The Toledo women’s basketball team started the Ginny Boggess era with a win against Marshall 71-68 in front of an opening-night crowd of 3,754 at Savage Arena on Nov. 4.
The Rockets (1-0) fell behind early, ending the first quarter 22-8, but outscored the Marshall Thundering Herd (0-1) the rest of the game to claim the win.
Marshall started the game with 10 consecutive points to take a 10-0 lead after 3:47 of the first quarter. Toledo countered with a 5-0 run, but Marshall’s CC Mays hit consecutive three-pointers to increase the Thundering Herd’s lead to 16-5 with 3:13 left in the quarter.
A breakaway layup by freshman guard Faith Fedd-Robinson capped an 11-4 run, cutting the lead to 2-19 with 4:45 left in the half. Graduate student guard/forward, Nan Garcia hit a three-pointer with 51 seconds left that capped a 6-0 run to cut Marshall’s lead to 35-29.
Toledo out-scored Marshall 21-15 in the second quarter, but a late layup from Marshall gave them a 37-29 lead headed into the locker room.
A layup made by senior forward Jessica Cook made it a one-possession game, 44-41 heading into the media timeout at 4:37. Cook would then make Toledo’s next basket to make it a one point game, 44-43.
Two free throws made by graduate student guard Khera Goss once again cut the Herd’s lead to 54-53 at the end of the third quarter.
A pair of buckers were made by graduate student center Hannah Noveroske, putting Toledo in the lead 58-54. After Marshall took back the lead, Noveroske would score to re-gain the lead, 66-65 with 3:33 left in play.
The two teams exchanged baskets in a back-and-forth final quarter, with neither team gaining more than a three-point lead.
Sophomore guard Kendall Carruthers sank a jumper with 25 seconds left in the game to push the Toledo lead to 71-68.
A potential-tying jumper by Marshall’s Madison Kellione with less than a second left in the game was waived off by a traveling call to seal the Toledo win.
Noveroske led Toledo with 16 points and eight rebounds, followed by graduate student guard/forward Sammi Mikonowicz with 15 points. Goss and Cook scored 11 and 8 points respectively, with Goss having 6 rebounds and Cook with 4.
“First and foremost, I want to thank the sixth man here at Savage Arena for showing up and showing out tonight,” said Boggess, after earning her first win as Toledo’s head coach. “I was really excited how our seniors led, and we’ve got some talented young players who stepped up in big moments for us. Overall, the toughness, the resiliency, the championship culture, and the ‘Blue Collar, Gold Standard' mentality was really shown tonight, and I am proud of our fight.”
The Rockets women’s basketball team is celebrating their 50th anniversary as a varsity program all throughout the season.
Toledo will head to Iowa City to face defending national runner-up Iowa on Wed., Nov. 13. Tip-off will be 7:00 p.m. ET and will air on Big Ten Network.
