TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's basketball team hosts Houston Baptist in a first round WNIT battle on Friday, March 18 at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN3.
Tickets for the first round of the WNIT are on sale now. Tickets can be ordered online by going to
utrockets.com, stopping by the Rocket Ticket Office located in the Sullivan Athletic Complex at Savage Arena, or calling 419-530-GOLD (4653). All UToledo students with a valid ID will receive free admission while all faculty and staff can purchase tickets at half-price.
The winner of Friday's game will advance to the second round and play Kent State following its 68-59 win over Youngstown State on Wednesday.
Toledo is making its 12th WNIT appearance all-time and the eighth under head coach
Tricia Cullop. The Rockets have advanced past the first round in 11 of 12 WNIT appearances and won the 2011 WNIT title.
Toledo will look to bounce back from last week's MAC Tournament semifinal setback against Ball State. The Rockets trailed by as many as 17 points midway through the third quarter in that game before coming to within two points, 63-61, on a
Sophia Wiard three-pointer with 1:22 left in the game. But the Cardinals scored eight points the rest of the way to win, 71-66, and advance to the championship game, which they eventually lost to Buffalo. The loss snapped a 12-game Rocket winning streak.
For her efforts in Cleveland,
Sophia Wiard was named to the MAC's All-Tournament Team after averaging 17.5 PPG, 8.0 RPG, and 6.5 APG.
Toledo finished the regular season with a 25-4 record and an historic 19-1 mark in MAC play. UT's 19 conference wins are the most ever in a single season by a MAC team.
Houston Baptist will bring a 16-10 record into Friday's game and clinched a share of the Southland Conference Regular Season Championship for the first time in program history. After earning a bye into the semifinals of their conference tournament, the Huskies fell to eventual tournament champion Incarnate Word, 54-33. Head coach Donna Finnie was named Southland Conference Coach of the Year and junior guard Timia Jefferson was named Player of the Year.
Rocket Notes
- Friday's game will be the first-ever meeting between Toledo and Houston Baptist; in fact, this will be the first game in Houston Baptist's history played in the state of Ohio.
- Toledo has a rich history in the WNIT, having won the 2011 WNIT Championship, the first MAC school to win a major postseason tournament.
- The 2021-22 MAC Regular Season Champions were rewarded appropriately in the MAC postseason awards, with Tricia Cullop earning MAC Coach of the Year honors five players earning postseason distinctions as well.
- Cullop was also recently awarded the 2022 WBCA Carol Eckman Integrity in Coaching Award for exemplifying Eckman's spirit, integrity and character through sportsmanship, commitment to the student-athlete, honesty, ethical behavior, courage and dedication to purpose.
- The Rockets were 12-1 at home this season and 12-2 on the road, the only team in the country with at least 12 wins at home and 12 on the road.
- Toledo's 12 road victories are tied with Northern Kentucky for most in the country this year. UT's two road losses have come against two NCAA Tournament teams: Dayton and Missouri State.
- The Rockets have beaten every other school in the MAC at least once this season, the first time they have done that since 2012-13
- Sophia Wiard leads the MAC and ranks 14th in the country in assist/turnover ratio (2.54). She led the MAC in that category last season as well.
- Wiard can really stuff the box score; she has 22 games with at least 10 points, 15 games with at least five assists, and 13 games with at least seven rebounds.
- Wiard is tied atop the rankings for highest career free throw percentage in school history (83.2%) with Jane Roman (1989-92). She is shooting 83.5% from the line this season, a couple percentage points shy of her previous career-best free throw shooting season (85.5% - 2019-20).
- Quinesha Lockett sits 7th in the MAC in scoring (17.5 PPG). She's scored in double figures in 29 of 31 games this season and has cracked 20 points 13 times. She is one of five players in the MAC to have at least 13 20-point performances.
- As Toledo's primary offensive threat, Lockett is putting up some impressive numbers; her 483 field goal attempts this season are fifth-most ever in a single season and just 26 away from setting a new single-season school record (Kim Knuth, 508, 1998-99).
- Sammi Mikonowicz is averaging 9.7 RPG over her last 14 contests, a stretch that began with a school record-tying 22-rebound performance against Ohio on Jan. 26.
