TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's basketball team clinched at least a share of its third-consecutive Mid-American Conference title with a dominating 87-41 victory over Eastern Michigan at Savage Arena on Wednesday.
 
The victory was the 12^th in a row for Toledo (24-4, 16-1 MAC), which can secure an outright MAC title and the No. 1 seed at next week's MAC Tournament with a victory over Kent State on Saturday. The Rockets are currently one game ahead of Ball State (26-4, 15-2 MAC) in the standings. Any combination of a Toledo win or a Ball State loss at Buffalo on Saturday would sew up the top seed in the league tourney for the Rockets.
 
"I'm so proud of this team," said Head Coach Tricia Cullop, who won the fifth regular-season MAC crown of her career. "The unselfishness our team showed today was awesome. It was great to see 28 assists and only seven turnovers. I thought that we definitely were focused. We're still chasing something that we want, and that's an outright championship."
 
Senior guard Soleil Barnes came off the bench to lead the Rockets with a season-high tying 14 points, followed by another reserve, senior center Hannah Noveroske (12 points) and senior guard Quinesha Lockett (10). Toledo's bench contributed 50 points, outscoring both the Rocket starting five and the entire Eagles' lineup. Junior Emmi Rinat chipped in with a career-high 10 assists in a reserve role, one more than senior guard Sophia Wiard's nine.
 
As a team, Toledo made 36-of-64 (56.3%) of its shots and held the visitors to just 17-of-57 (29.8%). The Rockets played a clean floor game, giving up just seven turnovers while forcing 14. The 46-point margin of victory was Toledo's largest this season.
 
Toledo closes out the regular season with a home game vs. Kent State on Saturday (2:00 p.m./ESPN+).
           
1^st Quarter

• The opening quarter was close throughout with Toledo's largest lead being just four points.
• A late three-pointer by Khera Goss gave Toledo a 15-12 lead but EMU's Lachelle Austin made a layup with nine seconds left to make it a 15-14 margin at the break.

2^nd Quarter

• Toledo began the second quarter with an 11-4 run to extend its lead to 26-18.
• EMU countered with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 26-24 at the midway point of the quarter.
• A three-pointer from Sophia Wiard and a triple by Soleil Barnes bookended a 14-2 Toledo run that gave Toledo a 40-26 halftime lead.
• Barnes led the Rockets with nine points, hitting 3-of-4 from behind the arc.
• Toledo connected on 15-of-30 from the field in the first half while EMU made just 12-of-30 (40.0%)

3^rd Quarter

• Toledo got down to business in the third quarter, outscoring EMU 25-7 to take a commanding 65-33 lead into the final period.
• Toledo made 11-of-20 (55.0%) from the field in the quarter and forced six EMU turnovers.

4^th Quarter

• Toledo's bench continued to pour it on in the fourth quarter, topping EMU 22-8.

NOTES

• Toledo won a third straight MAC crown for the first time in school history. Toledo is the third MAC school to win more than two consecutive regular-season titles. CMU won four straight from 2016-17  to 2019-20, and Bowling Green three-peated from 1986-87 to 1988-89 and again from 2004-05 to 2006-07.
• This is the fifth regular-season MAC title for Head Coach Tricia Cullop, which is the most for any Toledo head coach, breaking a tie with Mark Ehlen, who had four in his career. Cullop has won MAC titles in the last three seasons, plus 2010-11 and 2012-13.
• Cullop needs one more win to reach 350 in her career at Toledo. Her 349 wins at Toledo ranks second all-time among MAC coaches, trailing only Kent State's Bob Lindsay (418 wins from 1990-2012).
• Toledo is now 82-15 (51-4 MAC) over the past three seasons, including 40-4 in Savage Arena (27-1 MAC).
•  Toledo's 12-game winning streak is tied for the seventh longest in school history. The all-time record is 17, set last season.
• Toledo's margin of victory in its 12-game winning streak is 19.3 points.

TICKETS
Tickets are available for Toledo's final home game vs. Kent State, including $8 bleacher tickets. To purchase tickets, go to UTRockets.com/WBBTix or call/text 419-530-GOLD (4653) or stop by the ticket office in Savage Arena during normal business hours.