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2015-16 women's basketball
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cschierh Offline
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2015-16 women's basketball
The season starts with an exhibition against Hiram Sunday.

Lots of roster turnover: the team has just four players with Division I experience despite graduating only four seniors. Three second- and third-level players left the team after last season and another left late in the season.

The four who are back are the ones you wanted, including leading scorer Larissa Lurken and forward Jordan Korinek, who was third on the team in scoring and rebounding as a freshman. Naddiyah Cross, who started 15 games at point guard as a freshman, returns, as does sophomore McKenna Stephens, a forward who became eligible second semester and played 15 minutes a game.

The team has seven freshmen and two junior college transfers. One of the freshman is redshirt wing Tyra James, who was supposed the be one of the best in last year's recruiting class. She blew out her knee a week before last season started. Two of the true freshmen were all-state guards; two others are 6-3 and 6-4 post players.

Last year's team was 5-20 and fifth in the MAC East. It was greatly improved in the second half of the season and probably the best team in coach Danny O'Banion's three years here. Biggest loss was 6-4 Cici Shannon, a third-team all-MAC player.

The team will be previewed this week on the wbbflashes blog at http://wbbflashes.com. Preseason press day for men and women is Thursday. Regular season opener is Nov. 14.
(This post was last modified: 11-08-2015 05:53 PM by cschierh.)
11-02-2015 09:06 PM
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cschierh Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
A look at the team's seven (!) freshmen and three transfers is up on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

My guess is that at least two of the freshmen, including redshirt Tyra James, will start.

Two of the true freshmen -- guards Megan Carter of Farmington Hills, Mich., and Alexa Golden of Pittsburgh -- were all staters (second and third team).

The freshman post players are 8-4 and 6-3.

The junior college transfers look like a bit of an upgrade over two players who left the team.

Seasons starts with an exhibition against Hiram at 2 p.m. Sunday at the MACC.
11-03-2015 11:35 PM
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Slinkin Street Flash Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
(11-03-2015 11:35 PM)cschierh Wrote:  <snip>

The freshman post players are 8-4 and 6-3.

<snip>

8-4!! Taller than Blake Vedder? I think you meant 6' 4"
11-04-2015 09:09 AM
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JimJoyce Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
(11-02-2015 09:06 PM)cschierh Wrote:  Lots of roster turnover

Hmm isn't this why everyone here ran Bob Lindsay out?
11-04-2015 09:50 AM
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cschierh Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
Indeed our tallest freshman -- Merissa Barber-Smith -- is 6-4. Typing faster than I was thinking.

Lindsay had a lot of roster turnover at the second level but lost only one starter that I can remember.

He had six freshmen his last season after graduating all five starters. The recruiting class was a bust. The best player returned to France because her father was sick. A point guard who started never really jelled in O'Banion's system and left after a year. She was at a Division II school in New York last I knew.

Though Lindsay had winning records before that, his teams had slipped his last five years or so as Curt Miller built a dynasty at Bowling Green. Lindsay and athletic director Joel Nielsen also didn't get along that well.

There's a new note on the http://wbbflashes.com blog on the three players who left the team after the season. Only one played significant minutes last year.
(This post was last modified: 11-04-2015 05:11 PM by cschierh.)
11-04-2015 05:09 PM
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KSU93 Offline
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Post: #6
RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
Nobody gets along with Joel EXCEPT the football coach and maybe Duncan.
11-04-2015 07:14 PM
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cschierh Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
Key points from Thursday's preseason press conference:

Team chemistry: "The best I've seen" in her four years at Kent, coach Danny O'Banion said. Kent's returning players made a major effort over the summer to bond with nine new players.

More shooters: Freshmen Alexa Golden and Megan Carter, junior college transfer Keziah Lewis, even sophomore forwards Jordan Korinek and McKenna Stephens have shown the ability to shoot the three-pointer. For the last two years, Larissa Lurken has been about the only outside threat Kent had, and teams have played pack zone defenses against the Flashes.

A better Korinek: Third on the team in scoring and rebounding as a freshman, Korinek improved over the summer more than any player in O'Banion's time at Kent. She's worked hard on offense in the post and on being more physical.

A more versatile Luken: She was the teams leading scorer last season but mostly as an outside shooter. She's worked to improve her floor game.

Tyra James: A redshirt freshman wing who missed all last season with a knee injury, James is expected to be one of the teams top three scorers (with Korinek and Lurken).

The Flashes open the season with an exhibition against Hiram at 2 p.m. Sunday at the MACC.

Lots more on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.
11-05-2015 08:31 PM
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cschierh Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
Women will play four quarters instead of two halves this season.

In the last minute of a game, a team can advance the ball to the front court with a timeout (as in NBA games).

More on those and other rules changes is in the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.
11-06-2015 07:09 PM
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cschierh Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
The women's team opens its 2015-16 season at 2 p.m. Sunday with an exhibition game against Hiram College in the MACC.

Hiram was 7-19 last year, 3-13 in the Division III North Coast Athletic Conference. It was picked eighth in the conference this year.

The Flashes have three returning starters from a year ago and nine new players -- seven freshmen and two junior college transfers.

Kent State, which was 5-25 a year ago, opens its regular season next Sunday with a 2 p.m. home game against Colgate.
11-07-2015 09:50 AM
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cschierh Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
The women won their exhibition against Hiram, 73-45. Larissa Lurken had 24 points, 19 in the first half.

Redshirt freshman Tyra James, who was injured all last season, looked very smooth in her first game. She had 13 points.

The team seemed faster and quicker than in recent years. They scored 18 fast-break points and went on an 18-0 run at the end of the second quarter.

Point guard Naddiyah Cross had eight points and seven assists.

Starting line-up was Lurken, James, Cross, Jordan Korinek and junior college transfer Chelsi Watson. Korinek was in foul trouble all game and scored only two points. Watson had eight rebounds.

6-4 freshman Merissa Barber-Smith had nine points and 10 rebounds in just 13 minutes.

It's hard to draw big conclusions in an exhibition against a Division III team like Hiram, which was 7-19 last year and isn't supposed to be much better this year. Still, it was a decent start.

A lot more is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.
(This post was last modified: 11-08-2015 05:49 PM by cschierh.)
11-08-2015 05:35 PM
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burden Offline
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Post: #11
RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
First of all it's great to have winter sports back. I'm out of town so I missed this one but it's nice to see that Lurkin, James and Cross played well. I know it was only Hiram and even after killing Ohio Christian last year we went 5-25 but it's nice to see a win. It beats the alternative. If Cross can score 8 a game it will really help. We'll see if she can keep it up.
11-08-2015 08:37 PM
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Post: #12
RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
I think we'll all be happy with "better."
11-08-2015 08:46 PM
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cschierh Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
Kent State announced what could be its only 2016-17 recruit: 5-10 guard Ali Poole of Carrollton. She was all-district and all-league as a sophomore and junior and was player of the year in the league last season. She averaged 15.5 points a game last year and already has scored 920 points in her high school career.

The Flashes have no seniors and 14 scholarship players on the current roster. They can have 15 scholarships. One of the scholarship players this season is a former walk-on who didn't play at all last year. I don't whether her scholarship deal is a one-year thing.

Also on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com, notes from Danny O'Banion at this week's coaches luncheon: Her impression of Sunday's 73-45 exhibition win against Hiram: “Nobody got hurt, everyone played, and we scored more points than Hiram. We got some good teaching video. I’m happy.”
11-11-2015 09:13 PM
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burden Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
(11-11-2015 09:13 PM)cschierh Wrote:  Kent State announced what could be its only 2016-17 recruit: 5-10 guard Ali Poole of Carrollton. She was all-district and all-league as a sophomore and junior and was player of the year in the league last season. She averaged 15.5 points a game last year and already has scored 920 points in her high school career.

The Flashes have no seniors and 14 scholarship players on the current roster. They can have 15 scholarships. One of the scholarship players this season is a former walk-on who didn't play at all last year. I don't whether her scholarship deal is a one-year thing.

Also on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com, notes from Danny O'Banion at this week's coaches luncheon: Her impression of Sunday's 73-45 exhibition win against Hiram: “Nobody got hurt, everyone played, and we scored more points than Hiram. We got some good teaching video. I’m happy.”

I'm glad she hid the box score. That should really throw Colgate off. Unfortunately as a fan it would be nice to see. But what the heck.
(This post was last modified: 11-12-2015 01:59 PM by burden.)
11-12-2015 01:57 PM
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GoFlashes7 Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
This roster is better than last years roster, so they have to have a better record, right? Heavy on the home games and easier opponents in the non-conference schedule this year, compared to Lindsays' non-conference schedules.

At some point O'Banion needs to stop turning her roster over every year, as then she never has a large # of juniors & seniors that play big roles, which is always what the recipe for success is in the MAC, mens & womens included.

The starting lineup for the exhibition game was:
PG - Naddiyah Cross (Soph)
SG - Tyra James (RS FR)
SF/SG - Larissa Lurken (JR)
PF - Chelsi Watson (JR)
C - Jordan Korinek (Soph)
11-12-2015 04:17 PM
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cschierh Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
This year's junior class was really O'Banion's first recruiting class. (She didn't get here until April the previous year.)

Larissa Lurken, the team's leading scorer, is the only player left in that class of four. Krista White, who transferred to a Division II school after last season, was a part-time starter last year. Neither of the other two were significant contributors.

The next class -- this year's sophomores -- had six players. Four are left. This year's class included four freshmen, two junior college players and a transfer who can't play until next year.

Key will be whether this year's sophomores and freshmen stay and contribute.
11-12-2015 08:44 PM
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cschierh Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
Kent State's non-conference season starts Sunday with a home game against Colgate.

Coach Danny O'Banion deliberately scheduled a home-heavy schedule for her team, which is heavily freshmen and sophomores.

The schedule is interesting:

Eight games are against teams that didn't have close to a winning record last season. Best of those is North Dakota State, which was 11-19.

The other four are against teams that won at least 19 games and played in post-season tournaments. Three of those are Ohio-based Horizon League schools -- Cleveland State, Youngstown State and Wright State. The fourth is Minnesota from the Big Ten, which will play in Kent the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

It's a good schedule in a lot of ways. The home games are important; KSU had only three last season. The Flashes have a shot at beating the eight weaker opponents and will see how good they are against some winning teams. But even those teams are Horizon League -- not top 50 schools.

Details on the schedule, including last year's records and returning players, are on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.
11-12-2015 08:56 PM
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cschierh Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
The women open the regular season against Colgate at 2 p.m. Sunday at the MACC.

Kent State beat Colgate 62-61 on the road last season on a last-second shot by Melanie Stubbs.

The Raiders were 9-22 a year ago and return two starters. Top player is 6-3 forward Josie Stockhill, who averaged 10.7 a year ago and set a team record for blocked shots. They won their exhibition against Division II King's College of Pennsylvania, 81-37. Colgate had 69 rebounds and 18 steals and forced 30 turnovers. It also shot just 38 percent and committed 21 turnovers.

Kent State is led by junior guard Larissa Lurken, who averaged 11.1 points a game a year ago; sophomore forward Jordan Korinek, third on the team in scoring (7.2) and rebounding (4.6) last season; and sophomore point guard Naddiyah Cross, who started 15 games last season.

The Flashes have seven freshmen and two junior college transfers.

They beat Division III Hiram 73-45 in their exhibition last Sunday.

Full preview is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.
11-14-2015 04:31 PM
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burden Offline
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Post: #19
RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
(11-12-2015 04:17 PM)GoFlashes7 Wrote:  This roster is better than last years roster, so they have to have a better record, right? Heavy on the home games and easier opponents in the non-conference schedule this year, compared to Lindsays' non-conference schedules.

At some point O'Banion needs to stop turning her roster over every year, as then she never has a large # of juniors & seniors that play big roles, which is always what the recipe for success is in the MAC, mens & womens included.

The starting lineup for the exhibition game was:
PG - Naddiyah Cross (Soph)
SG - Tyra James (RS FR)
SF/SG - Larissa Lurken (JR)
PF - Chelsi Watson (JR)
C - Jordan Korinek (Soph)

Much of the turnover has been beyond her control. The 15 players from last year turned over due to 3 graduations, a 4th senior deciding to leave instead of using her 5th year of eligibility, two players leaving the team very early, one leaving in February, one leaving due to injury and two leaving in the offseason. Of course a better program might have convinced some of the six to stay but that's typical of a team that has won less than 10 a year for three years. If all six would have stayed we would have an additional senior, two additional juniors, and three additional sophs. She is not deliberately turning the team over but she does need to give them a reason to stay. Let's hope the worst is behind us.
(This post was last modified: 11-15-2015 05:11 PM by burden.)
11-14-2015 05:42 PM
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cschierh Offline
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RE: 2015-16 women's basketball
The women scored the first 15 points of the second half and beat Colgate in their opener, 76-71.

Four Flashes scored in double figures -- Latissa Lurken with 23' Tyra James with 17' Jordan Korinek with 12 and Alexa Golden with 10.

More coming up here and on the http://wbbflashes.com blog.
11-15-2015 04:27 PM
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