Courtesy: Jeff Harwell-Zips Sports Photography Head coach Jodi Kest's second full recruiting class has garnered national attention recently.

AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron women's basketball recruiting class for 2008-09, its second full class under head coach Jodi Kest, has been ranked 59th in the nation by the Collegiate Girls Basketball Report, a well-respected national service run by veteran analyst Dan Olson.

“I am very happy with the recruits we have signed for the upcoming season and I am thrilled to hear we have been recognized for our efforts,” Kest said. “The coaching staff has worked extremely hard to recruit young ladies with high character and who are 100 percent committed to our program.

“Recruiting coordinator Jim Brunelli is a relentless worker and has done an amazing job of evaluating talent that best fits our needs,” Kest continued. “We have had two outstanding recruiting classes and we look forward to taking our program to the next level.”

UA’s revamped 2008-09 roster will feature seven newcomers, highlighted by junior college standouts Alya Guzzardo and Jolene Tamboue.

"Akron's class has a lot of depth," Olson said. "While there isn't one particular standout, they've put together a good, solid group of Division I players at the mid-major level."

Guzzardo (Hammond, La./St. Thomas Aquinas/Shelton State), a 5-3 point guard, quarterbacked the seventh-ranked junior college team in the nation last winter while averaging 9.3 points and 5.9 assists per game at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Tamboue (Manhattan, Kan./Manhattan [Kan.]/Independence), a 5-11 forward, averaged 10.7 points and 9.8 rebounds (ranked 31st in the country) per game as a first-team all-conference and all-region performer at Independence Community College, which finished 24-9 overall and 15-3 in league play last season, in Independence, Kan.

Rounding out the list of first-year players are early high school signees Kyle Baumgartner (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover), Denver McLean (Brampton, Ontario/Mayfield Secondary), Jasmine Mushington (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Carroll) and Tiesha Stubbs (Farrell, Pa./Farrell), who each signed letters of intent last November. Natasha Williams (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) became a late addition last May.

The talented group, which features four post players and three guards, will join a strong young nucleus led by sophomore forward Kara Murphy (Hartville, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary), who was named to the All-Mid-American Conference Freshman Team in 2007-08. Murphy was also named to the All-MAC Third Team, marking the highest designation by a first-year player in the history of the Akron program.