TOLEDO – A raucous crowd of 6,077 fans packed Savage Arena to watch the Toledo women’s basketball team defeat Bowling Green, 82-70, in the Battle of I-75 on Saturday afternoon.
It was Toledo’s third-largest regular season crowd in program history, trailing only the sellout vs. Michigan earlier this season and last year’s regular season finale vs. Bowling Green.
The Rockets (16-4, 9-1 MAC) led wire-to-wire in their victory vs. the Falcons (11-9, 5-5 MAC), the first time they’ve done that to an opponent since the MAC Tournament Championship Game last year vs. BGSU. Toledo also claimed its 19th straight home MAC win and improved to 8-1 at home this season.
“I’m really proud of our players for getting this victory,” Toledo coach Tricia Cullop said. “It was a good game between two quality teams. One thing you can always count on with this rivalry is that it’s always the most attended women’s game in the MAC.
“We both have storied programs with strong winning traditions. I love this rivalry, it’s a lot of fun to be a part of. I thought we did a nice job in the first half, which was very physical, and I thought we played well in the second half too when things got a little tighter.”
Sammi Mikonowicz (Rossford) was one of four Toledo players to reach double figures in scoring on Saturday, and in doing so she became the 33rd player in program history to join the 1,000 point club. Six of her 10 points came from the free throw line, and she scored her 1,000th point at the charity stripe as well.
Sophia Wiard led Toledo with 18 points, going 6-for-11 from the floor, and Quinesha Lockett wasn’t far behind with 15 points. Nan Garcia reached double figures for the second straight game, pouring in 11 points while making 2-of-3 shots from beyond the arc. Soleil Barnes provided a spark of the bench, knocking down two three-pointers and scoring eight points.
Bowling Green freshman Paige Kohler scored a game-high 22 points and was one of three Falcons to reach double-digits. Erika Porter scored 18 points and Morgan Sharps added 12.
BG trailed by as many as 19, but got within seven points on several fourth-quarter occasions.
The Rockets outscored the Falcons 21-6 in points off turnovers and 15-0 on fast breaks, most of that damage coming in the first half.
“Really good Toledo team disrupted us quite a bit in the first half,” BGSU coach Fred Chmiel said. “They are really physical and they are well-coached.
“It was a tale of two halves you could say. I thought the first half we were a little shell-shocked,” Chmiel continued. “The second half we competed, but that first half really, really affected us.
“Ten-point second quarter. We had some good performances from a number of people, but just not enough in the first half to compete with a team like that and come out with a ‘W’.”
Toledo went on a 10-0 late in the first half to build the lead to double digits, with Soleil Barnes scoring eight of those 10 points. A pair of Porter free throws in the final seconds cut the Rockets’ lead to 37-22 at the half.
UT began the second half with a four-point possession to take a 19-point advantage, the largest of the game, and the teams essentially traded points over the remainder of the third quarter.
In the fourth period, however, BGSU slowly chipped away at the Rockets’ lead. Kohler hit a pair of free throws to make it an 11-point game with 6:27 to go, and a Sophie Dziekan putback cut the deficit to eight as the teams reached the game’s final media timeout.
The margin was trimmed to seven on a pair of Dziekan charity tosses with 4:29 remaining, and the Falcons got a stop. But, BG could not cut into the UT lead any further, and a Khera Goss three-point play gave the hosts a 75-65 lead with 3:42 remaining.
An NBA-range three-pointer by Kohler made it a seven-point game once again, but the Rockets got a Quinesha Lockett jumper with just over two minutes to go, and BG would draw no closer.
What hurt BGSU down the stretch was three players fouled out — guard Amy Velasco with 6:48 remaining, Porter with 6:27 remaining, and Olivia Hill with 1:47 remaining. At that point, BGSU was down to six players.
As a result, Toledo shot 28 free throws to the Falcons’ 14. UT made 23 of those 28 tosses, while BG was 11-of-14 from the stripe.
In addition, Toledo outscored BGSU 21-4 in bench points, so taking out key starters like Velasco and Porer was exactly what the Rockets were aiming for.
“I do want to say, Porter is a handful — she is really, really good,” Cullop said. “She is so strong on the block and it felt a little bit better when she fouled out because she’s a bucket. She dose a nice job sealing.
“Then, I have a lot of respect for Amy Valesco and what she brings to their program. It certainly helped us when she fouled out but she brings a lot of energy.
“I think, to me, she is the groove of that team. She is the little energizer-bunny who does it all. I just have a lot of respect for her ability to score, create opportunities for other people, and just her heart she pours into the game. I think her teammates feed off of that.”
The teams shot nearly the same percentage from the floor, as Toledo had a 47.4% success rate to BGSU’s 47.3%. The Falcons went 7-for-15 from the arc (46.7%) while UT was 5-for-14 (35.7%) from long distance. The Falcons had a 34-28 rebounding advantage, with 14 offensive boards in the game.
(— By Sentinel-Tribune Sports Editor J. Patrick Eaken with contributions from BGSU Athletics)
