February 22, 2012

Women's Basketball Travels to Miami for Afternoon Game Wednesday

Akron (12-15, 6-7) at Miami (19-7, 9-4)

Wednesday, Feb. 22 • 12 p.m. ET
Oxford, Ohio • Millett Hall (9,200)

Game Notes (PDF)

Television: None

Radio: Carried live on 1350 WARF AM. Play-by-play called by Bill Morgan.

Live Stats: Available at www.GoZips.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 72-107 (.402) mark. Kest is 298-260 (.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.

Miami Coach Maria Fantanarosa (Miami, 1990): Fantanarosa is in her 14th season at her alma mater with a record of 217-196 (.525). She also coached one season at Western Carolina and has an all-time record of 223-218 (.506).

The Series: The Zips are 8-31 all-time against the RedHawks. Miami won this season's first matchup, 95-85, in overtime at Rhodes Arena on Jan. 4.

Akron Hits Home Stretch; Faces Miami in Afternoon Game Wednesday
UA takes on the Miami RedHawks at Millett Hall in Oxford Wednesday. Game time is set for noon.

Storylines
• Akron hung tough with MAC leader Bowling Green on Saturday, ultimately falling 60-55 after Ti'eshia Stubbs's game-tying 3-point attempt with five seconds to play was off the mark.
• Kacie Cassell led UA in the BGSU loss, scoring 15 points. Sina King finished with 11 and Hanna Luburgh grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds.
• The Bowling Green loss snapped a three game Akron winning streak. It aslo gave the Zips a 3-1 mark during its four game home stand.
• Akron has played Bowling Green extremely tough in the past three meetings. The Zips have lost all three but by an average margin of just 3.7 points.
• UA is looking to avenge a 95-85 overtime loss to Miami on Jan. 4. The Zips are also looking for the their first win over the RedHawks since the 2009-10 season. Akron swept Miami that year.
• In this season's first meeting, Akron led 29-17 at halftime, trailed by seven with three minutes to play, and got a game-tying trey from Ti'eshia Stubbs at the regulation buzzer before falling in overtime. Courtney Osborn scored a MAC record 48 points to lead Miami. Stubbs led a balanced Akron attack with a career-high 18 points.
• Junior Taylor Ruper continues to be one of the top 3-point shooters in the nation. Ruper ranks 21st nationally in 3-pointers made per game (2.8) and is 32nd in the NCAA in 3-point percentage (.378).
• UA has six players averaging 8.5 points or more in league play this season. UA is led by Sina King's 14.9 points per league game.
• Akron's is the 23rd highest scoring team in the nation at 73.1 points per game. The top scoring team in the MAC, Akron's field goal percentage of 42.6-percent ranks 35th in the country and second in the MAC.
• Head Coach Jodi Kest needs just two wins to join the 300-club. She has amassed 298 wins over 19-plus seasons as a head coach. Kest needs just eight wins to become Akron's all-time wins leader.

A Look at Miami
Miami is second in the MAC East standings at 19-7 overall and 9-4 in the conference. The RedHawks have won two straight after losing two in a row for the first time all season.
Courtney Osborn (18.3 ppg, 5.5 apg) leads a trio of RedHawks that are scoring in double digits. Osborn also leads the conference in assists. Maggie Boyer (11.3 ppg) and Kirsten Olowinski (11.1 ppg) are also offensive threats for Miami. Olowinski is also the top rebounder in the MAC at 9.8 boards per game.

Last Time Out Against Miami
In a wild game at Rhodes Arena, Miami took home a 95-85 overtime win on Jan. 4. Akron led, 29-17, at the half, but Courtney Osborn led Miami back scoring a MAC single-game record 48 points. Ti'eshia Stubbs - who scored a career-high 18 points - hit a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime, but Miami jumped out to a quick lead in OT and held on for the win. Miami dominated the glass, 52-32, to offset a good shooting night from the Zips (32-of-67, .478).

UA Drops Close Battle to Bowling Green
Ti'eshia Stubbs's game-tying 3-point attempt with five seconds to play was off the back iron and Bowling Green escaped Rhodes Arena with a 60-55 win on Saturday. Kacie Cassell led UA with 15 points. Sina King added 11 and Hanna Luburgh grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. Akron led by as much as seven in the first half, before BGSU rallied to tie the game by the break.

Home Cooking
James A. Rhodes Arena was good to Akron during the four game homestand that wrapped up Saturday. The Zips were 3-1 during the stretch and won its three games by an average of 10.0 points. Hanna Luburgh averaged 11.0 points per game and Carly Young is scoring 11.2 points per contest during the homestand.

Firing on All Cylinders
Akron continues to be one of the best shooting and scoring teams in the country. The Zips are shooting 42.6-percent from the floor this season - good enough for 37th in the national rankings. All those made buckets have made Akron the 23rd best scoring team in the nation at 73.1 points per game. Last season, the Zips were 114th in scoring at 66.3 points per game.

Luburgh Scores in Bunches
Hanna Luburgh has shown the ability to score in bunches this season, most recently scoring 13 of Akron's first 15 points in the Feb. 11 win over Western Michigan. She also 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 10.5 points per game in conference play.

Zips Once Again Light it up from Distance
Akron drained 10-plus 3-pointers for the fourth time this season in the win over Western Michigan on Feb. 11, going 11-of-26 from behind the arc. That effort matched the Zips second-best 3-point night of the season, also making 11 treys in the win over Buffalo (Jan. 11). UA made 12 threes 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.

Record Watch
Career 3-Pointers
1. Michelle Chavanne 183
2. Taylor Ruper 168

Career 3-Pointers Attempted
1. Michelle Chavanne 567
2. Taylor Ruper 463

Career 3-Point Percentage
1. Kelley Burrier .380
Nicki Nettrour .380
3. Taylor Ruper .363

Career Games Played
1. Kara Murphy 123
t2. Jasmine Mushington 115

Season 3-Pointers Made
1. Keyla Snowden (2007-08) 91
3. Taylor Ruper (2011-12) 73

Season 3-Pointers Attempted
1. Keyla Snowden (2007-08) 237
3. Taylor Ruper (2011-12) 193

Team 3-Pointers Made
1. 2007-08 187
2. 2011-12 182

Team 3-Point Attempts
1. 2007-08 580
2. 2011-12 531

Team Blocks
1. 2007-08 105
t2. 2011-12 100

Scoring Average
1. 2011-12 73.1
2. 1982-83 72.8

King Earns MAC East Player of the Week Honors
Sophomore Sina King picked up Akron's third MAC Weekly Award Feb. 6, earning MAC East Player of the Week honors. King returned from a two game absence to average 20.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in two games during week. King scored a career-high 22 points and hauled in seven rebounds in the Feb. 1 loss to Toledo and then picked up her third double-double in four games with a 19-point, 11-rebound performance in the Feb. 4 win over Central Mich.

Double the Fun
Carly Young's 15-point, 13-rebound double-double against Western Michigan was her second of the season and third of her career. Her 13 rebounds were also a career-high.

Play 4Kay
Akron did its part in the fight against breast cancer this weekend by participating in the Play 4Kay movement. Over $1,500 was raised through various promotions surrounding the game. Proceeds benefitted the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

Balanced MAC Attack
The Zips have six players averaging 8.5 points or more in conference play this season. Sina King leads the way at 14.9 points per league game.

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 and Kacie Cassell both hand out 3.8 helpers per game.

Queen of the Cassell
Sophomore Kacie Cassell scored a career-high 16 points in the Feb. 4 win over Central Michigan. That bested her previous high point total of nine set against Miami on Jan. 4. Cassell also dished out eight assists in both the win over the Chippewas and the loss to the RedHawks.

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 35 starts in her career and is 32nd in the country this season with a 1.8 assist/turnover ratio. Mushington is averaging 9.2 points per game this season.

On the King's Court
Sophomore Sina King has picked up her point and rebound production throughout MAC play. King has scored in double-digits in nine of her ten MAC games, while also recording three double-doubles. She is averaging 14.9 points and 7.6 rebounds in league games this season. King hauled in a career-high 16 rebounds against Ohio on Jan. 19 and scored a career-high 22 points against Toledo on Feb. 1.

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 14.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in the 16 games since the Tecca injury. Ti'eshia Stubbs (5.2 rpg in the last 16 games) and Carly Young (6.0 rpg in the last 16 games) have also helped pick up the slack on the boards.

3-Point Prowess
The Zips have been lighting it up from downtown this season, making 34.3-percent of their 3-pointers. UA is the 40th best 3-point shooting team in the country. Taylor Ruper tops the team, making 37.8-percent (73-of-193) of her attempts from distance. Ruper is 31st in the country in 3-point percentage and 20th 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 and ending with the Feb. 1 loss to Toledo, UA played 6-of-8 games on the road. Akron completed the stretch with a 3-5 record. The Zips were 4-4 in MAC road games in 2010-11.

Quest for 300
Head Coach Jodi Kest owns a career record of 298-260 (.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 8.5 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 5.3 rebounds per game in conference play.

Up Next
UA visits rival Kent State on Saturday. Akron won the first match-up, 68-62. Game time is set for 2 p.m. at the MAC Center.