UT survives, 67-64 on the road at Kent State

Toledo women’s basketball team scraped by with a 67-64 road victory at Kent State on Saturday. The Rockets improved to 12-9 overall and 7-3 in Mid-American Conference play.

Sophomore Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott led the Rockets with 16 points and 4 assists. Joining her in double digits was senior Brenae Harris who notched 15 points and dished out 5 assists to go along with 3 steals. Freshman Halee Printz contributed 10 points off the bench.

Fellow freshman Kaayla McIntyre almost had her first career double-double with 6 points and 11 rebounds.

Kent State was led by Jordan Korinek with a game-high 23 points followed by Larissa Lurken with 13 points and McKenna Stephens with 12.

The Rockets struggled with shooting the ball, finishing the game at 36.2 percent from the field. UT won the game at the charity stripe converting 17 of 20 free throws, while Kent shot just 11 free throws in the entire game.

The Golden Flashes started the game on a 9-0 run. The Rockets struggled missing their first 8 shots. However, Toledo eventually found their stride going on their own 9-0 run featuring six free throws.

Ana Capotosto drained a 3 and a layup after the teams traded baskets to give the Rockets a narrow 18-15 lead after the first quarter. UT got good looks at the rim to start the second quarter building a 10-point 29-19 lead at the 5:28 mark.

KSU went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 34-28 but Printz hit a three to give the Rockets an 9-point lead.

Toledo went into the half up 38-30.

The Rockets started the second half similar to the way it started the game, missing their first 8 shots of the third quarter. UT scored just 11 points in the third quarter. Kent State took advantage of the poor shooting by scoring the final 5 points of the quarter to tie the game at 49-49 going into the final ten minutes of regulation.

The fourth quarter was a tense one, with no team gaining more than a 5-point advantage. Kent took over the lead for the first time in the second half with a jumper at the 2:34 mark. Down 1, Bravo-Harriott knocked down a jumper of her own to give the Rockets a 1-point lead with just over 2 minutes remaining in the game.

The Golden Flashes turned the ball over and Harris hit an elbow jumper to make the score 62-59 with just over a minute left in regulation.

With UT leading by 4, Lurken got fouled on her shot and converted , cutting the Rockets lead to 1 with just 14 seconds remaining. Kent was forced to foul Harris to stop the clock but the senior drained both free throws to put the Rockets back up by 3.

The Golden Flashes got a good look at a three-pointer to force overtime but Tyra James saw her attempt bounce off the rim. The win marked the eighth straight for the Rockets over the Golden Flashes.

UT returns home Feb. 10 as they host Buffalo at Savage Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and the game can also be seen on ESPN 3. Toledo has a 9-0 record against UB in Savage Arena, including the last seven games by double digits.