The Kent State women’s basketball team is loaded going into the new season.
But so is the rest of the Mid-American Conference.
The Flashes have all five starters and their top eight scorers returning from last season, when they finished fifth in the MAC with a 10-6 record.
But Ohio, Bowling Green, Buffalo and Eastern Michigan also have almost everyone back.
Add to that a non-conference schedule that includes at least two Top 25 teams, and we’re likely in for a most interesting season. (Link to KSU schedule.)
The Flashes were predicted to finish fourth in the MAC preseason coaches’ poll last week. The top three teams were (in order):
- Ohio, which returns conference player of the year Cece Hooks and first-team all-MAC selection Erica Johnson.
- Bowling Green, which won last year’s MAC regular season title and returns freshman of the year Lexi Fleming.
- Buffalo, which beat Kent State in last year’s tournament quarterfinals and returns guard Dyaisha Fair, who ranked sixth in the country last year in scoring at 24.4 points per game.
Eastern Michigan, picked fifth in the coaches’ poll, also has all of its starters back. (Link to poll and preseason all-MAC teams.)
Central Michigan, which won last year’s tournament, lost three starters, including 2020 MAC player of the team Micaela Kelly. Coaches picked the Chippewas sixth.
The Flashes open play at Northern Kentucky Wednesday. The Norse were 8-11 last season and are picked to finish fourth in the Horizon League.
Returning KSU starters are:
- Junior forward Nila Blackford, a second-team all-MAC player last year and again in this year’s preseason selections. She averaged 15.5 points and 10.6 rebounds a game last season.
- Senior forward Lindsey Thall, a member of the MAC’s all-defense team the last two years. She has led the league in blocked shots the last two seasons and is one of the MAC’s best 3-point shooters.
- Junior guard Katie Shumate, who was all-conference honorable mention last year despite season-long knee problems. She averaged 12.2 points a game.
- Senior point guard Mariah Modkins, who started every game and led the team in assists and made 37.1% of her 3-point shots.
- Junior guard Clare Kelly, a top 3-point shooter who was fourth on the team in scoring at 8.8 points per game.
Behind them are five experienced players who could give KSU its first 10-player rotation in coach Todd Starkey’s six years in Kent. They are:
- Sophomore point guard Casey Santoro, a 2,200-point scorer in high school who averaged 21 minutes a game last season.
- Senior guard Hannah Young, a key backup for three seasons who had 15 rebounds in a game last season.
- Sophomore center Lexi Jackson, the tallest player on the team at 6-4. She was the first post player off the bench at the end of the 2021-22 season.
- Junior center Bexley Wallace, a 6-3 transfer from Penn State who missed last season with an Achilles tendon injury.
- Junior guard Abby Ogle, a third-team all-American junior college player in 2020. She played five games for West Virginia last season.
Starkey said freshmen Bridget Dunn, a 6-3 all-State player from Indiana, and Jenna Batsch, a 6-1 guard from Loveland, Ohio, had looked good in practice.
Starkey said he sees major potential in his team.
“We have significant room for growth,” he said. “But I feel like we should be more prepared going into this season just about any season that we’ve had.
“When we’re shooting the ball well, we have a chance of being really good. If we’re not, we’re going to have to make sure that our defense isn’t our Achilles heel.
“I think we’re going to be able to score the ball. We’ve got shooters everywhere. We’ve got versatility. I like our chemistry.
“The biggest improvements need to happen defensively. I think our transition defense, and our defensive rebounding needs to get better.”
(It should be noted that Starkey worries about his defense at the start of every season, and it usually comes around.)
Before the opener, I hope to do detailed posts on the roster, more on the schedule, Starkey’s contract extension, new staff and the 2022 recruiting class, which will be announced this week.