FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech women's basketball team kicks off the last two weeks of the regular with a three-game road trip starting on Wednesday with Northwestern Ohio before taking on the top team in the WHAC and #17 in the nation on Saturday in Lawrence Tech.
 
Indiana Tech (17-9, 13-5 WHAC)
 
Wednesday, Feb. 10, 5:30 p.m. at Northwestern Ohio (13-13, 10-8 WHAC) – Lima, Ohio (Racers Gymnasium)
Saturday, Feb. 13, 1 p.m. vs. #17 Lawrence Tech (19-2, 16-2 WHAC) – Southfield, Michigan (Don Ridler Field House)
 
Following the Warriors: Live stats and video will be available for both games with links at IndianaTechWarriors.com. You can also follow @INTechWBB and @INTechWarriors on Twitter to stay up to date on the action.
 
Last Time Out: Tech won its fourth straight game and seventh out of its last eight on Saturday with an 85-46 victory over Aquinas on Saturday at the Schaefer Center. Senior point guard Rayana Villalpando had the highlight of the afternoon as she passed the 500 mark in career assists in the second quarter, putting her in the 500 points, 500 assists and 500 rebounds club. She finished with two points, four rebounds and six assists. Taylor Seiss had a game-high 16 points to lead a balanced scoring effort for head coach Jessie Biggs as every player who saw time on the floor scored. Haley Cook had 15 points, three assists and two steals, while Taylor Carver picked up her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Jessica Silva added 10 points off the bench and Baylee Rinehart added nine. Kendall Knapke had six points, seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals.
 
Head Coach Jessie Biggs: Now in her fourth season at Indiana Tech, Jessie Biggs has amassed 44 wins through her first three years, including a 19-13 mark in 2013. That season, Biggs led the Warriors to a 14-7 mark in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) action and a fourth-place finish. The Warriors would defeat Aquinas in the quarterfinals before falling to top seed and No. 2 Davenport in the semifinals. The Northern Iowa alum has had five players on the WHAC All-Academic Team, five WHAC All-Conference selections, two NAIA All-Americans, two NAIA Scholar-Athlete and one WHAC All-Newcomer Team selection.
 
Scouting the Opposition: UNOH – The Racers snapped a two-game losing skid on Saturday with a 71-57 upset over (RV) Cornerstone at home on Saturday. Northwestern Ohio sits in a tie for sixth in the WHAC standings with Siena Heights and is looking to improve its position for the conference tournament in two weeks. Stacia Allen, Becca Harshman and Eboni Adams all average over nine points a game for the Racers while Harshman leads the team in shooting (50.3%) and rebounding with 5.8 boards a night.
 
Lawrence Tech – The Blue Devils have won their last three games and are currently 17^th in NAIA Division 2 and sit atop the WHAC standings. Christina Henry leads the team in scoring with 13.1 points per game while Allison Kitchen and Hali Butler both chip in over 12 points per contest. The three also pace the team in rebounding (Butler-7.3, Henry-6.2, Kitchen-5.6) while Kitchen shoots 56.8% from the floor.
 
Series History: UNOH – Tech is 8-6 against Northwestern Ohio since Feb. 11, 2008, most recently winning their previous matchup this season at home, 71-54. Taylor Seiss had a game-high 23 points and hit seven three-pointers, while Haley Cook added 22 points, six rebounds and a game-high six assists. Taylor Carver and Kendall Knapke led the way on the glass for Tech, with the Carver grabbing 10 rebounds while Knapke pulled down a career-high 15 boards. The senior from Woodburn, Indiana chipped in eight points while the freshman from Heritage High School added six points, three assists, two blocks and a steal. Rayana Villalpando had five points and five assists.
 
Lawrence Tech – The Warriors are 4-3 against the Blue Devils since Dec. 1, 2012 and have lost the last two in the series, most recently falling 61-54 at home back on Jan. 2 to the then-25^th ranked team in the nation. Taylor Seiss led the Warriors with a team-high 18 points while grabbing five rebounds. Haley Cook added 15 points, three rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Taylor Carver chipped in with eight points and five rebounds while Rayana Villalpando had a game-high six assists and pulled down four boards.
 
500 Club: Senior point guard Rayana Villalpando made history this past week as she surpassed 500 career assists and 500 rebounds in addition to having scored over 600 points in her four years at Tech. She is the first Warrior to achieve the feat in recent memory and is one of just a few active players in the WHAC to achieve the feat.
 
Home Stretch: As Tech heads into the final two weeks of the regular season they find themselves tied for third place in the WHAC with Madonna and have a one-game lead over Cornerstone. With both teams still on the schedule (Feb. 20 at home and Feb. 17 away, respectively) along with #17 Lawrence Tech this week, makes it a crucial week in terms of seeding for the conference tournament. The top eight teams make the tournament with each round played at campus sites. As it stands right now, the Warriors would host Cornerstone in the quarterfinals on Feb. 25.
 
Commanding the Floor: Senior Rayana Villalpando has been at the helm of Coach Biggs' offense all four of her years in the Summit City and has never averaged less than 3.6 assists per game in a season. This year she is dishing out 4.3 apg and has increased her dime production to 4.5 assists per game in conference play, ranking first in overall games and second in WHAC game, respectively. The Bellflower, California native is also a key part of the Warriors rebounding effort, averaging five boards a night and 5.1 in conference play. She ranks 14^th in the nation in total assists (102) and 19^th in assists per game.
 
Finding Her Rhythm: Freshman forward and Heritage High School product Kendall Knapke has been solid for the Warriors all season long, but has really stepped her game up, particularly on the boards and defensively, in the last six games. The Fort Wayne native recorded back-to-back double-doubles and has three games of double-digit rebounding in her last six. She grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds against UNOH on Jan. 13 and is leading the team with 7.1 rebound per night. Her block numbers have also increased over the last month and is now averaging 1.5 blocks per game and has 40 overall, the third most in the WHAC in both categories.
 
Lighting it Up: At the forefront of the Warriors offensive attack is the duo of backcourt duo of Taylor Seiss and Haley Cook. Cook leads the team in scoring with 15.6 ppg and has bumped that number up to 17.7 ppg in conference play. Seiss is right behind and just as deadly with 15.5 points per contest overall and 16.9 in WHAC games. The pair rank first and third in the WHAC in points per game in conference play, respectively, and are fifth and sixth in overall games.
 
Long-Range Offense: Tech's sharp-shooters are converting 43.1% of their shots from the field, 37.7% of their shots from downtown this season and shooting free throws at a 74.4% clip, ranking among the 25 in the nation in all three categories. Their three-point field goal percentage ranks third in the country while they're 18^th in free throw percentage and 25^th in field goal percentage.
 
Sharp-Shooting: The Cook-Seiss duo is leading the charge when it comes to raining threes down on their opponents. The pair have combined for 144 triples on the year while both average over two and a half per game. Cook leads the WHAC percentage-wise at 43.1% while Seiss is right behind at 41.9%. They each rank among the top 50 in the country in all three categories as well.
 
Seizing The Awards: Junior Taylor Seiss was named the WHAC Player of the Week on Dec. 14 after averaging 19.5 points in wins against Siena Heights and Aquinas to help the Warriors push their winning streak to seven games. She shot 44.1% from the field and hit 43.8% of her three point attempts while also picking up five rebound, three assists and a block in over 73 minutes of game action.
 
Twice as Nice: Sophomore guard Haley Cook was named the WHAC Player of the Week for the second time this season on Dec. 7 after scoring 38 points over the week of Nov. 29-Dec. 6, including a career-high 26 in a 96-72 win over Lourdes last Wednesday. She also grabbed five boards and dished out a career high seven assists in the win. In the 76-54 victory over Concordia on Saturday, she notched 12 points while pulling down a career high nine boards and three assists. Cook also won the weekly conference award on Nov. 23.
 
This and That: Coach Biggs has started the same five players in every game but one (Bethel) this season: Rayana Villalpando, Haley Cook, Taylor Seiss, Kendall Knapke and Taylor Carver; Sarah White got the nod against the Pilots…Tech tied its season high in points (99) against Marygrove last Wednesday, while the previous time they scored 99 points also came against the Mustangs on Nov. 18…the Warriors set season-highs in field goal attempts (85), three-point field goal attempts (38), rebounds (65), and assists (29)…Taylor Seiss set a season-high for three-point field goal attempts with 14 against Marygrove…Claire Volpenhein had a career-high in steals with four against the Mustangs while Jessica Silva had a career-high 17 points off the bench in 14 minutes off of 6-of-10 shooting, including 5-of-8 from the three-point line.
 
Local Flavor: The Warriors have five players who played their high school basketball an hour or less drive to the Schaefer Center. Two hail from the Summit City, Taylor Seiss and Kendall Knapke, while Sarah White (Wabash), Baylee Rinehart (DeKalb), Taylor Carver (Woodburn) and Abby Waddle (Elida, Ohio) are just a half-court shot away.
 
New Rules, Same Game: The NAIA has adopted many of the same rule changes that took place over the summer in the NCAA. Instead of two 20-minute halves, teams will now play four 10-minute quarters. Teams will reach the bonus once its opponents have committed five fouls in a given quarter, with 1-and-1 free-throw scenarios being eliminated in favor of two shots for all common fouls. And teams will now have the option to advance the ball to the frontcourt in the final 59.9 seconds of the game.
 
Stacking Up Against the Competition: The Warriors have faced off with seven teams ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll at the time of play: Davenport (#2 and #8), Marian (#9), Purdue Calumet (#11) Huntington (#20), Lawrence Tech (#25) and Saint Francis (RV). Tech will face off with Lawrence Tech (currently #17) on Feb. 13 in Southfield, Michigan.
 
Poll Thoughts: Tech was picked to finish fifth in the WHAC Coaches' Preseason Poll, receiving 83 votes to finish in a tie with Lawrence Tech. The Warriors finished in sixth last season with a mark of 11-11 in the conference, falling in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament to third seeded Madonna.