Women's Basketball Looks for Third Straight Win Thursday at Ohio

January 18 | Women's Basketball

Akron (8-10, 2-2) at Ohio (8-10, 1-3)

Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 • 7 p.m. ET
Athens, Ohio • Convocation Center (13,080)

Game Notes (PDF)

Television: None

Radio: Fox Sports 1350 WARF-AM with Bill Morgan (play-by-play).

Live Stats: Available at www.OhioBobcats.com. Live stats are free of charge.

Live Streaming: Available free of charge at www.MAC-Sports.com.

Akron Coach Jodi Kest (Slippery Rock, 1984): Is in her sixth season at Akron, posting a 68-102 (.400) mark. Kest is 294-255 (.536) in 19-plus seasons as a collegiate head coach. She was named the MAC Coach of the Year in 2010 after leading UA to a school-record 18 wins.

Ohio Coach Semeka Randall (Tennessee, 2000): Randall is in just her third season as the head coach at Ohio. She has compiled a 38-72 (.345) record during that time.

The Series: OU leads 33-13 in the series, but Akron has won four out of the last five. The Zips won both matchups in 2010-11.

Akron Looks for Third Straigt Win at Ohio Thursday
Akron travels to Ohio Thursday with a chance to win its third straight and climb above .500 in conference play. Game time at the Convocation Center is 7 p.m.

Storylines
• Akron topped rival Kent State on Saturday to even its MAC record at 2-2. Jasmine Mushington and Ti'eshia Stubbs each scored 15 points for UA. The game featured seven lead changes as Akron took the lead for good on a Mushington lay-up with 2:29 to play.
• The Zips have started a stretch that sees them play six of eight games on the road by going 2-1. The Zips were 4-4 in MAC road games last season.
• Junior Taylor Ruper ranks 14th in the country in 3-pointers made per game (2.9) and 18th nationally in 3-point percentage (.417). As a team Akron is 23rd in field goal pct. (.440), 24th in scoring offence (75.0) and 25th in 3-pointers made per game (6.9) nationally.
• Through four conference games, Akron has four players (King, Mushington, Stubbs, Ruper) averaging double-figure points. Two others (Young, Luburgh) are averaging 9.8 and 9.5 points per game.
• Kacie Cassell is averaging a MAC-best 6.5 assists per game in conference play. Cassell also owns the MAC's best assist/turnover ratio in conference play (3.7).
• The Zips lead the MAC in scoring offense, field goal percentage, 3-pointers made per game and assists, while ranking second in 3-point percentage, and assist/turnover ratio. Ti'eshia Stubbs is third in the league in field goal percentage (.513). Senior Natasha Williams leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio (2.0) and is third in assists (4.3). Taylor Ruper is first in 3-pointers made per game (2.9) and second in 3-point percentage (.417).
• Head Coach Jodi Kest needs just six wins to join the 300-club. She has amassed 294 wins over 19-plus seasons as a head coach. At Akron, Kest has posted a 68-102 record (.400) and needs 12 wins to become the winningest coach in Zips history.

A Look at Ohio
Ohio (8-10, 1-3) enters Thursday's game looking to snap a three game losing streak. The Bobcats beat Buffalo to open MAC play, but have since lost to Kent State, Bowling Green, and Miami. OU is 7-3 at home this season.

Akron native Tenishia Benson leads OU with 14.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Porsha Harris (10.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg) also averages double figure points and is strong on the glass.

Last Time Out Against Ohio
Rachel Tecca and Sina King each scored 11 points to lead Akron to a narrow 59-57 win over the Bobcats in Athens on Feb. 19, 2011. Akron led by 12 at half-time before OU stormed back to take an eight point lead with less than four minutes to play. UA closed the game on 15-5 run to claim the win.

Akron Tops Rival Kent State, 68-62
A Jasmine Mushington lay-up with 2:29 gave Akron the lead for good as UA topped rival Kent State, 68-62, in a back-and-forth game Saturday. The win snapped a three game losing streak to the Golden Flashes. Mushington and Ti'eshia Stubbs each scored 15 points to lead Akron. Sina King and Carly Young added 13 points each. Kacie Cassell handed out a season-high tying 8 assists.

Balanced MAC Attack
UA has four players - Sina King (14.5), Jasmine Mushington (12.3), Ti'eshia Stubbs (11.0), Taylor Ruper (10.5) - averaging double-digit points in conference play. Carly Young (9.8) and Hanna Luburgh (9.5) are just below the 10.0 points per game mark.

Cassell's Helping Hand
Sophomore Kacie Cassell has been handing out assists at a clip of 6.5 per game during conference play. That mark is tops in the MAC. She also been taking care of the ball, compiling an assist/turnover ratio of 3.7 through four conference games. Cassell handed out a season-high eight assists against both Miami (Jan. 4) and Kent State Jan. 14)

Luburgh Heats Up at Buffalo
Hanna Luburgh got hot quick in Wednesday's win at Buffalo, scoring 13 of her 15 points in the games final 5:46. Luburgh shot 6-of-7 in the stretch and scored 13 of Akron's final 19 points.

Stepping Up
Since First-Team All-MAC player Rachel Tecca went down with a season-ending injury against Duquesne, several Zips have stepped up their roles on the court. Leading the way is sophomore Sina King who is averaging 14.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in the eight games since the Tecca injury. Ti'eshia Stubbs (5.6 rpg in the last eight games) and Carly Young (5.1 rpg in the last eight games) have also helped pick up the slack on the boards.

Zips Once Again Light it up from Distance
Akron had another excellent shooting night from behind the arc against Buffalo, making 11-of-25 (.440) 3-pointers. It was the 4th-best 3-point effort in program history, but was not UA's best effort of the season. Akron made 12 treys in the loss to Robert Morris on Dec. 21. The program record for threes in a game is 13, set in 2005 at Central Michigan. Taylor Ruper led the way against Buffalo, making 6-of-11 from deep. Ruper owns the single-game record with eight 3-pointers (vs. Ball State, Feb. 12, 2011) and drained seven in the Robert Morris game.

3-Point Prowess
The Zips have been lighting it up from downtown this season, making 35.2-percent of their 3-pointers. UA is the 31st best 3-point shooting team in the country. Taylor Ruper tops the team, making 41.7-percent (53-of-127) of her attempts from distance. Ruper is 18th in the country in 3-point percentage and 14th in 3-pointers made per game (2.9).

Program Reaches 1,000th Game
The Jan. 4 loss to Miami was contest number 1,000 for the Akron women's basketball program. The Zips played their first ever game - a 59-24 win over Kent-Tuscarawas - on Jan. 18, 1975. The game was the 800th all-time Division I game.

Road Warriors
Beginning with the Jan. 7 game at BGSU, UA is in a stretch that sees it play 6-of-8 games on the road. This could be a good thing, as Akron fared better on the road than at home last season in MAC play. UA posted a 2-6 league record at the JAR and a 4-4 mark on the road in 2010-11. The 4-4 road record matched the best ever for Akron in the MAC since 1999-2000. In non-conference play this year, Akron was 3-3 away from home and 3-5 at the JAR.

Double-Double, Double-Double
Sina King (11p, 10r) and Carly Young (16p, 11r) both recorded double-doubles in the Chicago State win. It was the first time two Akron players tallied double-doubles in the same game since Young and Rachel Tecca did the feat in a 56-53 loss to Kent State last season on March 3, 2011.

Stubbs Having Great Senior Year
Senior Ti'eshia Stubbs is making the most of her senior season. Stubbs is scoring 8.4 points per contest this season, after averaging just 1.7 points per game prior to this year. She scored a career-high 18 points and added seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals in the Jan. 4 loss to Miami. Stubbs also hit a trey at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

Record Watch
Junior guard Taylor Ruper netted 75 3-pointers last season, the second most in a season in program history, and currently stands second all-time with 148 career 3's. The program record is 183 by Michelle Chavanne. Ruper is currently third in career 3-point percentage (.373).

The Zips are currently on pace to break several team marks. The record for scoring average in a season is 72.8 (1982-83), while UA is also shooting above or near the record for field goal percentage (.443, 1997-98) and free throw percentage (.722, 2007-08).

Firing on All Cylinders
The Zips have shot better than 40.0 percent from the field in all but five games and better than 40.0 percent from 3-point range in nine games this season. Akron has also finished better than 70.0 percent from the free throw line in 11-of-18 contests. The Zips rank 23rd in the country in field goal percentage (.440) and 31st in 3-point percentage (.352). The Zips rank 24th nationally in scoring offense at 75.0 points per game.

Career Game 100 for Mushington
Senior Jasmine Mushington played in her 100th career game on Dec. 18 against Youngstown St. Mushington scored 13 points and added four assists and five rebounds in the loss. Fellow senior Natasha Williams is fast approaching the 100-game mark, having played in 97 contests thus far in her career.

Quest for 300
Head Coach Jodi Kest owns a career record of 294-253 (.536) through 19-plus seasons, needing just eight more wins to total 300 for her career. In 2009-10, she guided the Zips to a school-record 18 wins and was named the MAC Coach of the Year.

Up Next for Akron
Akron continues its MAC travels this weekend, heading to Muncie for a Sunday matinee with Ball State (7-10, 2-2). Tip-off at Worthen Arena is set for 1 p.m.