In front of a raucous Saturday afternoon crowd, the University of Toledo overcame a sluggish start to beat Akron 75-54, the Rockets’ sixth consecutive victory.
It took nearly four minutes before Toledo scored its first basket, and the Rockets shot 31 percent in the first half. But Akron — which led for more than 14 minutes — ran out of answers after Kendall Carruthers helped UT reclaim a 33-32 lead in the third quarter.
“Really great response,” Toledo coach Ginny Boggess said. “In that second half, we took better care of the basketball.”
Toledo shot 56 percent in the third quarter, including a stretch of five straight made baskets and six of seven. The Rockets outscored Akron 28-18 in the quarter, breaking a 27-all tie at halftime with authority.
“We got better shots,” senior forward Sammi Mikonowicz said. “Shots weren’t going down in that first half. They started to go in and we crashed the boards, got more opportunities. And then I think we just ran our offense better to get a better shot instead of the first available shot.”
Mikonowicz scored a game-high-tying 16 points, the ninth time this season she has led UT in scoring. She was 8 for 8 from the free-throw line.
Khera Goss had 16 points, two steals, and two blocks, Nan Garcia scored 13 points, and Carruthers had 10. Goss and Garcia each made three 3-pointers.
The Rockets (18-5, 9-3 Mid-American Conference) shot 61.5 percent in the second half.
“It was a good step in the right direction,” Garcia said.
In the previous three games, Toledo’s opponents had attempted a combined 46 more field goals and the Rockets had twice as many turnovers. Luckily for UT, those three opponents only shot 32 percent. Still, it was a point of emphasis for Ginny Boggess, and her team reacted accordingly.
The Rockets attempted 55 field goals to Akron’s 50, and the Zips committed five more turnovers (17-12). Toledo scored 26 points off turnovers.
“As a staff, we’re always doing self-assessments,” Boggess said. “I think we’re second-to-last in the league in generating steals and generating turnovers. We knew with this bye week that it was something we could address and try to find different ways to create some turnovers. We wanted our team to be more aggressive. Maybe that was a little bit of the fouling. But we were really good with pace and space. We’ve got playmakers out there.”
Toledo native Ni’rah Clark, a Rogers graduate, scored a career-high 16 points for Akron (9-16, 3-9), which was limited to 36 percent shooting and 3 of 17 from 3. The Zips were 1 for their final 10 and went scoreless in the final 3:36.
The Rockets host first-place Ball State (20-5, 12-0) at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“We need our sixth man,” Garcia said.
First Published February 15, 2025, 9:20 p.m.
