The University of Toledo women's basketball team and its promising depth were on display last night.
Every eligible and healthy player saw the floor for at least seven minutes for the Rockets in their 88-64 exhibition win over Ashland at Savage Arena.
Sophomore guard Naama Shafir led UT with 17 points, while senior forward Allie Clifton and junior forward Melissa Goodall chipped in with 13 points apiece.
Goodall also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, and senior forward Tanika Mays added 10 first-half points.
Junior forward Elizabeth Tyler had 15 points for Ashland, a Division II institution and a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
"Tonight was what we wanted it to be," UT coach Tricia Cullop said. "We experimented with a lot of different combinations. We experimented with some different defenses, different offenses, and we got the competition that we wanted."The Rockets jumped out to an 11-0 lead before Ashland senior guard Lacy Romine hit a 3-pointer with 16:20 left in the first half.
By halftime, UT had built a 51-34 advantage behind Shafir's 13 points and some stingy defense.
The Rockets had 17 steals in the first half and forced 26 Ashland turnovers in the contest while turning the ball over 20 times themselves.
"I think we did good for an exhibition game, but we still have things we need to work on," Mays said. "It wasn't perfect. We had some moments where we broke down on defense, but it's a learning process."
Center Yolanda Richardson was one of three freshmen to see their first game action in a UT uniform. The Start graduate finished with eight points and seven rebounds in 11 minutes on the floor.
Freshmen forwards Riley
McCormick and Lecretia Smith each had four points.
Richardson was the first of the freshman trio that got the call off the bench, and all three saw a decent amount of floor time throughout the remainder of the contest.
"This game knocked all the nerves away," Richardson said. "At first I was a little nervous, but now I feel like I can go out there and it'll be just another game. After the first go-around, I feel a lot better."
The Rockets have one week to prepare for next Friday's season-opener against Northwestern at Savage Arena.
"The thing that I liked immediately when I looked at the stat line [for yesterday's game] is we had four people in double figures," Cullop said, "and we had several people that missed some easy bunnies that could have easily been in double figures.
"I like the fact that we're going to put a team out there that it is going to be hard to stop one of us and think you've stopped all of us. We have different players that can step up every night."
Contact Zach Silka
at: zsilka@theblade.com.
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