By Tim Corso / Jambar Contributor
With the 2024-25 Youngstown State University women’s basketball season soon underway, redshirt junior Faith Burch will begin her first season as a part of the team, but it’s not her first time in the Mahoning Valley.
Burch is a Warren native and played basketball at Warren G. Harding High School for four years. She was a starter each year and tallied more than 900 points and over 900 rebounds throughout her career as a Raider.
Burch said she is excited to play in front of her friends and family on a consistent basis as she transferred from Cleveland State University over the offseason.
“I’m already getting told it’s about to be a packed house,” Burch said. “I know when I was at Cleveland State my mom made fatheads of me. So I’m expecting a lot of those.”
While at CSU, Burch played in 62 games across two seasons. She averaged over three points per game and nearly four rebounds a game for the Vikings.
First-year Head Coach Melissa Jackson was an assistant coach at CSU before both she and Burch moved to YSU.
While Jackson didn’t recruit Burch, she said Burch’s recruitment out of the transfer portal was important to the program.
“[Burch] brings unbelievable intangibles to our program. She’s got an unbelievable energy and effort, very consistent with that every single day,” Jackson said. “It also was really important for us when we looked at the transfer portal to bring in some players with some experience. [Burch] has that.”
Burch said Jackson was the main reason she decided to transfer to YSU.
“She wasn’t my position coach, but she always made a point to always pull me to the side, say encouraging things or things I can apply to the court,” Burch said.
While Burch has yet to start a collegiate game, Jackson said she believes Burch will have an immediate impact, citing her defensive skills.
“[Burch is] very much a vocal leader. She’s done a really good job with that,” Jackson said. “Coming in every single day, giving that effort on the glass, being a rebounding machine for us, as well as continuing to work on her post defense and being that anchor of us defensively.”
Burch and the Penguins will kick off the season at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 4 against the University of North Dakota inside the Beeghly Center.
