Ohio State’s Kierstan Bell to enter transfer portal

COLLEGE PARK, MD - JANUARY 06: Kierstan Bell #24 of the Ohio State Buckeyes handles the ball against the Maryland Terrapins at Xfinity Center on January 6, 2020 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - JANUARY 06: Kierstan Bell #24 of the Ohio State Buckeyes handles the ball against the Maryland Terrapins at Xfinity Center on January 6, 2020 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images)

Another big fish in the transfer sea

Ohio State freshman guard Kierstan Bell will enter the transfer portal, she announced Wednesday. The former five-star recruit took to Twitter to break the news, posting a message to her teammates, coaches and others at the university.

Bell was the eighth-ranked recruit in the class of 2019, according to ESPN’s HoopGurlz, and the Buckeyes’ highest in what finished to be the fourth-ranked class in the country.

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She made an immediate impact in the Ohio State lineup, starting ten games during the 2019-20 season and finishing as the team’s second and third-leading scorer and rebounder, respectively, at 10.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. She was awarded Honorable Mention All-Big Ten and named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

Bell helped the Buckeyes finish in a tie for fifth in the Big Ten standings and advance to the conference tournament championship game, where they fell to No. 1 seed Maryland.

Luckily for Ohio State, they return leading scorer Dorka Juhász who averaged 13.2 points per game this season. In addition, the Buckeyes welcome another five-star recruit to Columbus next year in Kateri Poole, a 5’8″ guard from New York.

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