Toledo women impress in MAC play

The University of Toledo women’s basketball team has been hard at work over winter break, racking up a stellar 11-3 record and beginning MAC play for the year.
After a win over Madonna University at home, the Rockets hit the road for a matchup against Dayton, where they won 76-72 in a tight matchup against the Flyers. Third-year guard Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott and second-year guard Mikaela Boyd led the Rockets to victory with 16 points each.
The Rockets returned home after their victory over Dayton to play St. Bonaventure, where UT secured another victory by a score of 74-50. The key to victory for the Rockets was their defense: they forced 29 turnovers, which were converted into 33 points by Toledo.
From there, the Rockets suffered their first loss in four games when they fell to the very tough Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a score of 68-85. Despite the loss, the UT women bounced back in their next game and defeated Detroit Mercy 72-66 at home. First-year guard Mariella Santucci led the team with 15 points in the victory. With this win, the Rockets would head into their first league match with a 9-2 record.

The Rockets opened MAC play with an unfortunate loss to Ball State at home by a score of 45-51. UT was held to a season low 24.6 percent shooting from the floor, including a poor 16.7 shooting percentage from three point range. Bravo-Harriott led the rockets in scoring, despite only having eight points.
Toledo continued their MAC play against Eastern Michigan, where they secured their first league win of the season in a 66-49 victory. Boyd and second-year center Kaayla McIntyre led the team with a career-high 19 points each, while Bravo-Harriott followed closely behind with a solid 15 points. As a team, the Rockets shot a much-improved 41.7 percent from the field to end their three-game losing streak against Eastern Michigan. After the game, head coach Tricia Cullop commented on the Rockets victory.
“I was very proud of the composure our players had today, to come on the road and to really come out of the gate with some confidence,” Cullop said. “To see Mikaela Boyd and Kaayla McIntyre step up offensively and do some really nice things for us really took some pressure of the other players, especially since we didn’t have Janice Monakana tonight.”
The Rockets returned home for their next MAC matchup, where they defeated Miami University by a score of 64-50. The Rockets had an impressive fourth quarter in the game, outscoring the Redhawks 28-10 in the final quarter to take their 11th straight victory over Miami and improve to 11-3 overall and 2-1 in MAC play.
The Rockets will continue their conference play when they travel to Buffalo, NY to take on the Buffalo Bulls on Jan. 11.