TOLEDO, Ohio – Toledo dismantled Iona, 84-38, in Wednesday's home opener before a rambunctious crowd of 5,348 Education Day fans in Savage Arena. With the impressive 46-point triumph, the Rockets improve to 1-1 on the season. 

Senior Kaayla McIntyre led four Rockets in double figures with a contest-best 16 points. Junior Sara Rokkanen added 12 points, followed closely by junior Mariella Santucci and senior Mikaela Boyd with 11 and 10 points respectively.
    
UT also received eight points each from sophomores Tatyana Davis and Mariah Copeland to top the 80-point plateau for the first time this season and 36th occasion under 11th-year head coach Tricia Cullop.

By game's end, 11 of UT's 13 players that dressed recorded their names in the scoring column. The 46-point triumph is the 16th-largest margin in school history and third largest under Coach Cullop. 

As a team, the Rockets shot a sizzling 56.3 percent (36-of-64) from the field, including 40.9 percent (9-of-20) from three-point land, and 75.0 percent (3-of-4) from the charity stripe to improve to 12-0 all-time against teams from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

The Midnight Blue & Gold, which did not trail at any point today, also dished out a flashy 27 assists, compared to 12 turnovers, and had 10 steals.

Toledo also dominated on the interior and out-rebounded IC, 45-27, including 37-20 on the defensive glass. 

Morgan Rachu paced the Gaels (0-3) with 11 points. Rachu was the only IC player in double figures.

The visitors were limited to 27.8 percent (15-of-54) from the floor, including 17.6 percent (3-of-17) from beyond the arc.

FIRST QUARTER
* The Rockets scored 14 of the first 19 points and led 18-13 at the end of the first period. Six different players tallied points in the opening 10 minutes to help the home team establish a lead they would not give up.

SECOND QUARTER
* UT blew the game open in the second period by ripping off the first 16 points to stretch its advantage to 34-15 at the intermission. Santucci sparked the burst with a pair of field goals to help stretch Toledo's margin to 19 points at the break.

* Iona mustered only two points in the quarter and those did not come until Rachu knocked down a floater in the lane with 30.7 seconds left on the game clock. 

* The Rockets' defense forced Iona to turn the ball over eight times and miss 10 of its 11 field-goal attempts in the stanza.

* Toledo also spread the wealth offensively in the opening 20 minutes, as seven different players found the scoring column, paced by Santucci and McIntyre with eight each.  

THIRD QUARTER
* Rokkanen buried a pair of treys in the quarter, while McIntyre converted four layups to essentially put the game out of reach, 57-23.

FOURTH QUARTER
* Toledo emptied the bench in the fourth period, taking advantage of eight points from Copeland and five by senior Mae Tshitenge to make the final score, 84-38.

UP NEXT
* The Rockets will host Atlantic 10 member Duquesne on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 2:00 p.m. in Savage Arena and will be shown on ESPN+.

* UT and DU will square off for the second-straight season and sixth time overall. The Rockets lead the all-time series, 3-2, most recently suffering a 73-54 loss on Dec. 6, 2017 in the AJ Palumbo Center.

* Toledo has won the only two meetings against Duquesne at home, claiming an 87-53 triumph on Dec. 2, 2000 and an 81-57 win on Nov. 25, 2003. 


Highlights from UT's win over Iona.


Head Coach Tricia Cullop post-game.


Senior Kaayla McIntyre post-game.


Junior Sara Rokkanen post-game.