Kent State Golden Flashes women's basketball
| Kent State Golden Flashes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| University | Kent State University | |||
| Conference |
Mid-American (MAC) East Division |
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| Location | Kent, Ohio | |||
| Head coach | Todd Starkey (1st year) | |||
| Arena |
Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center (Capacity: 6,327) |
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| Nickname | Golden Flashes | |||
| Colors | Navy Blue and Gold |
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| Uniforms | ||||
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| NCAA Tournament second round | ||||
| 1996 | ||||
| NCAA Tournament appearances | ||||
| 1982, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 | ||||
| Conference tournament champions | ||||
| 1998, 2000, 2002 | ||||
| Conference regular season champions | ||||
| 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 | ||||
| Conference division season champions | ||||
| 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 | ||||
The Kent State Golden Flashes women's basketball team represents Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States. The Golden Flashes compete in the Mid-American Conference East Division and last played in the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament in 2002. Founded in 1973 as a club team, the Kent State women's basketball team received varsity status in 1975 and played their first official game in January 1976. Through the 2015–16 season, the Flashes have five total appearances in the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament along with three Mid-American Conference tournament championships, five MAC overall titles, and seven MAC East division titles. Home games are held at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center, which has been the team's home venue since 1977. The head coach is Todd Starkey, who was hired April 19, 2016.
Women's basketball has been played at Kent State University since shortly after the campus first opened in September 1913, when it was known as the Kent State Normal School. As a teacher training school, the university's early enrollment was predominately female and president John McGilvrey felt that physical activity was important, so four intramural women's basketball teams were organized in early 1914. This basic setup continued through the 1960s in various forms with both women's physical education and intramural sports housed at Wills Gymnasium, the school's original gym. Men's physical education and varsity athletics were moved to the new and larger Men's Physical Education Building in 1950.
The passage of Title IX in 1972 resulted first in the establishment of three club-level women's basketball teams in 1973. The current program received varsity status in 1975 and played their home games at Wills Gymnasium for the 1976 and 1976–77 seasons before moving to Memorial Gym for the 1977–78 season. The team's first official game was held January 17, 1976, a 72–56 loss to Ashland College at Wills Gym. The Flashes won their first game on January 31 with a 70–30 victory over John Carroll University and finished 5–6 in their inaugural varsity season after going 1–11 in their final club season. Judy Devine, who was also serving as assistant athletic director and director of the new women's athletic program, was the team's first head coach, holding the position for the first two seasons. She led the team to a 9–8 season in 1976–77 and finished 14–14 as head coach, being succeeded in 1977 by Laurel Wartluft.
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