Third seed, eight straight appearances in the finals, winners of five out of the last seven championships, defending tournament champions. It is quite a list of accomplishments the University of Toledo's women's basketball team has compiled, but all was for naught Wednesday night as the Northern Illinois Huskies upset the Rockets 54-48 in a quarterfinal of the 2002 Kraft MAC Women's Basketball Tournament at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
In the first half, the game had four ties and two lead changes before the Rockets took a 25-23 halftime lead. UT was lead by Courtney Risinger, who registered 10 first-half points while NIU's Jennifer Youngblood put in eight. UT managed to hold the lead until just past the 17-minute mark of the second half, before Kristan Knake hit a jumper to put the Huskies up for good at 30-29. UT would tie the game once more, but never again take the lead.
Knake led all scorers with 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Youngblood finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. Risinger led the Rockets with 13 points, while Rockets center Melantha Herron sunk 11 points and grabbed eight boards. The biggest scoring, however, came from the bench, as the Huskies outscored the Rockets 22-6 from the pine.
Junior guard Valerie Zona scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Kent State Golden Flashes in a convincing win over the Ohio Bobcats. The first half was tight, with the Bobcats ahead 28-20 at one point. The Golden Flashes rebounded though, and took a 39-30 lead into halftime. KSU never looked back as they led by at least 10 points for most of the second half, and extended their final margin to 20.
