YPSILANTI, Mich. – Toledo sustained a 70-57 setback at Eastern Michigan in Saturday's Mid-American Conference action in the Convocation Center. With the loss, the Rockets fall to 10-5 overall, 1-2 in the league.
Junior
Kaayla McIntyre paced UT with a career-high 25 points, a contest-best 11 caroms and two rejections to post her fourth double-double this year. McIntyre shot 9-of-16 from the field and an efficient 7-of-10 from the free throw line to surpass the 20-point plateau for the third time as a Rocket. Her previous-best effort was 21 points against Cleveland State on Dec. 9, 2017.
Senior
Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott added 11 points and knocked down a triple midway through the final period to become only the fourth player in school history to record at least 200 three-point field goals.
As a team, the Rockets shot 38.2 percent (21-of-55) from the field, including 23.5 percent (4-of-17) from three-point range, and 57.9 percent (11-of-19) from the charity stripe. UT also finished with a 37-32 rebounding edge, spearheaded by McIntyre's double-digit effort.
Sasha Dailey led EMU (6-8, 2-1 MAC) with 20 points, followed by Danielle Minott and Courtnie Lewis with 15 and 12, respectively.
Eastern Michigan connected on a respectable 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the floor and 82.4 percent (14-of-17) from the free throw line to record their second-straight MAC triumph.
The Rockets fought an uphill battle much of the afternoon, as they were victimized by seven turnovers in the first period and trailed 15-10 after 10 minutes.
The Eagles took full advantage of UT's miscues and translated them into seven points to help the home team assume a two-possession lead at the end of the period.
UT utilized a 7-0 run early in the second period to claim an 18-17 lead at the 7:37 mark, but Eastern Michigan responded by scoring 12 of the final 14 points to take a 36-25 advantage into halftime. EMU's Lewis and Dailey did a bulk of the damage in the game-changing run, accounting for all but two points to give the Green & White a lead they would not surrender.
The Rockets rode the shoulders of McIntyre in the third period, as she scored nine of the team's 15 points to make the deficit 52-40 heading into the final 10 minutes. The Toledo native converted three layups and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe to push her point total into double figures for a team-high 12
th-consecutive game. Â
UT did not go down without a fight, though, and pulled within 11 points on two occasions in the final stanza, but it could get no closer and suffered its second loss in the last three trips to Ypsilanti. Â
The Rockets will return to the hardwood on Wednesday, Jan. 10 when they host MAC East Division foe Ohio (8-6, 2-1 MAC). Game time versus the Bobcats is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Savage Arena and will be streamed live on ESPN3.
UT and Ohio will meet for the second time in less than two weeks and 70th time overall. The Bobcats claimed a 78-61 victory against the Rockets on Dec. 31 in the Convo.
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