Toledo women’s basketball team drops 78-72 decision to Western Michigan

The University of Toledo women’s basketball team’s road woes continued over the weekend with a 78-72 loss at Western Michigan on Saturday.

The Rockets have lost four straight games away from Savage Arena. Their last road win was over a month ago, on Dec. 15, at St. Bonaventure. This last loss drops UT to a 7-9 overall record (2-3 in Mid-American Conference play).

Senior point guard Andola Dortch was one of four Rockets to score in double digits with a game high 19 points, but she only had six points going into half time.

“Dortch has to be offensively aggressive for this team,” said head coach Tricia Cullop in a post-game interview. “We’ve got to get those kids more aggressive and involved in the offense early on.

“We played kind of passive today and [we] need to be aggressive from the tip.”

Fourth-year center Brianna “Crunch” Jones had a career tying best 13 rebounds to go with 16 points. Crunch leads the team this season with five double-doubles.

Junior forward Inma Zanoguera also helped her team with 16 points, and sophomore Ana Capotosto finished with 15.

A continued lack of production from the Rockets’ other players forced Toledo to lean on their starters for most of the team’s production. Only two of UT’s 72 points came from their bench.

“Our bench hasn’t really done much the last two games and we need more from them.” Cullop said.

Zanoguera gave her team a spark early in the game by scoring seven of their first 16 points and giving them a three point lead with just under 13 minutes left to play in the opening period.

This lead didn’t last long as WMU went on a 10-4 run to give themselves a 29-21 lead with 6 minutes left to play in the half.

UT didn’t have any answers to the Broncos’ quick shooting. The Rockets allowed WMU to shoot 50 percent from the field through the entire game.

Toledo struggled with shooting for the remainder of the half, making just 32 percent of their shots and trailing 38-29 at the break.

The Rockets started the second half with a bang by going on a 13-4 run to tie WMU 42-42 with 15:50 left in the game. Toledo depended heavily on Crunch and Capotosto and the two combined for nine of the 13 points during the run.

After a Morton layup, Capotosto received a pass from Dortch and knocked down a three to give her team their first lead since the 11:30 mark in the first half.

“Anna hit some big shots for us [and] that was good to see,” Cullop said. “She is somebody that continually keeps getting better as the season goes on.”

The two teams exchanged baskets over the next few possessions and the lead changed five times over the next two minutes, with Western holding a 50-49 lead with 13:28 left to go in the game.

Toledo refused to allow the Broncos more than a three-point lead for the next five minutes, and their fierce defensive effort was rewarded when Dortch put Toledo back in control with 8:05 left to play.

After a WMU timeout, UT saw their 62-61 lead disappear as the Broncos went on a 7-0 run to give them a lead they would not surrender.

This loss drops Toledo to last place in the MAC West division - a hole the team hasn’t fallen anywhere near throughout the current coaching regime’s time in the Glass City. The Rockets haven’t tasted victory since their last home win, a 68-52 victory over Miami, on Sunday, Jan. 12.

“We could easily bury our heads after what we’ve been through the last week going one-for-two,” Cullop said. “Or we can decide we want to get better and learn from what we just found out,”

Toledo will get the chance to decide when they return to action against Ball State on Thursday, Jan. 23. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in Savage Arena.