Who wants to dance? UT or BG?

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Bowling Green dominated Akron. Toledo survived Kent State. Either way, a rivalry grudge match is set up with much more on the line.

During the regular season, the Rockets got the better of their regional rivals 66-63 on January 30 at Savage Arena. In that game, fans stormed the court in celebration of winning a rivalry game.

On Saturday, an NCAA berth is on the line. The MAC has traditionally been a 1-bid league into the Big Dance and neither BGSU nor Toledo are considered at-large worthy. Whoever does fall does have a solid shot at the WNIT.

As for the Friday contests, Toledo took the court first against Kent State and after Allie Clifton beat the first-half buzzer with an offensive rebound putback, the Rockets were up seven points at the break.

That lead would extend to 15 points when Courtney Ingersoll nailed a three-pointer from the corner as the shot clock expired just past the midway point of the second half.

However, a combination of sloppy play and poor free-throw shooting (UT shot only 4-14 for the game from the charity stripe) led to Kent State cutting the lead to two points when Jamilah Humes hit a shot in the paint with 24 seconds left.

This was followed by what appeared to be a mental lapse. With the shot clock turned off, Kent State waited until there were only 6.6 seconds left to foul Jessica Williams. However, Williams missed both free throws, allowing Kent State an opportunity to win or tie. Williams made up for it, though, by knocking the ball loose before Kent State could get off a shot and the Rockets recovered the loose ball as time expired.

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Meanwhile, the Bowling Green-Akron game had far less suspense. The Falcons won 81-49, but the game was over long before the end.

BG took control midway through the first half with a 20-4 run that made the score 29-12 with 5:36 left in the stanza.

Lauren Prochaska led four Falcons in double figures with 17 points.

Bowling Green will now attempt to win a record 10th MAC tournament championship, something they seemed more concerned about when compared to getting some rivalry payback. Gametime's 1pm at Quicken Loans Arena on Saturday.