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The Buchtelite

The Editorially Independent Voice of The University of Akron

The Buchtelite

The Editorially Independent Voice of The University of Akron

The Buchtelite

Women's basketball set for regular season

“It’s that time of the year when James A. Rhodes arena will be the place where the women’s basketball team will be playing. The Zips are starting their season this Friday and are hoping to improve on last year record as they only went 11-19. We need to be better than we were last year, we need to have a better overall and conference record, Zips head coach Jodi Kest said.”

It’s that time of the year when James A. Rhodes arena will be the place where the women’s basketball team will be playing.

The Zips are starting their season this Friday and are hoping to improve on last year record as they only went 11-19.

We need to be better than we were last year, we need to have a better overall and conference record, Zips head coach Jodi Kest said.

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The Zips have a hard non-conference schedule as they face Rider, Tulsa, and Temple, before they start MAC conference play for the season.

We believe we will be challenged by our non-conference games, Kest said.

Good news for the Zips is they are returning their lead Kara Murphy, who had 580 points last season and reached 1000 points the quickest of any player in school history.

I need to improve my three point range and it is always good to improve your free throw percentage, Zips small forward Murphy said.

Murphy is a 2009-2010, All-American Candidate and an All-Mid American Conference first team honoree. Murphy also holds the single season scoring record for the Zips.

This years senior class is Kara Murphy, Ayla Guzzardo, and Jolene Tamboue.

The teams that are successful are the ones with outstanding leadership and we’re expecting to get that this year from our three team captains, Kest said.

The Zips are returning all five starters this season: point guard Alya Guzzardo, shooting guard Amber Witt, small forward Kara Murphy, power forward Jolene Tamboue, and center Kyle Baumgartner.

It is great to have all five starters returning, and it’s my first time here to return all five starters, Kest said.

Katie Bubna, Taylor Ruper, Ti’eshia Stubbs, and Rachel Tecca are the incoming freshmen this year.

The Freshman are really coming on and contributing to the team, Murphy said.

Murphy led the team with 580 points, Kyle Baumgartner led the team in rebounds with 216, and Alya Guzzardo led the team in assists with 105.

Other key stats from last year’s squad include Amber Witt’s 45 assists, Jolene Tamboue 200 rebounds, and Ashley Veal’s 128 points.

The Zips faced the Ashland University Eagles in an exhibition last Saturday and won 47-19.

We won the game and didn’t have any injuries so it was a good outcome, Kest said.

Key stats for the Zips in this game were Kara Murphy 14 points, Jolene Tamboue nine rebounds and Amber Witt three assists.

In her freshman debut Rachel Tecca had 10 points, she had seven rebounds and two blocks for the game.

I thought we did some good things and also saw some things that need to be worked on. Overall, it was a good learning tool that will help us get ready for our first game against IUPUI next week, Kest said.

Starting Center Kyle Baumgartner did not play in the game due to an illness.

The Zips start their season this weekend as they start this weekend at James A. Rhodes Arena on Friday as they take on IUPUI at noon.

On Sunday the Zips travel to New York to take on the St. Bonaventure Bonnies

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