CLEVELAND — Four months, 26 wins, and an outright conference championship all evaporated in 40 minutes on Friday morning in Cleveland.
Toledo women’s basketball led Ball State for 15 total seconds in a heartbreaking 71-66 loss in the Mid-American Conference tournament semifinals. The team that dominated the MAC all season, winning a record 19 conference games, and overcoming multiple double-digit deficits couldn’t withstand its own mistakes and Ball State’s streaky shooting.
“We’ve been superhuman for a long time,” Toledo coach Tricia Cullop said. “We were human today.”
It took the Rockets more than four minutes to score their first points, as they missed five consecutive shots to begin the game. For UT, it foreshadowed what was to come in the next 36 minutes.
Ball State led by nine in the first quarter, 16 in the second quarter, and 17 in the third quarter before Toledo put together a furious rally, outsourcing the Cardinals 15-3 to end the third with a five-point deficit. But the Rockets never got closer than two in the final 10 minutes.
“We made our run,” sophomore forward Nan Garcia said, “but it just happened to be too late.”
Toledo was 8 of 13 in the third quarter but never shot above 40 percent in any other quarter, shooting 40.7 percent for the game and just 5 of 15 from 3-point range. Even worse, the MAC’s best free throw shooting team was 13 of 21. UT shot 74 percent from the line this season.
And it probably leaves UT on the outside looking in for the NCAA tournament, despite a 26-5 overall record and 19-1 mark in the MAC. Toledo’s sub-60 NET ranking and one top-100 victory aren’t likely to win over the selection committee, even though the season-long body of work is superior to many major conference at-large teams.
Only three teams have more wins than Toledo — South Carolina, North Carolina State, and Stanford.
“I could go on and on and on about how good our league is. And it deserves more than one bid,” Cullop said. “It absolutely deserves more than one bid.”
Toledo’s one and only lead came in the second quarter when it used a 10-2 run to go up 21-20. Ball State’s response was 12 straight points, part of a 17-2 flurry that created a 14-point halftime deficit.
The Cardinals shot better than 50 percent in the first half, and three second-quarter 3s were critical in building separation.
“We didn’t have an answer defensively in the first half,” Cullop said. “They went on a long run and I think it hurt us on the other end of the floor. We weren’t shooting well and they were. We dug ourselves a big hole.”
Ball State outscored Toledo 19-10 in the second quarter, all of which came with Khera Goss on the bench. The All-MAC defender was whistled for two fouls in the first quarter and Cullop chose to sit her the entire second quarter, fearing that Goss’ aggression and the way the game was being called would result in a third foul.
The Rockets were a better team with Goss on the floor, as she finished with nine points and a plus/minus of plus-eight. Nan Garcia (plus-13) was the only other UT player with a positive number.
“She brings a lot to our team,” Cullop said. “I didn’t want to lose her so we wouldn’t have her in the second half.”
Goss and Garcia helped resuscitate Toledo’s chances in the third quarter, combining for all 13 points during a 13-3 run that shaved Ball State’s advantage to just five. With the Cardinals on the ropes, UT stalled, missing seven straight shots and turning the ball over three times during a six-plus-minute stretch.
Toledo got within two points with 1:22 to go, but Ball State answered on the ensuing possession. The Rockets were within three on three occasions during the final minute, only to have the Cardinals make six of eight free throws.
Sydney Freeman had a game-high 19 points for Ball State, which plays Buffalo in the MAC championship game at 11 a.m. Saturday.
“We don’t want to go home,” said Toledo junior guard Sophia Wiard, who scored a team-high 16 points. “But we’re going to learn from it and bounce back. We’re just going to keep working and get better and learn from today.”
First-team All-MAC selection Quinesha Lockett was out of sorts, finishing with 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting with five rebounds, four assists, five turnovers, and five fouls. The 82 percent free throw shooter was 2 of 8 from the line.
“I think this team got rattled a little bit,” Cullop said.
The disappointment was evident on the long faces and in the reddened eyes and rosy cheeks. Toledo felt less like a team of destiny this season and more like a juggernaut. Each win — 17 by double digits — felt like the continuation of an inevitable journey to the NCAA tournament. But a March curveball showed up at the worst possible time for Toledo.
The Rockets will now have an excruciating 48 hours to learn their fate.
“It’s a gut-punch,” Cullop said. “I really felt this team was going to do it. Not because we’re cocky, but I thought we had all the right pieces to do it. But you have to be clicking on all cylinders, and we have for such a long time. If you would have told me before the season, ‘You’re going to go 19-1 in the conference,’ I would have said, ‘You’re full of it. What are you smoking?’ But they did it, and they made it look easy. They’re an amazing bunch. But it goes to show you why March is so exciting to watch.
“Anything can happen on any day.”
First Published March 11, 2022, 7:56 p.m.
