Stephens scores two of her career-high 20 points against Akron last season.

McKenna Stephens is back with the Kent State women’s basketball team.

Stephens graduated in May but has enrolled as a graduate student in criminology this fall.

She has a year of eligibility remaining because she sat out a season after transferring from Michigan State her freshman year.

It was unclear throughout last spring whether Stephens planned to return, and she was honored at Senior Day with four other graduating Flashes.

Stephens’ eligibility was still being confirmed by Kent State’s Compliance Office, and coach Todd Starkey said he couldn’t comment until that process was over.

But she took part in the team’s preseason photo day today (Tuesday).

Stephens suffered a hip injury early in Kent State’s WNIT loss to Michigan in March and had surgery not long after. (In that game, she still played 37 minutes, scored 11 points and had 8 rebounds.) She was on crutches at the team’s banquet in May.

A 6-foot forward who can play inside and at the perimeter, Stephens was Kent State’s third leading scorer last season, averaging 9 points and 6 rebounds a game. In conference play, she averaged 11 and 7, and she led the MAC in three-point percentage in conference games at 44.4 percent (20 of 45). She was one of two players (with Merissa Barber-Smith) honored as the team’s “most improved” at the banquet.

Stephens started all but one of the KSU’s games last season and 19 of 24 in which she appeared as a sophomore. She missed the first five games of that season with an injury.

Her re-additiion to the team means the Flashes have four starters returning from the group that went 19-13 last season and won the MAC East title.

The one starter lost, however, was Larissa Lurken, the MAC player of the year. In 2016-17, Lurken set a Kent State record for points scored (752) and points per game (23.5) and an NCAA record for most free throws made in a season.

The team (without Stephens) has been working out 10 hours a week (two on the court) in the off-season. Full practice starts Oct. 2, and the team’s opener is at Northern Kentucky Nov. 11. Home opener is Nov. 30 against Detroit Mercy.

Here’s Stephens’ bio from last year’s roster.

 

 

The women’s team will open at Northern Kentucky Saturday, Nov. 11, and won’t play a home game until it hosts Detroit Mercy on Thursday, Nov. 30.

The final pieces of the Flashes’ schedule came out over the weekend. Apparently things were pretty much done weeks ago, but the announcement was held up while university attorneys reviewed the contracts for the games.

The schedule features only two non-conference home games — Detroit and Wright State a week later.

The team plays Florida Gulf Coast and Southeast Louisiana at the JAR at Akron Nov. 17-18. It’s part of the Akron Classic. KSU coach Todd Starkey and Akron coach Jodi Kest have agreed to alternate such an event between Akron and Kent. So KSU will host two teams in 2018.

The Flashes will travel on Dec. 10 to the University of Michigan, a team the Flashes played in the WNIT last spring. Starkey said the game was scheduled before the teams met in the tournament, a game Kent State lost 67-60 but outscored Michigan 38-24 in the second half.

As previously announced, the team will play in the “Play4Kay” Shootout in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving weekend. They’ll open against Stanford, a Final Four team a year ago, on Thanksgiving. The rest of the field includes six 2017 conference champions and Memphis, 14-16 a year ago and where former KSU head coach Danny O’Banion is now associate head coach.

Starkey said in an interview last week that he wasn’t thrilled with such a road-heavy schedule.

“I inherited some contracts (for series with other teams),” he said. “(The non-conference games at Akron) are almost home games in that our fans can get over there pretty easily.”

Besides Northern Kentucky, Michigan and the Akron and Las Vegas events, the schedule is entirely return engagements with teams the Flashes  played last season.

Besides Eastern Kentucky, the Flashes will travel to Youngstown State, Eastern Kentucky, and Robert Morris.

Here’s the schedule and a quick look at the opposition (I’m just going to post what I have and add more on the opponents later):

Saturday, Nov 11: At Northern Kentucky (9-22 and tied for eighth in the Horizon League last season). NKU returns two starers and five players total from last season’s team. They have a newly eligibly transfer from Coastal Carolina (where she was a starter) and an eight-member freshman class.

Tuesday, Nov. 14: At Youngstown State (9-22 and tied with Northern Kentucky for eighth in the Horizon las season). YSU had been hit hard by injuries when Kent beat the Penguins 75-60 last season. Most of those players are back, along with a good recruiting class.

Friday, Nov. 17 (at Akron): Florida Gulf Coast (26-9 and champions of the Atlantic Sun Conference). KSU beat Gulf Coast 77-64 in the Gulf Coast Showcase (almost next door to the team’s campus) last Thanksgiving. It was a signature win for the Flashes against a team that had a lot of newcomers and transfers and hadn’t completely jelled yet. Gulf Coast is coached by KSU alum Karl Smesko and is a power in its conference year-in, year-out. It’s possible Kent State could play the Eagles a second time in the Las Vegas Tournament.

Saturday, Nov 18 (at Akron): Southeastern Louisiana (5-24 and 12th in Southland Conference).

Thursday, Nov. 23 (Thanksgiving) through Saturday, Nov. 25. Stanford (32-6, second in Pac 12 and Final Four participant), then two other games in Play4Kay Shootout in Las Vegas. Previous post on tournament is here.

Thursday, Nov. 30. Detroit Mercy (18-14, tied for third in Horizon League). In one of their worst games of last season, Flashes lost at Detroit 73-52. By the end of the season, the team really wished it could play that game again. This November they’ll get their chance.

Tuesday, Dec. 5. At Eastern Kentucky (12-20, tied for eighth in Ohio Valley Conference). KSU beat Eastern 80-67 in Kent in second game of last season.

Thursday, Dec. 7. Wright State (25-9, tied for first in Horizon League). KSU broke 18-game road losing streak with a 79-69 victory at Wright State last season. KSU play three of its best quarters of the season to lead by 25, then held on for the victory.

Sunday, Dec. 10. At Michigan (28-9, third in Big Ten, WNIT champions). Flashes fell behind the Wolverines 43-22 in WNIT, then completely outplayed them in the second half, still losing by seven.

Tuesday, Dec. 19. At Robert Morris (22-11 and first in Northeast Conference). Robert Morris beat KSU 68-65 in overtime in Kent early last season. Team lost to No. 1 seed Notre Dame in NCAA tournament.

Saturday Dec. 30. At Eastern Michigan. Beginning of MAC season. Earlier post on MAC schedule is here.

I’ll try to update this with more detail on opponents, along with their 2016-17 RPI rankings. I’ll also have complete interview with Starkey later in the week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The women’s basketball team is headed to Las Vegas over Thanksgiving to play in one of the toughest tournaments in the nation outside of the NCAA tourney itself.

The Flashes are part of an eight-team field in the Play4Kay Shootout, a tournament that features six 2017 conference champions, including KSU’s win in the MAC East last season.

The eighth team is Memphis, whose associate head coach is Danny O’Banion, the former Kent head coach whose contract wasn’t renewed in 2016 after an 21-98 record in four years.

Kent State opens Thanksgiving Day against Stanford, the traditional women’s power that made the Final Four last season. Stanford actually is the other team that didn’t win its conference; the Cardinal were second in the Pac 12 to Oregon State.

If KSU were to pull the upset of the year — perhaps of the decade — against Stanford, it would play the winner of the Gonzaga-Belmont game. Otherwise it plays the loser. The third game of the tournament would come against Florida Gulf Coast, Ohio State, DePaul or Memphis.

Here’s the field:

• Belmont, 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Champions (27-6 record).
• DePaul, 2017 Big East Champions (27-8).
• Florida Gulf Coast, 2017 A-Sun Champions (26-9).
• Gonzaga, 2017 West Coast Conference Champions (26-7).
• Kent State,  2017 MAC East Champions (19-13).
• Memphis,  fifth place (tie) in American Athletic Conference (14-16).
• Ohio State, 2017 Big Ten Champions (28-7).
• Stanford, 2017 NCAA Final Four (32-6), second in the Pac 12.

The field is very much like that of the Gulf Coast Showcase in Florida last season, in which Kent State faced No. 4 Baylor is its opener. Every other team in that tournament won at least 26 games the previous season. Kent had won six.

But the tournament proved to be a defining moment for the Flashes, which many of us feared would be a series of demoralizing blowouts. Instead, Kent St took Western Kentucky to overtime, then beat Florida Gulf Coast. Both those teams went on to win their conferences and play in the NCAA tournament.

Those games propelled Kent State to its first winning season in six years and first MAC division title since 2003.

“The field may be even harder,” KSU coach Todd Starkey said in an interview this week.

Details on the tournament, including ticket and hotel information, are at http://kay.bdglobalsports.com.

The tournament is named after Kay Yow, a former N.C. State head women’s basketball coach who went through three bouts with breast cancer before she died in 2009. Kent State and almost every other women’s team in the country has a “Play4Kay” game during the season that raises money for research  and honors breast cancer victims, survivors and their families.

Here’s the bracket. All times are Pacific (Las Vegas’s time zone). Kent is three hours later.

 

Details on the tournament, including ticket and hotel information, is at http://kay.bdglobalsports.com.

 

The Mid-American Conference released the 2018 league schedule today, and it has Kent State opening at Eastern Michigan Saturday, Dec. 30.

Each year MAC teams play everyone in their own division twice. They play two games against two teams in the other division.

KSU will play Eastern and Northern Illinois of the MAC West home and away.

Eastern finished 1-17 and last in the conference a year ago but should be greatly improved.

The Eagles bring in a freshman class ranked highest in the MAC and 51st in the country by ProspectsNation. It includes three three-star and one four-star recruit. Their top recruit last season — an all-state guard from Cleveland New Tech East -— missed the whole year with an injury but will play this season.

EMU also has graduate transfers from Michigan and Fordham, neither of whom were big contributors there but who were highly ranked out of high school. Both will be eligible right away. Second-year coach Fred Castro, a former assistant at Washington, didn’t have much to start with after former coach Tory Verdi left for Massachusetts and two key players transferred. He’s since built the roster.

Northern Illinois was the fifth highest scoring team in the country last year and beat KSU in a memorable 98-97 game in Kent last January. The Huskies, 21-12 a year ago, lost Ali Lehman — perhaps the best player in school history — to graduation, along with third-leading scorer Cassidy Glenn. But they have three other double-figure scorers back and a solid incoming freshman class.

Kent State has its first home MAC game Saturday, Jan. 6, against Western Michigan. Its first MAC East game is at Bowling Green Wednesday, Jan. 17.

Though they were picked to finish last in the conference last season, the Flashes put together an amazing 19-13 season under new coach Todd Starkey and won the MAC East. They won more games last season than in the previous four years combined.

But they graduated MAC player of the year Larissa Lurken, who broke KSU’s season-scoring record and broke the NCAA record for free throws made last year.

Because of Lurken’s graduation, I’d guess the Flashes would be picked between second and fourth in the MAC East. Buffalo likely will be the preseason favorite.

KSU’s full schedule is due out any day. It includes only two pre-MAC home games (Detroit and Wright State), a Thanksgiving tournament in Las Vegas and a pair of November games against non-conference teams at the University of Akron, which will play the same two teams. The next year a similar event will be held at Kent.

Here’s the full MAC schedule.

 

 

What already looked like a very good 2018 recruiting class for the Kent State women’s basketball team has become an outstanding one.

In a Twitter post with a photo taken at the M.A.C. Center with KSU coaches, Hannah Young, a two-time Virginia all-state wing and last season’s player of the year in Virginia Class 3A, said she plans to join the Flashes. Young, who is 5-10, already has scored 1,443 points in her high school career. She could end with more than 2,000.

That’s more than Larissa Lurken, last year’s MAC leading scorer and MVP, scored in high school. It’s more than current players Jordan Korinek, Ali Poole, Megan Carter and Tyra James scored. And all of them were prolific scorers, especially their senior years.

If all goes as planned, Young will join four other freshmen on the Kent roster in fall 2018. The others include the top point guard in Massachusetts, a 6-2 forward from Strongsville ranked a three-star player by ESPN, a second-team all-Ohio guard from Cortland and a quick point guard from Solon.

Commitments become formal when players sign NCAA letters of intent in November. The overwhelming majority of players stick with their verbal commitments. Coaches can’t comment on a recruit until she signs the letter.

I’ve never seen a Kent State player with a high school record like Young’s. Last season she averaged 19.2 points and 7.9 rebounds a game in leading Brookville High School to the state semifinals. (They lost by two points.) She also led the team in blocks and steals. As a sophomore, she was a first-team all-state selection, averaging 18.8 points and 7.3 rebounds. Amy Sherry, who starred for KSU in the early 1990s, was on some high school all-American teams. Sherry scored a record 1,492 points at her high school. Young is 49 points away from that total – before her senior year.

Young made 43.4 percent of her three-point shots last season and 53 percent of her shots overall. Much of her recruiting was likely done by assistant coachty Fran Recchia, who played at Virginia Tech and was recruiting coordinator at Radford University in southern Virginia before she joined head coach Todd Starkey’s staff after he was hired in April 2016.

Young’s future teammates, who announced their commitments earlier, are:

ASIAH DINGLE, a 5-4 point guard who helped lead Archbishop Williams to the Massachusetts state championship last season. She was a second-team USA Today all-state selection and the only junior among the top five on the Boston Globe’s all-scholastic team. Last season she averaged 20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals per game.

LINDSEY THALL, a 6-2 post player from Strongsville High School. She was honorable mention all-Ohio last season and is listed as a three-star recruit by ESPN. Thall averaged 15 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game last season.

(Rating systems are so strange. Neither Young nor Dingle were ranked by ESPN, though both were all-state players. Thall, a three-star player, was all-state honorable mention.)

ANNIE PAVLANSKY, a 5-11 shooting guard from Lakeview High School in Cortland. Pavlansky averaged 19 points and 9 rebounds before an ankle injury ended her 2016-17 season after 15 games. Pavlansky was second-team all-state as a sophomore and special mention this season.

MARIAH “RI” MODKINS, a 5-1 point guard from Solon High School. She averaged 5.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.1 steals a game on a team that went 24-3 and included the state player of the year.

The recruiting class is the first that Starkey and his staff had a full year to work on. After Starkey was hired, he got three verbal commitments by September. A fourth player was added in the late signing period in April. All but the later signee earned regional honors in high school; none was more than honorable mention all-state.

The class of 2018 will move in after the graduation of current starting forward Korinek, a second-team all-conference player last season, starting point guard Naddiyah Cross, and reserve forward Zenobia Bess.

After five years near the bottom of the Mid-American Conference, the Flashes unexpectedly won the MAC East last season and went 19-13. They lost Lurken, starting forward McKenna Stephens and reserve forwards Chelsi Watson and Lacey Miller to graduation.

The team hasn’t announced its 2017-18 schedule but should within the next few weeks. Its opener likely will be in the second or third week of November.

Here’s a link to a postseason interview with Young in her hometown newspaper.

The first commit from the Class of 2019

Clare Kelly, a 5-9 guard from Olmstead Falls who was second-team all-state as a sophomore, tweeted Friday that she had verbally committed to Kent State.

Kelly averaged averaged 19 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.2 steals last season for Olmstead Falls, which had a 17-10 record and reached its regional semifinal.

She was an AAU teammate of Annie Pavlansky, the senior from Cortland who also has verbally committed to KSU.

Kelly is the first player I can remember to commit to KSU so early in her high school career. But recruiting has changed enormously, with some girls committing to a college as early as eighth grade. And Twitter has made such commitments much more public.

Starkey, who proved himself to be a very good game coach last year, is certainly proving himself just as much as a recruiter this summer.