2023–24 Akron Zips women's basketball team

2023–24 Akron Zips women's basketball
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Record	9–16 (4–10 MAC)
Head coach	Ryan Gensler (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Jessica Jenkins Sarah Jones Erin Mills-Reid
Home arena	James A. Rhodes Arena

2023–24 Mid-American Conference women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Toledo	17	–	1		.944			28	–	6		.824
Ball State	16	–	2		.889			28	–	6		.824
Kent State †	13	–	5		.722			21	–	12		.636
Buffalo	10	–	8		.556			19	–	14		.576
Bowling Green	10	–	8		.556			16	–	15		.516
Northern Illinois	8	–	10		.444			15	–	16		.484
Ohio	8	–	10		.444			11	–	19		.367
Western Michigan	7	–	11		.389			12	–	18		.400
Miami (OH)	6	–	12		.333			9	–	20		.310
Akron	6	–	12		.333			11	–	18		.379
Central Michigan	4	–	14		.222			6	–	22		.214
Eastern Michigan	3	–	15		.167			7	–	22		.241
† 2024 MAC tournament winner

The 2023–24 Akron Zips women's basketball team represented the University of Akron during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Zips, led by first-year head coach Ryan Gensler, played their home games at the James A. Rhodes Arena in Akron, Ohio as members of the Mid-American Conference.

Previous season

The Zips finished the 2022–23 season 17–13, 8–10 in MAC play to finish in a tie for fifth place.^[1] In the MAC tournament, they were defeated by Ball State in the quarterfinals.^[2]

On February 21, 2023, the school announced that head coach Melissa Jackson's contract would not be renewed at the end of the season, ending her five-year tenure with the Zips.^[3] On March 29, Illinois assistant coach Ryan Gensler was named the team's next head coach.^[4]

Roster

2023–24 Akron Zips women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G 0 Kaia Woods 5 ft 3 in (1.6 m) Jr Washington State Tiffin, Ohio G 2 Alexus Mobley 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Jr Danville Area Community College Indianapolis, Indiana F 3 Annie Watson 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) So St. Vincent–St. Mary High School Akron, Ohio G/F 4 Leila Jones 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Fr Westerville South High School Westerville, Ohio F 5 Lanae Riley 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) So Middle Tennessee Akron, Ohio G 10 Alexis Stewart 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Sr St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School Hamilton, Ontario G 12 Dacia Lewandowski 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Fr North Catholic High School Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania C 14 Liisa Taponen 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) So Illinois Tampere, Finland G 15 Morgan Haney 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) RS Sr Albany Piqua, Ohio G 22 Teniesha Clarke 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Fr Niagara Prep Burlington, Ontario G 23 Zakia Rasheed 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Jr Bishop Chatard High School Avon, Indiana G 24 Olivia Brown 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Fr Hamilton Southeastern High School Fishers, Indiana G 25 Tahmala Thorpe 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) Sr St. Francis Xavier Mississauga, Ontario F 34 Reagan Bass 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Jr Strongsville High School Strongsville, Ohio	Head coach Ryan Gensler (Saint Joseph's) Assistant coach(es) Jessica Jenkins (St. Bonaventure) Sarah Jones (Villanova) Erin Mills-Reid (Fairleigh Dickinson) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: February 25, 2024

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
November 2, 2023* 7:30 pm		Walsh	W 77–51	–	James A. Rhodes Arena (736) Akron, OH
Non-conference regular season
November 6, 2023* 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Oakland	L 87–91 ^2OT	0–1	James A. Rhodes Arena (797) Akron, OH
November 11, 2023* 3:00 pm, ESPN+		at Southern Miss MAC-SBC Challenge	L 60–77	0–2	Reed Green Coliseum (1,375) Hattiesburg, MS
November 15, 2023* 11:00 am, ESPN+		at Robert Morris	W 63–58 ^OT	1–2	UPMC Events Center (510) Moon Township, PA
November 24, 2023* 11:00 am, FloHoops		vs. Wichita State Daytona Beach Classic	L 61–63	1–3	Ocean Center (200) Daytona Beach, FL
November 25, 2023* 1:15 pm, FloHoops		vs. Pittsburgh Daytona Beach Classic	W 75–72 ^OT	2–3	Ocean Center (200) Daytona Beach, FL
December 3, 2023* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Tennessee State	W 55–49	3–3	James A. Rhodes Arena (–) Akron, OH
December 6, 2023* 6:30 pm, ESPN+		at Youngstown State	L 52–53	3–4	Beeghly Center (1,761) Youngstown, OH
December 10, 2023* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		at Cleveland State	L 62–71	3–5	Wolstein Center (262) Cleveland, OH
December 21, 2023* 4:00 pm, ESPN+		Bellarmine	W 88–65	4–5	James A. Rhodes Arena (1,685) Akron, OH
December 30, 2023* 1:00 pm, ESPN+		at Canisius	W 53–48	5–5	Koessler Athletic Center (520) Buffalo, NY
MAC regular season
January 3, 2024 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Ohio	L 58–67	5–6 (0–1)	Convocation Center (308) Athens, OH
January 6, 2024 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Ball State	L 64–71 ^OT	5–7 (0–2)	James A. Rhodes Arena (802) Akron, OH
January 10, 2024 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Central Michigan	W 70–62	6–7 (1–2)	James A. Rhodes Arena (649) Akron, OH
January 13, 2024 2:00 pm, ESPN+		at Buffalo	L 57–59	6–8 (1–3)	Alumni Arena (1,146) Amherst, NY
January 17, 2024 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Bowling Green	L 59–70	6–9 (1–4)	Stroh Center (2,035) Bowling Green, OH
January 20, 2024 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Kent State	L 60–69	6–10 (1–5)	James A. Rhodes Arena (1,059) Akron, OH
January 24, 2024 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Western Michigan	L 51–60	6–11 (1–6)	University Arena (675) Kalamazoo, MI
January 27, 2024 2:00 pm, ESPN+		at Northern Illinois	W 61–59	7–11 (2–6)	Convocation Center (980) DeKalb, IL
January 31, 2024 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Toledo	L 66–88	7–12 (2–7)	James A. Rhodes Arena (1,004) Akron, OH
February 3, 2024 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Miami (OH)	L 48–58	7–13 (2–8)	James A. Rhodes Arena (847) Akron, OH
February 7, 2024 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at Eastern Michigan	W 68–67 ^OT	8–13 (3–8)	George Gervin GameAbove Center (1,431) Ypsilanti, MI
February 10, 2024* 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Arkansas State MAC-SBC Challenge	L 67–81	8–14	James A. Rhodes Arena (813) Akron, OH
February 17, 2024 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Buffalo	W 65–54	9–14 (4–8)	James A. Rhodes Arena (749) Akron, OH
February 21, 2024 7:00 pm, ESPN+		Bowling Green	L 68–74	9–15 (4–9)	James A. Rhodes Arena (837) Akron, OH
February 24, 2024 1:00 pm, ESPN+		at Kent State	L 51–73	9–16 (4–10)	MAC Center (2,080) Kent, OH
February 28, 2024 6:30 pm, ESPN+		at Ball State	L 41-75	9-17 (4-11)	Worthen Arena (1,167) Muncie, IN
March 2, 2024 4:00 pm, ESPN+		Northern Illinois	W 69-54	10-17 (5-11)	James A. Rhodes Arena (449) Akron, OH
March 6, 2024 6:00 pm, ESPN+		Ohio	L 63-72	10-18 (5-12)	James A. Rhodes Arena (321) Akron, OH
March 9, 2024 1:00 pm, ESPN+		at Central Michigan	W 65-57	11-18 (6-12)	McGuirk Arena (1,081) Mount Pleasant, MI
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Sources:^[5][6]

References

1. "2022-23 Women's Basketball Standings". Mid-American Conference. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
2. "Hot Shooting Propels Ball State Past Akron in MAC Tournament Quarterfinals". University of Akron Athletics. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
3. "University of Akron decides Melissa Jackson won't be back as its women's basketball coach". Akron Beacon Journal. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
4. "Illini WBB assistant Ryan Gensler named head coach at Akron". 247Sports. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
5. "2023-24 Women's Basketball Schedule". University of Akron Athletics. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
6. "Akron Zips 2023-24 Regular Season NCAAW Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved February 25, 2024.