TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo women's basketball team registered a hard-fought 70-61 victory against Tiffin in Sunday's exhibition opener in Savage Arena. The Rockets utilized a pivotal 10-1 run late in the fourth quarter to hold off the Dragons.

Freshman Quinesha Lockett paced Toledo with a contest-tying best 16 points, followed by senior Mariella Santucci, junior Tanaya Beacham and freshman Mali Morgan-Elliott with nine points each. The Midnight Blue & Gold also received eight points from senior transfer Arianne Whitaker off the bench. 

As a team, the Rockets shot 37.7 percent (20-of-53) from the floor and 58.0 percent (29-of-50) from the free throw line. 

Toledo also posted a 49-44 advantage on the glass, sparked by a game-high 10 from Beacham. Santucci also ripped down eight caroms and Whitaker had six.

Payton Vogel led Tiffin with a contest-high five three-point field goals and 16 points off the bench, while Savannah Richards tallied 13 points.

FIRST QUARTER
• Toledo exploded out of the gate and held an early 27-12 lead. The home team shot a sizzling 9 of 14 (64.3 percent) from the field and 8 of 11 from the charity stripe in the opening 10 minutes. 

• Morgan-Elliott and Lockett paced the Rockets with six points each in the first period.  

SECOND QUARTER
• Tiffin began to chip away in the second period on the heels of a 9-0 run to close the margin to 32-24 at the 4:11 mark. Four different Dragons scored in the burst to make it a three-possession game.

• Toledo's Beacham momentarily stopped Tiffin's momentum by splitting a pair of free throws, but the visitors countered with treys from Kirsten Williams and Danelle Bradley to set the score at 38-31 at halftime.

THIRD QUARTER
•  The Dragons continued to mount a comeback and made the score 50-43 heading into the final period on the strength of four points from Vogel.

FOURTH QUARTER
• Toledo did not surrender the lead at any point down the stretch, but Tiffin closed the gap to two points, 57-55, after Vogel buried the third of her five treys at the 4:15 mark. 

• The Rockets would not be denied, though, stringing together the pivotal 10-1 run to stretch their advantage to 67-56 with 1:12 left in regulation. Whitaker sparked the game-sealing rally with five points to put the exhibition game out of reach. 

UP NEXT
• Toledo will host NCAA Division II member Findlay in its fine tune-up for the 2019-20 season on Saturday, Nov. 2. The opening tip against the Oilers is slated for Noon in Savage Arena. A season ago, the Rockets secured a hard-fought 77-70 overtime triumph vs. UF in exhibition action at home. Toledo outscored Findlay 35-18 in the fourth quarter and extra period to post the heart-pounding victory.