CLEVELAND — This was supposed to be the year the Toledo women’s basketball team learned how the other half lives.
After three straight Mid-American Conference regular-season titles, the Rockets lost two former league players of the year to graduation and their winningest coach to Miami, and — in this turnstile era — faced the real possibility of losing everyone else to the transfer portal.
Then …
Toledo hired Ginny Boggess.
And a funny thing happened.
Every one of its top eight scorers with eligibility remaining — including hometown star Sammi Mikonowicz — did not just stay.
They damn near became champions.
With five seniors showing a gifted cast of underclassmen the way, the Rockets (24-8) took their fans on a wonderful ride just the same, finishing second in the regular season — three spots ahead of their preseason slotting — then battling top-seeded Ball State well into the fourth quarter of Saturday’s league championship game.
Their 65-58 loss did not feel like the end so much as the beginning of another special era.
“I told [the seniors] when I took the job, their legacy is already cemented with the three championships,” Boggess said. “But if they let me coach them and they teach these young kids how to win, then their legacy will live on a lot longer than just those three years.
“And you saw that. You saw how much they loved each other. You saw how much they love Toledo, and our future is because of them buying in and letting us do our jobs. I don't know if you can put that into words, really. But I told them they are stuck with me for life. This isn't a senior season ‘All right, sayonara’ kind of thing. I’m really excited to see what these young women do in this world. They’re incredible.”
We saw it again Saturday.
No, the Rockets did not get their storybook ending.
The five seniors — Mikonowicz, Khera Goss, Nan Garcia, Jessica Cook, and Hannah Noveroske — have known little but success in a four-season run highlighted by 110 (110!!) victories, and they were right where they planned to be Saturday, playing for a trip to the NCAA tournament.
“We expected to be here,” said Mikonowicz, the fan-favorite live wire of hoops joy. “No one else did. Everyone in the locker room did.”
It did not matter that the Rockets no longer had the top two players in the league (Quinesha Lockett and Sophia Wiard) or their beloved former coach (Tricia Cullop). Or that they had three freshmen and three sophomores in their 11-player rotation. Or that they were not perfectly suited to play the all-gas-no-brakes tempo that Boggess prefers.
Boggess and her new team rallied together, meeting each other halfway.
Toledo made it work beautifully, and almost did one more time against Ball State, which featured the MAC player of the year (Ally Becki) and her even more dangerous running mate (Alex Richard).
As usual, the UT offense started slower than the Saturday morning line at the DMV.
A respectful reminder to the Rockets and all others: The first-half rules do not require you to toss up a prayer at the end of the shot clock! They had almost as many turnovers (28) as points (37) in the first 20 minutes of their games Friday against Buffalo and Saturday.
But Toledo never let its offense impact its hustle and heart on defense, and still led 24-21 at halftime.
The difference this time: The Rockets’ familiar second-half magic did not arrive, which is a credit to Ball State. While Toledo was within a possession with seven minutes remaining and scrapped to the end, the Cardinals — namely the 6-foot-1 Richard, who scored 14 of her 28 points in the fourth quarter — were too much. They earned their long-sought moment, clinching their first tourney trip since 2009.
Toledo’s players, meanwhile, lingered on the bench for about five minutes afterward, fighting back tears as they watched the celebration and listened to Kool & The Gang’s Celebration blast through Rocket Arena. The thousand-plus Rockets fans in the crowd of 2,489 then cheered their team off the court.
While the season is not over — Toledo will almost certainly play in the WBIT or WNIT — it was a poignant recognition of a winter that made our community proud. It would be hard to imagine Boggess — and her young players — making a better first impression this season, or the seniors making a better final one.
“We've got something really special here,” Boggess said. “I think we play a fun brand of basketball. We've got players that love the game and love each other. This is a really special place. I'm really fortunate. … This [season] proves that we’re not going to take a step back because there’s a change in leadership, that we can continue to grow this program.
“It's almost crazy to think of Toledo as a place with potential given all the successes there have been, but I really do see it that way. I do see the future is very bright.”
First Published March 16, 2025, 12:28 a.m.
