Youngstown -- The Youngstown State women's basketball team will embark on a new era under first-year head coach Cindy Martin when it opens its 34th season on Saturday at Kent State. Tipoff in the season opener for both teams is slated for 2:05 p.m. at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation (M.A.C.) Center.

    Martin inherits a program looking to regain the prominence it enjoyed a decade ago with three NCAA Tournament bids and five straight 20-win seasons in the 1990s. Since the 1999-2000 season, YSU has not had more than 14 wins in a season (2007-08) and has lost 20 games three times. Martin comes to YSU after helping lead two rebirths - at West Virginia as an assistant coach and Indiana University of Pennsylvania as the head coach. IUP was 27-5 last season as Martin was named the WBCA 2007-08 Division II East Region Coach of the Year.

    The Penguins return just two starters from last year's squad, and one of those - Velissa Vaughn - could be out until at least January with shin splints. Last year's leaders in points, rebounds and assists are all gone. The roster also features five newcomer guards and a junior forward (Rachael Manuel) who sat out last season per NCAA transfer rules.

    YSU does return senior forward Tiara Scott, who earned Second-Team All-Horizon League and all-newcomer team honors a year ago. Scott averaged 13.1 points and 6.5 rebounds in her first season as a transfer from Western Nebraska C.C. She was even better against Horizon League competition, averaging 15 points per contest.

    Kent State finished 9-21 overall and 5-11 in Mid-American Conference contests last season. The Golden Flashes were picked to finish fourth in the MAC East in a preseason poll of the conference's coaches. Kent State returns all five starters, including preseason All-MAC center Anna Kowalska.

    YSU will play its home opener on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. against Buffalo.

New Coach Cindy Martin Takes Reigns of Program

    The Penguins will be under the direction of first-year head coach Cindy Martin, who comes to YSU after three years at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Martin, who has also coached at West Virginia University, compiled a three-year record of 70-23 at IUP and won at least 19 games every season. Martin is the third head coach for YSU since it joined the Horizon League prior to the 2001-02 season.

Four Players Elected Team Captain

    Seniors Kelsey Gurganus, Tiara Scott and Velissa Vaughn and junior Kaitlyn March have been elected captains of the Youngstown State women's basketball team for the 2008-09 season. Gurganus and Vaughn previously served as team captains during the spring.

New Leaders in Points, Rebounds, Assists Await

    YSU has big holes to fill with the loss of Heather Karner, Lauren Branson and Jessica Schloemp. All three started every game last season and averaged nearly 25 minutes apiece. Karner led the Penguins in scoring, Schloemp was the top rebounder and Branson led the Horizon League in assists. Karner posted half (87) of the team's 174 3-pointers a year ago, and Branson had 167 of YSU's 438 assists. Velissa Vaughn and Monique Godfrey have both played point guard in past seasons, but neither have as many assists in their career as Branson did just last season.

Veteran Group Looking Forward to Increased Roles

    Although the Penguins have a veteran group with six seniors and three juniors, the only returning player to start more than half of the games last year is Tiara Scott. Seniors Velissa Vaughn and Kelsey Gurganus started 15 apiece and Ashley Pendleton started eight times. Vaughn has the most returning experience in the starting lineup with 36 starts in her career. Monique Godfrey started 33 contests in her first two seasons before missing all but two games a year ago, and Pendleton and Nikita LaFleur have each started 17 games.

Penguins Picked Ninth in Preseason Poll

    Youngstown State has been picked to finish ninth in the Horizon League this season in a preseason poll of the league's coaches, sports information contacts and a media representative from each market. The Penguins, coming off a seventh-place finish in 2007-08, earned 71 points in the poll. Defending regular-season champion Green Bay earned 24 of the 30 first-place votes to finish atop the poll with 284 points. Wright State was picked second with 241 points and one first-place vote, Milwaukee received 240 points and two first-place votes and tournament champion Cleveland State picked up one first-place vote and 228 points.

Tiara Scott Earns Preseason Accolades

    Senior forward Tiara Scott has been named to the Horizon League Preseason Second-Team in conjunction with the preseason poll. Scott was a second-team all-conference player a year ago and was also named to the all-newcomer team. In her first year at YSU after transferring from Western Nebraska Community College, Scott ranked fifth in the league in scoring and sixth in rebounding in conference contests. She also finished fourth in field goal percentage, 11th in free throw percentage and 13th in blocks.

Coaching Staff Knows Horizon League, Region Well

    Head Coach Cindy Martin assembled a coaching staff that was very familiar with the Horizon League and teams in the midwest. Meredith Baugher coached the past three seasons at Valparaiso and played there from 2001-05. Shannon Sword played at Cleveland State from 2000-04 and coached two seasons as a graduate assistant at Division II Ashland University in Ohio. Bernard Scott coached in Ohio for six years at Dayton and Toledo before spending last season at Arizona.

Basketball Teams Appear Live on National Television on GMA

    The Youngstown State men's and women's basketball programs were the focus point of several segments of ABC's "Good Morning America" on Oct. 31 as the show aired live from YSU's Beeghly Center. Five members of each team shot layups as YSU's Marching Pride played the fight song during the first segment, and the full squads were on camera behind co-anchors Chris Cuomo and Robin Roberts minutes later in the show. Roberts, a former standout basketball player at Southeastern Louisiana University, also spoke with the women's team off camera about the importance of working hard on and off the court and enjoying the student-athlete experience.

YSU Coaches in First Game

    Two out of Youngstown State's four previous head coaches won their first games at YSU. Female head coaches at YSU are 2-0 in their debut while male coaches are 0-2. Joyce Ramsey, in the first season of YSU women's basketball, won 67-34 at Oberlin on Jan. 10, 1976. Tisha Hill, YSU's coach from 2003-08, defeated Bowling Green 79-67 at home on Nov. 22, 2003. Jeff Cohen lost to Arizona 75-52 on Nov. 26, 1982, in his debut. Ed DiGregorio's squad also fell 86-81 to Cleveland State on Nov. 25, 1983.

Kent State is Debut Hot Spot

    Cindy Martin is the third out of five head women's basketball coaches at YSU to make their debut for the red and white at Kent State. Legendary coach Ed DiGregorio had his start at the Kent State Tournament on Nov. 25, 1983, against Cleveland State. Jeff Cohen also made his debut for YSU at the Kent State Tournament against Arizona on Nov. 26, 1982. Neither coach won their debut in Kent, but DiGregorio's first win came at the KSU tourney. The Penguins defeated Akron 74-56 on Nov. 26, the day following his debut.

LaFleur Familiar Name at Kent State

    Nikita LaFleur will not be the first person with her last name to play at the M.A.C. Center. Nikita's sister, Tiffany, also played at Kent State from 2003-07. Tiffany had a defensive rebound and a turnover against YSU when the teams played on Dec. 13, 2003, at the Beeghly Center.

Last Time: Kent State Wins 66-53

    Kent State jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead and held off an early second half YSU run en route to a 66-53 victory on Dec. 13, 2003, at the Beeghly Center.

    Jessica Olmstead had 13 points and eight rebounds while Devin Novak finished with 11 points to pace the Penguins.

Andrea Csaszar led KSU with 17 points and 12 rebounds while Lindsay Shearer finished with 12 points.

    YSU opened the second half with a 12-5 run to get back within 10 before Kent State scored seven unanswered points to reclaim its 17 point lead.

    The Flashes led by as many as 21 and kept YSU from getting within 13 the rest of the way.

    The Penguins shot 29.2 percent in the first half and 35.5 percent overall while KSU shot 37.7 percent. Kent State held the rebounding advantage 42-36.

Four Inducted Into Hall-of-Fame

    Four members of YSU's most successful group of women's basketball players were inducted into the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 25.

    Shannon Beach, Colleen Cook, Ann Marie Martin and Caroline McCombs were all selected to join YSU's all-time elite student-athletes. All four were seniors on the 1997-98 team that defeated Memphis in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. YSU went 71-18 during their final three years.

    Their enshrinement brings the total number of women's basketball players inducted into the YSU Hall of Fame to 16.