Sophia Wiard had a wide smile on her face Monday afternoon.

Perhaps she grinned to keep from crying.

The past few days were difficult for the University of Toledo women’s basketball team, winners of 26 games but on the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble. The Rockets knew their bubble had burst in a Mid-American Conference semifinal loss to Buffalo last week, which is why Wiard said thanks but no thanks when teammate Nan Garcia asked if she wanted to watch the selection show on Sunday.

“Happy probably isn’t the best way to put it. Glad to still be playing basketball, though,” Wiard said. “It’s just been tough. You don’t want to scroll through social media. You try to avoid it. At the end of the day, though, it’s March. Good things can still happen.”

The first bit of good news came shortly after the NCAA tournament field was announced, as UT found out it was a 2 seed in the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, an event that usurped the WNIT in the women’s basketball postseason pecking order.

The Rockets host Cleveland State (29-5) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Savage Arena. UT is guaranteed at least two home games if it keeps winning in the 32-team tournament.

“There are a lot of teams that would still like to be playing right now,” Toledo coach Tricia Cullop said, “and we are extremely grateful to have this opportunity.”

The sting lingers for UT, but Wiard and sidekick Quinesha Lockett said the team will be ready for tipoff on Thursday. The Rockets returned all five starters from last season’s NCAA tournament team, which upset Iowa State in the first round. Entering the MAC tournament, the outright champions were rolling through opponents and had one of the longest winning streaks in the country.

But Toledo fell victim to the peculiarities of March, trailing by as many as 16 against Buffalo before rallying and ultimately losing in overtime. The bus ride home from Cleveland was long and silent.

“I went through different stages of emotions,” Lockett said. “I was real angry at first. Then I became sad. But then I was happy because I knew we would be playing again. I feel like we’re going to be very positive and just be ready to win some more games. [We want to] go as far as we can.”

The weekend break was needed, according to Cullop, who said the Rockets were able to regroup and narrow their focus. She called the Buffalo loss “a gut punch,” noting that the ensuing response could be a life lesson in handling setbacks.

“We came back and we were licking our wounds,” Cullop said. “But I challenged them and said, ‘Hey, if we’re not going to go into this ready to win, then I’ll go upstairs and tell them that we don’t want to play. And they were like, no, no, no.’ And so we sat down and talked about, well, if we’re going to play, let’s win the darn thing. I think we have to leave it all out there and see where the chips fall. I really want this group to battle back, to play as fiercely and as competitively as I know they’re capable of.”

Cleveland State has two familiar faces — head coach Chris Kielsmeier and guard Mickayla Perdue. The 5-foot-6 Perdue was an all-state selection at Springfield, where she is the all-time leading scorer. She played in nine games as a true freshman for Toledo in 2020-21 and redshirted the following season.

Perdue transferred to Division II Glenville State in West Virginia, helping lead the Pioneers to the DII Final Four. She averaged 17.7 points and had a DII-best 110 3-pointers. Perdue averages a team-high 16.7 points for Cleveland State on 37.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

“We love Mickey,” Wiard said. “Mickey called Nan as soon as we heard. We FaceTimed. It will be cool getting her back at Savage. The plan is to not let her shoot well. It’ll be fun playing against her again.”

Kielsmeier and Cullop served together on the board of directors of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. During the MAC tournament, Kielsmeier opens the CSU Convocation Center for UT practices and shootarounds.

“I just think the world of him,” Cullop said. “We cheer for each other, and ironically, [Sunday] we were texting each other, and I said, ‘I hope this doesn’t play out.’ And he said, ‘Give me some good hotels in Toledo just in case,’ and we laughed because afterward I texted him a couple options.

“It’s hard to play against friends, but it’s something that we knew could happen because we knew geographically they may assign us to each other. I’m happy for his program, too. To be one of the top 32 that are next is important, and it’s a compliment.”

The Vikings have won 20 games in four consecutive seasons, excluding 2020-21 when they only played 23 games. They were in the NCAA tournament last season and won the second-tier Women’s Basketball Invitational in 2021.

Cleveland State has won 23 of its 29 games by double digits — six by 30 points and four by 20. The Vikings were 18-2 in the Horizon League and won the outright regular-season championship.

Kielsmeier was coach of the year, Colbi Maples was player of the year, Perdue was newcomer of the year, and Cameron Villalobos was defensive player of the year. Maples was also on the all-defensive team.

“They’ve got an aggressive style of two-three zone that is pretty stingy,” Cullop said.

The challenge is accepted by Toledo.

“Win it — that’s always the goal,” Wiard said. “It would be cool to be the first WBIT champ. Just keep winning basketball games.”

First Published March 20, 2024, 4:22 p.m.