TOLEDO, Ohio – Junior
Quinesha Lockett scored a team-high 24 points in Toledo's 74-49 win over Central Michigan on Wednesday, and in the process became the 31
st player in school history to score 1,000 career points.
Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Lockett drove to the hoop for an easy basket, giving her 19 points on the night and exactly 1,000 career points, bringing the crowd to its feet.
"I'm so proud of
Quinesha Lockett," head coach
Tricia Cullop said. "She's an absolute joy. She works hard, she's a great athlete, and nobody cares more than her. She's improved every year she's been here, and I love the all the different things she brings to the game. We're so glad she's on our team and not only is she a great player, she's a great leader."
Toledo improves to 11-3 overall and 5-0 in the MAC, its best start to conference play since the 1998-99 season.
In addition to her 24 points, Lockett also tied a career-high with 12 rebounds, her third double-double of the season. Senior
Jayda Jansen started her first game as a Rocket and scored 14 points, while sophomore
Khera Goss tied a career-best with 13 points and tallied three steals as well. Junior
Hannah Noveroske contributed 12 points and nine rebounds.
Toledo grabbed a season-high 51 rebounds, its first 50-plus rebound game since the 2017-18 season when it tallied 53 boards against Ohio on Jan. 10, 2018. UT did an exceptional job crashing the boards on offense, collecting 12 offensive rebounds compared to CMU's three. The Rockets held the Chippewas to just 17-of-58 shooting (29.3 percent) and 49 points, the third time this season they have held an opponent to fewer than 50 points.
Next up for Toledo is a road contest at Northern Illinois this Saturday, Jan. 15 at 2:00 p.m.
1st Quarter
- Both teams traded baskets early on, resulting in a 6-6 stalemate at the 6:04 mark of the first quarter.
- Toledo used an 8-2 run to take a 14-8 lead after the first 10 minutes of play. Lockett's three-pointer in the waning seconds capped the scoring spurt for UT.
- The Rockets' defense held the Chippewas to just one field goal in the final six minutes of play.
2nd Quarter
- Jansen's trey 14 seconds into the second quarter put the Rockets up by nine, and Noveroske's layup less than a minute later pushed the lead to 11, 19-8, causing CMU to call its first timeout at the 9:01 mark of the second quarter.
- The Toledo lead grew to 12 points, 24-12, on a three-pointer from Goss with 6:31 left in the first half.
- Central Michigan's Molly Davis played a huge part in a 9-2 CMU run that cut Toledo's lead to three, 26-23, with 3:51 to go. Davis scored seven of her team's nine points during its scoring surge.
- The Rockets reclaimed a portion of their early lead, managing to go up by seven, 31-24, before the end of the first half.
3rd Quarter
- Goss opened the scoring in the second half with five straight points to put UT ahead 36-24.
- CMU's Davis scored her team's first points of the third quarter, but the Rockets followed that up with a 7-0 run to take a 42-26 lead with 6:09 left in the period.
- Lockett drilled a three-pointer at the 3:01 mark to push Toledo's lead to 19 points, 54-35.
- Central Michigan finished the third quarter on a 5-1 run, but still trailed UT 55-40 heading into the final frame.
4th Quarter
- On the first basket of the fourth quarter, Lockett drove to the hoop for an easy two points, officially giving her 1,000 for her career.
- The Chippewas answered by scoring five straight points to cut their deficit to 12, 57-45, with 8:00 to go in the game.
- Toledo put the pedal to the metal to close out Wednesday's contest, ending the night on a 13-2 run and scoring the final 11 points of the game.
- The game-ending 11-0 run was started by freshman Jessica Cook scoring a couple baskets, and Lockett fittingly ended the scoring with a fast break layup to cap her historic night.
Head Coach Tricia Cullop post-game.
Junior Quinesha Lockett post-game.
Senior Jayda Jansen post-game.