New season lifts off for Toledo women’s basketball
Story by Steve Bieber | Photos by Scott Grau
TOLEDO – Head coach Ginny Boggess has a perfect 1-0 record after winning her first game against Marshall on Monday.
It was a fitting debut as Toledo women’s basketball kicked off its 50th anniversary season in front of 3,754 fans who welcomed the new coach to Savage Arena with great enthusiasm.
Boggess spent the past three seasons as head coach at Monmouth University in New Jersey, where she inherited a two-win team and coached them to a NCAA tournament appearance.
The Rockets starting slowly, allowing Marshall to surge to 22-8 in the first quarter, but they turned it around and outscored the Herd each quarter after that, eventually chipping away at the lead. It wasn’t until early in the fourth quarter that Toledo took the lead after center Hannah Noveroske‘s layup put them up 56-54.
Both teams battled back and forth in the fourth quarter until Kendall Carruthers, a Springfield High School graduate, made a jump shot with 25 seconds left to give the Rockets the go-ahead three-point lead. Marshall had the chance to tie the game with five seconds remaining but failed after Maddie Kellione’s three-point basket was called off due to a traveling violation.
Despite the rough start, Boggess spoke highly of her players for pulling it off.
“First and foremost, I want to thank the sixth man here at Savage Arena for showing up and showing out tonight,” she said. “I was really excited how our seniors led, and we’ve got some talented young players who stepped up in big moments for us.
“Overall, the toughness, the resiliency, the championship culture and the ‘Blue Collar, Gold Standard mentality’ was really shown tonight and I’m proud of our fight,” she added.
The coach said she had been awake since 4:48 a.m., feeling eager all day leading up to the game, and feeling excited for her seniors and the rest of the team. She also discussed the impact of the fans and said the home crowd lived up to her expectations.
“It’s amazing. I walked down and just got goosebumps all over my body; this is a really really special place.”
Boggess has made it her mission to continue the tradition at the university.
“I’m here because of the leadership and tradition and because women’s basketball is important at the University of Toledo. We want to keep that tradition going. I really believe this is a special place and these are special players. We’ll continue to keep working really hard to represent you guys,” she vowed.
One fan watching the season opener was Toledo native Dick Greenblatt. He has been a fan since he graduated from the university in 1967. He said he was impressed with what he saw from the new head coach.
“I like her. I think she’s got a lot of good ideas and she’s going to work out just great,” he said.
Sylvania resident Kaiko Zureich has been following the Toledo’s women’s basketball team for 15 years. She is not only a fan but a mentor to freshman Jessica Cook. She felt that the future is bright for the players and new coach.
“We have a great new coach. The girls are really coming together as a team. I am a mentor so I talk to the girls a lot, and I’m excited about this season. They’ll get it together and we’re going to go far,” Zureich said.
Game Recap
First Quarter
- Marshall scored 10 points to start the game, but Toledo finally scored when Noveroske made a layup with 5:55 left in the first quarter.
- Toledo trailed 16-5 at the first media timeout, and the Rockets made 18 percent of their field goals.
- A jump shot from Sammi Mikonowicz and a free throw from Emmi Rinat cut the lead to 22-8 at the end of the first quarter.
Second Quarter
- Mikonowicz’s three-point-play and a layup from Faith Fredd-Robinson helped cut the lead to 28-19 at the 4:45 mark.
- The Rockets battled back and outscored Marshal 21-15 in the second quarter.
- Toledo’s offense showed improvement after shooting 8-16 and received help with a huge trey from Nan Garcia near the end of the half to cut the lead to 37-29.
Third Quarter
- Mikonowicz opened the half with a layup to make the lead 37-31.
- Rockets trailed 44-41 at the break after shooting 5-of-8 from the floor.
- Toledo cut the lead to one when Cook made a layup to make the score 44-43 with 3:46 left to play.
- After trading baskets, Khera Goss nailed both free throws to help Toledo pull within one again as Toledo trailed 54-53 after three quarters.
Fourth Quarter
- A layup from Noveroske gave the Rockets their first lead at the 9:28 mark of the fourth quarter.
- After battling back and forth, the Rockets led the Thundering Herd 64-61 after Garcia made both free throws with five minutes left to play.
- Kendall Carruthers’s jump shot gave Toledo a 71-68 lead with 25 seconds left in the game.
- Marshall’s Kellione had a chance to tie the game with .07 seconds left, but traveled, giving the Rockets the win.
Noveroske and Mikonowicz led the team in scoring with 16 and 15 points, respectively.
