer with 1,956 points and was a four-time All-Ohioan, while Harrison was an All-Ohioan for Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame a year ago.

“That should be super beneficial for us. It’ll make us really tough to guard because I know Laila, we’re about the same height, and we’re both versatile players,” Gerken said. “We can play all the way around.

“... I feel like it’s going to be, hopefully, a matchup nightmare for other teams just because they’ll not be able to guard us straight up if we can do everything.”

With 6-2 senior forward Erika Porter returning after a historic campaign in which she shot 66.3 percent from the floor to shatter the BGSU and MAC single-season field goal percentage records, the Falcons will have multiple options in the post. Sophomores Taya Ellis (6-1) and Keiryn McGuff (6-0) showed plenty of promise with their defensive capabilities as freshmen last season, while redshirt sophomore Jasmine Fearne (6-0) has the ability to stretch the floor with her 3-point shooting.

Add that with a trio of All-MAC guards returning in Lexi Fleming, Amy Velasco, and Paige Kohler, and the Falcons have a chance to make some noise in the MAC.

“It’s different. The gym sounds different, it looks different,” Chmiel said. “We’re ahead of last year, which is great.

“We’ve got length, we’ve got athleticism. We’re just a TBD, to be determined. We don’t know what that all looks like when we put it together, we’re just trying to do some breakdown concept-type stuff now. At some point, we’ll put some team looks out there and see what it looks like. But the potential’s there.”