It just hit me that I hadn’t done a preview for the Western Michigan game today (Saturday).
It’s at 2 p.m. at the MACC. Coach Danny O’Banion has said she’s hoping for a good crowd. After Kent State beat Bowling Green at home two weeks ago, the BG coach talked of a “hostile environment,” where her team had trouble hearing play calls.
Western is 11-6, 4-2 in the MAC. It has played very well at home (7-1), but is 3-5 on the road. Three of those losses have come to Michigan, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Ohio State.
Kent State’s biggest win last year came at Western when the Flashes outscored WMU 21-3 over the last seven minutes in a 57-48 victory.
Western’s top player is 6-foot junior forward Miracle Woods, who is averaging 13.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Its top rebounder is 5-10 senior forward Michelle O’Brien, who is averaging 7 per game.
Kent State’s 6-4 senior center, Cici Shannon, has moved into a tie with Larissa Lurken as the Flashes’ leading scorer. Both average 9.9 points per game. Shannon has had a double-double for three games in a row while Lurken has score only 14 points total in those three games, going 5 for 26 from the field. She didn’t start at Northern Illinois last Saturday, the first time she hasn’t started at KSU when she was healthy. She still played 28 minutes.
“Larissa is a much better player than she’s showing right now,” O’Banion said in her post-game radio interview Saturday. “But being a better player doesn’t mean anything if you’re not a more productive player.”
Kent State is 3-12 on the season, 1-4 in the MAC. Miami is the only MAC team without a conference victory. Kent and Bowling Green are the only teams with one win.