TOLEDO, Ohio – Playing in their first postseason game in program history, the HBU women's basketball team lost in the first round of the WNIT to the Toledo Rockets on Friday night inside of Savage Arena.
 
HBU (16-11, 12-2 SLC) fell behind by as many as 16 in the first quarter before huge bench scoring outputs from N'Denasija Collins and Enya Maguire cut the Toledo (27-5, 19-1 MAC) all the way down to two in the second quarter.
 
The Huskies' opened the second quarter on back-to-back made triples from Maguire and Collins before Elizabeth Matadi made a fast break layup on a dish from Collins to cut the lead to seven, 26-19.  Down nine with five minutes left in the half, the Huskies went on a 9-2 run on a layup from Timia Jefferson, a couple of midrange jumpers from Collins and a three ball from Maguire to cut the lead all the way down to two. The Rockets however responded with a made layup and three pointer to close out the half  to take a 37-30 lead into halftime.
 
The Rockets' and Huskies' defenses were both amped up a notch coming out of the break. Both teams traded jumpers in the opening minutes before falling cold from the field. Over the final eight minutes of the quarter, the teams each shot 3-11 from the floor and combined to make just one of six free throw attempts. The Rockets outscored the Huskies during that stretch, 8-7, and took a 47-41 lead into the fourth.
 
The Rockets extended their lead to 11 over the first few minutes of the fourth before an Amy Cotton made floater with eight minutes left ended the Toledo run. Although they outscored the Rockets 6-2 over the final minute a and a half of the game, the Huskies could not find the same offensive rhythm they discovered in the second quarter, and the lead the Rockets built proved to be too much to overcome.
 
For Toledo, Jessica Cook led four Rockets in double-figures with 13 points while Sammi Mikonowicz pulled in a game high 13 rebounds.
 
The Huskies were led on offense by Collins who scored 13 points off the bench for HBU. Jefferson had 12 and Maguire had nine. Abbey Sutherland and Collins were tied for a team high six boards while Sutherland had a game high three blocks.
 
The Huskies will return all of their starters and the majority of their bench unit next season as they look to defend their Southland Conference regular season title and make another deep run in the conference tournament.