UB Women's Basketball Travels to Toledo for Wednesday Game
1/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
TOLEDO, OH – The University at Buffalo, State University of New York women's basketball team looks to even its Mid-American Conference record Wednesday as the Bulls (9-7, 2-3 MAC) take on host Toledo (10-6, 3-2 MAC) at John F. Savage Arena at 7 pm.
The teams have met 20 times beginning with the inaugural game during the 1998-99 season. Toledo dominates the series, 17-3, but the Bulls snapped a six-game TU winning streak claiming the most recent victory, 51-46, on Jan. 15, 2014.
The Bulls have a field goal percentage of .355 and a free throw percentage of .671. UB, who leads the MAC in three-point field goal defense, blocks and steals, is averaging 64.4 points and 44.1 boards per game. Junior Mackenzie Loesing paces UB with 13.1 points per game and 24 threes on the year. Senior captain Kristen Sharkey, who tallied her 1,000th point Saturday against Ball State, is averaging 12.8 points a game to go with 8.1 boards and 28 steals. She shoots a team-best .897 from the charity stripe. Sophomore Alexus Malone is posting 11.7 points and 8.3 rebounds a contest. She has six double-doubles and leads UB with 33 assists and 31 steals. Loesing and Sharkey add 28 steals each. Senior captain Christa Baccas is contributing 8.1 points per game to help guide the balanced UB offense. Ranking second all-time at UB and 13th nationally among active Division I student-athletes with 216 blocks, Baccas has 28 to lead the conference. With four straight 10-rebound performances, she pulls down a Bull-best 8.9 boards per contest. Sophomore Camera Miley has dished out 30 assists and junior Karin Moss 27.
The 10-6 Rockets snapped a two-game losing skid picking up a 65-56 victory Saturday at Western Michigan. Toledo also claimed home MAC wins against Miami (OH), 63-53, and Kent State, 67-49, after a 7-4 non-conference showing in 2014. The Rockets lead the MAC in conference games only for rebounding defense (33.6) and offensive rebounding percentage (.399). They trail the MAC in blocks and steals, a pair of categories that the Bulls lead. Toledo is shooting .397 from the floor, .307 from the arc and .749 from the line, while outscoring opponents, 67.4-63.2, and outrebounding opponents, 38.4-36.8. Inma Zanoguera posts a team-best 15.8 points per game, an average that ranks 4th overall in the league. She leads the MAC with 5.7 assists per game, dishing out 91 on the year. Zanoguera also sits second in the MAC for overall free throw percentage (.908) and assist to turnover ratio (2.2). She grabs a team-high 6.9 rebounds per contest and has made a Rocket-best 31 steals. Janice Monakana adds 6.4 boards to go with 9.8 points per outing. Ana Capotosto and Brenae Harris chip in 9.5 and 9.4 points per game, respectively.
The game will air on ESPN 1520 AM with Sloane Martin on the call, while a live webcast will be available. Fans can also follow along with live stats or live tweets.
