The Kent State women’s basketball starts its new season Wednesday at Northern Kentucky of the Horizon League.
The game starts at 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+, which costs $6.99 per month. Almost all KSU games will be on the network, along with most games of other Mid-American Conference teams and those of many other mid-major conferences. Many of Kent State’s men’s games will also be streamed on ESPN+.
The audio of the game is also streamed on Kent State All-Access, starting about 6:45. During and after the game, statistics are available through the Northern Kentucky website.
NKU, 8-11 last year and 7-5 in Horizon play, returns four starters. One is redshirt senior guard Lindsey Duvall, a preseason all-conference guard who averaged 16.9 points and 7.8 rebounds last season. Junior guard Ivy Turner (11.2 points last season) was a second-team all Horizon choice.
Post player Grayson Rose, a 6-3 graduate student, made the league all-defensive team and averaged 7.7 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Kent State returns all five starters and top eight scorers from last year’s 11-9 team, which finished fifth in the MAC in a season often disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
KSU’s leading scorer was junior forward Nila Blackford, one of three players in the MAC last season who averaged a double-double (15.5 points and 10.6 rebounds). Blackford is 6-2.
Also back are second-leading scorer Katie Shumate, a 5-11 junior guard who averaged 12.2 points last season despite playing on an injured knee all year. Coach Todd Starkey says Shumate was never more than 80% healthy last season but is ready to go full speed.
Senior Lindsey Thall, a 6-2 forward who has started every game in her college career, has led the MAC in blocked shots all three years at KSU. She averaged 11 points a game last season and is one of the top 3-point shooters in the conference.
Both Thall and Shumate were honorable mention all-MAC last season and former members of the league all-freshman team. Thall made the league’s all-defensive team last season.
Senior Mariah Modkins and sophomore Casey Santoro again will split point guard duty this season. Modkins started every game last season and is a game manager who made 37.1% of her 3-point shots last season. Santoro is a driver and scorer who had more than 2,200 points in high school.
Junior Clare Kelly started 13 games last season. She made 36.5% of her 3s last season and took the second-most on the team after Thall.
Two experienced newcomers are junior Abby Ogle, a transfer from West Virginia who was a third-team junior college all-American for Hutchinson Community College in Kansas in 2020. Starkey says she’s the best passer on the team and gives the Flashes a ball-stealing ability that was lacking last season.
Bexley Wallace is a 6-3 junior transfer from Penn State who sat out last season with an Achilles tendon injury. Early in the season, she’s expected to play only in short stretches as she continues to recover. Wallace was a top-100 recruit out of Pickerington Central High School.
Other key returnees are 6-4 sophomore center Lexi Jackson, KSU’s top post reserve at the end of last season and senior guard Hannah Young, an important three-year reserve who had 15 rebounds in a game against Akron last season.
Preview from Kent State website, including links to roster, schedule and more.
Preview from Northern Kentucky website, including links.