ROCKET WOMEN SWEEP THE EAST!

Toledo, OH – For the second time this season the University of Toledo women’s basketball team was the opening act of a Toledo Twin-Bill, and for the second time this season the ladies received a standing ovation from the audience for their performance, this time for putting away the visiting Ohio Bobcats, 68-48. With the victory over OU, Toledo can now boast of a perfect 6-0 record against MAC East Division opponents. The Rockets are the only team in the conference to win all of its cross-over games.

A crowd of 3,043 fans ventured out to Savage Arena for the game and it didn’t take long for the Midnight Blue and Gold to give them something to cheer about. With sophomore Lecretia Smith scoring six points, Toledo broke out to a 10-2 lead in the first five minutes of the contest. Then three minutes later with UT ahead, 12-7, Jessica Williams and Naama Shafir got together for a long-distance duet that broke the game open for the locals. The Rockets ripped off a 14-0 run that included a pair of triples each from Williams and Shafir, and a steal and layup from freshman Andola Dortch. When the smoke cleared, the clock read 08:50 and the scoreboard said 26-7, Toledo.

Ohio managed to whittle the lead down to 12 points, 30-18, with 4:40 remaining in the half, but Toledo out-scored the Bobcats 13-6 down the stretch and the teams went into intermission with the Rockets on top by a 43-24 count.

UT shot an impressive 53.1% in the first 20 minutes, connecting on 17-of-32 attempts, a figure that included 6-of-10 from beyond the arc. Shafir and Williams each connected on a trio of 3-point offerings to account for all of Toledo’s 3-point field goals.  Shafir had 11 points and Williams tallied 9 markers to spearhead the Rocket scoring in the opening stanza.  Toledo also had a 21-15 advantage on the boards before intermission.

Shafir opened the second half with a layup and seconds later stole a pass off the hands of Ohio’s Ashley Fowler to score again and suddenly the Rockets had ballooned the lead to 23 points with less than 30 seconds off the clock.

When Yolanda Richardson scored a basket to put Toledo up 51-26 at the 17:10 mark it looked as if the Rockets would just blow Ohio right out of the water, but the visitors never quit. Playing with grit and determination they went even up with UT all the way till the final buzzer even though the game was well out of reach..

Sophomore forward Alesia Howard led Ohio in scoring with 13 points while a pair of starting guards, Shavon Robinson and Tenishia Benson each tallied 10.

Shafir led the Rocket charge with 17 points on the evening and Williams finished with 12 points. Senior forward Melissa Goodall came close to getting a rare triple-double with nine points, nine rebounds, and eight assists.

Toledo continued to shoot well in the second half, hitting on 28-of-57 opportunities for 49.1%. The winners were also 9-of-22 from beyond the arc.

After registering just five turnovers in the first half, the Rockets got a little sloppy after the break turning the ball over 15 times in the final period.

Following the win Goodall said: “I think we played pretty well from start to finish. We knew Ohio was going to give us a fight so we wanted to be focused right from the start. We had a long week of practice and we wanted to show that we got better, and will get better as the season goes on.”

With the win, Toledo’s two seniors, Goodall and Williams have now recorded 75 wins since coming to Toledo.

Ohio University has now lost 20 consecutive games at Savage Hall/Arena. The last Bobcat victory at Toledo came on Jan.7, 1987.

After completing its sweep of East Division opponents, Toledo (18-6, 10-1 MAC) now prepares to take care of business in the final five games of the regular season against fellow West Division members. First up is Western Michigan this coming Wednesday at Savage Arena.