TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's basketball team opened the Ginny Boggess era with a bang, rallying from 16 points down to storm past Marshall 71-68 in front of an opening-night crowd of 3,754 at Savage Arena on Monday.
 
The Rockets (1-0) fell behind 24-8 early in the second quarter, but outscored the Thundering Herd (0-1) 63-44 the rest of the way to claim the win. Toledo took its first lead with 9:28 left to play in the fourth quarter on Hannah Noveroske's putback layup to go up 56-54. The Rockets would later grab a 66-65 lead on another Noveroske putback with 3:33 left to play and would hold the lead the rest of the way.

Marshall appeared to hit a game-tying three-pointer with less than a second left but the bucket was waived off on a traveling call.
 
Toledo's 16-point comeback was its largest since overcoming a 17-point deficit in a 74-73 victory against SMU on Nov. 24, 2023. The Rockets also earned their 16th-straight home victory, a streak that dates back to Dec. 6, 2023. Monday's matchup was part of the MAC-SBC Challenge, where Toledo holds a 3-0 all-time record.
 
"First and foremost, I want to thank the sixth man here at Savage Arena for showing up and showing out tonight," said Boggess, who earned her first win as Toledo's head coach. "I was really excited how our seniors led, and we've got some talented young players who stepped up in big moments for us. Overall, the toughness, the resiliency, the championship culture and the 'Blue Collar, Gold Standard mentality' was really shown tonight and I'm proud of our fight."
 
Noveroske led the Rockets with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting on the evening, and also pulled down eight rebounds. Sammi Mikonowicz added 15 points, connecting on 6-of-13 shots from the field. Khera Goss chipped in 11 points, grabbed six rebounds, and led the Rockets with four assists on the evening.
 
Defensively, Ghoss and Kendall Carruthers each had two steals, while four other Rockets had one swiped. Noveroske also recorded a game-high four blocks while three others had one rejection.
 
1st Quarter – Marshall 22, Toledo 8

• The Thundering Herd started off the game with 10 consecutive points to take a 10-0 lead.
• Toledo countered with a 5-0 run but Marshall's CC Mays hit consecutive three-pointers to increase the lead to 16-5 with 3:15 left in the quarter.
• Marshall led 22-8 at the break with Mays accounting for 11 of the Thundering Herd's 22 points.

2nd Quarter – Marsha11 37, Toledo 29

• A breakaway layup by Faith Fedd-Robinson capped an 11-4 run that cut the lead to 28-19 with 4:45 left.
• Nan Garcia hit a three-pointer with 51 seconds left that capped a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 35-29.
• Marshall made a late layup to take a 37-29 lead into the locker room. Toledo out-scored Marshall 21-15 in the quarter.

3rd Quarter – Marshall 54, Toledo 53

• A layup by Jessica Cook made it a one-possession game, 44-41 heading into the media timeout at 4:37. Cook would then make Toledo's next basket to cut the deficit to one at 44-43.
• Two free throws by Khera Goss once again cut the lead to 54-53 at the end of the quarter.

4th Quarter – Toledo 71, Marshall 68

• A pair of buckets by Hannah Noveroske put Toledo in front, 58-54. After Marshall took back the lead, Noveroske would score to re-gain the advantage, 66-65 with 3:33 to play.
• The two teams exchanged baskets in a back-and-forth quarter, with neither team gaining more than a three-point lead.
• Kendall Carruthers sank a jumper with 25 seconds left to push the Toledo lead to 71-68.
• A potential-tying jumper by Marshall's Madison Kellione with less than a second left was waived off by a traveling call, sealing the Toledo win.

UP NEXT

Toledo will head to Iowa City and face defending national runner-up Iowa on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Tip-off will be at 7:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. CT and will air on Big Ten Network.