Women's Hoops Travels to MAC West Leading Eastern Michigan Saturday

January 28 | Women's Basketball

Akron (9-12, 3-4) at Eastern Mich. (13-7, 5-2)

Saturday, Jan. 28 • 2 p.m. ET
Ypsilanti, Mich. • Convocation Center (8,000)

Game Notes (PDF)

Television: None

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

Live Stats: Available at www.EMUEagles.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 69-104 (.399) mark. Kest is 295-257 (.534) 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.

Eastern Michigan Coach AnnMarie Gilbert (Oberlin, 1991): In her fifth season as the head coach of the Eagles, with a record of 84-63 (.571) at EMU. She has a career record of 142-198 (.418) in 12-plus seasons as a head coach.

The Series: Akron leads the all-time series against EMU 16-13. UA is 3-2 against the Eagles under Jodi Kest.

Zips Travel to MAC West Leading Eastern Michigan Saturday
Akron looks to rebound from a home loss to Northern Illinois on Saturday when they take on Eastern Michigan at the Convocation Center. Tip-off in Ypsilanti is at 2:00 p.m.

Storylines
• Akron was clipped by Northern Illinois Wednesday 72-66. Carly Young scored a career-high 20 points for UA. NIU made 26-of-30 free throws, while the Zips struggled - 13-of-23 - from the line in the game. NIU outrebounded Akron 44-31.
• With the next two games, Akron closes out a stretch that saw them play 6-of-8 on the road. Akron is 3-3 so far during the difficult run.
• Junior Taylor Ruper ranks 19th in the country in 3-pointers made per game (2.9) and 13th nationally in 3-point percentage (.419). As a team Akron is 19th in scoring offense (74.9) and 24th in field goal percantage (.439)
• Through seven conference games, Akron has six players (King, Mushington, Young, Stubbs, Ruper, Luburgh) averaging double-figure points.
• Kacie Cassell is averaging 4.7 assists per game in conference play. Natasha Williams has the conference's best assist/turnover ratio (1.9) in league games - Cassll is second with a ratio of 1.7.
• The Zips lead the MAC in scoring offense, field goal percentage, and assists, while ranking second in 3-point percentage, 3-pointers made per game, free throw percentage and assist/turnover ratio. Senior Natasha Williams leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio (2.0), while Kacie Cassell is third (1.3). 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 five wins to join the 300-club. She has amassed 295 wins over 19-plus seasons as a head coach. Kest needs just 11 wins to become Akron's all-time wins leader.

A Look at Eastern Michigan
EMU enters the weekend in a tie for the MAC West lead, with a 5-2 league mark. The Eagles are 13-7 overall. EMU handled Buffalo on the road, 72-54, on Wednesday.

The Eagles are led by the conference's leading scoring, Tavelyn James. James averages 23.3 points per game, while shooting .407 from the field. EMU allows just 59.0 points per game and outrebounds opponents by 7.2 boards per contest.

Last Time Out Against Eastern Michigan
Despite 19 points and 18 rebounds from Rachel Tecca, Akron fell to EMU, 56-51, on Jan. 22, 2011 at Rhodes Arena. EMU led by 14, 32-18, at halftime and were up by as much as 17 in the second half, before the Zips closed to within three on a pair of occasions in the games final 1:02. Tavelyn James converted on six straight free throws however to seal the win.

Akron Clipped by Northern Illinois, 72-66
UA dropped to 3-4 in MAC play after a 72-66 home loss to Northern Illinois Wednesday. Carly Young led Akron - who led by as much as 14 in the first half - with a career-high 20 points. NIU was 26-of-30 from the stripe in the game and outrebounded the Zips 44-31.

Balanced MAC Attack
UA has six players - Sina King (14.8), Jasmine Mushington (11.7), Carly Young (10.9), Ti'eshia Stubbs (10.4), Hanna Luburgh (10.0) and Taylor Ruper (10.0) - averaging double-digit points in conference play.

Career Game 100 for Williams
Senior Natasha Williams reached the 100 career games milestone in Wednesday's loss. She was the second Zip to reach the mark after Jasmine Mushington played in game no. 100 against Youngstown State on Dec. 18. Williams has made 30 starts in her career and is 27th in the country this season with a 2.0 assist/turnover ratio. Mushington is averaging 10.3 points per game this season.

King of the Glass
Sophomore Sina King pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds in the loss at Ohio Jan. 19. Her previous career-high was 10 rebounds. It was the best individual rebounding performance by a Zip since Rachel Tecca tallied 18 boards against Eastern Michigan (Jan. 22, 2011) last season. King then recorded her second-straight double-double (16p, 10r) in the win over Ball State on Jan. 22.

The Helping Hand
Akron shares the ball better than any other team in the MAC, leading the league with 15.4 assists per game. Akron's point guards are both ranked in the top five in the conference in assists. Natasha Williams averages 4.2 dimes per game and Kacie Cassell hands out 3.8 helpers per game.

Luburgh Heats Up at Buffalo
Hanna Luburgh got hot quick in the Jan. 11 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. Luburgh is averaging 10.0 points per game in conference play.

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 14.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in the 11 games since the Tecca injury. Ti'eshia Stubbs (5.7 rpg in the last 11 games) and Carly Young (5.8 rpg in the last 11 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 35.5-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 (60-of-144) of her attempts from distance. Ruper is 13th in the country in 3-point percentage and 19th 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. Akron has gone 4-4 on the road in the MAC three times since 1999-2000. In non-conference play this year, Akron was 3-3 away from home and 3-5 at the JAR.

Firing on All Cylinders
The Zips have shot better than 40.0 percent from the field in all but six games and better than 40.0 percent from 3-point range in 11 games this season. The Zips rank 24th in the country in field goal percentage (.439) and 28th in 3-point percentage (.354). The Zips rank 19th nationally in scoring offense at 74.9 points per game.

Quest for 300
Head Coach Jodi Kest owns a career record of 295-257 (.534) 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.

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 8.6 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. Stubbs is hauling in 6.0 rebounds per game in conference play.

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 155 career 3's. The program record is 183 by Michelle Chavanne. Ruper is currently third in career 3-point percentage (.374) and is on pace to break the mark for treys in a season (91, Keyla Snowden, 2007-08).

Senior Jasmine Mushington is now 10th all-time on the career games played list (109).

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).

Up Next
The Zips finish off a stretch that saw them play 6-of-8 on the road with a match-up at Toledo (12-7, 5-2) on Wednesday. Game time at Savage Arena is 7:00 p.m.