Toledo women’s basketball team snaps losing skid with 73-61 victory over Ball State

The University of Toledo women’s basketball team proved one thing during Thursday night’s 73-61 victory over Ball State.

There truly is no place like home.

Toledo has now won 40 of their last 43 Mid-American Conference contests at Savage Arena under head coach Tricia Cullop. The Rockets’ victory over the visiting Cardinals snapped a mini two-game losing streak for Toledo while also marking UT’s ninth consecutive win over Ball State.

 “We really needed this, we needed some confidence,” said sophomore forward Ana Capotosto. “Now [when] we go on the road to Ohio this weekend we will have some much needed momentum.” 

Ball State found the scoreboard first in the game, taking a 2-0 advantage, but this would be the only lead the Cardinals would see for the remainder of the game.

The Rockets relied on Capotosto, who shot 4-for-8 from behind the arc and finished the night with 14 points, and junior forward Inma Zanoguera, who led the team with 16 points and also accounted for seven rebounds.

Senior guard Andola Dortch joined her two teammates in double digit scoring against a BSU team that entered the division showdown ranked second in league games in three-point field goal percentage defense and third in both scoring defense and overall field goal percentage defense.

“I was very proud of our players tonight, Cullop said. “To shoot the ball as well as we did just shows great focus and how hard our players really work.”

The Rockets’ aggressive defense held Ball State to just 28 percent shooting in the first half, while also causing ten turnovers. The Cardinals could not stop the Rockets inside giving up 16 points in the paint.

Toledo finished the night with a 40-29 edge at the boards, pulling down 19 offensive fouls and turning them into 17 second-chance points. UT also recorded 17 assists to 14 turnovers, marking the eighth time this season that UT has had more assists than miscues.

Thanks to the efforts of the Cardinals’ Nathalie Fontaine, a 2012-13 second-team All-MAC selection who shot a game-high 17 points and six rebounds to become one of three BSU players to finish with double digit scoring totals, Ball State was able to hang around throughout the game.

“[Fontaine’s] a kid that scores a lot of points, and scores in bunches,” Cullop said. “[But] I thought our defense tonight at times looked really good.”

The Cardinals were never able to stop Toledo, and the Rockets finished with a 42.4 shooting percentage from the field to help them avoid their first three-game conference losing skid since 2007-08.

“We haven’t come up short in the last couple games because of lack of effort,” Cullop said. “We’ve come up short because we’ve missed shots. I am so proud in the fact that we have found confidence again.”

Toledo will next travel to Athens to take on the Ohio Bobcats on Sunday, Jan. 26, in the Convocation Center. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.