TOLEDO, OH - Junior Jessica Williams hit a season-high six triples to lead Toledo to a 70-58 victory over Pittsburgh on Friday in the first round of the WNIT in Savage Arena. With the win, the Rockets improve to 25-8 on the season. The 2009-10 Mid-American Conference West Division champs will now face Michigan in a second-round matchup on Sunday, March 21 at 2:00 p.m.
Williams finished with 18 points to lift UT win to its first postseason win since 1998. The Westerville, OH native shot 6-of-9 from beyond the arc and has now made at least two triples in a game a team-high 25 times this season.
Joining Williams in double figures was sophomore Naama Shafir, who tallied a game-high 23 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Shafir was 2-of-3 shooting the long ball and a perfect 9-of-9 from the charity stripe.
As a team, the Rockets shot a sizzling 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from three-point land and 43.6 percent (24-of-55) overall from the floor to record its 13th-straight home win, its longest streak since the 1998-99 campaign. UT came into tonight's game ranked third in the MAC, averaging 6.75 triples per contest.
Williams drained two treys in the opening minute of action to spark the home team to a 10-0 lead at 17:17, forcing Pittsburgh into a timeout.
Toledo remained red hot and another trey from Williams, as well as one from Shafir, pushed the margin to 18-3 with 13:48 remaining.
The Rockets had everything working their way and baskets from freshman Yolanda Richardson and senior Tanika Mays made the score 28-11 at the 8:19 mark.
Moments later, Williams hit her third three-pointer of the period and Shafir knocked down a jumper to make it a 20-point difference, 35-15.
Pittsburgh then utilized a 9-0 run to close the gap to 11 points, 35-24, before UT countered with three-point field goals from Williams, Shafir and sophomore Clare Aubry to make the tally 46-30 at the intermission. The Rockets shot an outstanding 60.7 percent (17-of-28) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from three-point range.
Facing a major uphill battle, Pittsburgh opened the second half with a mini 7-2 burst to shrink the margin to 12 points, 49-37, but the Rockets responded once again with back-to-back field goals from freshman Lecretia Smith to stall any potential further damage.
UT then clamped down on defense and limited the Panthers to just one point over the next seven minutes to create some breathing room and put the game away. The closest the Panthers would get the remainder of regulation was 11 points on two occasions.
Taneisha Harrison led the Panthers with 18 points and Brittaney Thomas had 12 points.
Pittsburgh was held to 32.8 percent (21-of-64) shooting from the field, including 19.0 percent (4-of-21) from three-point range. They wrap up their season with a 16-15 record.
