TOLEDO, Ohio -- Fans expected the 2024-2025 Marshall University women's basketball team to be different from last season's squad and it certainly was in one key aspect in Monday night's opener.
The 2023-2024 Sun Belt Conference champions made a habit of falling behind big early, then making late runs to pull out victories. Monday night, The Thundering Herd built a 16-point lead by 8:43 of the second quarter but lost 71-68 at Toledo, spoiling the debut of new MU coach Juli Fulks.
"That was a great game for us to be a part of," Fulks said. "We had a really hot start and came out executing on both ends of the floor. It's hard place to win. They have 4,000 season ticket holders. There was a lot of noise and we prepared for that."
The Herd led 65-64 after Aislynn Hayes' layup with 4:25 to play. Hannah Noveroske, though, scored inside to put the Rockets (1-0) ahead 66-65 and they never trailed after that.
Marshall (0-1) pulled within 69-68 after Ashley Tudor's three-point play with 1:57 remaining. Toledo's Kendall Carruthers' basket was the only scoring the rest of the way as the Herd's Madison Kellione missed a 3-point attempt with 2 seconds left.
"We had three chances in the last minute," Fulks said. "We'd gone deep into our bench. We had three fouls out and one injury. We had a unique lineup that we hadn't worked with there at the end."
Marshall's C.C. Mays came out hot, scoring 11 points in the first quarter before the Rockets decided to guard the 5-foot-8 junior from Tampa, Florida, and hold her to two points in the second quarter. The stepped-up defense allowed Toledo, coached by Hamlin, West Virginia, native Ginny Boggess, to cut the Herd's 24-8 lead to 37-29 by halftime.
The Rockets scored the first four points of the third quarter to climb within 37-33, only to see Marshall extend the margin to seven points. Back came Toledo as Syracuse transfer Jessica Cook reeled off six straight points to bring the home team within 44-43.
The Herd maintained a lead between two and five points the rest of the period. Marshall, though, struggled with Toledo's height. The Rockets featured eight players 6 foot or taller and that showed in the home team's 43-34 rebounding edge, especially with Toledo grabbing 19 offensive boards and blocking six shots. The Rockets outscored the Herd 42-32 in the paint.聽
Mays led Marshall with 20 points and nine rebounds. Hayes scored 11 points and Meredith Maier 10.
Sammi Mikonowicz scored 15 and Khera Goss 11 to back Indiana transfer Noveroske who scored 16 points, blocked three shots and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
The Herd returns to action at 1 p.m. Sunday vs. Northern Kentucky at Cam Henderson Center. The Rockets play again at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 at Iowa.
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