CLEVELAND – The University of Toledo women’s basketball team could not contain a trio of Miami upperclassmen as the sixth-seeded Rockets fell 72-54 to the third-seeded RedHawks on Wednesday night in a Mid-American Conference quarterfinal matchup at Quicken Loans Arena.
First-team All-MAC performer Lauren Dickerson led the way for Miami with 23 points, Savannah Kluesner came off the bench to score 20 points, and senior Leah Purvis got hot from the 3-point line early and scored 13 points.
“What makes Miami so difficult to guard is that there a lot of kids that can put up a lot of points on their team,” Toledo coach Tricia Cullop said. “Dickerson gets a lot of the pub because she is usually putting up the bigger numbers. Purvis is a fantastic player. I thought we did a good job of stopping the pick and pop with [Kendall] McCoy because she hurt us in the first two games. Their post players can step out and hit 15-footers and they are stretching your defense out a lot. I thought Savannah did a really nice job against us tonight and we could have done a better job defending her.”
VIDEO: UT coach Tricia Cullop
Toledo (20-11) got 14 points from Kaayla McIntyre and 12 points from Nakiah Black.
The Rockets were shorthanded because Mariella Santucci was sick and stayed back at the team’s hotel. Sara Rokkanen earned the start in place of Santucci.
Cullop was forced to use several new lineup combinations with a key piece like Santucci missing from the lineup. Players like Jaela Johnson and Mariah Copeland earned some extra playing time.
“We had a lot of new pieces kind of out there floating around together trying to figure it out,” Cullop said. “I will not fault their effort, though.”
Toledo’s night on offense started ominously as the Rockets were called for two early offensive fouls – one by Black and one by Sarah St-Fort – and missed their first three shots from the field.
Meanwhile, Purvis started off hot with two 3-pointers on her way to eight of the RedHawks first 10 points. A layup by Purvis gave Miami an early 10-2 lead.
Toledo worked back in the game thanks to a 3-pointer from Black, but Kluesener scored eight first-quarter points that helped the RedHawks take an 18-9 lead before McIntyre converted a layup just before the quarter buzzer that made it 18-11.
With a 3-point play by Mikaela Boyd and a layup by McIntyre to open the second quarter, Toledo quickly cut the lead to 18-16.
“Early on, we got out to a slow start,” Boyd said. “They got out on us with a bunch of points. It was tough to come from behind but once we hit the second quarter, we kind of got back into it. We missed some defensive assignments, so that was tough to come back from. But I still thought throughout the game we were always within striking distance. We just came back too late.”
The teams traded baskets until Miami led 22-20 with 6:40 left in the second. Kluesner then went on a personal 8-0 run with three impressive post moves and a jumper.
Toledo got a jumper from Tanaya Beacham and an up and under basket from Sara Rokkanen to cut the lead to 30-24 with 1:14 left. But Miami scored the final five points of the half on a Purvis’ third 3-pointer of the half and a put back by Baleigh Reid that beat the halftime buzzer, and the RedHawks took a 35-24 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, Miami opened up a 13-point lead early on, but Toledo answered with six straight points on three free throws from McIntyre and a 3-pointer from Rokkanen that cut the Miami lead to 39-32 with 5:52 left in the third.
Dickerson then got hot for Miami, knocking down two 3-pointers, and after she hit a pull-up jumper in transition, the RedHawks had a 52-35 lead. Toledo went into the fourth quarter trailing 52-37.
“She is always tough to guard,” Boyd said of Dickerson. “We were able to hold her in the first half. In the second half, she just blew it open. We missed her on some defensive assignments with our hedges and things like that, but she’s a great player and it’s always a tough assignment for us.”
In the fourth, Miami opened up an 18-point lead after Kendall McCoy knocked down a 3-pointer. Toledo cut the lead to 13 after that, but that was as close as the Rockets came.
Toledo never got going on offense and shot just 33.9 percent from the field.
“I think we got some looks, but we just weren’t able to capitalize on it,” McIntyre said. “It was harder in the post for me to score, but overall I think we just had to finish our shots and they weren’t falling for us tonight.”
First Published March 14, 2019, 1:31 a.m.
