“Not a lot of roses to plant about this one” was the last thing coach Danny O’Banion said in her radio interview after Kent State’s 85-48 loss at Ball State Wednesday.

Indeed, not much went well. It was the largest margin of defeat in KSU’s 3-12 season. The Flashes shot only 34 percent and made 23 turnovers, leading to 28 Ball State points. The 85 points were the second most Kent State has given up this season.(Dusquesne scored 86.)

Ball State played very well. As evidenced by the turnovers, its defensive pressure gave Kent State a lot of problems. KSU usually didn’t get into its offense until 10 second into the shot clock, and had three shot-clock violations in the first half.

It also was the fourth straight strong MAC conference game for the Cardinals, who are one of two undefeated teams in the conference after a 4-7 start. (Central Michigan is the other unbeaten team.) Ball State has forced an average of 23 turnovers in those four games.

The Cardinals made 10 of 20 three-point shots, well above their 34 percent average and six made three-pointers per game. KSU has had trouble guarding long shots; its opponents are shooting 35 percent, the highest in the conference.

Cici Shannon led Kent State with 10 points and 11 rebounds. It was her second straight double-double, but a long way from the 16 points and 20 rebounds she had against Bowling Green Saturday. Shannon also had two blocks and two assists.

Krista White also had 10 points and Jordan Korinek 9.

Mikell Chinn, out since Thanksgiving with a concussion, played 16 minutes and had five assists and a steal with no turnovers. She had been leading the MAC in assists before her injury. She didn’t take a shot — not hugely unusual for her. Janae Peterson, a 6-foot sophomore forward, played for only the third time this season. She made one of four attempted foul shots in three minutes.

Other notes:

• KSU had 17 second-chance points and outrebounded Ball State 38-34.
• The Flashes made only 1 of 13 three pointers.
• Kent State leading scorer Larissa Lurken had her third straight rough game, scoring only three points on 1 of 8 shooting.
• Ball State guards Candyce Ussery and Moriah Monaco combined to 14 for 17 from the field (6 of 8 three-pointers).

Kent State next travels to Northern Illinois for a 2 p.m. Saturday game, then is off for a week until a home game against Western Michigan Saturday, Jan. 24.

Other MAC scores from Wednesday:

• Ohio (12-3, 3-1 MAC) 82, Eastern Michigan (7-7, 0-3) 59, at Eastern Michigan.
• Akron (13-2, 3-1) 102, Toledo (9-6, 2-2) 101, in Toledo.
• Bowling Green (8-7, 1-3) 65, Northern Illinois (5-8, 1-2) 59, at Bowling Green.
• Central Michigan (9-6, 4-0) 60, Miami (3-12, 0-4) 54, at Miami.

KSU travels to Ball State Wednesday to play one of two undefeated teams in the MAC.

It’s would have been hard to imagine those words three weeks ago, when Ball State was 4-7. But the Cardinals have beaten Bowling Green, Miami and Western Michigan convincingly to open the MAC season. (The other undefeated team iin the conference s Central Michigan.)

The Cardinals were a surprise team last year, too, when they won four tournament games before losing to Akron in the MAC finals.

Ball State has lost to some good teams — Purdue, Louisville, Duquesne, Pittsburgh, Western Kentucky. Its RPA rating is 153 and schedule strength is 116. (Kent’s RPI is 299, schedule strength 182.)

Ball State is led by junior forward Natalie Fontaine, who just was named MAC West player of the week for the third time this season. She’s averaging 15.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Jill Morrison averages 11.4 and senior guard Shelby Justice 10.0.

As a team, Ball State averages 64 points a game and gives up 60. (Kent State averages about 56 and gives up 65.) It has a minus-3.5 rebounding margin and is about even inn turnovers. But in its three MAC victories, the Ball State defense has forced 70 turnovers (23.3 per game).  It forced just 165 turnovers in its 11 non-conference games 15.0 per game).

Kent State beat the Cardinals 60-57 in Kent last year when Ball State missed 16 foul shots. But Ball State beat the Flashes badly in Muncie in the regular season and the MAC tournament. Kent State didn’t score 40 points in either game.

The Flashes will be going for their second conference victory of the season after beating Bowling Green 55-48 Saturday. Cici Shannon led Kent with 16 points and 20 rebounds in 37 minutes, all career highs. Shannon is averaging 9.9 points and 4,2 rebounds per game. She leads the MAC in blocked shots with 33 and is second in field goal percentage.(53 percent)

As a team, the Flashes are fourth in the MAC in field goal percentage at 41 percent, mostly on the strength of the shooting of its forwards and junior guard Melanee Stubbs. But starting guards Larissa Lurken (31 percent), Krista White (37 percent) and Nadia Cross (28 percent) are shooting much worse, and teams have tended to pack a zone defense against Kent State.

Cross, a freshman, has started seven straight games since senior point guard Mikell Chinn suffered a concussion at Kent’s holiday tournament in California. Assistant coach Geoff Lanier said Chinn would be available Saturday, but she didn’t play against Bowling Green. Senior forward Montia Johnson has missed three straight games with a head injury.

The game is at 7 p.m. Audio starts at 6:50 on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. You can get video and Live Stats through the Ball State website. The video costs $7.95.

The surface story of Kent State’s 55-48 victory over Bowling Green Saturday was Cici Shannon’s amazing statistics — 16 points, 20 rebounds. She’s the first Kent State player since Tracy Lynn in 1992 to have 20 rebounds in a game.

The underlying story is a game plan executed to near-perfection.

In an interview on the Golden Flash Radio preview, assistant coach Geoff Lanier said that the Flashes expected Bowling to start five guards due to multiple injuries. Kent State’s strategy would be go pound the Falcons inside and pressure them with larger players outside.

Inside they pounded. 6-foot-4 Shannon was six of eight from the field. 6-2 forward Jordan Korinek was 6 of 10. The Flashes outscored BG 22-10 in the paint and Kent State shot a season-best 51 percent from the field (61 percent in the second half). (Take away Larissa Lurken’s third straight bad game — she was 2 of 11 from the floor — and Kent State made 22 of 36 shots.)

Bowling Green, on the other hand, shot just 31 percent, mostly from outside. It often took BG 10 seconds just to get the ball up the court and in a position to start their offense.

And when BG missed, it was usually one and done. Kent State outrebounded the Falcons, 39-29.

In short, it was a dominating performance — except at the foul line.

Kent State is not a very good foul shooting team, and it made just enough in the last minutes to keep the game from getting away. For the game, KSU was 6 of 14 from the line. For the season, it’s shooting just 56 percent.

But BG, which usually makes more foul shots than its opponent shoots, had just nine, making seven.

Coach Danny O’Banion said coaches challenged Shannon to guard smaller players on the perimeter without fouling and to handle two and three players collapsing on her inside.

Shannon responded with the best game of her career.

“Now we’re going to challenge her to get 25 Wednesday,” O’Banion said with a laugh after the game.

Other notes:

• Attendance was 736, highest of the year (not counting the doubleheader with the men, when KSU played Youngstown State). in her postgame show, BG coach Jennifer Roos called it a “tough environment.” She said players had trouble hearing play calls from each other and from the bench.
• Shannon also had three blocks and two assists in 37 minutes.
• Melanee Stubbs and Krista White each had eight points. White had five assists and ran the team from point guard during the last five minutes.
• Bowling Green, which has had major injury problems, played only eight players. But so did Kent State. Lanier said before the game that senior point guard Mikell Chinn, out since Thanksgiving with a concussion, would be available. But she didn’t play. Neither did senior forward Montia Johnson, who also has a head injury and has missed three straight games. Chinn had been KSU’s starting point guard before she was hurt. Johnson started most of last year and was KSU’s leading returning scorer. She still is Kent’s leading rebounder.
• The two senior starters on the floor — Shannon and BG’s Deborah Hoekstra — each played about 37 minutes. BG senior Jasmine Matthews played four minutes off the bench. BG junior Miriam Justinger played 40 minutes, KSU junior Stubbs played 20. KSU sophomores Lurken and White played a total of 36 minutes, and KSU freshmen played a total of 77. BG sophomore Rachel Konieczki played 28, redshirt freshman Kennedy Kirkpatrick played 14 and three true freshmen played 76 minutes. The point is that it wasn’t that KSU had a huge advantage in experience.
• KSU did have a big advantage in height. BG had no player taller than six feet.
• Kent State had 17 turnovers, leading to 16 Bowling points. BG had 14 turnovers, leading to 10 KSU points.
• KSU is now 3-11 overall, 1-2 in the conference. Bowling Green is 7-7, 0-3 in the MAC.

Other MAC scores from Saturday:

• Central Michigan (8-6, 3-0 MAC) 56, Northern Illinois (5-7, 1-1) 43, at Central Michigan.
• Akron (12-2, 2-1) 65, Eastern Michigan (7-6, 0-2) 48, at Akron.
• Ball State (7-7, 3-0) 54, Western Michigan (9-5, 2-1) 36, at Ball State.
• Ohio (11-3, 2-1) 65, Toledo (9-5, 2-1) 58, at Ohio.
• Buffalo (9-6, 1-2) 71, Miami (3-1, 0-3) 51, at Miami.

For 10 years, Bowling Green has been dominant in the MAC East.

First under Curt Miller, then under longtime assistant Jennifer Roos, the Falcons won eight MAC East titles, one MAC West title, eight regular season titles and five MAC tournaments. Last year’s team was 30-6 but was upset by Ball State in the MAC tournament. It had the highest RPI of any team that didn’t make the NCAA tournament and lost to eventual champion Rutgers in the quarterfinals of the WNIT.

Three starters on that team graduated, and only six players returned. The Falcons added five freshmen, and a transfer became eligible.

But redshirt junior Erica Donavon, a pre-season all-MAC selection and the Falcons’ leading scorer, was lost for the season two weeks ago with a knee injury. So was freshman Lauren Webb, who had played inn seven of BG’s first eight games. A redshirt freshman, Leah Bolton, has applied for what the NCAA calls a medical retirement. Two other players — senior Jasmine Matthews and sophomore Abby Siefker did not make the trip to Akron for Wednesday, leaving the Falcons with just seven players in uniform for that contest. Four of them were freshmen. (The Falcons added volleyball player Erica Fullenkamp to the roster for depth this week.)

Bowling Green lost the Akron game, 67-59. It now is 7-6 and has the same 0-2 MAC record as Kent State. Even its injury problems, Bowling Green hadn’t beaten a team with a winning record.

So if Kent State is going to beat the Falcons for the first time in four years (and second in 23 times), Saturday seems like a chance.

With Donavon out, BG’s leading scorer is 5-10 senior guard Jasmine Matthews, who has averaged 10.7 points per game. Second leading scorer is Miriam Justinger, who averages 9.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Justinger had originally committed to play at Kent State but asked to be released after former coach Bob Lindsay was fired.

So far this season, BG  has made a total of 186 free throws this year — more than its opponents have attempted (172). The Falcons have shot 78.2% from the free-throw line. That average leads the MAC and ranks fourth in the nation.

Kent State’s foul shooting record is the opposite. It has made 56 percent of its foul shots. It has shot 181 — fewer than its opponents have attempted (194).

The Flashes may have played their best half of the season against Toledo Saturday, They trailed against the Rockets (8-4) 34-31 at halftime, and that included a basket at the buzzer. But Toledo dominated the second half to defeat Kent State 67-49,

The game is at 2 p.m. at the MACC. Audio is on Golden Flash iHeart radio. You can get video and Live Stats through the KSU website.

For the first half Tuesday, Kent State played its best sustained basketball of the season.

The Flashes led through a good portion of the half and trailed 34-31. They shot 50 percent. They had fewer turnovers than the Rockets, who now are 8-4 (2-0 in the MAC) and have won five games in a row.

But in the second half, Toledo took control. It wasn’t so much that Kent State played much worse; Toledo simply played much better. The Rockets held the Flashes to 30 percent shooting and outrebounded them 29-13 (it had been 16-15 Toledo at halftime). And most importantly, Toledo got to the foul line 19 times, making 14. Kent State shot only three free throws in the second half, making one. (The Flashes were 3 for 7 for the game.)

KSU scored only 18 points in the second half.

The final score was 67-49.

In her post-game radio interview, coach Danny O’Banion agreed it was foul shooting and rebounding, along with the inability to make open shots that was the difference in the half and game. KSU leading scorer Larissa Lurken had an especially hard time, making only 1 of 11 shots (0 for 5 on three-pointers). Lurken is key to Kent’s offense but is shooting just over 30 percent for the season. O’Banion went out of her way to say how hard Lurken played Tuesday, pointing to her three offensive rebounds. Overall, the coach called it “a step forward” to go on the road and play well against a team like Toledo.

Cici Shannon led Kent State with 12 points and seven rebounds but sat out 14 minutes of the first half with two fouls. Jordan Korinek had nine points and four rebounds and McKenna Stephens, who had 14 points Saturday against Central Michigan, had six.

Other notes:

Krista White had eight points on 3 of 4 shooting, including a three-pointer. But she fouled out and played only 17 minutes. (She was second on the team in minutes played.)

Point guard Naddiyah Cross had four steals and three assists but five turnovers.

Senior Mikell Chinn, who suffered a concussion during Kent’s holiday tournament in California, is still out.

Kent State is now 2-12 (0-2) in the MAC and hosts Bowling Green Saturday. The Falcons (7-6) also have lost their first two league games, including a 67-59 defeat at Akron (11-2) Wednesday. It was Akron’s first victory over a team with a winning record.

Other MAC scores:

Ball State (6-7) 72, Miami (3-10) 41 at Ball State.

Central Michigan (7-6) 66, Buffalo (7-6) 58, at Central Michigan.

Western Michigan (9-4) 61, Ohio (10-3) 51, at Western Michigan

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Kent State travels to Toledo Wednesday for a game against the Rockets, team that has outperformed preseason predictions.

Toledo is 8-4 against the second-toughest schedule in MAC, according to RealTmeRPI. It has won four games in a row, including a 63-53 victory over Miami at home to open the MAC season.

Earlier in the season, the Rockets beat Virginia and Arizona. Their overall RPI  is 77, second in the conference to Akron (71).

In a preseason poll, Toledo was picked to finish fourth in the MAC West.

The Rockets are led by 5-10 senior guard Inma Zanoguera, who is averaging 15.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. Next statistically are 5-10 junior forward Ana Capotosto (10.1 points, 5.0 rebounds) and 6-foot sophomore forward Janice Monakana (9.9 points, 5.8 rebounds).

Kent is led in scoring by 5-9 sophomore wing Larissa Lurken, who is averaging 12 points a game. She is also KSU’s leading three-point shooter, making 23 of the 40 three-point baskets the Flashes have made this season. But she is shooting only 34 percent from the field (31 percent from three-point distance) and only 42 percent from the foul line.

KSU’s leading rebounder is senior forward Montia Johnson, who’s averaging 7.3 per game. But she freshman Jordan Korinek has moved back into the starting line-up past Johnson, who didn’t play at all Saturday. Korinek is averaging 5.1 rebounds per game.

KSU is 2-10 after its 83-62 opening MAC loss to Central Michigan Saturday.

The game is at 7 p.m. Audio is on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. You can get video and Live Stats through the Toledo website.

Scores from the first MAC games Saturday show big road wins for Ohio and Ball State:

• Ohio (10-2) 61, Buffalo (7-5) 50, at Buffalo.
• Northern Illinois (5-6) 54, Eastern Michigan (7-5) 48, at Northern Illinois.
• Western Michigan (8-4) 67, Akron (10-2) 61, at Western Michigan.
• Ball State (5-7) 62, Bowling Green (7-5) 50, at Bowling Green.
• Toledo (7-4) 63, Miami (3-9) 53, at Toledo.
• Central Michigan (6-6) 83, Kent State (2-10) 62, at Kent State

You can see detailed standings and team stats at ESPN’s MAC page.

I wrote a post hours ago, but somehow it vanished into electronic neverland.

Here’s another quick try.

The 83-62 score was about what you expected.

We knew Central Michigan was good. Even though the Chippewas’ record is 6-6, they have the second highest RPI in the conference (after Akron lost at Western today) and have played the toughest schedule by far.

They’re a good team even without their second leading scorer, Jessica Green, who blew out her knee in the last minute of the Chipps’ loss to Dayton earlier the week. Her replacement, Da’Jourie Turner, scored 15. All five CMU starters scored in double figures, including Crystal Bradford, the MAC’s returning player of the year. She had 17 and eight rebounds. Bradford wore Green’s No. 3 uniform to honor her fellow senior.

The news on Kent State’s side was redshirt freshman McKenna Stephens. A transfer from Michigan State (where she was on a softball scholarship), Stephens just became eligible this semester. She scored 17 points on eight of 14 shooting, including a three-pointer. She had five rebounds and three assists in 27 laminates.

Most of her shots were mid-range jumpers against Central’s zone defense. Coach Danny O’Banion was clearly pleased in her post-game radio interview, saying Stephens gives Kent a new weapon against the zone defenses it faces in almost every game. The coach said Stephens had worked lard on a quick release.

Other notes:

• Kent State had 10 turnovers, a season low. Central Michigan had 18.
• But Central Michigan outscored KSU 34-18 in the paint and 16-11 on second-chance points.
• Larissa Lurken scored 13 points but it took her 21 shots to do it. She was 3 of 13 from three-point range.  Kent State shot 28 percent (6 of 21) behind the line. Overall, Kent State shot 41 percent for the game.
• Freshmen and sophomores played 82 percent of Kent State’s minutes.
• Cici Shannon was four of five from the field but zero for seven from the foul line. Hers were the only foul shots the Flashes had.
• Krista White had a career-high six steals. Going into the game, she was third in the MAC in steals.
• Mikell Chinn, who has been out with a concussion since Thanksgiving, was in uniform but didn’t play.

The Flashes open their league season at 2 p.m. today against Central Michigan, the team that was the overwhelming re-season choice to win the MAC West and tournament. The game is at the MACC.

The Chippewas have only a 5-6 record, but look whom they have lost to:

• Kentucky, which is 11-2 and ranked 11th in the country. CMU lost 71-66 in Mount Pleasant.
• South Carolina, which is 12-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country. That score was 80-45.
• Minnesota, which is 13-1. CMU lost 67-64 in a holiday tournament in Minneapolis.
• Dayton, which is 9-3 and has the No 3 RPI ranking in the country, according to RealTimeRPI. CMU played the Flyers twice, losing by 10 in Dayton and nine at home.

Central Michigan has beaten Richmond (8-4 and a 106 RPI) and Oregon (7-4 and a 207 RPI).

Overall, RealTimeRPI says Central Michigan’s Schedule Strength has been 19th toughest in the country. Its RPI, despite a losing record, is 93, third highest in the MAC. (Akron, which is 10-1, is highest at 63. Toledo, which is 7-4, is 64th.)

Central Michigan has 6-foot wing Chrystal Bradford, last year’s MAC player of the year and defensive player of the year. The senior wing averages 20.9 points and 8.7 rebounds a game.

The Chippewas won’t have second leading scorer Jessica Green. The senior guard suffered a knee injury against Dayton and is out indefinitely. Another starter, sophomore starting forward Jewel Cotton, had a season-ending knee injury in late November. But the Chipps have two other senior starters in 5-10 guard Kerby Tamm and 6-2 forward Jas’mine Bracey.

Kent State is 2-9, and its performance has been roughly comparable to last year’s team, which was 3-8 in its non-conference schedule. Its schedule has been tougher, if only because the Flashes have had only three home games.

Coach Danny O’Banion says she’s hopeful about getting starting point guard Mikell Chinn back for Saturday’s game. Chinn, who suffered a concussion during Kent State’s holiday tournament in California, is still called “day to day,” though. Chinn averages only one point a game, but she was leading the MAC in assists when she was injured. Without her, Kent State has only one true point guard, freshman Naddiyah Cross, and has had ball handling problems late in several close games.

Kent team statistics have been somewhat better than last year’s. It is averaging about a point more per game (55.7)and giving up two points less. Its shooting about 40 percent from the field, about 2 percentage points better than last year. At 31.5 percent, its three-point shooting is about 3 percentage points better. Its opponents are shooting about the same.

Kent State has a plus-four rebounding average this year; last year was about even. At minus-4.8, its turnover margin is identical.

The Flashes’ problem in the conference is that the MAC is probably better. Last year KSU tied for fourth in the East with Ohio and Miami. This year Miami is 9-2, the second best record in the conference. (Miami is 3-8.) Last year KSU beat Miami in Kent and Ohio in Athens, and beat Ball State at home and Western Michigan on the road.

The Flashes play Ball State, which is 4-7, only on the road this year. They do play Northern Illinois, which is 4-6, home and away. Besides Central Michigan, KSU also plays MAC West opponents Eastern Michigan (7-3) and Western Michigan (7-4) at home. Here are MAC records.

Audio of today’s game is on the Golden Flash iHeart Radio. Video and Live Stats are through the KSU website.