Coach Danny O’Banion today announced what may be the only member of her 2116-17 recruiting class.
She’s Alexandra “Ali” Poole, a 5-foot 10 all-conference and all-district guard from Carrollton High School.
Poole was player of the year in the Northeastern Buckeye Conference last season and has scored 920 points in her career. At that pace, she’ll be one of Kent’s highest scoring incoming freshmen — even higher than current Flashes Jordan Korinek, both of whom were 1,000-point scorers in high school. Larissa Lurken, Kent’s current leading scorer, had 1,735 in high school. Poole will have to have quite a senior year (more than 30 points a game) to pass that.
Poole averaged 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2.5 assists a game last season. She was first-team all-league and all-district both her sophomore and junior years. She was all-state honorable mention in Division II both seasons. Her team was 16-6 last season.
In her announcement, O’Banion emphasized Poole’s Northeast Ohio roots and Kent State’s commitment to recruit in the area. Korinek is from Akron and sophomore forward McKenna Stephens from Uniontown. Five other current Flashes are from elsewhere in the state.
Kent State currently has 14 scholarship players on its roster and has no seniors. NCAA rules allow 15 scholarships. One of KSU’s current scholarships belongs to a former walk-on who never played last season, and it is unclear whether the scholarship is a one-year deal. (All scholarships are technically year to year.)
Not on the Flashes’ list today was Kamryn Troike, a 6-4 all-state player from Fostoria St. Wendelin who announced last May she had accepted an oral offer from Kent State. Troike was on no other team’s list that I could find today. A reporter from her hometown paper, which had written a detailed story about her commitment last summer, said she had made no new announcement. NCAA rules don’t allow Kent State coaches to comment on specific recruits outside of announcing formal signings.