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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team will play a Division I exhibition game when it travels to the Mid-American Conference's University of Akron 6 p.m. Wednesday.
 
The Rock take their break from Division II competition with a 3-4 overall record that includes a 1-1 mark in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. The game will count toward the overall record for the Zips, who enter with a 3-5 start to the season.
 
TICKETS
Fans are encouraged to purchase advance tickets online HERE.
 
LISTEN LIVE
A live online radio broadcast will be available for free via the links below provided by Akron Athletics Communications.
 
EXHIBITION GAME DETAILS
Opponent: Akron
Date: Wednesday – 6 p.m.
Location: Akron, Ohio  
Venue: James A. Rhodes Arena   |   Parking Information
Live Radio: Zips Digital Network
Live Stats: Akron Athletics Communications
In-game Updates: X (@Rock_Athletics)
Last Played: Nov. 9, 2021 at Akron (SRU lost, 97-54)
 
TOP ACTIVE SRU CAREER STATS vs. AKRON
Emily Venick – 1 point, 1 rebound, 1 assist (1 GP)
Kaylin Venick – 1 assist (1 GP)
Hallie Raabe – (1 GP)
 
SERIES HISTORY
Prior to SRU's exhibition meeting with Akron in 2021, The Rock and the Zips played one another at Morrow Field House both in 1976 and 1982. Slippery Rock won both of those contests, defeating Akron 95-52 on Feb. 28, 1976 and then again Jan. 29, 1982, 66-62.
 
SRU played Akron in the 2021-22 campaign, falling in a 97-54 decision. The Rock hung with the Zips for most of the first half, tying the game up at 22-22 with 8:37 left in the second quarter. Akron shot 46.1 percent overall and 58.8 percent in the third quarter to pull away to its victory. Hallie Raabe, Emily Venick and Kaylin Venick all played for SRU in that game.
 

TEAM COMPARISON
THE ROCK	STAT	AKRON
70.1	Points per Game	63.9
66.6	Opp. Points per Game	66.1
42.2%	Field Goal Pct.	40.6%
38.9%	Opp. Field Goal Pct.	41.0%
33.8%	3-Point Pct.	31.6%
28.1%	Opp 3-Point Pct.	33.3%
7.4	3-Pointers Made per Game	6.0
72.1%	Free Throw Pct.	71.4%
39.0	Rebounds per Game	35.8
37.7	Opp. Rebounds per Game	36.5
+1.3	Rebounding Margin	-0.8
16.1	Assists	10.9
-1.9	Turnover Margin	-1.8
5.4	Steals	6.3
3.4	Blocks	3.0
Per game averages

 
THE ROCK BY THE NUMBERS
Overall Record: 3-4
PSAC Record: 1-1
Home Record: 1-3
Away Record: 1-0
Neutral Record: 1-1
Last Five: 2-3
Streak: L2
PSAC West Rank: T-6^th of 8
Head Coach: Ryenn Micaletti | Second season at SRU (5-27)
 
LAST TIME OUT
Slippery Rock was unable to an early nine-point lead in the third quarter against Tiffin University, falling 78-75 to the Dragons in overtime.
 
Sophia Hook hit a massive 3-pointer with 12 seconds left in regulation, but TU split a pair of free throws with six seconds left to force overtime. The Dragons never trailed in overtime, but Rebecca Goetz brought the game level at 75-75 with 52 seconds remaining with two made free throws.
 
Tiffin got the last say with a trip to the foul line with five seconds remaining. The first free throw attempt was off the mark but the second went in as the game winner. Two more free baskets extended Tiffin's win to a three-point margin.
 
Brooklyn Jones led SRU with a career performance that featured 19 points behind a 5-of-9 showing from 3-point range. Hook joined her with four triples for 16 total points. Kayley Joseph-Bernard surpassed a career-high of her own with 14 rebounds and nine assists.
 
WINTER WEATHER IMPACTING SRU'S SCHEDULE
Slippery Rock was scheduled to host Lake Erie College 1 p.m. Nov. 30, but that game has been postponed to Jan. 11. The Rock are expected to tip off against the Storm at 1 p.m. prior to the SRU men's basketball game against Penn State New Kensington.
 
Any further schedule changes will be announced on RockAthletics.com and all other Slippery Rock official social media sites as information becomes available.
 
LEADING THE ROCK
Regan Atkins leads Slippery Rock with 11.7 points per game, shooting 42 percent from the field (29-of-69). Tahmala Thorpe joins her in double digits with 10.6 points per game, while Hook ranks right behind with 10.1 points per game – all coming off the bench.
 
Goetz has still spearheaded Slippery Rock's shooting percentage with 14 of her 21 field goal attempts falling (66.7 percent). Deryn Moye has made six of 11 opportunities from the field including a pair of 3-pointers for 54.5 percent shooting. Moye, SRU's top 3-point shooter last year, has appeared in all seven games this season as well.
 
Joseph-Bernard has continued to show dominance off the glass with 9.1 rebounds per game. Atkins ranks second on the squad with 7.9 rebounds per game, while Goetz reels in 5.0 rebounds per contest. 20 of Goetz's 35 total rebounds have come offensively.
 
5.0 assists per game from Joseph-Bernard is tops on the team to go along with her squad-leading 1.0 block per game. The category leadership doesn't end there for Joseph-Bernard in the stats – the junior transfer finds herself with an SRU-best 1.7 steals per game as well.
 
LOTS OF EXTRA BASKETBALL LATELY
Coming off two straight overtime appearances as well as SRU's first double-overtime cameo in three seasons, SRU has played 95 minutes of basketball in its last two games.
 
While only seven games are behind The Rock this year, the 2024-25 season is already one of just three seasons in the last decade in which SRU has gone to overtime more than once. The Rock wound up in overtime a whopping five times in the 2021-22 season, going 3-2 in that stretch. Slippery Rock went 1-1 in its 2015-16 campaign.
 
Slippery Rock's overtime loss to Tiffin snapped a three-game streak that stretched back to 2005 of SRU not losing in OT to any non-conference opponent.
 
3-POINT SHOOTING HISTORY
Slippery Rock shot 33.3 percent from 3-point distance against Tiffin, knocking down 14-of-42 attempts, marking the most made 3-pointers in a game since SRU hit 14 3-balls in a narrow win over Urbana in 2012.
 
Slippery Rock ranks second in the PSAC with a 33.8 overall 3-point percentage and third in the conference with 7.4 made 3-pointers per game.
 
Jones (44.0 percent), Atkins (40.9 percent) and Moye (40.0 percent) are Slippery Rock's 3-point leaders percentagewise. Hook's 13 3-pointers on the year lead SRU in terms of number of made 3-point attempts.
 
KJB HOSTS A BLOCK PARTY
Joseph-Bernard had already shown she was going to be a defensive threat with three blocks in six games as a member of The Rock, but she went above and beyond that expectation against Tiffin with four blocks.
 
Joseph-Bernard's performance marks just the 20^th time in SRU women's basketball history that a player has recorded at least four blocks in the same game. That outing went down as just the 10^th occurrence in Morrow Field House history as well.
 
Joseph-Bernard now accounts for 1.0 of the 3.4 blocks per game that rank Slippery Rock eighth in the PSAC.
 
SHARING THE ROCK
The Rock have continued to rack up assists each and every game, now averaging 16.1 assists per game. That amount puts SRU second in the PSAC and 46^th in Division II.
 
Slippery Rock's high assists-per-game average correlate to its well-balanced offense that sees its five starters plus Hook all average between 6.7 and 11.7 points per game.
 
SECOND-QUARTER FLOODGATES
Five players combined for 28 total points in the second quarter against Tiffin, tying that 10-minute period for the 10^th-highest score produced in a single quarter by the Slippery Rock women's basketball team in school history.
 
SRU hit seven 3-pointers in the second quarter with three coming from Hook and two out of the hands of Thorpe.
 
STILL SHOOTING GREAT
Slippery Rock has shot at least 43 percent from the field in five of its first seven games this season, ranking sixth in the PSAC with a 42.2 percent clip on the year.
 
Behind Goetz (.667) and Moye (.545), Joseph-Bernard has become one of SRU's most efficient high-volume shooters with a 49.0 percent success rate on the year (24-of-49). Mairan Haggerty continues to excel in this category as well, now having posted a 46.9 field goal percentage (15-of-32).
 
Atkins (.420, 29-of-69) and Alyssa Gillin (.425, 17-of-40) round out SRU's group of six different players shooting above 40 percent through seven contests.
 
WINDOW SHOPPING
Slippery Rock generated 23 second-chance against Tiffin, ranking second on the season behind 26 second-effort points against Davis & Elkins College. Goetz was a big reason for that, as the true freshman brought down six of SRU's 21 offensive rebounds. Those six boards made up the majority of a career-high 11 total rebounds for Goetz in that game.
 
THE ROCK vs. DIVISION I
Wednesday's game serves as Slippery Rock's lone Division I exhibition of the season but its third occasion playing a D-I opponent in the last two years. The Rock traveled to both Youngstown State University and Wright State University out of the Horizon League a year ago.
 
In the last decade, The Rock have also traveled to Division I schools such as Ohio State University (2021-22), the University of Cincinnati (2017-18), the University of Pittsburgh (2016-17), North Carolina A&T University (2016-17) and Indiana University (2015-16).
 
TAHMALA BACK AT THE J.A.R.
Thorpe came to Slippery Rock this season after spending two years with the Zips where she started two of the 39 games she appeared in. The guard from Mississauga, Ontario averaged 1.1 points per game while spending 8.1 minutes per game on the court for Akron.
 
Thorpe scored a career-high eight points at Southern Miss in her sophomore year. She later appeared in the 2023 MAC Tournament Quarterfinals played at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
 
ROCK STARS OF RECENT
• Jones set three career-highs against Tiffin. Her 19 points and four rebounds topped previous bests set at Salem University (12 points, 2 rebounds), while five made 3-pointers were the most she had made since hitting three versus D&E.
 
• Joseph-Bernard topped a career-high 13 rebounds with a 14^th board against Tiffin. She had recorded 13 boards against Millersville University four days prior. Nine assists, four steals and four blocks all additionally went down as personal-bests.
 
• Hook had totaled 13 points twice this season but topped those performances with a 16-point showcase against Tiffin. Hook also posted a personal-record four 3-pointers after making three against Malone. Her five rebounds versus TU tied a career-high set in her SRU debut against D&E.
 
• Moye made her second 3-pointer of the year in her lone shot of the Tiffin game. Her first came in SRU's 13-point win over West Chester University five days before.
 
• Goetz went 4-for-4 at the free-throw line against Tiffin, making her first collegiate free throws on top of a personal-high 11 rebounds.
 
• Haggerty registered her second block of the year against the Dragons, also recording one in her first game at SRU versus Davis & Elkins. The Seton Hill University transfer also made her first 3-pointer of the season against Tiffin.
 
THE ZIPS BY THE NUMBERS
Overall Record: 3-5
2023-24 MAC Record: 6-12
Home Record: 2-1
Away Record: 0-4
Neutral Record: 1-0
Last Five: 2-3
Streak: L1
2023-24 MAC Rank: T-9^th of 12
Head Coach: Ryan Gensler | Second season at Akron (14-23, .378)
 
AKRON SCOUTING REPORT
The Zips are off to a 3-5 start on the year after going 11-18 overall last season in head coach Ryan Gensler's first year at the helm of the program. Akron most recently split a pair of games at the Colgate University Thanksgiving Tournament. The Zips defeated Iona University 64-51 and fell to the Colgate Raiders, 62-45.
 
Akron's two other wins this year have come against Georgia State University (81-73) and Cleveland State University (85-74). The Zips dropped outings to Binghamton, Robert Morris University, Tennessee State University and Bellarmine University.
 
Alexus Mobley leads Akron offensively with 11.1 points per game, adding 4.6 rebounds while shooting 44.4 percent from the field (36-of-81). The senior from Indianapolis, Indiana went 6-for-13 from the floor against Iona, recording 12 points and seven rebounds.
 
Tampere, Finland's 6-foot-5 center Liisa Taponen has logged seven blocks in eight games for Akron this year, scoring 4.4 points and reeling in 3.9 rebounds per game. A team-leading 8.6 rebounds per game belong to Shelbee Brown, a redshirt senior from Memphis, Tennessee.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Slippery Rock will next play back-to-back PSAC crossover contests 3 p.m. Dec. 6 at Kutztown University and 1 p.m. Saturday at Bloomsburg University.





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