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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 2014–15 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. Danielle O'Banion was hired as the program's fifth head coach in April 2012. ==History== 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. Initially, the team competed in the Ohio Association of Intercollegiate Sports for Women (OAISW) as the Mid-American Conference did not sponsor women's sports until 1981. The OAISW did not include a league schedule, but did have a post-season tournament. In 1979, Kent State was 23–8, their first 20-win season, and finished third at the OAISW tournament. Kent State's best finish was the 1981 tournament, where they lost 67–62 to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the championship game to finish second in the state with a 24–10 record. The following season was the first for Mid-American Conference play as the NCAA began sponsoring women's athletics. Although the Flashes finished tied for third in the conference standings and finished third at the conference tournament, Kent State was the MAC representative for the inaugural NCAA Women's Division I tournament as an eighth seed in the 32-team field, falling to top-seed Southern California in the opening round.〔 Laurel Wartluft coached the team through the 1985–86 season, finishing with an overall record of 135–119 () and 28–55 () in the MAC. Wartluft led the team to three consecutive 20-win seasons from 1978–79 through 1980–81 and their first NCAA tournament appearance, but was unable to finish higher than seventh in the MAC after a tie for third place in 1982. She was succeeded by Richard Keast, who coached through the 1988–89 season, compiling an overall record of 33–50 () and 18–30 () in the MAC. Under Keast, the team's best season was his first year, going 15–13 overall and 8–8 for a fourth-place finish in MAC play.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kent State Golden Flashes women's basketball」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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