After its 73-67 comeback victory at Northern Illinois on Feb. 13, Head Coach Sue Guevara said “A cat only has nine lives and we’ve used about five of them.”

Instead of picking up their ninth consecutive victory Saturday against Toledo, the Chippewas (17-8, 11-3 Mid-American Conference) used up their ninth life in regulation, falling to Toledo in overtime 81-79 at McGuirk Arena.

“Nine lives,” Guevara said after Saturday’s game. “Damn, you know, I've got two cats. I thought we were about to have 18 (lives).”

The Chippewas had three turnovers in the first four minutes of play and trailed the entire first half, in which the Rockets shot 56 percent from the floor.

“We have to come out with a sense of urgency in the first half — the first quarter,” Guevara said. “At one point, we had four turnovers and we only had three points.”

After trailing by as many as 11, CMU sharp shooter Cassie Breen put the Chippewas within one point of UT, 64-63, with 1:25 left in regulation. Breen hit a defended 3-pointer from well beyond 22 feet.

She finished with 15 points, two steals and a handful of drawn offensive fouls.

Twenty-seven seconds later, a takeaway and fastbreak layup by senior guard Da’Jourie Turner gave CMU a 65-64 lead with 56 seconds remaining.

The Rockets would regain the lead at the 26 second mark with a layup from Kaayla McIntyre — UT led 66-65.

Down one with 24 seconds remaining, the Chippewas were forced to foul five consecutive times to get Toledo into the bonus, running 14 seconds off the clock.

UT’s Jay Bravo-Harriott, who finished with 19 points and five assists, split a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left, giving UT a 67-65 lead.

After a CMU timeout, the Chippewas got an equalizer layup from junior forward Jewel Cotton, which tied the game at 67-67 with six seconds left, but an ill-advised intentional foul by Tinara Moore sent UT’s Brenae Harris to the line.

Guevara said the foul is frustrating because the team works on time and situation drills at practice, but Moore simply forgot the situation.

“She lost her mind,” Guevara said. “She forgot and that happens… that happens.”

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Harris knocked both free throws down, giving UT a 69-67 lead with 4.2 seconds remaining. Harris led all scorers with 23 points in the game.

Guevara said after the team’s 76-75, buzzer-beater victory over Bowling Green on Feb. 6 that she wouldn’t want the ball in anyone else’s hands besides her freshman guard Presley Hudson with the game clock is winding down.

Once again, it was Hudson who had the ball with 4.2 seconds remaining, eyeing the defense from the top of the key and once again she came up in the clutch. Hudson drove past her defender to the right and laid the ball in to tie the score at 69 as time expired.

The Chippewas jumped out to a quick three-point lead in overtime, but 3-pointers from Bravo-Harriott and Ana Capotosto kept the Rockets on top.

An unsuccessful corner 3-point attempt from Turner was short, sealing a conference road win for UT.

Saturday statistics

The loss ends CMU's eight game winning streak, which began on Jan. 20 and included two one-point victories and a two-point victory. It is the team's first loss at McGuirk Arena since they lost to Memphis Dec. 15.

The Chippewas shot 27-71 (38 percent) from the floor and 6-16 (37.5 percent) from 3-point range.

UT went 31-62 (51.6 percent) from the floor and shot 66.7 percent from 3-point range in the overtime period.

Moore finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, two steals and a block.

Turner had 14 points, two steals and two assists during her 28 minutes on the court.

Hudson finished with 11 points and just one turnover.

Freshman forward Reyna Frost contributed a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. She had four points in the overtime.

Cotton had nine points and six rebounds in 27 minutes, coming off the bench.

What's next

With the Chippewas heading to Toledo March 2, Guevara said she hopes her team is better when they play in Savage Arena.

“Toledo is a good basketball team,” she said. “We’ll see them again in two weeks and hopefully we’ll be a better team.”

CMU hosts Ball State at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Chippewas defeated the Cardinals 74-65 on Feb. 10 in Muncie, Indiana.

“We’ll look at this (film) as a team on Monday and we’ll get ready for Ball State,” Guevara said. “We’ve beaten them once. We know how to do that. Now it’s just going back to the very basics defensively and offensively executing without turning the ball over.”