TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's basketball program begins the final week of the regular season with a Mid-American Conference tilt against Northern Illinois on Wednesday, March 5 in DeKalb. Tipoff from the NIU Convocation Center is at 7:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. CT and will air on ESPN+, WSPD 1370 AM/92.9 FM and The Varsity Network app.
 
The Rockets (21-6, 12-4 MAC) have won nine of their last 10 games and currently hold the No. 2-seed in next week's MAC Tournament. The Huskies (13-15, 6-7 MAC) are in ninth place, one game behind Central Michigan and Western Michigan for the final tournament spot.
 
Toledo finished its regular-season home schedule with an 80-70 victory against Central Michigan on Saturday. Kendall Carruthers dropped 20 points on 8-of-13 from the field while Sammi MIkonowicz added 18 on 7-of-8 from the floor and Khera Goss finished with 15 points. Toledo completed the regular-season sweep over CMU.
 
The Huskies earned an important double-overtime win against Bowling Green on Saturday, 84-77. NIU out-scored Bowling Green 23-10 in the fourth quarter to force overtime, then took the second overtime 14-7 for the victory. Chelby Coker scored 28 points and shot 11-of-12 from the free-throw line.
 
Toledo leads the all-time series, 42-24 and holds a 17-15 edge on the road. Northern Illinois won a tight battle, 59-58 in Toledo back on Jan. 1.
 
Toledo (21-6, 11-4 MAC) at Northern Illinois (13-15, 6-7 MAC)
Wednesday, March 5 | 7:00 p.m. ET | DeKalb, Ill. | Live Stats
 
WATCH: ESPN+ (Andy Garcia and Ajah Davis)
LISTEN: The Varsity Network/WSPD 1370 AM/92.9 FM (Jim Heller)
 
All-Time: Toledo, 42-24
Last Meeting: Northern Illinois 59, Toledo 58 – Jan. 1, 2025, Toledo, Ohio
 
Seniors Stepping Up

• Toledo honored its senior class after Saturday's game and the seniors have shown up in big ways in the Rockets' run of nine wins in 10 games.
• Sammi Mikonowicz and Khera Goss both scored 13 points against Buffalo and combined to shoot 9-of-13 as Toledo moved up into second place in the MAC with a win against the Bulls.
• The duo then combined for 33 points on 13-of-18 from the floor against Central Michigan.
• Jessica Cook has shot 24-of-36 (.667) from the field in her last 10 games.
• Nan Garcia and Hannah Noveroske have each contributed key minutes off the bench. Garcia has four double-digit scoring efforts and has averaged 2.4 assists over her last 10 games. Noveroske is 13-of-16 (81.2%) since returning from injury on Feb. 1, and is averaging 1.0 block over her last five games.

Rebounding Rockets

• Toledo ranks 29th in the country with a +6.9 rebound margin.
• Toledo has out-rebounded 18 of its last 21 opponents dating back to Dec. 6.
• The Rockets out-rebounded NIU by nine, 44-35 in the Jan. 1 matchup.

Rockets Return to the Road

• Toledo is 6-4 in true road games and 8-5 overall away from Savage Arena this season.
• This includes a 4-3 record in MAC road contests this season. Toledo has defeated Akron, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Buffalo in-conference.
• Wednesday's game will be Toledo's first outside Northwest Ohio since Feb. 8, when the Rockets traveled to Old Dominion for the MAC-SBC Challenge. Since then, Toledo has played four home games and a road game at Bowling Green.

Of Note

• Toledo is 4-1 in return matchups this season, defeating Akron, Ball State, Buffalo and Central Michigan and falling to Bowling Green in return games. Toledo swept Akron, Buffalo and CMU in the regular season while splitting with Ball State and Bowling Green.
• Sammi Mikonowicz is 31 minutes away from breaking Toledo's all-time minutes record. She has played 4,927 minutes as a Rocket. Teammate Sophia Wiard holds the current record at 4,957 minutes played.
• Mikonowicz is fourth in the league with a 51.7% field goal percentage while Khera Goss is sixth in the league at 49.8%.
• Goss is also at fourth in the conference in three-point shooting, making at a 40.0% clip.
• Mikonowicz is ninth in the MAC in rebounds per game, at 6.3.
• After two more blocks on Wednesday, Faith Fedd-Robinson is up to 20 blocks on the season, tied for seventh-most in the MAC.
• Toledo has shot better than 50% in each of their last three games and has made over 50% of its field goals eight times this season.