With four games left in the regular season, Toledo is back where it has been most of the past three years: alone atop the Mid-American Conference standings.
On Saturday afternoon, the Rockets gave an animated home crowd plenty to cheer about, cruising past Ball State 70-48 in a first-place showdown.
UT (21-4, 12-1) exacted its revenge after losing by 12 at Ball State in January.
Sammi Mikonowicz scored a career-high-tying 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting with two 3s, five rebounds, four steals, three assists, one block, and one turnover in 32 minutes. She had a team-best plus-minus of plus-24.
Eighteen of her 24 points came in the second half, including 11 during a 4-minute, 15-second stretch of the fourth quarter.
Quinesha Lockett (nine rebounds, three assists) and Jessica Cook (six rebounds) each scored 10 points, and Sophia Wiard had 11 rebounds and six assists.
Ally Becki, who’s averaging a team-high 13.2 points for Ball State, was limited to seven. Her first points didn’t come until midway through the third quarter. One of the nation’s best 3-point shooting teams was 3 of 15 from beyond the arc, and the Cardinals only made one-third of their field goal attempts.
The disparity on the glass was startling — 47-26 in favor of Toledo, which had 12 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points. The Rockets scored 44 points in the paint and had 21 bench points.
STAT TO KNOW
Toledo held both opponents this week (Ball State and Miami) to 16 first-half points and less than 50 points for the game.
QUOTABLE
“Credit to Toledo. The crowd showed up for them, and they got the best of us. Nobody is surprised that they are good. They had a little bit of a hiccup when Q went down. They had to figure some things out a little bit, but we haven’t seen the version of Toledo without Q in there, so it’s just what you expect.” — Ball State coach Brady Sallee
UP NEXT
The Rockets travel to giant-killer Northern Illinois, which has a history of beating the MAC’s best teams, including Ball State earlier this year and Toledo last season. The game tips off at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
First Published February 24, 2024, 10:54 p.m.
