Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes YSU forward Faith Burch goes up for a layup during the Penguins’ first full-time practice last week on the practice courts at Stambaugh Stadium.

YOUNGSTOWN — When Cleveland State visited the Beeghly Center to face Youngstown State this past season, the loudest, most notable contingent of fans in the building weren’t cheering for the Penguins.

They were there ardently rooting on then-Vikings forward Faith Burch, a Warren native and Warren G. Harding alum. The group consisted of Burch’s family, friends from high school and high school teachers with each of them waving placards with Burch’s face on it.

“It was breathtaking because I didn’t even know that so many people were coming,” Burch said. “I just thought my family was going to come, then I saw literally my high school teachers and the girls from my high school team were there. It was great. It was great to see that much support for me.”

Fueled by her hometown fans, Burch thrived in the road environment, scoring six points and grabbing 11 rebounds to help Cleveland State eke by YSU 56-53.

However, Burch now calls the confines of the Beeghly Center home after transferring from Cleveland State to join the Penguins this offseason.

“I was kind of just letting God take me where I needed to go, and I felt like I needed to come back home,” Burch said. “The atmosphere here is amazing. The support system here is crazy. I felt it even before I stepped foot on campus, so I’m just excited to represent.”

Burch, who graduated with honors with a degree in psychology from Cleveland State this spring, arrives in Youngstown as a redshirt junior forward with two years of eligibility remaining.

With new Penguins head coach Melissa Jackson having served as an assistant coach last season with the Vikings, Burch already had a strong relationship with Jackson before she ever entered the transfer portal at the end of March. So, it just “felt right” for Burch to follow Jackson to YSU.

“When you’re in the transfer portal, you want to see where the coaches want to put you right off the bat,” Burch said. “Sometimes it can be hard to believe what they say because you don’t know them, you don’t have a relationship. With Coach J, I already had a relationship with her, so it was just perfect. All the pieces in the puzzle were put into place.”

Burch said she tries to model her approach and playing style after her favorite player, Dennis Rodman, adding that she brings a “big voice” on the floor, as well as a grit and toughness to the Penguins.

“She brings a lot of things — she brings experience, she brings leadership and she brings athleticism, which is maybe something that (YSU) has lacked a little bit before in the past,” Jackson said. “I knew I wanted all those things, so she checks a lot of boxes in that area.

“But she’s also an unbelievable teammate. She’s been really good with our young freshmen. We have a young freshman post core, and she’s led the charge of that (group). That’s been really cool to see. They’re just feeding off her. I know every single day what I’m going to get from Faith — she’s super consistent with her work ethic, super consistent with her energy, and I think she’s going to have a really good year for us.”

During her last year with the Vikings, Burch played in all 35 of the team’s games, averaging 3.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in 10.8 minutes. In Cleveland State’s 2022-2023 Horizon League championship season, Burch averaged 2.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in 8.2 minutes.

“There was a great system, a great coaching staff and we won (at Cleveland State), so we were doing something right,” Burch said. “This is just kind of a 360 because Youngstown was the first college to recruit me (back in high school). So this is just coming back home.”

Before arriving at CSU, Burch was a two-time Trumbull County and All-American Athletic Conference Player of the Year at Warren G. Harding during her junior and senior years.

She finished with more than 950 points and 950 rebounds during her high school career, and was part of the winningest team in program history as a junior when the Raiders went 22-3 in 2019-2020. She averaged 15.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game that season, while averaging 17.1 points and 9.7 rebounds as a senior during the shortened COVID season in 2020-2021.

Having had plenty of success throughout her basketball career, Burch is used to winning, and she wants to continue to win at YSU.

“I definitely want to still continue to win and build this program up,” Burch said. “We haven’t been to Indy (for the Horizon League championship), so that’s definitely the goal. I just want to make history while I’m here and have lots of fun.”

Have an interesting story? Contact Neel Madhavan by email at nmadhavan@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @NeelMadhavan.