ROCKET WOMEN ARE MAC CHAMPS!

 Toledo, OH – Wednesday evening was very special at Savage Arena as the Toledo Rockets shot their way to the Mid-American Conference Championship with an 85-75 win over the visiting Central Michigan Chippewas. It was also special because this was Senior Recognition Night for Toledo seniors Melissa Goodall and Jessica Williams who were playing their last home game of the regular season on Nichols Court. Something had to be special because a boisterous crowd numbering more than three-thousand fans showed up to honor Goodall and Williams, and witness what would be a milestone victory. No one, save for the Central Michigan contingent, went home disappointed.

The ramifications of the game itself were important because a Toledo loss would have resulted in a tie for the championship with the Bowling Green Falcons, and that just wouldn't do, either for the team or those loyal fans that had filled up the seats.

Goodall, the senior center who has been such an integral part of Toledo’s three-year success under Tricia Cullop saved her best performance as a Rocket for this special evening, scoring a career-high 28 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. And Williams who has been nursing an injured shoulder, also said her farewells with a 10-point, five assist effort. “This has been a long time coming”, said Goodall. “We worked so hard for this and I’m just so ecstatic that we did this on our home court in front of our fans. What more could you ask for in a going-out party.”

The win was big in another way because it was accomplished without the services of point guard Naama Shafir and front-line reserve Courtney Ingersoll who were both injured during the course of this very physical game. Ingersoll injured an ankle about six minutes into the contest and was forced to watch the rest of the game on crutches. Shafir sustained an undisclosed leg injury with less than a minute to play in the first half. She returned for a very brief period in the second half but was quickly pulled and did not return.

The win itself was a true team effort with reserves Haylie Linn, Yolanda Richardson, and Riley McCormick stepping up when Ingersoll and Shafir went down.

The game featured a stellar defensive performance by Toledo in the first half followed by an old-fashioned shootout in the final period. It was also a game that the Rockets would lead from start to finish.

Toledo broke out to an early 11-2 lead with Goodall and freshman Andola Dortch accounting all of the points. Central Michigan is known throughout the conference as a high-octane offensive machine but against UT in that first half the Chips were having all kinds of problems penetrating the “Steel Curtin” defense. With twelve minutes gone, CMU had managed to score just 12 points, and they were trailing the Midnight Blue by 18 points, 30-12 before a 9-2 run cut the margin to 32-21 with 4:31 to play. The teams would pretty much play even up until the half ended and the Rockets had a 39-27 lead going to intermission.

Goodall and Dortch, who was having her best game as a Rocket, tied for scoring honors at the half with 13 points a piece. UT shot an impressive 50% (16-of-32) in the first period and had a 26-14 lead in the rebounding battle.

The second half became a slug fest of sorts with the teams matching each other shot for shot, At one point Central Michigan cut Toledo’s lead to five points when Jalisa Olive hit a triple. This was  followed 10 seconds later by a countering triple from Williams. If the Chips Brandie Baker or Kaihla Szunko drove to the basket for a layup, then Goodall would drive to the hoop for a score.

When Olive hit another trey to, once again, cut the lead to five points, 53-48, Haylie Linn came right back to drain two consecutive treys and balloon the margin to 59-48. So it was punch-counter punch as the game clock was winding down but, unlike the first game played between these schools in Mount Pleasant back on January 19, Toledo wasn’t about to relinquish a lead it held for almost the entire game, only the see the Chips win in the last minute; not on Senior Night, not here in Toledo, and certainly not with a MAC Championship ready for the taking. When the final horn sounded on this one, Toledo was the victor and the celebration began, for players and fans alike.

Goodall’s 28 points led all scorers for the evening, and Williams had her 10 points, but when Naama Shafir went out with the injury, Dortch stepped right into her shoes, scoring a career high 17 points. The freshman from Akron also had six assists and a steal on the night. Linn had eight points and four rebounds in 21 minutes of playing time; Richardson had seven points and five rebounds; and Toledo’s fifth starter Lecretia Smith finished with six points and 10 rebounds.

In winning the game Toledo had its best shooting night of the season, connecting on 34-of-64 offerings for 53.1%. The Rockets also out-muscled the Chippewas on the glass 42-32. If fault can be found with Toledo’s performance it was the team’s 9-of-22 effort at the free-throw line, with a lot of misses on the front ends of one-and-one situations. A better effort at the charity stripe and the Rockets 10-point margin of victory would have been much greater.

Olive, all five foot-four inches of her, led the Chips in scoring with 19 points, a figure that included 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. Baker, Central Michigan’s 6-0 point guard chipped in with 16 points, freshman Taylor Johnson had 15 points and senior forward Szunko finished with a double-double: 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Some other statistics to ponder, for those who like to ponder: Toledo had 26 assists to just 14 turnovers, while Central Michigan committed 20 miscues. The Rockets were able to convert those CMU turnovers into 25 points.

Despite playing just 18 minutes, Shafir still managed to lead everyone in assists with eight.

Melissa Goodall now becomes the only Rocket ever to have scored at least 1,000 points in her career, grabbed at least 600 rebounds, recorded at least 75 blocks, and has a MAC championship on her resume.

Following the game, Tricia Cullop said “Our two seniors led the way tonight. We had a couple of people go down with injuries but those seniors just would not be denied. I also thought Andola Dortch played an outstanding game, but every single person we put into the game did some positive things. We also had a tenacious game on the boards and got many of those 50-50 rebounds that can go either way. Our players wanted to get this win for the seniors but they also wanted to get it for the fans who have been absolutely tremendous all season long.”

After the game the victory celebration continued on the court where the players cut down the nets in front of the fans, very few of whom left before the festivities came to an end.

Toledo wins its first conference championship since the 2000-01 season and the school has now won a total of eight championships since women’s MAC play began.

The Rockets now prepare for the MAC tournament in Cleveland next week. Game time will be approximately 5:00 pm on March 9 against an opponent that has yet to be determined.