University of Akron women's basketball coach Jodi Kest entered this season with a goal to have more players consistently score points.

That objective was accomplished in the season opening game.

The host Zips utilized a pressure defense and a balanced offense to defeat Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis 63-49 Friday afternoon at Rhodes Arena.

This is the second year in a row UA has started the season with a win at home.

UA never trailed and had four players score in double figures.

Junior Kara Murphy led the Zips with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists in a game-high 38 minutes. Sophomores Jasmine Mushington (12 points) and Kyle Baumgartner (11 points, six rebounds) and senior Jolene Tamboue (10 points, seven rebounds) were also key contributors.

Murphy, a St. Vincent-St. Mary High School graduate, gave UA a 1-0 lead with a free throw 56 seconds into the game. The Zips built and maintained the lead the remainder of the game. The Zips led 36-22 at halftime and their largest lead was 52-32 following a 3-pointer by Murphy with 12:54 remaining in the second half.

IUPUI cut its deficit to 10 points at 55-45 with 6:11 left after two free throws from junior Jessica Huffman (14 points, six assists). Mushington countered with two layups to extend the lead.

IUPUI (0-1) committed 23 turnovers and UA (1-0) had 18. The Zips made 42.6 percent of their field goals (23-of-54) and the Jaguars converted 37.0 percent (20-of-54).

UA also held an advantage from the free throw line and from beyond the 3-point arc. The Zips made 12-of-19 free throws and 5-of-9 3-pointers.

Zips freshman Rachel Tecca and senior Ayla Guzzardo each contributed seven points in 30 minutes. Tecca, an Archbishop Hoban High School graduate, also had seven rebounds.

IUPUI freshman Clara Mitchell scored eight points and led all players with nine rebounds.

Postgame Notes:

- Murphy was presented a basketball before the game in recognition of surpassing 1,000 career points last season. She is the youngest player in program history to score 1,000 points and also set UA's single-season scoring record (580 points) a season ago. Murphy has 1,043 career points in 62 collegiate games.

- UA has opened 2008 and 2009 with wins. The last time the Zips have won their first game in consecutive seasons was 1995 and 1996.

Postgame Quotes:

Jodi Kest

“I was happy with the win. It wasn't pretty at times, but anytime you open the season with a win at home your happy. Our defense was solid. We only gave up 49 points.”

“I will take today, because we had four players in double figures. For us to be successful, we need three or four players to consistently score in double figures.”

“I thought Jasmine Mushington played an outstanding game for us defensively and offensively gave us a big spark.”

“Rachel Tecca struggled a little bit offensively today, but she will get better. There will be a learning curve for her throughout the year. She gave us a lot of energy.”

“Our kids worked hard the whole game and had fun out there.”

“I think we are going to learn a lot from this from watching it on video to get ready for our next game against St. Bonaventure.”

Kara Murphy

“Everyone has really stepped there game up. We have some good shooters and players that can make some post moves. We're balanced.”

“It was definitely a first game. We had our up's and down's, but a win is a win. We have some things that we need to work on-communication is a huge one. We just had some memory lapses. We have a lot of new players working in and we had some players in foul trouble. We will get better.”

Men's basketball

Both the men's and women's teams held media day today. Here are some notes I jotted down from each:

Keith Dambrot showed up with Jimmy Conyers and Chris McKnight, his seniors. In the crowd were Humpty Hitchens, Nik Cvetinovic and Zeke Marshall.

They served lunch, so the crowd was fairly large with people from the athletic department, maybe a dozen media members and a bunch of fans. It was a nice event, for sure. I think the women's program profited most, because Jodi Kest got her message out to people who primarily care about the men's team.

Dambrot spoke about Dakotah Euton, whom the Zips began to pursue after John Calipari took over for Billy Gillespie at Kentucky. Dambrot said it was common knowledge that Euton was back on the market after Calipari arrived because Euton would not fit Calipari's style. Dambrot dodged Tom Gaffney's direct question of whether Calipari no longer wanted Euton, but that is a fair assumption. (That doesn't mean, of course, that Euton was not good enough to play there.)

Dambrot compared Euton to a more physical version of Rob Preston, although not so bouncy. Both are tall white guys who prefer to play on the perimeter, so I guess that works. The coaches took notice of Euton when he was playing on the same AAU team as Josh Sewell, an Akron target who is headed for Miami (Ohio). Despite his guard-type skills, Euton will play power forward or center for Akron, Dambrot said.

Dambrot on recruiting: "We need to get guys that Ohio State, Xavier and Dayton want, but we can't beat them. For every guy like Zeke (Marshall), there are 50 who say 'no.' We have to look at guys who will get better and get on them early."

The coach answered a question about scheduling. Only five games are locked in for next year: Oakland, Niagara, Temple and Oakland on the road; Wyoming at home. He said, "No matter what we schedule, our league is going to drag us down (in RPI). You can't play the big boys in their gym with their referees, but you can play them neutral." He also criticized some of the MAC programs that have not invested in basketball as being a reason for the low league RPI. Dambrot suggested providing more NCAA Tournament revenue to the conference champion, in order to encourage more development in basketball.

Dambrot made a great point. Akron is No. 8 in the Mid-Major Top 25. The Zips are also the only team on the entire list that has a Division I-A football team. That says a lot about the athletic department and Dambrot's success here.

Ronnie Steward will start playing in a week. That will create a logjam at guard. Six players could conceivably see time: Steve McNees, Brett McClanahan, Darryl Roberts, Humpty Hitchens, Alex Sullivan and Steward. Dambrot asked Hitchens to stand up and explain his policy for rotating the guards in and out of the game. Hitchens said it will be a day-to-day process. Dambrot added that he will allow players to grab a spot in the rotation, which they will not relinquish.

My guard rotation would be: Hitchens, Steward and Sullivan at point guard. Roberts, McClanahan and McNees at shooting guard, with McNees also playing minutes at the point until Steward settles in.

Dambrot asked Cvetinovic to stand up from the crowd and tell what he's been working on. The Serbian center said he has worked to control his emotions and bond better with teammates. Dambrot asked Marshall to stand up and say how the transition to college has been. The 7-footer went on and on about how grueling Dambrot's practices are. Marshall nicknamed his coach, "El Diablo," which, of course, is Spanish for "The Devil."

Dambrot addressed attendance after a fan asked why the Beacon Journal and Plain Dealer do not cover the Zips on road games. After downplaying the newspaper's impact, he said, "We can't let Toledo outdraw us with a 7-59 record. We will never get to where we need to be without doing a better job (with attendance)."

I asked Dambrot to what extent he has had conversations about a new basketball arena. He conceded that there have been talks, but Tom Wistrcill is the best person to discuss that. However, an upgrade in facilities is necessary for recruiting, he said. "We don't have a 'wow' factor. We've done it with all people skills. We understand the economy, but we have an open window."

Women's basketball

Coach Kest was quite excited about her team's outlook this season, which will begin tomorrow at home with a noon game against IUPUI.

"We feel like this is our year," she said of her team, picked fourth in the MAC. "This is the most excited I've been in a long team."

The Zips return all five starters and three other rotation players. They also add true freshman Rachel Tecca from Hoban, a 6-foot-1 forward who provided a double-double in Saturday's exhibition against Ashland.

Along with the depth, especially in the front court, Kest is counting on a team that has improved its chemistry greatly since last season, when she released several players from the program. Kest has been seeking chemistry that urges players to fight for each other. "I think we have that finally," she said.

The Zips' weakness in years past has been rebounding. With a deep frontcourt, Kest believes that problem is solved. The coach also wants to average more points this year — in the 70-per-game range.

Football

I will preview the Temple game tomorrow morning.

The University of Akron women's basketball team was picked to finish fourth in the 2009-10 Mid-American Conference's East Division in a preseason poll released by the league office Wednesday morning.

The Zips return all five starters from a season ago under coach Jodi Kest.

UA junior forward Kara Murphy, the MAC’s leading scorer last season, was named to the All-MAC Preseason Team for the second consecutive season. Murphy averaged 19.3 points a game last season and became the youngest player in program history to score 1,000 career points.

Murphy’s 1,029 career points through two seasons ranks her 10th on the school's all-time scoring list. She set a UA single-season record with 580 points in 2008-09.

Murphy became the Zips second All-MAC First Team honoree last season.

The Zips return eight letter winners from last season, including starters Murphy, Ayla Guzzardo, Jolene Tamboue, Amber Witt and Kyle Baumgartner.

Defending MAC East champion Bowling Green was picked to repeat in 2009-10 with 22 first-place votes and Kent State (12) was tabbed to finish second.

The Falcons were also picked to win the MAC Tournament. Toledo (18) is the preseason favorite in the MAC West and Ball State (14) was picked second.

The preseason poll and all-conference teams were voted on by 24 members of the MAC’s media and league head coaches.

UA, which posted an 11-19 overall record and 6-10 mark in the MAC last season will host Ashland in an exhibition game on Nov. 7 at noon at Rhodes Arena. The Zips first regular season game is at home against IUPUI on Nov. 13 at noon.

Men's basketball/Women's basketball

Here is a YouTube message from Keith Dambrot and Jodi Kest…

I'm glad the marketing effort is beginning. I have seen two billboards around town. With a MAC Championship and top-40 recruit, Akron alumni have no excuse for not getting season tickets.

There is a "Meet the Team" event Saturday evening between 5:30 and 7:30 at Rhodes Arena.

Men's basketball

The year 2016 is two presidential elections from now.

It is also the next year that Keith Dambrot conceivably could be looking for a job. Akron extended its MAC Championship-winning coach through seven more seasons on Wednesday evening.

Praising Dambrot is overkill around Zips circles. He is the most popular coach on campus since John Heisman. Now that he won his MAC Championship and recruited a top-50 player, Dambrot has silenced the last of his critics. The remaining challenge is whether he can build a strong fanbase at Akron.

The Board of Trustees also extended softball coach Julie Jones through 2012 and women's basketball coach Jodi Kest through 2014. I don't want to see Mack Rhoades tinkering too much with the next AD's coaching lineup, but it's hard to argue with those moves.

Miscellaneous

The PD's Elton Alexander interviewed Jon Steinbrecher, the new MAC commissioner whose primary goal is to grow the conference as a basketball power.

I will be interested to see the result on this poll…

Track

The ABJ's Tom Gaffney detailed Stevi Large's experience at the national championship.

Large's career is far from over. She says she hopes to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Women's basketball

The team will soon name a new assistant coach, according to Jodi Kest on Twitter.

Men's and women's basketball

Starting next season, only eight of the 12 teams will have the opportunity to play a MAC Tournament game at Quicken Loans Arena.

The MAC's presidents approved that recommendation and other cost-cutting measures at their meeting Monday in Cleveland.

Over the next year, the presidents will discuss a separate site for the women's tournament. Toledo was the former site, and it seems like it would be a great way to ensure adequate attendance because of the city's proximity to two member universities (Toledo and Bowling Green).

Football

The ABJ's Mike Cardew took some interesting photos from the work on InfoCision Stadium.

Miscellaneous

Mack Rhoades is back on the job hunt.

The PD's Elton Alexander reports that Akron's athletic director is believed to be in Houston, interviewing for the same job at the University of Houston. Rhoades is also rumored to be on a short list at Marshall.

I don't blame Rhoades for wanting to advance. The only way to do that in his industry is to keep moving laterally. He certainly has made strides at Akron and gained valuable experiences.

If he goes, I know a great replacement. He goes by the moniker, "Nature Boy." He was a finalist for athletic director at Akron before Luis Proenza hired Rhoades. Give up? OK. It's Mike Waddell, an associate athletic director at Cincinnati.

Women's basketball

Akron coach Jodi Kest has started tweeting regularly, providing updates on her day-to-day coaching activities. I find Twitter to be a smart way to increase fan interest.

Women's basketball

Central Michigan beat Akron tonight in the first round of the MAC Tournament, finishing the Zips' season.

The Chippewas ended the game on an 18-4 run, which was more than the difference in the 67-59 result.

Kara Murphy scored 32 points for the Zips. The sophomore led the MAC in scoring and made the All-MAC Team. Also returning is center Kyle Baumgartner, who made the All-MAC Freshman team. She averages 9.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

Jodi Kest has recruited better players than Kelly Kennedy. Some of Kennedy's recruits were trouble off the court, too. Kest must have realized this problem when she purged some talent due to disciplinary reasons two years ago. You can't argue with how she restocked.

I teased you about seeing Humpty Hitchens and Zeke Marshall together for three years. The Lady Zips have a inside-outside corollary in Murphy and Baumgartner.

Tomorrow morning, I will preview the third game in the Akron-Miami season series.

Football

Ohio's top quarterback chose Akron last night.

Six-foot-4 Patrick Nicely of Willoughby South is the No. 20 pro-style quarterback in the nation, according to Rivals.com. As a senior, he threw for 22 touchdowns and four interceptions. ESPN.com's scouting report suggests that Nicely is a threat to run, as well.

Nicely turned down offers from Ohio University, Toledo, Bowling Green, and Central Michigan. He originally committed to Bowling Green, but he decommitted once the Falcons changed coaches.

Nicely visited campus over the weekend. He was impressed with the football facilities, the campus overall and how J.D. Brookhart was up front with him. It also helps that Nicely's high school teammate and offensive lineman Joe Vidovic committed to Akron, too.

"In the end, it just felt like it was a place where I can start early, and I loved everything about it," he told the Plain Dealer. "Their program is going up and I'd like to be the one that carries them to another [Mid-American Conference] championship."

Despite being the most prominent recruit of this class, Nicely has expressed a desire to redshirt.

Women's basketball

It had been 10 years and five days since Akron beat rival Kent State.

Using that as motivation, the Zips snapped that streak last night by beating the Flashes, 64-62.

Akron sophomore Amber Witt scored 19. The Zips won the rebounding battle, 42-27. Akron improved to 7-11 and 2-3 in the MAC.