Kent State women’s basketball fans will get their first chance to see the 2022-23 Golden Flashes in an exhibition game against Division II Mercyhurst Thursday.
Game time is 5:30 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center, and admission is free. The game will be streamed on KSU’s Boxcast Network.
The Flashes return 11 players from last year’s team, which went 19-12 and made the second round of the WNIT.
Among the returning players are three fifth-year seniors. Lindsey Thall, a 6-2 forward, has started every game in her career except for four she missed with COVID last season. Thall has made more 3-point shots than any player in Kent State history. 5-10 guard Hannah Young started all 30 games last season. Annie Pavlansky, a 6-foot guard-forward, has played sparingly in her career.
Fourth-year seniors returning are guards Katie Shumate, a three-year starter who led KSU in scoring last season, and Clare Kelly, who has been a key reserve for three years.
Also back are junior point guard Casey Santoro, who averaged 26 minutes a game last season and led the team in assists, and 6-3 sophomore forward Bridget Dunn, who tied Thall for the most 3-point baskets on the team.
Missing is 6-2 forward Nila Blackford, who transferred to Xavier after leading Kent State in rebounding all three years she played for the Flashes.
Freshmen include 5-4 point guard Dionna Gray, who was player of the year in West Virginia last season and averaged 22 points a game. Guard Corynne Hauser was another big high school scorer, averaging 25 points a game as an all-stater for Rochester High School in Rochester, Pennsylvania.
Mercyhurst returns its top three scorers from a team that went 9-19 last season.
The Flashes, who were ranked 20th in the Mid-Major Preseason Top 25 poll announced this week, open the regular season at 7 p.m. next Thursday when they host Florida State at the M.A.C.C.