TOLEDO, Ohio – The No. 2 seed Toledo women's basketball team will play for a trip to the Mid-American Conference championship game when the Rockets take on No. 3 seed Buffalo in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament on Friday, March 14 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. Tipoff will be 30 minutes following the Ball State-Kent State matchup (approximately 12:30 p.m.) and will be carried on ESPN+, WCWA 1230 AM and The Varsity Network app.
 
The Rockets (23-7) will play in the semifinals for the fourth-consecutive season. Buffalo (25-6) will play in its second-consecutive semifinal. Friday will be a rematch of last season's semifinal matchup, where Buffalo held off a late Toledo comeback for a 77-74 OT victory.
 
Toledo enters the contest winners of 11 of its last 13 games. Toledo defeated No. 7 seed Central Michigan, 76-58 in the quarterfinals, out-scoring the Chippewas 44-16 over the final 17 minutes. Sammi MIkonowicz led with 18 points while Nan Garcia added 16 on 4-of-6 from downtown.
 
The Bulls advanced to the quarterfinals in a 65-63 nailbiter against No. 6 seed Bowling Green. Chellia Watson scored 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting and made the game-winning basket with 10 seconds to play.
 
Toledo won both regular-season contests by three points, with a 58-55 victory at UB on Feb. 5 and a 71-68 home victory on Feb. 26. Toledo leads the all-time series, 30-10 and is 5-1 all-time against Buffalo in the MAC Tournament.
 
Toledo (23-7, 13-5 MAC) vs. Buffalo (25-6, 13-5 MAC)
Friday, March 14 | 12:30 p.m. ET* | Cleveland, Ohio/Rocket Arena | Live Stats | Tickets
*Start time subject to change
 
WATCH: ESPN+ (Dave Bacon and Jacki Windon)
LISTEN: The Varsity Network/WCWA 1230 AM (Jim Heller)
 
All-Time: Toledo, 30-10
Last Meeting: Toledo 71, Buffalo 68 – Feb. 26, 2025, Toledo, Ohio
 
Three-Point Shooting Shines Against Central Michigan

• To spur its second-half quarterfinal comeback against Central Michigan, Toledo shot 13-of-23 for a season-best 56.5% from three-point range, including a blistering 8-of-12 mark from three in the second half.
• Nan Garcia set a season high and tied her career best with four three-pointers.
• Khera Goss scored all three of her field goals from deep, while Sammi Mikonowicz and Kendall Carruthers each knocked down a pair from distance.

Rockets in the MAC Tournament

• Toledo looks to win its 10th MAC Tournament title and second in three years this week.
• The Rockets have played the semifinals in each of the last four seasons, and win would advance Toledo to its second tournament final in that span.
• UT is a top-two seed for the fourth-consecutive season (No. 1 seed the previous three years).
• Toledo's senior class of Jessica Cook, Nan Garcia, Khera Goss, Sammi Mikonowicz and Hannah Noveroske holds a 6-2 record in MAC Tournament games.
• Toledo is 5-1 all-time in MAC Tournament games against Buffalo.

Rebounding Rockets

• The Rockets out-rebounded CMU, 37-33 in Wednesday's win, including by a 22-14 margin in the second half.
• Toledo ranks 28th in the country with a +6.8 rebounding margin.
• The Rockets have out-rebounded 21 of their last 24 opponents dating back to Dec. 6.
• Mikonowicz entered the tournament eighth in the league with a 6.3 rebounding average.

Of Note

• Toledo is 10-6 away from Savage Arena and 3-1 in neutral-site contests this season.
• Sammi Mikonowicz is fifth in the MAC with a 51.9% shooting percentage while Khera Goss is eighth at a 49.4% clip. Goss is also sixth with a 40.0% three-point percentage while Kendall Carruthers is eighth at 38.1%.
• Carruthers is seventh in free throw percentage at 82.3% while Mikonowicz is eighth at 82.1%.
• Hannah Noveroske is 10th in the league with 0.7 blocks per game with 17 overall.
• As a team, Toledo's field goal percentage of 45.4% is second in the MAC and 37th in the country. Toledo has shot at least 50% in nine games this season, including a season-best 62.8% in the Feb. 26 triumph against Buffalo.
• Head Coach Ginny Boggess is 5-2 all-time in conference tournament games between the MAAC (0-1), CAA (4-1) and MAC (1-0). She is coaching in the fourth conference tournament of her career.