Toledo Suffers 70-60 Setback at Kent State

Saturday, January 21

Kent, OH

4:00 p.m.

University of Toledo

12-6, 3-4

Kent State

10-9, 4-3

Toledo

Kent State

Senior Janice Monakana paced UT with 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals.

1/21/2017 8:04:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Toledo at Kent State Box Score

KENT, OH – Toledo suffered a 70-60 setback at Kent State on Saturday in a Mid-American Conference cross-division match-up in the M.A.C. Center. The loss is the third straight for the Rockets and drops them to 12-6 overall, 3-4 in the league.

Senior Janice Monakana paced UT with 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals. The 2016-17 team captain overcame early foul trouble to score in double figures for the second time in the last three games since returning from injury.

Freshman Mariella Santucci added 10 points and a season-high 11 assists to post her first collegiate double-double. Santucci came off the bench for the first time this season and logged a team-high 34 minutes. The Bologna, Italy native has now dished out at least six helpers on eight occasions in her first year wearing the Midnight Blue & Gold.

The Rockets also received a season-high nine points from sophomore Halee Printz and six from sophomore Sarah St-Fort, but it was not enough as their eight-game winning streak against the Golden Flashes (10-9, 4-3 MAC) came to an end.

Toledo was without the services of junior Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott, who sat out the game after suffering an injury against Ohio in the fourth quarter on Wednesday. The squad's leading scorer at 11.8 points per contest, Bravo-Harriott had started each of the last 60 games, dating back to the 2014-15 campaign.

As a team, the Rockets were limited to 33.3 percent (25-of-75) from the floor, including 14.3 percent (3-of-21) from beyond the arc, and 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from the free throw line.

Jordan Korinek led KSU with 23 points and 10 caroms, followed closely by Larissa Lurken with 22 points and six boards. The home team's talented duo accounted for 64.2 percent of their points and 48.5 percent of their rebounds in the 10-point victory.

For the third-straight game, the Rockets fell behind early and trailed 20-8 after the first period. They missed 14 of their first 18 shots from the field and were guilty of five early miscues to dig themselves a deficit that proved to be too much to overcome. Lurken sparked the strong start with four field goals and signal-handedly outscored Toledo with 10 points in the quarter.

???????Lurken remained red-hot shooting the ball in the second stanza, draining her second triple of the game and adding three free throws to stretch KSU's margin to 32-22 at the intermission.

The Golden Flashes continued to play with confidence in the third period, utilizing a mini 14-8 burst over the final five minutes to make the score 52-36. KSU's Korinek spearheaded the rally with eight points to essentially put the contest out of reach.

Toledo did not go down without a fight though, benefitting from a quick eight points by Monakana to set the score at 60-49 with 4:46 left in regulation. The London, England native buried back-to-back three-point field goals and added a layup to prompt KSU to call a timeout.

The Rockets were not done attacking and pulled within seven points on two occasions in the waning moments of regulation, but they could get no closer and suffered a 10-point setback.

The Golden Flashes closed out the victory at the charity stripe, tallying eight of their final 10 points from the line to secure their fourth win in the last five contests.

UT, which did not hold the lead at any point in today's game, finished a 44-35 edge on the boards and a sizable 33-8 advantage in bench points.

The Rockets will return to the court next Saturday, Jan. 28, when they host MAC West Division co-leader Central Michigan. The opening tip versus the Chippewas is slated for 4:30 p.m. in Savage Arena. Next Saturday's division match-up is the second of a doubleheader, as the Rocket men's team will have a contest against Northern Illinois at 2:00 p.m.

In conjunction with next Saturday's game, Toledo will hold its 11th-annual 'Rockets for the Cure' day. The MAC West Division showdown will help benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure of Northwest Ohio, the Eleanor N. Dana Cancer Center and the University of Toledo Center for Health and Successful Living. The Rockets encourage everyone in attendance to wear pink in support of cancer research.