Women's Basketball Finishes Off Road Heavy Stretch Wednesday at Toledo

February 01 | Women's Basketball

Akron (9-12, 3-4) at Toledo (13-7, 6-2)

Wednesday, Feb. 1 • 7 p.m. ET
Toledo, Ohio • Savage Arena (7,300)

Game Notes (PDF)

Radio: Wednesday's game will be broadcast live on 640 WHLO AM. Bill Morgan will have the call from Savage Arena.

Live Stats: Available at www.UTRockets.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 69-105 (.397) mark. Kest is 295-258 (.533) 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.

Toledo Coach Tricia Cullop (Purdue, 1993): Cullop is now in her fourth season as the head coach at Toledo and has established a record of 85-37 (.697) with the Rockets. She is in her 12th season as a head coach overall with a record of 208-147 (.586). Cullop led the Rockets to the WNIT Championship in 2011.

The Series: Akron is 7-37 all-time against Toledo. UA is 2-3 against the Rockets under Jodi Kest.

Akron Finishes Off Road Heavy Stretch at Toledo
UA takes to the court against the defending WNIT Champion Toledo Rockets Wednesday at Savage Arena. The game ends a stretch that saw Akron play six of eight games on the road.

Storylines
• The Zips were handed their worst defeat of the season on Saturday, losing at Eastern Michigan 91-46. Candace Martino and Carly Young scored eight points each to pace UA. Akron shot just 24.5-percent from the field in the losing effort.
• Wednesday's game ends a stretch that saw Akron play six of eight on the road. The Zips are 3-4 during the difficult run. UA finishes the season with five of seven at the JAR.
• Despite on off night in the loss to Eastern Michigan, junior Taylor Ruper is still ranked in the top 25 nationally in both 3-point percentage (21st, .403) and 3-pointers made per game (22nd, 2.7).
• Balance has been the key for the Zips during conference play this season. UA has six players averaging 9.0 points or more per game in conference play this season.
• UA's point guard play has been balanced this season, with Natasha Williams and Kacie Cassell splitting minutes equally. Williams owns the MAC's top assist/turnover ratio in all games (1.9), while Cassell is dishing out 4.6 assists per league game.
• The Zips lead the MAC in scoring offense, field goal percentage, and assists, while ranking second in 3-point percentage and 3-pointers made per game. Senior Natasha Williams leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio (1.9), while Kacie Cassell is third (1.3). Taylor Ruper is second in 3-pointers made per game (2.7) and third in 3-point percentage (.403).
• 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.
• Wednesday's game can be heard live on 640 WHLO, with Bill Morgan calling the action.

A Look at Toledo
Toledo is tied with Eastern Michigan for the MAC West lead with a 6-2 league mark. UT is 13-7 overall and currently holds a season-long five game winning streak.
Andola Dortch leads UT at 13.7 points per game. Courtney Ingersoll (11.1 ppg) and Yolanda Richardson (10.8 ppg) are also averaging double-figures for the Rockets. UT allows just 57.5 points per game and shoots 35.4 percent from three.

Last Time Out Against Toledo
Toledo came away from Rhodes Arena with a 58-49 win on Feb. 2, 2011. UA led by as much as eight in the second and the Rockets held just a one point lead with 3:17 to play before closing the game on a 9-1 run to claim the win. Kara Murphy led Akron with 18 points while, Rachel Tecca tallied a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double.

Zips Fall at Eastern Michigan, 91-46
Akron suffered its largest defeat of the season on Saturday, losing at Eastern Michigan, 91-46.Carly Young and Candace Martino scored eight points each to pace UA. Akron shot just 24.5-percent from the floor in the game and committed 27 turnovers. UA did block a season-high tying 11 shots, with Denver McLean swatting a career-high five attempts.

Balanced MAC Attack
UA has been all about balance during MAC play this year. The Zips have six players averaging 9.0 points or more per game. Sina King leads the way with at 14.8 points per game. Akron has had seven different players lead the team in points during conference games.

The Helping Hand
Akron shares the ball better than any other team in the MAC, leading the league with 15.2 assists per game. Akron's point guards are both ranked in the top five in the conference in assists. Natasha Williams averages 4.1 dimes per game and Kacie Cassell hands out 3.8 helpers per game.

Career Game 100 for Williams
Senior Natasha Williams reached the 100 career games milestone in the Jan. 22 loss to Northern Illinois. She was the second Zip to reach the mark this season after Jasmine Mushington played in game no. 100 against Youngstown State on Dec. 18. Williams has made 30 starts in her career and is 33rd in the country this season with a 1.9 assist/turnover ratio. Mushington is averaging 9.9 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.

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 9.4 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 12 games since the Tecca injury. Ti'eshia Stubbs (5.4 rpg in the last 12 games) and Carly Young (5.8 rpg in the last 12 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 35.0-percent of their 3-pointers. UA is the 33rd best 3-point shooting team in the country. Taylor Ruper tops the team, making 40.3-percent (60-of-149) of her attempts from distance. Ruper is 21st in the country in 3-point percentage and 22nd in 3-pointers made per game (2.7).

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 seven games and better than 40.0 percent from 3-point range in 11 games this season. The Zips rank 36th in the country in field goal percentage (.429) and 33rd in 3-point percentage (.350). The Zips rank 24th nationally in scoring offense at 73.9 points per game.

Quest for 300
Head Coach Jodi Kest owns a career record of 295-258 (.533) 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 8.4 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. 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 (.370) and is on pace to break the mark for treys in a season (91, Keyla Snowden, 2007-08).

Senior Jasmine Mushington is now tied for ninth 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
Akron starts a four game homestand on Saturday when Central Michigan (12-10, 4-4) visits Rhodes Arena. The game tips at 5:00 p.m. with the UA men's basketball game against Eastern Michigan to follow at 7:30 p.m.