The FGCU women’s basketball program is adding one of the best players in Ohio history.
A month after announcing on Twitter she was transferring from Ohio State, Kierstan Bell tweeted late Thursday night her new destination — Florida Gulf Coast University.
Bell, a freshman guard, wrote “same me, new home” in her tweet, with a drawing of her in an Eagles uniform.
The 6-foot-1 guard will have to sit out a season, per NCAA transfer rules.
Bell is Ohio’s only three-time winner of the state’s Ms. Basketball award while playing at McKinley High School, was a McDonald’s All-American, and was one of the nation’s top recruits in the Class of 2019. After becoming Stark County’s career scoring leader while at McKinley with 2,883 points, she stayed close to home, choosing Ohio State.
She showed flashes of the dominant player she had been in high school during her one season with the Buckeyes. She averaged 10.9 points per game and helped the Buckeyes reach the Big Ten tournament title game (losing to Maryland). She made a team-high 56 3-pointers, tops among all Big Ten freshman. Three times she was selected as the league’s freshman of the week.
At season’s end, Bell was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team and honorable mention All-Big Ten. The Buckeyes were a virtual lock to make the NCAA tournament, but it was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic before the field was even announced.
Bell announced she’d entered the transfer portal on March 25.
This past season, FGCU went 30-3, with notable wins over Notre Dame, South Florida, Houston and Duke. The Eagles were 15-1 in the ASUN Conference.
Bell is the second Ohioan to transfer to FGCU this year. Andrea Cecil, a 6-1 guard from Oak Harbor, is headed to FGCU as a graduate transfer from Bowling Green.
