University of Toledo
Saint Francis (PA)
Toledo Dominates St. Francis (PA), 83-59
1/27/2004 12:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LORETTTO, PA - Toledo played its most complete game of the season Tuesday night and claimed an 83-59 victory at St. Francis (PA) in DeGol Arena. The Rockets shot a season-best 55.2 percent (32-of-58) from the field, including 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from three-point range. UT also connected on an impressive 84.6 percent (11-of-13) from the free-throw line and improved to 3-1 on the season.
Four Rockets tallied double digits and two others had eight points, as they scored their most points since Jan. 27, 2004 when the Midnight Blue and Gold torched Ball State for 91, a span of 44 games. Junior Savannah Werner led the way with a career- high 21 points and 10 rebounds. Her previous high was 14 against Northern Illinois on Mar. 5, 2005. It was also her first collegiate double-double. Other Rockets in double figures included sophomore Jasmine House (12 pts., five rbs., three stls.), junior Danielle Bishop (11 pts., three assts.) and sophomore Aaron Richmond (11 pts.). Senior co-captain Crystal Young also had a good game and tallied a career-best eight assists, to go along with eight points. Eleven of UT's 12 players saw at least 10 minutes of action and nine found the scoring column.
"I was really proud with how our bench played," Toledo Head Coach Mark Ehlen Ehlen said. "Aaron (Richmond) came off the bench and hit a couple of big threes and Olivia (Terry) gave us eight points, to name just a couple of the contributors. Our bench scoring was a real big key for us."
The two teams exchanged buckets early on, before Toledo received back-to-back three-point field goals by Olivia Terry followed by another from Young to build a 20-10 lead with 9:46 remaining in the first half. The Rockets helped build their 10-point cushion with good defense and held the Red Flash with a point for almost four-and-a half minutes.
SFU's (0-6) Amber Hein kept the home team close scoring 15 first-half points, including a jumper in the lane with 4:36 left to cut the margin to 22-20 and force UT into a timeout. The Rockets recovered quickly with the first of Richmond's three triples and four points by Werner to end the half with an 11-4 run and took a 33-24 edge at the intermission.
Offensively, Toledo shot an impressive 46.4 percent (13-of-28) in the first 20 minutes to build the nine-point halftime lead. On the defensive side, UT's effort was equally effective, holding SFU to just 25.7 percent (9-of-35) shooting from the floor. But as well as Toledo had played in the first half, the visitors struggled on the boards and held a 24-18 edge, including 14-5 on the offensive glass.
"St. Francis out-hustled us in the first half," Ehlen said. "They got a ton of offensive rebounds, and I made it know to my team at halftime that we wanted to do a better job of that in the second half."
The Rockets started the second half on fire and hit five of their first eight shots from the floor and went on a 13-5 run to push their lead to 46-29 with 15:18 left. House and Werner sparked UT and scored 11 of the 13 points in the second-half run.
Toledo continued to pour it on in the second half and led by as much as 29 points on two occasions. The Rockets outscored the Red Flash 50-35 in the final 20 minutes to claim the 24-point victory. A major reason for the Rockets' success in the second half was their play on the boards. UT held a commanding 25-16 advantage in rebounding in the second half and ended up with a 43-40 edge for the game.
"Our ability to rebound was one of the keys in the final 20 minutes," Ehlen said. "We were able to get a body on somebody and that got our running game going and we were able to get some easy baskets."
Hein led St. Francis (PA) with a career-high 22 points, but only seven in the second half. All seven of those points came when the outcome of the game was already determined. She was the only Red Flash in double figures. They shot 30.1 percent (22-of-73) from the floor and were held to just 56.3 (9-of-16) from the charity stripe.
"I thought St. Francis (PA) played extremely hard, and we really had no answer for Amber Hein, especially in the first half," Ehlen said.
The Rockets return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 7 when they travel to Terre Haute, IN to battle Indiana State. The tip-off against the Sycamores is slated for 7:00 p.m. in the Hulman Center.
