CLEVELAND, Ohio – Senior guards 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 (27-4), which won its 15^th consecutive game, now advances to the MAC Championship Game on Saturday vs. the winner of the Ball State-Bowling Green contest. It will be the Rockets' first trip to the tournament finals since they won the championship in 2017.
 
        "It feels good. We know what we're here to do," said Jansen, who connected on 6-of-7 shots from the floor, including 2-of-2 from three-point range. "The job is not finished, clearly."
 
        "We're one game away from what we really want," said Head Coach Tricia Cullop.
 
        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.
 
        "We knew this would be a tough game," said Cullop. "Kent State is very skilled. They can really shoot the ball. We knew it would take a phenomenal defensive effort. I thought we did a great job of taking away some of their opportunities and securing the rebounds. Sammi was phenomenal on the boards today and I thought Jayda gave us some big minutes as well. But really, our whole team was locked in today."
 
        Toledo led 17-7 at the end of the first quarter but Kent State (21-10) outscored the Rockets 20-11 in the second quarter to pull to within two at halftime, 28-27.  The Golden Flashes briefly took the lead in the third quarter, but Toledo ended the period on a 16-8 run to lead by six going into the final frame. KSU closed the margin to three points, 56-53, with less than five minutes to play but the Rockets outplayed the Flashes down the stretch to put themselves one game away from a MAC title.
 
        "Forty minutes. We're 40 minutes from what we want," said Mikonowicz. "We just need to play our hardest. I don't think our mindset changes. Just keep playing basketball, just keep playing hard."
         
1^st Quarter

•  Both teams got out of the gate slowly, with each squad hitting only one of its first seven shots.
•  Toledo then used a 15-4 run to take a 17-7 lead at the quarter break.
•  Jayda Jansen hit all three of her attempts, a pair of three-pointers and a layup, to score eight points in the quarter.
•  Toledo made six of its last 10 shots in the quarter while holding KSU to 2-of-15 (13.3%) from the floor. 

2^nd Quarter

•  The teams exchanged buckets throughout the first five minutes of the quarter as Toledo held onto its 10-point lead.
•  Kent State then went on an 11-0 run to take a 27-26 lead at the 2:21 mark. KSU's Katie Shumate scored eight of the 11 points in the run, including back-to-back three-pointers.
•  Sophia Wiard beat the shot clock with a jumper at the 1:11 mark to give Toledo a 28-27 halftime edge. She led the Rockets with eight first-half points.
•  Toledo shot 12-of-27 (44.4%) from the field in the first 20 minutes while holding KSU to 10-of-30 (.333).

3^rd Quarter

•  Kent State opened the quarter with a 7-2 run to take a 35-31 lead at the 7:13 mark.
• Toledo then held the Flashes scoreless for over four minutes and grabbed a 39-35 lead with 3:12 left in the quarter.
•  KSU cut the lead to two until Quinesha Lockett capped a 7-3 run at the end of the quarter with a baseline jumper with two seconds left to give Toledo a 48-42 edge.

4^th Quarter

•   The teams exchanged baskets for the first few minutes, with Toledo moving out to an eight-point lead until a Shumate jumper cut the lead to 54-49 at the 6:33 mark.
•  A Lockett layup upped the Toledo lead to seven points but Shumate answered with a pair of free throws and a driving layup to trim the margin to 56-53 with 4:59 left.
•  Jansen came right back with a jumper and a layup to push the lead to 60-53 with 2:53 remaining.
•  A pair of layups by Sammi Mikonowicz and four Wiard free throws extended the lead to 68-55 with under a minute to play. The final score settled at 68-58.