University of Toledo
Kent State - Championship Game
Women's Basketball: Rockets Are NCAA Bound
3/10/2001 12:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
CLEVELAND, OH - Let's go dancing! The Toledo women's basketball team (25-5) pulled off the impossible Saturday, coming back from 25 down to defeat Kent State (21-8), 74-65, in overtime in the 2001 Mid-American Conference championship game.
The MAC Tournament championship is the Rockets' seventh in school history. They improve to 32-10 all-time in the postseason affair. UT is now 5-0 in the MAC Championship game when seeded first.
"This is the most amazing game I have ever been involved in," Toledo Head Coach Mark Ehlen said. "Especially considering what was at stake in the game. With everything on the line and down by 23 at the half , we found a way to come back. What a tremendous effort. I am just really proud of this team."
Kent State led by as many as 25 points, and took a 38-15 lead into the lockeroom at halftime. Studer and Nance both had 10 points at halftime and the Golden Flashes shot 48 percent and forced the Rockets into 18 turnovers.
The 23-point halftime deficit matched the largest of the season for Toledo. They trailed Duke, 36-13 at the intermission and lost 71-41 at Durham on Nov. 26.
Toledo opened the second half with a 19-5 run. First-team All-MAC selection Kahli Carter tallied 15 of those 19 points during the run. Carter, who was held to four points in the first 20 minutes, finished with a career-high 36 and nine boards. The MAC Tournament MVP drained 11-of-17 field goals and was 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. She was 9-of-11 from the field in the second half and a perfect 4-of-4 from three-point range.
With 14:18 left in regulation, Carter cut the lead to single digits on an NBA three-pointer. The Rockets took their first lead of the contest with 2:48 left in regulation when Carter drained another trey to make the score, 56-55. Kent State responded with a 5-0 run to retake the lead on the strength of four points from Julie Studer. A Carter layup and a Tia Davis basket off an inbounds pass under the hoop tied the score at 60-60 with 54 seconds left in regulation. KSU had one final chance to win it in regulation when Carrie Nance, who played the entire 45 minutes, raced the length of the floor and threw up a 15-footer that clanked off the back iron.
In overtime, junior Courtney Risinger, who was 1-of-8 from the floor in regulation, launched a deep trey that connected and the Rockets never looked back. Carter hit two free throws to give the Rockets a five-point lead. Nance made 1-of-2 free throws for the Golden Flashes and Carter's two makes from the charity stripe gave Toledo a 67-61 lead. Kent State would get no closer than four points the rest of the way as Toledo iced the game making 6-of-8 from the line. They would go on to outscore KSU, 10-1, in the extra period. Kent State went 1-of-10 from the field in the overtime session and ended up shooting only 30 percent for the game.
Junior Melantha Herron and Davis added nine points apiece for the Rockets. Toledo only turned the ball over five times in the second half and the extra period and forced the Golden Flashes into 19 turnovers on the game.
Carter's 36 points tied a team-high for the season. Risinger also scored 36 vs. Radford on Nov. 25. Carter's point total also established a new MAC Championship game record. The previous record was 34 points by Bowling Green's Lori Albers against Kent State in 1993.
Said Carter, "There is no way I could have shot like that on my own. My teammates gave me the ball and I just got hot. In the second half, we did what we had to do by taking it to the backet and made some real big shots."
Carter and Herron were joined on the MAC All-Tournament Team by Davis, Nance, Studer and Miami's Kim Lancaster.
Nance led the Golden Flashes in scoring with 21 points. Studer added 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Golden Flashes, but went 3-of-14 from the field. Nance and Studer combined to go 22-of-23 from the foul line.
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Kent State," Ehlen said. "Anytime you beat a Bob Lindsay team, it is something very special."
Toledo's last appearance in the Big Dance came during the 1998-99 season. That year they were beaten by Southern Methodist in the first round in Athens, GA, 91-76.
The attendance for the MAC Tournament championship was 4,872, a new women's tournament record for the title game. The old mark of 4,694 was set in 1997, when Toledo defeated Kent State 88-64 in Toledo.
