CLEVELAND, Ohio – The No. 1 seed Toledo women's basketball team will battle No. 2 Bowling Green in the championship game of the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Saturday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. Tipoff is set for 11:00 a.m. on CBS Sports Network.

For more information about the 2023 MAC Tournament, fans can visit utrockets.com/MACTournament to learn more about tickets, pregame festivities, and more.

2023 MAC Women's Basketball Tournament Schedule

Wednesday, March 8th, 2023 -- Quarterfinals
Game 1: No. 1 Toledo 75, No. 8 Buffalo 74 (OT)
Game 2: No. 4 Kent State 75, No. 5 Northern Illinois 68
Game 3: No. 2 Bowling Green 70, No. 7 Eastern Michigan 36
Game 4: No. 3 Ball State 92, No. 6 Akron 68
 
Friday, March 10th, 2023 -- Semifinals
Game 5: No. 1 Toledo 68, No. 4 Kent State 58
Game 6: No. 2 Bowling Green 70, No. 3 Ball State 61
 
Saturday, March 11th, 2023 -- MAC Championship
Game 7: No. 1 Toledo vs. No. 2 Bowling Green, 11 AM ET (CBS Sports Network)
 
*Minimum 30 minutes between completion of prior game in the session

TOLEDO VS. BOWLING GREEN
Date: Saturday, March 11, 2023
Tip-Off: 11:00 a.m.
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Arena: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (19,432)
Television: CBS Sports Network. Chris Lewis will provide play-by-play for broadcast with Kelly Burke serving as analyst.
Radio: The Voice of Toledo Women's Basketball Jim Heller will be on the call on AM 1230 WCWA in Toledo.
All-Time Series History: Bowling Green leads the all-time series, 45-41.

Battle of I-75: Part III
The Battle of I-75 presented by Cooper Tires will receive a third act in Saturday's MAC Tournament Championship Game. The Rockets and Falcons split their season series, with each team winning on its home court.

Most recently, Toledo completed a 17-point comeback to defeat BGSU on the final day of the regular season, March 4, by a score of 62-56. In front of a regular-season record 6,086 fans at Savage Arena, Toledo led for much of the first quarter before BGSU scored nine unanswered points to take a 14-9 lead at the break. The Falcons' lead grew to nine points at halftime and ballooned to 17 points, 37-20, with 5:49 to go in the third quarter. The Rockets proceeded to score nine straight points to pull within nine, and ended the quarter on a 9-2 run to pull within five, 45-40, heading into the fourth.

Toledo opened the fourth quarter with 10 straight points to turn a five-point deficit into a five-point lead and never looked back. Nan Garcia led the charge with eight points on 4-of-4 shooting in the final quarter and put an exclamation point on UT's victory with an emphatic block in the closing seconds.

Bowling Green came away with an 88-76 victory at the Stroh Center on Jan. 18. The Rockets played the Falcons close in the first half, but BGSU opened up a double-digit lead early in the second half and didn't look back. Toledo committed an uncharacteristic 22 turnovers and couldn't find an answer for Bowling Green's Allison Day, who scored a game-high 31 points. The 88 points are the most UT has allowed in a game this season.

MAC Semifinals: Toledo 68, Kent State 58
Jayda Jansen and Sophia Wiard scored 16 points each to lead No. 1 seed Toledo to a 68-58 victory over No. 4 seed Kent State in MAC Tournament semifinal action at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland on Friday.

Toledo had a tough battle throughout most of the game but outscored the Golden Flashes 12-5 in the final five minutes to seal the victory. The Rockets were aided by a smothering defense that held Kent State to just 21-of-60 (35.0%) from the field and outrebounded the Golden Flashes 40-30. Senior forward Sammi Mikonowicz dominated the boards, collecting 15 rebounds (14 on the defensive end) to go with her 12 points, her fifth double-double of the year.

MAC Quarterfinals: Toledo 75, Buffalo 74 (OT)
Quinesha Lockett scored 19 points and made a critical defensive play in overtime to lead No. 1 seed Toledo to a 75-74 victory over No. 8 seed Buffalo in Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinal action at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland on Wednesday.

Toledo took the lead in overtime on a pair of free throws from Jayda Jansen with 14.5 seconds left. Following a timeout, Buffalo's Re'Shawna Stone drove to the basket and Lockett tied her up on the shot, forcing a held ball. Buffalo retained possession but its final shot attempt missed the mark, giving the Rockets the victory and advancing them to the semifinals.

Rocket Notes

• Four Rockets are averaging double figures in scoring during the MAC Tournament: Jayda Jansen (13.5 PPG), Quinesha Lockett (13.5 PPG), Sammi Mikonowicz (12.0 PPG), and Nan Garcia (10.5 PPG). Mikonowicz is also averaging 12.0 RPG and tallied 15 rebounds in Friday's win vs. Kent State.
• Toledo is 8-6 all-time in MAC Tournament Championship Games. UT most recently appeared in the title game in 2017 when it defeated Northern Illinois, 82-71.
• Toledo and Bowling Green have not faced off in the MAC Tournament since the 2010 Championship Game, which is its longest tournament drought vs. any other conference foe. UT has faced every other MAC program at least once since 2014.
• The Rockets and Falcons have met 11 times in the MAC Tournament and BGSU holds an 8-3 edge in the series. The two rivals have met in the MAC Tournament Championship Game three times (1989, 1994, 2010), with Bowling Green winning all three meetings.
• The Rockets' 15-game winning streak is tied for second-longest in school history and is tied for the longest of the Coach Cullop era, matching the 15-game streak by the 2012-13 team. The longest winning streak in school history is 16 games, set in 2000-01. Toledo's current winning streak ranks tied for seventh nationally and is the longest active streak by a MAC team.
• Friday's semifinal win vs. Kent State pushed Toledo's all-time MAC Tournament record to 57-28. Its 57 wins are more than any other MAC program.
• The Rockets are 41-4 over their last 45 games vs. MAC competition, including regular season and postseason matchups.
• Wednesday's overtime win was its third of the season, the most OT wins in a season in school history. The last time the Rockets played at least three overtime games in a single season was in 2017-18.
• Prior to Wednesday's win vs. Buffalo, the last time UT had won an overtime game in the MAC Tournament was in 2006 vs. Western Michigan.
• Toledo's 27 wins this season coupled with 29 victories last year are the most wins in back-to-back years in program history (56). The previous school record was 54 after UT won 25 games in 2009-10 and 29 games in 2010-11. The MAC record for most combined wins in back-to-back seasons is 58 by Bowling Green (28 in 2005-06, 31 in 2006-07).
• Quinesha Lockett enters Saturday's championship game with 1,932 career points, which ranks fourth all-time in school history. She is just 21 points away from passing Angela Drake (1993-97, 1,952 points) to move into third place all-time. Lockett has passed Rocket legends Naama Shafir (2008-13) and Dana Drew (1990-95) over the last few games. Kim Knuth (1995-99) is Toledo's all-time leading scorer with 2,509 career points.
• The latest AP Top 25 poll came out on Monday and Toledo maintained its position, appearing in the "received votes" section with eight points in the poll.
• The Rockets have reached the 90-point benchmark three times this year, the most 90-point games since the 1998-99 season.­
• Toledo led the MAC in average attendance for the 32^nd straight season this year, averaging 4,178 fans per game at Savage Arena. The Rockets also rank 24^th nationally in average attendance, third among mid-major teams, only trailing Gonzaga (5,016) and New Mexico (4,925). UT has ranked in the Top 30 nationally in average attendance in 10 of the last 11 years.

 
About Bowling Green
The No. 2 seed, Bowling Green dismantled Eastern Michigan, 70-36, in the quarterfinals before overcoming an early deficit vs. No. 3 seed Ball State to win 79-61 in the semifinal round. BGSU leads the MAC in scoring (78.1 PPG) and ranks third in scoring defense (63.5 PPG), holding opponents to fewer than 60 points on 10 occasions. First-Team All-MAC honoree Elissa Brett leads the Falcons in scoring (14.6 PPG) and is one of five players averaging double figures in scoring. Nyla Hampton was named the MAC's Defensive Player of the Year and leads the league in steals (2.9 SPG).