The University of Toledo women's basketball team struggled to take care of the basketball, and Eastern Michigan made the Rockets pay in a 77-62 win for the Eagles on Wednesday night at Savage Arena.
Toledo turned the ball over 21 times in the game, which led to 20 points for Eastern Michigan, and the Eagles dominated the Rockets near the basket with a 42-16 advantage in points in the paint.
“I'm disappointed with our effort tonight as far as our focus in taking care of the basketball,” Toledo coach Tricia Cullop said. “I thought the turnovers hurt us, the missed free throws hurt us, and some of the fouls we committed hurt us.
“I think we are better defensively at rotating and taking care of things. ... We have to do a better job of knocking down some shots when we had some good looks. We had opportunities, and we didn't put them down.”
Nakiah Black paced Toledo (9-9, 4-3 MAC) with 13 points, Tatyana Davis scored 12 off the bench, and Tanaya Beacham had 10 points.
Areanna Combs led Eastern Michigan (10-9, 5-3 MAC) with 27 points, Jenna Annecchiarico scored 13, and Corrione Cardwell had 12 points.
Combs, a transfer from Oklahoma State, scored 16 of her 27 in the first half to carry the Eagles offensively.
She was used as the fourth guard on the floor for Eastern Michigan, and Toledo had a hard time slowing her down. She was 11-of-17 from the field for the game.
“They were basically playing four true guards and a post,” Cullop said.
“That fourth guard who is playing the four spot is a transfer from a [Power Five] school who showed that she can really play. She scored 27 points tonight. We went smaller the second half, and I thought that helped a little bit on her.”
After a low-scoring first quarter, Toledo went into the second quarter holding a 15-12 lead. Eastern Michigan then opened up a 11-point lead with a 12-0 run that gave the Eagles a 28-17 edge with 4:34 left.
EMU led again by 11 points at 30-19 with 3:54 left.
Toledo then went on a quick 9-0 run, helped by a technical foul called on Eastern Michigan's Autumn Hudson, to cut the lead to 30-28 with 2:38 left after a jumper by Davis.
Combs answered with a 3-point play, and Beacham made a jump shot for Toledo to cut the EMU lead to 35-32 at halftime.
Toledo briefly led by four points in the third quarter after Quinesha Lockett made a 3-pointer to give the Rockets a 40-36 lead.
Eastern Michigan answered with a quick 9-0 run to regain control of the game, and the Eagles took a 50-44 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the final quarter, Toledo cut its deficit to 54-51 with 6:11 left after two free throws by Black. Eastern Michigan quickly stretched the lead back to 10 points with the next seven points of the game, and that was as close as Toledo would get.
In the game, Toledo was 19-of-50 (38 percent) from the field, 19-of-26 (73.1 percent from the free throw line), and 5-of-16 (31.3 percent) from the 3-point line.
Helped by its points in the paint, Eastern Michigan was 27-of-51 (52.9 percent) from the field, even after connecting on just 4-of-14 3-point attempts.
“Every team in our league is good and you have to be ready every night,” Cullop said. “When you don't bring your best effort this can happen.
“I don't think the score was indicative of how close the game was. We had to foul at the end. But I certainly think we could do a better job of making our free throws, taking care of the basketball, and executing offensively a little bit better. I think when they got physical with us, I don't think we met the challenge of that until too late.”
Toledo could not get into any kind of rhythm offensively, mostly because of its inability to take care of the ball.
“A lot of time we didn't come meet our passes and then we drove into the small spaces and they just ripped it out of our hands,” Davis said. “They had heavy help in the gaps when we drove, and that caused a couple of our turnovers. I know it's frustrating for us and frustrating for coach. We have to take care of the ball better and execute our plays.”
First Published January 30, 2020, 3:21 a.m.
