TOLEDO, Ohio - Toledo will entertain BIG EAST member Seton Hall (15-15, 7-11 BIG EAST) on Thursday, March 21 in a first-round match-up in the 2019 Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in Savage Arena. Tip-off time between the Rockets and Pirates will be 7:00 p.m.

The game will be available for viewing on ESPN3 and will also be broadcast on 1370 AM and 92.9 FM (WSPD).

The winner of tomorrow's contest will take on the winner of Dayton (17-13, 10-6 Atlantic 10) at Northwestern (16-12, 9-9 Big Ten) on Saturday-Tuesday, March 23-26. Sites and times for the second round will be released at a later date.

UT is one of 32 at-large qualifiers in this year's event and one of four Mid-American Conference representatives (Kent State, Miami and Ohio) in the 64-team field.

Toledo will be appearing in the Postseason WNIT for a seventh time under 11th-year head coach Tricia Cullop and the 12th time overall. The Rockets are 21-10 (.677) all time in the post-season event, including 14-5 (.737) under coach Cullop, and previously reached the WNIT (formerly NWIT) in 1989, '90, '94, '98, 2003, '10, '11, '12 , '13, '15 and '18. UT has also won its first-round game in the Postseason WNIT in each of its last six appearances.

A season ago, the Rockets advanced to the second round of the Postseason WNIT with a 64-50 home victory against Horizon League member Wright State (March 16). UT's season came to an end with a 68-66 road setback at Big Ten member Michigan State (March 19).

Toledo enters the post-season with a 20-11 overall record and an 11-7 league mark to finish second in the MAC West Division.

UT, the 2011 Postseason WNIT Champions, is coming off a 72-54 neutral-court setback vs. Miami on March 13 in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament.  

Senior Kaayla McIntyre scored 14 points but it wasn't enough to overcome a hot-shooting RedHawks' team in Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland.
 
No. 3 seed Miami shot 27-of-51 (52.9 percent) from the field, including 7-of-17 from three-point range. The guard tandem of 2018-19 first-team All-MAC selection Lauren Dickerson (21) and Leah Purvis (13) combined for 34 points. 
 
No. 6 seed Toledo connected on 19-of-56 (33.9 percent) from the floor. Sophomore Nakiah Black chipped in with 12 points, while senior Mikaela Boyd added nine points, eight rebounds and four assists. The Rockets played without the services of junior Mariella Santucci, who missed the game due to illness.
 
Miami led 18-11 after one quarter and held a 35-24 halftime edge. Toledo closed the gap to seven, 39-32, early in the third quarter but never got any closer after that.

McIntyre, Black, Boyd and Santucci lead Toledo offensively, scoring 16.3, 10.7, 9.6 and 9.4 points per game, respectively. McIntyre earned second-team All-MAC honors, while Boyd captured honorable mention accolades.

The Rockets will take on a Seton Hall squad that has lost seven of its last eight games, including a 76-51 neutral-court setback vs. St. John's on March 9 in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament in Chicago. The Red Storm blew open a close game by outscoring the Pirates 38-17 in the second half. Selena Philoxy led SHU with a career-tying best 14 points, while 2018-19 first-team all-league recipient Shadeen Samuels and Inja Butina had 11 points each. Samuels added a squad-best 10 caroms to notch a double-double. 

SHU, which is 4-11 away from home, possesses a balanced offense with four players averaging in double figures, paced by Samuels' 18.3 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 2.6 apg, 0.8 bpg and 1.5 spg and 32.3 mpg. 

The Pirates finished tied for eighth in their league and are guided by sixth-year Head Coach Anthony Bozzella.

Toledo and Seton Hall will meet for the first time on the hardwood. The Rockets did participate in the 2007 Seton Hall Basketball Classic, but they did not square off against the host Pirates as part of the two-game pre-conference tourney. UT took on San Diego and George Mason on a neutral floor in South Orange, N.J. during the 2007 event.    

Tomorrow's first round match-up will feature Toledo's stingy defense against Seton Hall's efficient offense. The Rockets are pacing the MAC in scoring defense (60.6 ppg), as well as ranking second in overall field-goal percentage defense (.385, 691-of-1,794) and three-point field-goal percentage defense (.298, 168-of-564) and third in three-point field-goals allowed (5.4) in all games, while the Pirates was third (74.5 ppg), fourth (.423, 823-of-1,944), sixth (.326, 245-of-751) and fifth (8.2) in the same categories, respectively. 

In addition, UT is fourth in the MAC in defensive rebounds (27.2 rpg), while SHU is third in offensive caroms (12.2 rpg).

UT is 16-10 (.615) all-time against teams from the BIG EAST Conference (4-0 vs. Butler, 0-2 vs. Creighton, 2-3 vs. DePaul, 1-4 vs. Marquette, 1-0 vs. Providence, 1-0 vs. St. John's, 7-1 vs. Xavier).

The last BIG EAST school the Rockets played was Creighton, whom they lost to 76-49 in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Championships on March 17 in Corvallis, Ore.