DETROIT (12/18/2020) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball program hits the road for its first road test of the 2020-21 Horizon League season, as the Titans head to Chicago for a pair of weekend contests Saturday and Sunday against UIC.

Saturday's game is set for a 2 p.m. ET and 1 p.m. local start in Chicago, while Sunday's contest is slated for a 12 p.m. ET tip and 11 a.m. start from Credit Union 1 Arena on UIC's campus. Both games may be seen live via ESPN-Plus for a monthly subscription fee.

Last Time Out
Junior guard Kaela Webb scored in double figures for the fifth time in 2020-21, scoring a game-high 17 points and sophomore guard Markyia McCormick sank two 3-pointers and added 11 points for the Titans, but Detroit Mercy fell 73-43 to visiting Wright State from Calihan Hall on Sunday, Dec. 13. Sophomore forward Bridgid Fox added six points and seven caroms for the Titans, which continued their good free throw shooting this season, sinking 18-of-26 free throws.

The Titans held Wright State leading scorer Angel Baker to just nine points and 16 points overall in the two-game series. Detroit Mercy dropped Saturday's matchup with the Raiders, 75-55, in the HL opener for both squads. Webb also had a game-high in that contest, scoring 22 points, her third game scoring above 20 points this season. Webb made four 3-pointers and junior guard Alicia Norman had a team-high six assists.

Getting to the Line
The Titans were effective in getting to the free throw line in the season opener, shooting 38 times and making 28 free throws (73.7 percent). The 28 makes and 38 attempts were the most for a Titan team since the team went to the line 41 times, making 31 free throws, against Eastern Michigan on Dec. 6, 2016. Markyia McCormick set a new career-high for free throw makes in the contest against Xavier, sinking eight free throws out of 11 attempts.

The Titans followed that effort with a 19-for-23 performance from the free throw line (82.6%) against Indiana State and then a 17-for-19 effort (89.5%) at Toledo. Through six games, Detroit Mercy is 98-for-133 from the charity stripe (73.7%), ranking in the top-25 nationally in both free throws made and attempted. The Titans are 10th in free throws made and 17th in attempts. Detroit Mercy is second in the HL in free-throw percentage, while junior guard Kaela Webb currently leads the Horizon League in free throw percentage (87.0), sinking 20-of-23 shots so far, while McCormick is sixth hitting 19-of-25 attempts for a 76.0 percentage.

Impressive Debuts
Junior guard Kaela Webb (Pontiac, Mich.), a transfer from Providence, made her presence known in her debut, totaling 14 points, four assists and four steals and making all five free throw attempts. Webb then scored a career-high 25 points against Indiana State, sinking six 3-pointers and shooting 6-of-9 from deep. In her third game with the Titans, Webb posted seven assists, six boards and three steals at Michigan State and then set a new career-high again at Toledo, making 11 field goals, including three from deep, and scoring 29 points. 

Webb is among the league leaders in several statistical categories, ranking second in scoring (18.5 points per game), first in free-throw percentage (87.0), first in field goals made (38) and total points (111) and tied-for-first in 3-pointers made (15) through six games. She is also 13th in the Horizon League in assists per game (2.3).

Junior guard Alicia Norman (Detroit, Mich.) recorded 10 points, seven assists and three steals off the bench in Detroit Mercy's second game of the season against Indiana State. The transfer from nearby Macomb Community College and former Martin Luther King HS standout in Detroit, Norman had six assists before halftime and made all six free throws. Norman has three games already of five or more assists, including six in the HL opener against Wright State on Dec. 12. She leads the Horizon League early in the season in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.9) and has a league-high 21 assists, also ranking third in the HL in assists per game (3.5).

Playing in her first Division I contest, sophomore forward Sammiyah Hoskin (Detroit, Mich.) made 5-of-7 field goal attempts and 4-of-6 free throws for 14 points, adding five rebounds, one assist and one steal in the season opener against Xavier. She started for the Titans and played in 25 minutes. A former Wayne County Community College standout, Hoskin was a Second Team NJCCA All-American last season and starred locally at Wayne Memorial High School.

Star Fox
Sophomore forward Bridgid Fox (Altoona, Pa.) played in every game during her freshman season and ranked third on the team in scoring (7.2 ppg) and rebounding (3.7 rpg) during Horizon League play. She started the final 22 games a season ago and also led the team in shooting, hitting 56.2 percent of shots (77-of-137) in 2019-20. Fox leads the team in rebounding this season at 4.8 caroms per game and has two games of seven rebounds and four games of five or more boards. Fox is also fourth on the team in scoring (5.5 ppg) and is shooting 52.6 percent from the floor and 72.2 percent at the free throw line.

Starks' Spark
A Horizon League All-Freshman Team member in 2019-20, sophomore guard Sylare Starks (Fort Wayne, Ind.) returns after leading the Titans in scoring (10.1 points per game) as a freshman a year ago. Starks also led all HL freshmen in scoring a year ago, ranking 16th overall in scoring in the conference. She was also among the league leaders in 3-pointers made (50), ranking seventh in the HL. Her 50 treys were also third-best in Titan freshman history. She scored in double figures a team-best 17 times in 2019-20 and was one of two Titans to start in all 30 games.

In her third game of the 2020-21 season, Starks led Detroit Mercy and all scorers against Michigan State, scoring a game-best 18 points, just one off her career-high. She made three 3-pointers and had 10 points by the halftime break. Starks added 13 points at Toledo in the non-league finale for the Titans and has scored in double figures in 19 of 36 career games. She has made 56 triples and 1.6 treys per game in her Titan career.

Scoring Punch From Marky
Sophomore guard Markyia McCormick (Pickerington, Ohio) has gotten into the scoring column often early in the 2020-21 season, scoring 17 points in back-to-back games to start the season, before tallying nine points on the road at Michigan State and 11 more against Wright State on Dec. 13. She ranks second on the squad in scoring (10.0 points per game) and second in 3-pointers made (seven), while making 7-of-16 shots from deep for a 43.8 clip. McCormick is also among the Horizon League leaders from the free throw line, sinking 19-of-25 shots, ranking sixth in the league rankings in free throw percentage (76.0). McCormick ranked third on the team as a freshman a season ago in scoring at 7.0 points per game.

Milestone Watch
Head coach AnnMarie Gilbert is just 13 wins from 300 in her career as the leader of a program. She has wins at three different levels and three different schools -- amassing 135 at Division II Virginia Union, 94 at Eastern Michigan and 58 at her alma mater Oberlin, where she began her coaching career. In addition, she has 148 league wins all-time, just two off 150 in her career.

Junior guard Kaela Webb has 95 steals in her Division I career (86 at Providence, nine at Detroit Mercy), just five shy away from 100 in her collegiate career. Webb, who scored 598 points in her first two seasons at Providence, also has 709 career points and is 291 points away from 1,000 in her career.

Local Connections
The Titans have several players who hail from the Metro Detroit area. Newcomers Sammiyah Hoskin (Detroit, Mich.), Alicia Norman (Detroit, Mich.) and Kaela Webb (Pontiac, Mich.) as well as returning junior Maxine Moore (Southfield, Mich.) all went to high school in the Metro Detroit area with Hoskin going to Wayne Memorial High School before starring at nearby Wayne County Community College. Norman was a star guard for Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, playing several high school games in Calihan Hall. She is a transfer from nearby Macomb Community College, where she helped lead her 2019-20 squad to a perfect 32-0 record and a NJCAA Division II National Championship appearance.

Moore and Webb were high school teammates, who graduated together and won three Class B state championships (2015, 2017, 2018) for Detroit Country Day High School. Webb, a finalist for the 2018 Miss Basketball award in Michigan is a transfer from Providence College. Webb is the daughter of Titan assistant coach, Tim Webb.

Scouting UIC
The Flames are 1-4 this season and 0-2 in Horizon League after dropping a pair of road contests at Oakland last weekend. UIC was edged, 76-70, in Saturday's game with the Golden Grizzlies before falling 81-55 on Sunday. UIC's victory in 2020-21 came on the road at Eastern Michigan as the Flames won 66-62 on Nov. 29.

The Flames have four players averaging in double figures so far and are led by freshman Jaida McCloud, who is averaging 17.0 points per game. McCloud also leads the team in rebounding (8.4 rpg) and steals (14). Three freshmen are scoring in double figures with Keona Schenck (11.4 ppg) and Kristian Young (10.6 ppg) also above that mark through five games. Sophomore Tiana Jackson leads the HL in assists per game (3.8), while senior forward Jada Nneji has a team-best eight blocks.

All-Time Series
The Titans and Flames are meeting for the 58th time in women's basketball when they meet Saturday in Chicago. Detroit Mercy holds a 33-24 lead in the all-time series, including winning six-straight and 10 of the past 12 matchups. The Titans are 12-12 in true road games against UIC all-time, winning each of the past three.

Head coach AnnMarie Gilbert is 2-0 all-time against UIC, earning both wins as the leader at Eastern Michigan.

Up Next
Detroit Mercy breaks for Christmas before returning to play the following weekend, hosting Milwaukee in a pair of games, Friday, Jan. 1 and Saturday, Jan. 2 from Calihan Hall. Both games are slated for 5 p.m. ET starts and may be seen live via ESPN-Plus.