3-point barrage carries Toledo women over Maryland-Baltimore County

11/27/2010

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Toledo nailed a season-high 11 3-point field goals and registered a 77-72 victory over Maryland-Baltimore County (1-5) Saturday in the opening game of the Iona Thanksgiving Classic. With the win, the Rockets' snap their three-game losing skid and improve to 2-3 on the season.

Senior Jessica Williams led the long-range shooting effort with a season-best six 3's, finishing with 24 points.

Joining Williams in double digits for the Rockets were junior Naama Shafir with 15 points, senior Melissa Goodall with 14, and sophomore Lecretia Smith with 10.

The Rockets shot a 42.3 percent (11-of-26) from 3-point range, 44.8 percent (27-of-55) overall the field, and 66.7 percent (14-of-21) from the free throw line to claim the five-point neutral site triumph. UT entered the contest last in the Mid-American Conference in 3-point shooting (22.1 percent) and ninth in overall field-goal percentage (37.4 percent).

Williams helped the home team on the scoreboard set the tone early, hitting three triples in the opening six-plus minutes to stake claim to a 15-13 lead at 13:10.

She remained red-hot as the first half continued, draining another 3-pointer to make the cushion 23-19 with 9:36 remaining.

Williams and the Rockets would struggle to score for the remainder of the period, though, tallying only four more field goals to trail 36-31 at the intermission. UMBC's Erin Brown and Kristin Coles provided a spark for the visitors down the stretch, scoring eight of its teams' final 10 points to build a five-point lead at the break.

The Retrievers began the second half the same way they ended the first, tallying the first four points to push their margin to a game-high nine points 40-31 at 19:05.

The Rockets quickly responded with a game-changing 17-5 run over the next five-plus minutes to reclaim the lead 48-45 at 13:24. Williams was again at the forefront of the charge with two more 3-pointers, while junior Courtney Ingersoll also dialed long distance in the game-changing burst.

Moments later, UT extended its lead to double digits 58-48 behind nine-straight points from Goodall at 9:03.

Toledo would not surrender the lead for the remainder of regulation, hitting all 14 of its free throws in the second half to return to the winning column.