YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Toledo women's basketball team got off to a strong start to its three-game road trip, taking a 77-49 victory over Eastern Michigan in Mid-American Conference action at the Gervin GameAbove Center in Ypsilanti, Mich. on Saturday.
 
The Rockets (15-5, 7-3 MAC) held a 34-24 lead at halftime and put the game away with a 21-2 run in the second half. Toledo never trailed against the Eagles (1-19, 0-10 MAC) to earn its third-straight win.
 
"I'm incredibly proud of our effort on both ends of the floor tonight," said Head Coach Ginny Boggess. "We've been working on our consistency and it was great to see that show up especially on the road. We'll take tomorrow off and enjoy this win because we've got a big week ahead of us."
 
The Rockets were led by graduate student Sammi Mikonowicz with a game-high 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Mikonowicz scored Toledo's first nine points of the game and had 11 in the first quarter. Sophomore Kendall Carruthers finished with 14 points on 5-of-8 from the field while graduate student Khera Goss, senior Jessica Cook and sophomore Cadence Dykstra each supplied 10 points. Dykstra also led Toledo with four assists while graduate student Nan Garcia dished out three.
 
On the glass, Dykstra and Mikonowicz each finished with six rebounds while Cook and Carruthers each grabbed four to lead the Rockets to a 36-29 edge on the boards. Garcia picked up two steals on the defensive end to lead the Rockets, who had five thefts overall for the game. 
 
The Eagles were led by Sisi Eleko with 16 points while Olivia Smith added 14 points.
 
First Quarter – Toledo 20, Eastern Michigan 13

• Sammi Mikonowicz scored Toledo's first nine points, as the Rockets took a 9-4 lead early.
• Toledo extended that advantage to 16-6 at the 3:45 mark as Khera Goss found a cutting Mikonowicz for the bucket.
• A Faith Fedd-Robinson driving layup gave Toledo its biggest lead of the quarter at 20-8, before EMU scored the final five points of the period.
• Mikonowicz finished with 11 points on 5-of-5 from the field in the quarter.

Second Quarter – Toledo 34, Eastern Michigan 24

• Toledo started the quarter on an 8-2 run, taking its biggest lead of the half at 28-15 at the 5:23 mark.
• Hannah Noveroske made her return to the floor from injury and got in the scoresheet with a free throw.
• Eastern Michigan responded to cut the lead to eight twice in the final minutes of the quarter, before Kendall Carruthers' buzzer-beating layup closed the scoring and put the Rockets up 10.
• Toledo shot 14-of-25 (56.0%) from the field in the half, compared to just 10-of-30 (33.3%) for Eastern Michigan.

Third Quarter – Toledo 55, Eastern Michigan 39

• Khera Goss' steal and layup put the Rockets ahead, 40-28 at the 6:59 mark.
• After the Eagles cut the lead to 41-33, Toledo scored seven-straight points in 55 seconds, finished off by a Goss triple, to take a 48-33 advantage with 2:35 left in the period.
• Nan Garcia scored Toledo's final seven points of the quarter in just 45 seconds, out-scoring EMU 7-2 in the stretch.
• Toledo took the quarter 21-15 and had its biggest lead of the game at quarter's end.

Fourth Quarter – Toledo 75, Eastern Michigan 44

• The Rockets put the game out of reach in the early stages of the quarter, scoring the quarter's first 14 points for a 69-39 lead with 5:55 left to play.
• Cadence Dykstra had seven points and three field goals in the run.
• Jessica Cook went 3-of-4 from the field and scored eight points in the period.
• Toledo out-scored EMU in the quarter, 22-10 and shot 9-for-11.

Game Notes

• Toledo shot a season-best 61.2% (30-of-49) from the field, its highest percentage since shooting 63.0% at Western Michigan on March 2, 2024.
• The Rockets out-rebounded the Eagles, 36-29 and every Rocket grabbed at least one rebound on the afternoon.
• UT dominated in the paint, 48-22.
• Toledo had at least five double-figure scorers for the second time this season. The Rockets had six score in double figures against Defiance on Dec. 28.

UP NEXT
Toledo continues the road swing with a trip to Buffalo on Wednesday, Feb. 5 before heading out to Old Dominion for a non-conference battle on Feb. 8. Tipoff for the Buffalo game is set for 11:00 a.m. and will air on ESPN+, with radio on WCWA 1230 AM and The Varsity Network app.