UT women stay intense to get overtime victory
1/8/2006The University of Toledo women's basketball team wanted no repeat of its last-second misfortunes in New Orleans.
So the Rockets, when forced into overtime last night, played with fire in the extra period and claimed an 83-79 victory over Ball State in the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams.
"We learned our lesson down in New Orleans," UT junior Savannah Werner said. "We knew we had to come out with some momentum, just come out on fire. Tulane put it to us down there, and coach wanted us to put it to Ball State."
Werner and Danielle Bishop each had 19 to lead UT (6-5), which snapped a three-game losing streak. Freshman Diana Reindl added a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Julie DeMuth scored 24 to lead Ball State (7-5), while Kelsey Corbin added 20.
UT had leads in both games of the Tulane Basketball Classic, yet lost twice in the waning moments. Last night with time running out Corbin drove the length of the court and made a game-tying layup with less than a second on the clock.
"When we gave up the shot at the end that tied the game in Tulane, we walked off the floor as if we had lost the game," UT coach Mark Ehlen said. "I wanted to make sure the energy and passion was still there, and we weren't going to let it happen again."
Bishop scored on the first possession of overtime to set the tone; she had six points in the extra session, while Werner added four.
The Rockets played their first game without the injured Jasmine House. House suffered a torn ACL in her left knee in the loss at Tulane and is not expected to return this season.
"Jasmine is a big loss, but I was proud of how Aaron Richmond played," Ehlen said. "She played 14 minutes down the stretch, and I thought defensively she did a good job for us."