University of Toledo
OHIO
Toledo Defeats Ohio, 70-65
2/12/2005 12:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
TOLEDO, OH - Toledo kept pace in the Mid-American Conference race Saturday night with a 70-65 victory over Ohio at Savage Hall. With the victory, the Rockets improve to 11-11 overall and 7-4 in the West Division. It was also UT's 15th-straight home victory against the Bobcats.
Junior Crystal Young, who has scored in double figures in three of the last five games, led three Rockets in double figures with a game-high 13 points, four steals and three assists. Senior Karin Hoogendam finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots for her seventh double-double of the season and 12th in her career. Freshman Olivia Terry rounded out UT's double-digits scorers with 11 points, six caroms and four assists.
The Rockets shot 40.6 percent (26-of-64) from the floor and posted an impressive 42-24 edge for points in the paint. UT also won the battle of the boards, 42-39.
"I was happy with how we played defensively, and we outrebounded a pretty good team," Toledo Head Coach Mark Ehlen said. "That has been one of our weaknesses this season, and we did a good job tonight."
Young helped jump-start UT's attack scoring eight quick points, including back-to-back three-point field goals to give the Rockets an early 12-4 lead. Young came into the game averaging only 2.7 points in three career contests against the Bobcats.
Toledo continued to hold a sizable lead until Ohio's Tiffany Byrd drained back-to-back triples herself to cut the margin to 20-19 with 8:26 remaining. The Rockets quickly reestablished control of the contest when freshman Kristi Zeller tallied five-consecutive points to up their advantage to 25-19.
UT finished off the impressive first half with a fast-break layup by Terry and led 40-30 at the intermission.
Young finished the first half with a team-high 10 points. The Rockets shot a combined 50.0 percent (17-of-34) from the field in the opening 20 minutes and held a 28-10 advantage for points in the paint. It was the third time this season the Midnight Blue and Gold have tallied at-least 40 points in a half.
"The 40 first-half points was important," Terry said. "Coach (Bernard) Scott said before the game to do something great for the team and tonight a lot of people stepped up."
Toledo continued to pour it on to start the second half and received back-to-back fast-break layups by Terry to increase its lead to 46-34 with 17:35 remaining in regulation.
Ohio fought back and closed the gap to 49-43 on a fast-break layup by Erin Isbell with 13:56 left and forced UT into a timeout.
Off the timeout, Hoogendam converted an offensive putback with 13:31 to not only kill Ohio's run but etched her name in UT's history books. Hoogendam became the 19th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
"I'm very relieved to get the 1,000 points," Hoogendam said. "It's a great accomplishment. It feels great to finally get the monkey off my back. That's been on my mind for a while."
Over the course of the next seven minutes, both squads went into a scoring drought, but Toledo maintained its eight-point cushion.
Down the stretch, the Rockets had trouble taking care of the ball and committed turnovers on four-straight possessions. Ohio took advantage of the situation and closed the gap to 63-58, but it was not enough as UT hit some free throws to win its third-consecutive home game of the season.
"It got ugly towards the end," Ehlen said. "We had an 11 point lead in the second half and couldn't make a basket to widen the lead."
Toledo returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 16 when it travels to DeKalb, IL to battle Northern Illinois. Game-time is slated for 7:00 p.m. at Convocation Center.
