BLISTERING START HELPS TOLEDO SOAR TO WNIT WIN

 March 19, 2009 - If anyone had any doubts about Toledo’s ability to tangle with the Pittsburgh Panthers of the Big East Conference in the first round of the 2010 Women’s Invitational Tournament, well, those doubts were erased quickly. Very quickly!

The Rockets got to host an opening game in the WNIT, and made the most of their “second season” by drubbing the team from the Steel City to the tune of 70-58.

Playing a rare Friday evening game at Savage Arena, the UT women showed no lingering effects from the heart-breaking loss suffered in the championship game of the MAC Tournament on March 13. In fact they played with the intensity of a group seriously committed to redeeming itself for coming up so very short in Cleveland.

Led by junior Jessica Williams who opened the scoring with two consecutive 3-pointers, Toledo roared out to10-0 lead before Pittsburgh Head Coach Agnus Berenato had even completely recovered from dealing with The Igniter’s Fan Club’s welcoming tunnel which snaked along very close to the visitor’s bench before game time.

The score was soon 18-3 after Williams and Naama Shafir drained back-to-back treys and it was a 20-point cushion, 35-15 with 4:13 left on the first-half clock.

At this point Pitt tightened up its defense, clogging the middle, and daring Toledo to continue its long distance accuracy. The strategy worked for about ninety seconds as the visitors cut the lead to11 points, 35-24. But Friday evening on Nichols Court was probably not the best time to be challenging the Rocket shooters to crank-em-up out on the perimeter.

First it was Williams who hit her fifth triple of the half; then sophomore Clare Aubry struck from the corner; and finally Shafir dialed up her second bomb from beyond the arc to make it a 44-26 game with under a minute to play. The teams settled on a 46-30 score going into intermission.

For the half, Toledo found net on 17-of-28 attempts for 60.7 percent, a figure that included 8-of-15 from long distance.

Williams led all scorers in the first 20 minutes with 15 points, all of them coming on 3-pointers. Shafir had 12 points on 4-of-5 from the floor.

Pittsburgh struggled with its shooting in the first half, connecting on just 12-of-31 attempts for 38.7 percent.

Williams opened the second half as she had done in the opening period, by drilling another triple – her sixth of the game, to get Toledo off on the right foot. But then some sloppy play by the Rockets, including three straight turnovers by Shafir, allowed Pitt to close the gap to 49-37 at the 17:20 mark.

Enter freshman Lecretia Smith ( #3 photo right) for the Rockets. Smith quickly scored four points and grabbed a pair of rebounds to reignite some of that first-half intensity.

Toledo was no where near in matching its first-half shooting, but fortunately the Panthers were also having difficulty in locating that hole in the net.

It was a 58-43 game with just under six minutes left in the contest when Shafir drove the lane for a score and got fouled. She converted the free throw for an 18-point cushion and things began to look good for a trip to Round No.2 of the tournament.

Shafir (six points) and Smith (three points) scored the final nine points for Toledo and ensured that the Rockets’ season would continue for at least one more game.

For the game Shafir led all scorers with 23 points. Shafir also had five rebounds and five assists. Williams had 18 points, all of her points coming from long distance. Goodall and Smith finished with seven points each.

Pitt had a pair of players score in double digits: Taneisha Harrison (18 points) and Brittany Thomas (12 points). The visitors had the height advantage over Toledo but the Rockets lost the battle of the glass by just one rebound: 39-38.

As it stands now Toledo (25-8) will face the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor at 2:00 pm this Sunday.