This Week: The Notre Dame College women's basketball team plays an exhibition game at the University of Akron on Thursday Dec. 15 at 6 p.m., before traveling to Florida. Down South, the Falcons will face the University of Tampa on Sunday Dec. 18 at 3 p.m., followed by Florida Tech on Monday Dec. 19 at noon.
 
Records: NDC sits at 3-7, including 2-4 inside the Mountain East Conference. Tampa brings a perfect 8-0 record into the week, while Florida Tech sits at 1-5.
 
Coaches Corner: Imani Gordon is in her second season as the head coach of Notre Dame College, holding a career record of 18-21. Tom Jessee leads the University of Tampa program in his 21^st season, holding a career record of 572-264. Lastly, John Reynolds is in his 36^th season with Florida Tech, amassing a 587-395 career mark.
 
Rankings: According to the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Poll, the University of Tampa checks in at No. 9 for NCAA Division II.
 
Series History: These matchups mark the first time in program history that NDC will square up against either UT or Tech.
 
Noting the Falcons: Last week, Notre Dame went 1-1, beginning with a narrow 69-67 defeat at Davis & Elkins. Redshirt sophomore Alana Ellis led the Falcons with 22 points, while junior Lizzie Imrie tallied her first career double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds). On Saturday, NDC avenged their loss with a thrilling 75-65 victory in overtime against West Virginia Wesleyan. Ellis posted a career-high 35 points, as freshman Noel Weathers generated her first career double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds).
 
Notre Dame has been led this season by Ellis' 19.6 points per game, ranking sixth in the MEC. She also leads the team in field goals made (69) and attempted (181), three-point field goals made (19), and attempted (63) and free throws attempted (32).
 
Weathers chips in 8.4 ppg, as she leads the squad in field goal percentage (.458). In addition, she is the Falcons leading rebounder at 6.9 rebounds per game.
 
Moreover, senior Marina Adachi paces the team in three-point percentage (.412) and free throw percentage (1.000).
 
Imrie has been doing it all for Notre Dame this season, as she averages 6.0 ppg, while being second in rebounds (5.7) and leading the team in assists (21).
 
As a unit, Notre Dame averages 63.2 ppg on 37.2% shooting from the field, 30.7% shooting from three and 68.7% shooting from the free throw line. Furthermore, NDC posts 34.3 rpg (-6.0 margin), 10.0 assists per game, 9.6 steals per game and 2.8 blocks per game.
 
Noting the Spartans: The University of Tampa has not played since Saturday Dec. 3 when they defeated Embry-Riddle 70-55. Sydney Kin led all scorers with 18 points in a double-double performance (14 rebounds). Before that, on Wednesday Nov. 30, the Spartans downed Florida Tech, 83-76 on the back of Kin's game-high 26.
 
On the year, Tampa boasts four double-digit scorers, led by Kin's 18.5 ppg. Mya Giusto (13.6), Melijah Sullivan (11.3) and Audrey Ramsey (10.9) all follow suit. Kin is ultra-efficient from the floor (55-69), shooting 79.7% to lead the country by nearly 12 percentage points, whereas Giusto is the team's three-point threat at 45.5%.
 
Kin also leads the team with 9.5 rpg, while Ramsey is the main distributor at 5.4 apg.
 
As a unit, Tampa scores an average of 75.1 ppg on 50.6% shooting from the floor, 35.3% shooting from the three-point line and 81.5% shooting from the charity stripe. UT has posted 33.9 rpg (+1.4 margin), 18.8 apg, 6.0 spg and 3.1 bpg. The Spartans rank third in NCAA Division II in field goal percentage, fifth in assists per game and eighth in assist to turnover ratio (1.28).
 
Noting the Panthers: Last week, Florida Tech suffered a pair of defats, beginning with Saint Leo University on Tuesday (75-56). On Saturday, the Panthers fell 72-48 to Florida Southern.
 
On the year, Tai Roberts leads the Panthers as the only double-digit scorer at 17.0 ppg. She also leads the team in field goals made (30) and attempted (72) and free throws made (36) and attempted (40). In addition, she has dished out the most assists on the team (19), while ranking second in rebounding (3.7 rpg).
 
Sarah Liberatore adds 9.3 ppg as the second leading scorer, while Aiste Vaitekunaute grabs the most boards at 4.6 rpg.
 
As a whole, Florida Tech scores 62.2 ppg on 34.2% shooting from the floor, 30.2% shooting from three and 82.8% shooting from the free throw line. In addition, the Panthers tally 29.7 rpg (-8.3 margin), 11.7 apg, 6.8 spg and 1.5 bpg.