It’s hard to write a blog post after a game like Wednesday’s 86-60 loss at Duquesne..
It was Kent State’s largest margin of defeat in a 1-6 year. Duquesne hit a three-point shot in the first minute, Kent State missed a 15-foot shot and Duquesne scored again. Soon it was 9-1. It was 10 points at halftime, and the Dukes’ lead just kept growing in the second half.
The best thing you can say about the game is that guard Krista White showed her 20-point game against Dartmouth was no fluke. She scored 20 more, 17 in the first half.
The worst thing about the game was that senior starting point guard Mikell Chinn didn’t play because of a concussion she suffered in California. Chinn averages only one point a game, but she does lead the MAC in assists at 5.5 per game. Freshman Naddiyah Cross started instead and played 36 minutes against a Duquesne team dominated by juniors and seniors. Cross had four points, three assists and six turnovers. When she went to the bench for a rest, White seemed to play the point, something she’s never done. It was a game where Kent really could have used Rachel Mendelsohn, the reserve guard who blew out her knee before the season started.
The second worst thing you can say about the game is that 6-4 center Cici Shannon and 6-2 freshman forward Jordan Korinek combined for zero points. Shannon, KSU’s second leading scorer, didn’t even get a shot off in her 10 minutes. At times, coach Danny O’Banion went with a five-guard line-up.
After the game, O’Banion talked on Golden Flash iHeart Radio about her team’s “growing pains driving her nuts,” but her players are in the locker room working hard every day. “You can’t turn freshman into seniors overnight,” she said.
Other notes:
- Duquesne is a good team. It’s now 4-3, with its losses coming to Wisconsin-Green Bay (No. 2 in this week’s Mid Major poll), Princeton (the No. 3 Mid Major) and Syracuse, which is 5-1. The Dukes have won 20 games for six straight years. They beat Kent a little worse — 94-63 — at Kent last season.
- Kent State had 20 turnovers, Duquesne 10. Duquesne had 12 steals, Kent 1.
- After dreadful free-throw shooting in California, the Flashes were 21 of 27. White was 9 of 11.
- Guard Melanie Stubbs had 11 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes, all season highs.
- Freshman guard Madison Ridout made 2 of 3 three-point shots. Leading scorer Larissa Lurken missed all four of hers.
- KSU had nine assists, a season low.