TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's basketball team held on to defeat Buffalo on Saturday night, capturing a 67-63 win at Savage Arena.

The Rockets (14-4, 7-1 MAC) led by 12 at halftime, but saw their lead disappear by the end of the third quarter. The Bulls (10-8, 4-4 MAC) outscored UT 18-5 in the third quarter to grab their first lead of the game, 43-42. Toledo was able to wrestle the lead back in the fourth quarter, but Buffalo fought back to tie the score on four separate occasions. The last such occurrence was with 1:24 left in the game, but on the next possession Khera Goss knocked down a jumper with 48 seconds left to give Toledo a 65-63 lead. Jessica Cook made a pair of clutch free throws with just 20 seconds remaining to ice the game.

Toledo has now won 18 straight MAC home games and improves its home record to 42-4 since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.

The Bulls were able to claw their way back into the game thanks in large part to a historic performance by Chellia Watson. The Buffalo guard finished the game with 47 points, a Savage Arena record. The previous high watermark for a women's basketball game was Kim Sekulski's 42 points vs. Bowling Green on Feb. 20, 1991, and the overall record was previously held by Miami's Ron Harper, who scored 45 points vs. Ball State on March 8, 1985.

"Buffalo is a really good team, and Chellia Watson makes them very dangerous because she can score in a variety of ways," head coach Tricia Cullop said. "She's a bucket-getter. It's not just us that struggled with guarding her, the whole league struggles guarding her. But the key tonight, despite what she was doing, was to keep anyone else on their team from scoring. I thought our players did a good job of not hanging their head when she was scoring while continuing to find ways to get points on the other end. Jessica Cook's two free throws were huge and Khera Goss' jumper was really big."

Sammi Mikonowicz recorded her second double-double of the year, scoring 14 points while collecting 10 rebounds. Quinesha Lockett matched her scoring output with 14 points, while Sophia Wiard and Jessica Cook were close behind with nine points apiece.

Both teams had identical shooting performances, connecting on 24-of-59 field goals for a 40.7% field goal percentage. Toledo won the rebounding battle, 41-33, and had a more well-rounded offensive attack. Twenty-one of UT's points came off the bench, compared to just two for Buffalo.

Watson was 17-of-30 from the floor and 10-of-10 from the free throw line, and the next-highest Buffalo scorer was Kirsten Lewis-Williams with eight points.

The Rockets wore purple uniforms on Saturday as a part of their second-annual Justice for Sierah game. Fans can bid on the game-worn jerseys at utrockets.com/JFS, and the auction ends on Jan. 29.

Toledo's next game is Wednesday, Jan. 31 at Akron. The Rockets return home next Saturday, Feb. 3 to host Bowling Green in the Battle of I-75.

To purchase Toledo Women's Basketball tickets, visit the Rocket Athletic Ticket Office at the Sullivan Athletic Complex in Savage Arena, contact the Rocket Athletic Ticket Office at 419-530-GOLD (4653), or go online to UTRockets.com/tix.

1^st Quarter

• The Rockets led 8-2 at the media timeout, with Sophia Wiard and Khera Goss both contributing three-pointers.
• Toledo held Buffalo without a field goal for over seven minutes of game time and opened up a 13-4 lead.
• UT would take a 13-7 lead into the break.

2^nd Quarter

• Three quick baskets put the Rockets up 19-7 and prompted Buffalo to use a timeout.
• Sammi Mikonowicz knocked down a couple open three-pointers to keep Toledo's lead in double figures.
• Toledo led 37-25 at halftime and held Buffalo to 10-of-32 shooting (31.3%) in the first half.
• Buffalo's Chellia Watson put the Bulls on her back in the second quarter, scoring 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

3^rd Quarter

• The Bulls quickly whittled the Rockets' lead to three, 37-34, by opening the second half with a 9-0 run. Watson scored seven of the nine points.
• Quinesha Lockett drove to the hoop for two to get Toledo on the board at the 5:31 mark of the quarter.
• Watson's three-pointer with 41 seconds left gave Buffalo its first lead of the night, a 43-42 advantage.
• The Bulls outscored the Rockets 18-5 in the third quarter.

4^th Quarter

• Watson opened the fourth quarter with a basket to up the Bulls' lead to three.
• Goss grabbed an offensive board and found Mikonowicz for a three-pointer to tie the score at 45-45 early in the period.
• Buffalo tied the score at 51-51 with 6:56 to play, and again at 55-55 with 4:31 left in the game.
• A quick 6-0 spurt gave the Rockets a 63-56 advantage with less than three minutes to go.
• Buffalo answered with seven straight points, all coming from Watson, to tie the score at 63-63.
• Goss took a pass from Mikonowicz and knocked down a jumper with 48 seconds left to give UT the lead, and Cook's free throws with 20 seconds remaining iced the game.