There is not a tougher opponent on our schedule. Toledo won the MAC last year and one NCAA game. This year their roster includes 8 girls who are 5th year or Seniors. There are 3 girls starting for their 5th year for the Rockets. Two of them will be making the first team all MAC for the third year in a row, including one who was MAC POY last season. They beat Michigan by 20 points at Toledo earlier this season
Toledo is 19-4 (11-1, lost at Ball State) and played several games without their best player Quinesha Lockett, including their 70 to 52 win in Oxford ( we were within 1 point with 12 minutes to go though). They have won 7 in a row including a 20 point win at BG Saturday and Lockett has worked her way back into shape and had a season high 26 points in that game. Lockett has 2262 career points, 7th on the NCAA division 1 active player list. She was the MAC POY last season. Sophia Wired is also a two time first team all MAC player and had 27 vs us the first time. She has 1,568 career points although she is more known for her defense and ballhandling. Both stars are averaging 15 points per game and are stat stuffers in all the other categories. UT also has 3 veteran Centers who combine for almost 20 ppg.
Miami is 7-16 ( 4-8) and on our first 2 game winning streak this year. We have settled in with a lineup of 5 girls who play almost all the minutes. Freshman Amber Tretter has averaged 16 points and 13 rebounds over the last 6 games, all double doubles. To appreciate that rebounding number, there is only one girl in the nation with a season average higher than that. Of course Amber is only averaging 7.6 rpg on the season, she has worked very hard and gotten better. 5th year Senior Jaydyn Scott has broken out of a long slump with back to back games of 27 and 20 points. SR Hennessey Luu-Brown and JR Cori Lard have become consistent low double digit scorers. Again, they have improved significantly since early season. We are still missing two key players in JR Katey Richason and Freshman Lakresha Edwards. After this the last 5 games are all against teams that we have a solid shot at beating. Tonight will be a huge challenge, but you just never know. In Toledo’s winning streak, Buffalo did give them a scare with a 4 point win, we had a close loss to UB in the last minutes, and that was the game before Buffalo went to Toledo.