The University of Akron Athletics
Women's Basketball to Host Houston Sunday at 2 p.m.
December 13 | Women's Basketball
Akron Zips (4-5) vs. Houston Cougars (4-6)
Rhodes Arena (5,500) • Akron, Ohio
Sun., Dec. 16, 2007 • 2 p.m. (EST)
Television
None.
On The Dial
WARF (Sports Radio 1350 AM) will carry the broadcast
locally in Akron. Bill Morgan, who is in his
second season with the Zips, will have the call.
On The Web
The broadcast will also be available on the Internet via
streaming audio on www.GoZips.com.
Series Breakdown
Series: First meeting
Series Streak: n/a
Last Meeting: n/a
Notes: Akron has never faced the University of Houston.
Coaches
• Jodi Kest (Slippery Rock, '84) is in her second
season at Akron with a career record of 239-177 (.575) spanning 16
seasons. The Zips were 10-19 overall and 3-13 in the Mid-American
Conference in Kest's inaugural campaign.
• Joe Curl (Wayne State, '78) is in his 10
season at Houston and owns a career mark of 280-226 (.553),
spanning 18 years. Curl suffered a heart attack on Oct. 27, 2007
and is out indefinitely. Danny Hughes (TCU, '90),
who began in his third season as an assistant at UH, is currently
serving as the interim head coach in Curl's absence.
The Opening Tip
The University of Akron women's basketball team tips off its
season-long, five-game homestand Sunday when Houston comes to
Rhodes Arena. Tip time is scheduled for 2 p.m. (EST)
Zips Reset
Sophomore Sarah Tokodi (Marietta, Ohio/Parkersburg
Catholic) flirted with a triple double in leading the Zips to a
61-53 victory over Saint Francis on Dec. 5 at the DeGol Arena.
Tokodi finished with a game-high 16 points, nine rebounds and seven
assists.
Akron controlled the game from the tip, using a 16-0 run late in
the first half to push out to a 26-13 lead and an 11-0 spurt in the
second half to take a 47-29 advantage with 12 minutes left in the
contest. SFU didn't go quietly, however, closing the gap to six
points, 57-51, with 1:04 on the clock.
But Tokodi hit a pair of clutch free throws with :58 left and
lobbed a pass to Rachel Green (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Northwest) for
an easy lay-in to push the UA edge to 10 points and close out the
Red Flash.
For the game, Akron out-shot Saint Francis, .419 (26-for-62)-.333
(20-for-60) and recorded a season-high 21 assists while forcing 22
turnovers.
About Houston
The Cougars (4-6) come to Rhodes Arena having won
back-to-back road games (63-62 at Miami [Fla.]; 66-63 at Texas
Tech) for the first time since 2006 and winners of three of their
last four contests overall. Houston, which was picked to finish
seventh in Conference-USA during the preseason, is led by a pair of
high-scoring guards in Tye Jackson (12.6 ppg) and Twiggy McIntyre
(12.3).
Team Notes
• December has been a very friendly month for the
Zips under second-year head coach Jodi
Kest. Under Kest's guidance, Akron is 7-1 in December games
following the Zips' 61-53 victory at Saint Francis (Dec. 5). UA was
6-0 in December last year.
• To say that Akron's offense was efficient against Saint
Francis would be a severe understatement. The Zips racked up 21
assists for 26 total field goals (80.7 percent) while shooting 41.9
percent (26-for-62) from the floor. UA's assist total was the most
since the team recorded 24 in a 74-70 win at Western Michigan on
Jan. 29, 2005.
• The Zips held their opponent to less than 40 percent
shooting from the floor for the second time at SFU. The Red Flash
shot just .333 (20-for-60) while turning the ball over 22
times.
• Sunday's game represents an opportunity for Akron to put
together back-to-back wins for the first time this season. The
Zips, who haven't won consecutive games since winning six straight
from Dec. 3-29th last season, are 0-3 in games following a
victory.
• Conversely, UA has been very good at bouncing back from
defeats. Akron has lost back-to-back games just once this season
and is 4-1 in contests following a setback.
• Sunday's game will also be just Akron's second at Rhodes
Arena this season and its first in more than a month. UA last
defeated Saint Louis (81-77) on Nov. 14 on its home floor.
• Free throw shooting has been a strength of the team thus far
in 2007-08. Akron is ranked fifth in the league with a .706
shooting percentage from the charity stripe.
• Despite having just four players on the active roster at
6-feet or taller, the Zips are averaging 3.33 blocks per game, the
third-highest mark in the league.
Player Notes
• Sophomore Sarah Tokodi was named Mid-American
Conference East Division Player of the Week on Dec. 10.
Tokodi, who was named MAC Female Scholar Athlete of the Week on
Nov. 29th, nearly recorded a triple double with 16 points, nine
rebounds and seven assists in Akron's only contest last week, a
61-53 victory at Saint Francis on Dec. 5.
Moreover, when the game was on the line Tokodi came through,
hitting a pair of clutch free throws with less than a minute left
and UA clinging to a six-point (57-51) lead. Tokodi then assisted
the Zips' next basket and pulled down a key defensive rebound on
SFU's following possession to ensure the Akron victory. Tokodi was
a member of the MAC Freshman team last season and a preseason
all-conference selection this year.
• Tokodi has reached double-figure scoring in all nine games
this season and is ranked among the league leaders in a number of
categories, including points per game (7th, 15.6), free throw
percentage (12th, .760), assists per game (5th, 4.3), three-point
field goals per game (14th, 1.33), assists-to-turnover ratio (12th,
0.80) and minutes played (3rd, 35.44).
• In her last three games, Tokodi is averaging 19.0 points,
6.3 assists and 6.0 rebounds. Furthermore, she was named MAC Female
Scholar-Athlete of the Week on Nov. 29th, the day that she
established a career high with 27 points at Niagara.
• Tokodi has been one of Akron's top clutch players, averaging
a team-high 8.9 points in the second half alone. Moreover, she has
missed just two free throws (15-for-17) in the final five minutes
of Akron's games. She was at her best in a 66-61 win against
Eastern Washington (Nov. 22), scoring 10 of her 18 points in the
final five minutes, including a perfect 8-for-8 performance from
the free throw stripe to hold off the Eagles.
• Fellow sophomore Riana Miller (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview) has
recorded at least one block in all but one game this year and leads
the league with an average of 1.3 rejections per contest. She has
posted six in her last four games and leads the team with 12 blocks
on the season.
Miller, who averages 9.0 points per game, is also the conference's
25th-ranked scorer.
• One of the biggest areas of improvement in Miller's game
from last season has come at the free throw line. Miller, who shot
.686 (59-for-86) as a true freshman, is hitting on .786 (33-for-42)
of her attempts this year – the 7th-highest percentage in the
MAC.
• Junior Ashley Veal (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) is
developing into Akron's top reserve having averaged 9.7 points and
5.3 rebounds in just 23.3 minutes per game in her last three
contests. The forward has recorded double-digit scoring in each of
her past two games, including a season high of 12 points at Saint
Francis (Dec. 5), and grabbed a career-best seven rebounds at
Niagara (Nov. 29).
• Shooting guard Keyla Snowden (Lexington, Ky./Lexington
Catholic) has recorded at least one 3-point field goal in all but
one game this season and has connected on at least two in seven.
The freshman is ranked 35th in the nation with an average of 2.6
3-point field goals per game. Additionally, Snowden is ranked sixth
in the MAC in 3-point field goal shooting percentage (.411) and
14th in scoring (11.7 ppg).
• Freshman guard Amanda Sedlack (Pittsburgh, Pa./Oakland
Catholic) had one of her most productive games in an Akron uniform
against the Red Flash (Dec. 5) with a five assists, four steals and
a rebound in 19 minutes. Sedlack's 20.1 minutes-per-game averages
leads all UA non-starters.
• Small forward Kara Murphy (Hartville, Ohio/St.
Vincent-St. Mary) is also ranked highly among her peers. The
first-year player is 13th in the league in scoring (12.3) and
eighth in field goal percentage (.464) and 3-point field goal
percentage (.400). Murphy leads the Zips with 5.0 rebounds per
game.
