University of Akron women's basketball coach Ryan Gensler wasted no time in making a big splash.
Former Hoban star and two-time All-Ohioan Lanae Riley announced Monday she will transfer from Middle Tennessee State to Akron.
Riley's time in the transfer protocol lasted just over a month before the two-time Beacon Journal Girls Basketball Player of the Year moved on from the Blue Raiders.
She has three years of eligibility remaining.
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"You can tell he's a coach that truly cares about his players and player development," Riley said. "He's a family-oriented person. He had a lot of good things to say about how he wanted to play me and how he wanted to use me on the team. It shows he has a lot of faith in my skills and what I can do at Akron."
The 6-foot-2 forward played 29 minutes over the course of four games for the Blue Raiders. She didn't register a point but had four rebounds, an assist and a steal.
For Riley, the distance to Murfreesboro, Tenn., just got to be too much.
With her family in mind, that made it an easy choice to come back home.
Riley led Hoban to a Division I state semifinal appearance in 2021 as a junior who averaged 22.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.5 assists per game. She was named first-team All-Ohio and was the Northeast Inland District co-Player of the Year.
As a senior, Riley was first-team All-Ohio and district player of the year again and a finalist for Ohio Ms. Basketball. She averaged around 21 points, nine rebounds, two steals and one block per game as Hoban went undefeated in the regular season and won a Division I district title.
Riley played her freshman season at St. Vincent-St. Mary and then transferred to Hoban prior to her sophomore season. She helped propel STVM to a Division II state semifinal appearance in 2019, averaging 15.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 block per game.
She played the first half of her sophomore season at Hoban and averaged 23.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals, 1.0 blocks and 1.0 assists for the district champion Knights.
Riley comes to the Zips already comfortable in her ability. Add the fact she's a seven-minute drive from home and playing in James A. Rhodes Arena just made sense.
"Playing in front of my hometown means a lot," Riley said. "I am able to have a wonderful support system to play in front of family, friends and kids aspiring to play college basketball."
Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Lanae Riley transfers to Akron basketball from Middle Tennessee State
