TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo women's basketball team will be going for its 10th consecutive victory when it travels to Northern Illinois on Wednesday (6:00 p.m. CT/7:00 p.m. ET/ESPN+).Â
Toledo (21-4, 13-1 MAC) is in first place in the Mid-American Conference standings, one game ahead of Ball State, following its 70-48 victory over the Cardinals on Saturday in Savage Arena. Senior guard
Sammi Mikonowicz led the offense with a career-high tying 24 points on 10-of-14 from the field.
Northern Illinois (13-13, 6-8 MAC) is coming off an 82-73 home-court loss to Bowling Green last Saturday.
Toledo won the first meeting with the Huskies, 72-57, at Savage Arena on Jan. 24. That was the first victory in the current nine-game winning streak. Toledo's run is its longest since winning a school-record 17 in a row last season, with a margin of victory in the nine-game span of 19.1 points.Â
Last Time Out
In the battle for first place in the Mid-American Conference, the Toledo women's basketball team used a smothering defense to defeat Ball State, 70-48, before 5,556 fans at Savage Arena on Saturday.
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Toledo entered the game tied with Ball State for the top spot in conference, as both teams seek the No. 1 seed in next month's MAC Tournament and the Rockets look to win their third consecutive regular-season crown.
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But after a slow start, the showdown turned out to be no contest, as Toledo built a 27-16 halftime lead into a 17-point margin at the end of the third quarter and as much as 26 points in the final period. The victory was the Rockets' ninth-consecutive and 21
st in a row at home vs. MAC opponents.
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The Rockets held Ball State to just 18-of-54 (33.3%) shooting and out-rebounded the Cardinals, 47-26. In the last two games, including Wednesday's 68-36 win over Miami, Toledo has held its opponents to 42.0 ppg and 29.5% from the field.
Sammi Mikonowicz led the offense with a career-high tying 24 points (18 in the second half) on 10-of-14 from the field. She added five rebounds, three assists and tied her career high with four steals.Â
Rocket Notes
• Toledo is now 79-15 (48-4 MAC) over the past three seasons, including 39-4 at Savage Arena (25-1 MAC).
• Toledo's 79 wins over the past three seasons is tied with Iowa for 10th nationally among all Division I schools (through Feb. 25).
• Toledo has won 21 consecutive MAC home games.Â
• In conference play, UT is 13-1 this year, was 16-2 a year ago, and 19-1 in 2021-22.Â
• Toledo is also 31-7 (.816) on opponents' home courts and 9-4 (.692) on neutral floors.
• Toledo has hit the 20-win mark for the third consecutive season and the ninth time under Head Coach
Tricia Cullop.
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