We are profiling each member of the 2012-13 Creighton women’s basketball team. Join us weekdays leading up to the regular season tip-off against Oklahoma (November 10) for an introduction to this year’s Bluejays, from freshmen to seniors.
Akin-Otiko is looking to build upon her freshman season for the Bluejays
After an illustrious career at Bellevue West, sophomore forward Alexis Akin-Otiko made an immediate and lasting impact as a newcomer for Jim Flanery’s Creighton Bluejays last season. In just her second game in blue and white she led the team with 16 points in a win over North Dakota State. She played in all 33 games, and led her fellow freshman in field goal percentage, rebounds, steals, and blocks. With the loss of sophomore forward Taylor Johnson to a season-ending knee injury, and senior forward DaNae Moore to graduation, Akin-Otiko will play a vital role success this upcoming season.
Being that it’s her second year in the program, the experience she has gained so far helps her prepare for bigger challenges.
“It’s not easy, but it’s a lot easier than last year,” Akin-Otiko said. “I just know what to expect. I know how hard to push myself. Mentally it’s a lot easier, and if I’m good mentally then it’s not too bad.”
If there was a downside to Akin-Otiko’s impact last season, it was turnovers. Her 8:36 assist-to-turnover ratio was worst on the team. If she is to be depended on to guide the Jays back to the NCAA Tournament, she must learn to value the basketball.
“Last year I turned the ball over a lot, so my main thing in the offseason was better decision-making. I played a lot of pick-up and worked on handling the ball in traffic,” she said.
As a freshman, she played in every game for a Creighton team that won 20 games, swept through the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, and lost in the final seconds to St. John’s in round one of the NCAA Tournament. As a sophomore, she will try to improve as an individual player, help the team reach their goal of returning to tournament, and guide the freshman class as they make the transition she had to make last season. Some may look at the kind of pressure as a negative, but not Akin-Otiko.
“I don’t think there is a lot of pressure, honestly. We are so close and supportive of each other. We all set a personal goal, and there isn’t any outside pressure. There isn’t really an expectation to help the newcomers, we just do it regardless. We’re just taking it day-by-day, trying to stay healthy, and optimizing on every practice. Our goal is to get back to where we were last year, and to do whatever it takes to get there. It’s kind of the same as last year. We didn’t really lose that many people, so it’s just about enhancing what we did last year. Everybody is just going off of what they did last season and trying to improve on that.”
Along with taking better care of the basketball, she will also look to help the Jays be a strong rebounding team. At 5’11 she is one of the taller Jays, and with size being an issue for Creighton she and her fellow frontcourt mates will have their work cut out for them down low.
“We definitely worked on rebounding as a team, because we have smaller players. All of the guards are encouraged to come in and help out the bigs. The bigs need box out the post, and the guards need come in and clean it up. We definitely need to be a lot scrappier because of our size.”
Akin-Otiko and the Jays will start their quest back to the Big Dance with a Halloween night exhibition game against Southwest Minnesota State. Tip-off is set for 5:05 p.m. at D.J. Sokol Arena.