TOLEDO, OH - Ten Rockets cracked the scoring column to help the Midnight Blue & Gold hold off IPFW, 61-47, on Saturday afternoon at Savage Arena.
Toledo, winners of a season-high four-straight contests, was led by sophomore Naama Shaafir with 14 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and four steals. Senior Tanika Mays also finished in double figures with 11 points and senior Allie Clifton had eight to help the Rockets improve to 7-2 on the season.
The Rockets defense, meanwhile, clamped down on the Mastodons all afternoon, holding the visitors to a miniscule 28.8 percent shooting from the field, including an even better 14.3 percent from beyond the arc. A season ago, IPFW drained a season-high 11 triples and shot 41.0 percent from the field en route to a 72-60 victory over UT in Fort Wayne.
"We have definitely been working on our defense, and I think last week's layoff was great for us," said Toledo Head Coach Tricia Cullop, commenting about your teams best defensive effort of the season. "During that time off, we learned how to rotate. We've spent a lot of time working on our man-to-man defense and it payed off big time for us today."
Toledo started the second half by hitting just three of its first 16 shots and committing seven turnovers, as IPFW trimmed the margin to 38-33 with 10:18 to play. But a pair of free throws by junior Melissa Goodall and a jumper in transition by Mays sparked an 8-0 Rocket run. Sophomore Courtney Ingersoll followed with a pair of steals, and Shafir's fastbreak layup off of Ingersoll's dish gave the home team a 46-33 advantage with 8:34 left.
The Mastodons then cut the lead to single digits on Stephanie Rosado's jumper, but another transition layup by Shaafir and a pair of buckets by Mays, both coming off of Shafir assists, put Toledo in front 56-41 with less than three minutes to go.
"I thought we played hard and received good contributions from a lot of different players," Clifton said. "I'm proud of my teammates for coming together and getting a hard-fought win. This was definitely a team victory."
Both squads struggled in the opening few minutes of action, as Toledo started 1-of-7 and IPFW missed 15 of its first 16 shots. But the Rockets hit 4-of-5 free throws, and junior Jessica Williams' three-pointer gave Toledo a 9-2 lead at the 13:59 mark.
The Mastodons scored their first basket 67 seconds into play and didn't score another point until the 10:38 mark.
"We did not shoot the ball as well as we normally do, but we still found a way to pull it out and that is all that counts, Cullop said. "And the reason we won was defense. Defense is something you can always bring consistently, even though you want the ball to fall everytime you shoot it offensively, it won't. Soemtimes you can't figure out why you are in a shooting slump, but you can't be in a slump defensively. Defense is all about effort."
Clifton buried a three-pointer from the left corner, and Ingersoll followed with another from beyond the arc from nearly the same spot as Toledo pushed its advantage to 19-6 with 8:19 to go in the half. Toledo kept hitting from three-point land in the half, as back-to-back triples by sophomore Clare Aubry put the Rockets in front 29-15. But the Mastodons closed the half on a 10-3 run to cut the score to 32-25.
The Rockets shot 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from the field after their cold start, but were hurt by 11 turnovers, which translated into 10 IPFW points.
"I'm happy we got the win," Cullop said. "I would have liked a cleaner game, but a victory is a victory."
UT will now turn its focus to final exams, before returning to action next Sunday, Dec. 20 at SIU Edwardsville. The opening tip from the Vadalabene Center is slated for noon (CT).
