DETROIT (12/4/2020) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team closes out the non-league slate Saturday afternoon, visiting Mid-American Conference foe Toledo for a 2 p.m. ET battle from Savage Arena in Toledo, Ohio. The game may be seen live via ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN Applications.

It's the 31st meeting all-time between the Titans and Rockets and eighth match-up in the past nine seasons. Detroit Mercy is playing its first and only Mid-American Conference opponent this season. Detroit Mercy is in its first season under new head coach AnnMarie Gilbert, who has matched up with longtime Toledo leader Tricia Cullop several times previously when Gilbert was head coach at Eastern Michigan. Gilbert holds a 5-5 record against Cullop.

The Titans (0-3) are coming off a road setback at Michigan State on Wednesday. Sophomore guard Sylare Starks scored a game-high 18 points in the contest.

Last Time It Happened...
• The Titans knocked down 28 free throws in their season opener against Xavier, marking the most free throws made by the squad since making 31 against Eastern Michigan on Dec. 6, 2016.

• Kaela Webb tallied 25 points in Sunday's game against Indiana State, which was the most for a Titan player since Anja Marinkovic scored 25 points against UIC on Feb. 15, 2018.

• Alicia Norman's seven helpers were the most assists since Brittney Jackson had eight assists against Bowling Green on Nov. 13, 2017. Webb notched seven dimes in the very next game against Michigan State.

• Norman's seven assists were also the most for a Titan newcomer since freshman Lola Ristovski had seven dimes against Northern Kentucky on Jan. 16, 2016.

• Webb's six made 3-pointers in last Sunday's setback to Indiana State were the most made triples since Nicole Urbanick made six treys against Green Bay on Feb. 4, 2017.

• Detroit Mercy's 12 3-pointers made against Indiana State were the most since the squad knocked down 15 against Cleveland State on Feb. 1, 2018.

• The Titans shot 50-percent from deep (12-for-24) against ISU, which was the highest percentage since Detroit Mercy shot 50-percent (5-for-10) against Manhattan on Nov. 24, 2018.

Last Time Out
Sophomore guard Sylare Starks scored a game-high 18 points for the Titans in their first road test of the season at Michigan State, but the Titans fell short, 82-45, against their Big Ten foes from the Breslin Center on Wednesday. Starks made three 3-pointers and shot 7-of-17 from the floor. Classmate Markyia McCormick had nine points and junior guard Kaela Webb added seven assists, six rebounds and three steals.

The Titans used an early 9-2 run to tie the game, 12-12 and trailed by four after the first quarter, 21-17. Detroit Mercy had an 8-0 run midway through the third quarter to pull within 12 points, but the host Spartans pulled away down the stretch. Detroit Mercy shot 36-percent in the contest and made four 3-pointers. Sophomore forward Sammiyah Hoskin added six rebounds, while Nicole Johanson had five points, four rebounds and a block for the red, white and blue.

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, sinking eight free throws out of 11 attempts. Kaela Webb and Sylare Starks also combined to go 9-for-9 in the game.

The Titans followed that effort with a 19-for-23 performance from the free throw line (82.6%) against Indiana State last Sunday. Through three games, Detroit Mercy is 52-of-71 from the charity stripe (73.2%), ranking in the top-20 nationally in both free throws made and attempted. The Titans are 13th in free throws attempted and 15th in free throws made.

Scouting Toledo
The Rockets are 1-0 early in the 2020-21 campaign, earning a 71-59 victory over Oakland in their season opener from Savage Arena on Nov. 29. Four players scored in double figures for Toledo, including Quinesha Lockett, who had a game-high-tying 22 points, hitting 10-of-15 field goals. Sophia Wiard added 15 points and 10 rebounds. The Rockets shot 42.9% from the floor and out-rebounded Oakland, 44-41, adding 11 steals.

Toledo lost its top three scorers from a season ago, but Lockett, who averaged 9.3 points per game a year ago returns. The Rockets are a young team overall with just two seniors and two juniors. The team is in its 13th season under head coach Tricia Cullop, who has a 256-140 record with Toledo and 379 victories overall in her head coaching career.

All-Time Series
The Titans and Rockets are meeting for the 31st time in women's basketball with Toledo holding a 21-9 series advantage. Detroit Mercy has four wins in Savage Arena, including the most recent victory for the Titans in the series, an 83-72 win on Dec. 14, 2014.

Gilbert and Toledo leader Tricia Cullop have matched up 10 times when Gilbert was the leader at Eastern Michigan. The series in those games is even, 5-5.

Impressive Debuts
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.

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, who made 125 3-pointers in her first two collegiate seasons at Providence, scored in double figures for the 28th time in her Division I career. She was just one steal off her career-high of five in a game. 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. She has seven made 3-pointers through three games and is tied for the team-lead in scoring at 14.3 points per game.

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 on Sunday 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, turning the ball over just twice. She ranks second in the Horizon League early in the season in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.0).

Leading Scorer Starks Returns in 2020-21
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. It was her 18th career double-figure scoring effort in just her 33rd career game.

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. She shares the team lead in scoring (14.3 points per game) after the first three contests of the season. She leads the team in minutes played (97) and free throws made (14), while shooting at a high percentage from 3-point range (5-for-11, 45.5%). 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 93 steals in her Division I career (86 at Providence, seven at Detroit Mercy), just seven shy away from 100 in her collegiate career. Webb, who scored 598 points in her first two seasons at Providence, also has 641 career points and is 359 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.

Titans Announce Signing of Taylor Blunt
The Titans and head coach AnnMarie Gilbert announced the signing on Dec. 3 of Taylor Blunt (Morgantown, Pa. / The Peddie School [N.J.]), who inked her National Letter of Intent to play for the Titans during the fall signing period in November.

Blunt, a 5-foot-7 guard, surpassed the 1,000-point plateau during her junior season of high school and is a two-time First Team All-County and 2019-20 Mid-Atlantic Prep League All-League selection for Peddie School. She averaged 20 points per game in 2019-20, scoring more than 30 points in a game four times, including a career-high 39 points. 

Blunt made six 3-pointers in a game eight times last season, including a season-high eight. She played AAU basketball with Exodus NYC EYBL, helping team to 30-2 mark during the 2020 year. Her father, Bernard Blunt, is in the Saint Joseph's Basketball Hall of Fame and is one of the top scorers in school history.

Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns to the court next weekend, hosting Wright State on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 12-13 in a pair of games in the Horizon League opener for both teams. Both games may be seen live on ESPN-Plus from Calihan Hall, with both games set for 2 p.m. ET start times on Dick Vitale Court.