The Flashes finish their week-long trip to Michigan Saturday as part of a double header at Eastern Michigan.

The game is scheduled for about 4:30 p.m., or a half hour after the end of Eastern’s men’s game against Bowling Green.

Eastern Michigan shares the second-best overall record in the MAC with Ball State at 11-4, but lost to league-leading Ohio University 71-75 Tuesday. The Eagles actually have lost two straight games at home; Akron beat them in overtime 68-65 in Ypsilanti Jan. 6.

EMU is 2-2 in the MAC. It beat Buffalo by 11 to open the conference season and beat Northern Illinois in overtime on the road.

Kent State is 3-11 and 0-4 in the league. It’s the only winless team in conference play.

Eastern has the highest scoring offense in the MAC at 76.4 points a game and the second worst defense at 68.9. They play an uptempo game with lots of defensive pressure and hit the offensive boards hard. They lead the conference in steals with 11.0 a game and in turnover margin (+5.3) and are second in offensive rebounding. They had 26 offensive rebounds and a 19-1 edge in second-chance points in their loss to Ohio.

Kent State is second to EMU in steals in the conference (10.2) but is at the bottom of the league in defensive rebounding. 

Eastern’s leading scorer is one of the smallest players in the conference , 5-foot-2 junior guard Cha Sweeney. She averages 19.3 points a game, third best in the league. She scores from anywhere but is shooting just 27 percent on 100 three-point shots. 6-1 guard Sera Ozelci is the Eagles’ best three-point shooter at 35 percent. She’s strictly an outside player; she’s shot only two free throws this season.

EMU’s top rebounder is another guard — 5-9 junior Phyllis Webb — at 8.4 a game. 6-3 forward Chanise Baldwin, a transfer from Providence, averages 8.3 rebounds and 9.1 points off the bench.

Kent State has lost seven in a row, including a 73-52 defeat at Western Michigan Tuesday. The Flashes played WMU evenly in the first quarter and second half, but the Broncos outscored Kent 26-11 in the second quarter and were in control most of the rest of the game.

Jordan Korinek continues to lead Kent in scoring at 15.4 points a game. Larissa Lurken averages 14.7 and Tyra James 10.4. 

The game will be the fourth road game in the first five of the MAC season for the Flashes, who have yet to win away from Kent this season.

Audio for the game starts at about 4:15 on WHLO 640 and Golden Flash iHeart Radio. Video is on ESPN3 and live statistics are on the Eastern Michigan website. You need to be a subscriber to ESPN to get the online-only broadcast.

Eastern Michigan team website.

Kent State statistics.

MAC statistics.

MAC standings.

Here are links to a couple of stories on the KSU-Western Michigan game from the Western angle. Nothing startling — mostly about their team.But there are quotes from the coach and players.

http://www.westernherald.com/sports/article_3c7dc6ca-ba81-11e5-b2c8-f331c31458cd.html

http://www.wmubroncos.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4600&ATCLID=210633929

A disastrous second quarter for the third straight game helped send Kent State to a 73-52 defeat at Western Michigan.

Western outscored KSU 26-11 in the quarter.In its two previous games, KSU had been outscored in the second quarter 28-14 and 17-5. In all three games, the Flashes had played pretty well in the first quarter. Tuesday they trailed the Broncos 17-14 after 10 minutes.

“The trick is to play with urgency” throughout the game, coach Danny O’Banion said in her postgame radio interview. “We did it after we got behind (7-0) in the first quarter. We did it in the second half (when KSU scored 10 in a row to get to within 15). That’s the next step we need to take.”

KSU is now 3-11 on the season, 0-4 in the MAC. The Flashes have lost seven in a row, have yet to win a road game and are the only team in the league yet to win a conference game. Western Michigan is 10-6, 2-2 in the conference and still undefeated at home at 5-0.

WMU senior forward Miracle Woods outscored the entire Kent team in the second quarter. She had 15 points on 9 of 9 shooting.

“She’s an all-conference caliber player (second team for two season),” O’Banion said, “and she did what all conference players do.

It was the second-lowest point total of the season for the Flashes (they scored 49 against Cleveland State). The Flashes went 0 for 13 in three-point shooting. Western came into the game first in the conference in three-point defense, allowing just 26 percent, and were fourth in scoring defense. KSU was last in the MAC in three-point shooting (27 percent), going into the game.

Jordan Korinek led Kent State with 15 points and eight rebounds. Larissa Lurken had 14 points and five steals. Tyra James had 10 points but five turnovers.

Notes:

• Overall, KSU made 21 turnovers, leading to 23 Western points. Western had 19 turnovers, and KSU scored 21 points from them. In the crucial second quarter, though, WMU outscored Kent 10-0 off turnovers. The Flashes had 12 steals.
• Kent State shot 37.7 percent, Western 48.3 (27.8 on three-pointers). The Broncos outrebounded KSU 37-30.
• KSU had a season-low five assists on 20 baskets. WMU had  19 assists on 29 baskets.
• Freshman walk-on Paige Salisbury, who’s become the back-up point guards, had four points, the most in her career. Chelsi Watson had six and seven rebounds. Only two other players scored, and they had a total of three points.

Kent State will stay in Michigan until its Saturday afternoon game at Eastern Michigan, which is 11-4 but lost to Ohio at home Tuesday, 71-64. OU is the only undefeated team in the MAC at 4-0 (12-3 overall). Eastern is 2-2 in the league.

Box score

Other MAC scores

• Akron (8-7, 2-2) 71, Bowling Green ((5-8, 1-3) 55, at Bowling Green.
• Ball State (10-4, 3-1) 68, Buffalo (10-4, 2-2) 63, at Ball State.
• Toledo (8-7, 3-1) 55, Miami (7-8, 1-3) 50, at Miami.
• Central Michigan (9-6, 3-1) 95, Northern Illinois (8-7, 2-2) 63, at Central.

MAC standings

Kent State headed to Michigan Tuesday for an almost weeklong road trip.

The Flashes play at Western Michigan Wednesday and Eastern Michigan Saturday.

The team will stay on the road. Because the university is still on semester break, players won’t miss classes. During the school year, they would come home after a midweek game, then go out on Friday.

“We’ll have team-building activities — movies, bowling, things like that,” coach Danny O’Banion said at this week’s coaches’ luncheon. “We’ll watch some film and be together. This team really likes each other.”

The trip will end a stretch in which Kent State played four of its first five MAC games on the road. The Flashes are 0-3 in the league and 3-10 overall. They lost 81-61 at Central Michigan, 73-67 at Toledo and 77-66 to Buffalo in their home opener Saturday.

Of the Buffalo game, O’Banion said, “I laughed and cried a lot.” She said the team played about as well as it could in taking a 28-17 lead after the first quarter. But foul trouble — especially to leading scorer Jordan Korinek — hurt in a second quarter that saw KSU score just five points. It was the third straight game in which Korinek sat out long minutes in the first half.

“It’s key to keep Jordan out of foul trouble,” the coach said. “She’s not getting fouls on defense so much as going for balls and rebounds that are out of her range. She’s also challenged because sometimes it seems that fouls being called on her on offense when she’s getting whacked on the same kind of play on the other end.”

She said the team will probably make adjustments so feeds to Korinek will come from more players than 5-foot-5 point guard Naddiyah Cross. (“Sometimes it’s hard for her to see in the post.”) Some may come from redshirt freshman wing Tyra James, whom O’Banion called the best passer on the team. James led the team with six assists on Saturday and is one of the leaders in the MAC . She’s tied for fifth in the conference overall in the first three MAC games, averaging 5.0 a game. All of the other leaders are point guards.

James has averaged 12.3 points in conference play after scoring fewer than 10 in every game except one after Nov. 19. O’Banion moved her out of the starting line-up to the first player off the bench.

“Tyra is tremendously gifted — and truly tough on Tyra,” the coach said. “She’s playing and producing like a starter, but coming off the bench, she doesn’t feel like she has to score every time she gets the ball.”

O’Banion said even though the team is last in the conference in points allowed at 72.3 points a game, it is capable of playing good defense. It’s a matter of better communication and adjustments in their match-up zone — new to the team this season — while play is going on, she said.

She said a curious statistic — Buffalo outscored KSU 35-17 in points off turnovers even though the teams were essentially even in turnovers themselves — was because Kent’s turnovers were mostly live-ball turnovers. Kent’s defense didn’t have chance to set up. “We also made some tired mistakes,” she said.

O’Banion said reserves like shooting guard/wing Keziah Lewis, forward Chelsi Watson and point guard Paige Salisbury are likely to see more playing time to keep players fresh. She said she especially wanted to keep point guard Cross’s minutes under 30, even as low as 25.

Western Michigan, Kent’s opponent Wednesday, is 9-6 on the season, 1-2 in the MAC, and  5-0 at home so far. The Broncos have beaten Bradley, IPFW and Toledo — all teams that beat the Flashes. WMU’s RPI is fifth best in the MAC and 100th best in the country (of 349 teams), according to RealTimeRPI. (Link is to all RPIs in MAC.) Its schedule is rated 114th hardest (fifth in the conference) .

Kent’s RPI is 323, lowest in the MAC, and its schedule strength is 243.

The Broncos are averaging 64.5 points per game (seventh in the league) and giving up 61.3 (fourth lowest). They have the best three-point field goal percentage (35.9) though they don’t take that many three points shots— 14 a game or ninth in the MAC. They make 5.0 a game.

They lead the conference in three-point field goal defense (25.9) and rank second in blocked shots (4.7 a game). Six-foot-three sophomore forward Teagan Reeves has blocked a conference-high 26 shots. Miracle Woods, a 6-foot senior forward, leads Western in scoring at 12.3 points per game.

Kent State is fourth in the conference in scoring (65.7), ninth in shooting percentage (39.7), second in steals (10.2 per game) and third in turnover margin (+0.85). The Flashes, though, are tied for ninth in the league by committing 18.7 turnovers per game. They’re last in in field goal percentage defense (43.9).

Korinek is ninth in the conference in scoring at 15.4 points per game, fourth in field goal percentage (56.4), ninth in rebounding (7.0) and 11th in free throw percentage (79.6). Junior guard Larissa Lurken is 10th in scoring at 14.8, Cross sixth in assists (4.2), and freshman guard Alexa Golden fifth in steals (1.9).

Wednesday’s game starts at 7 p.m., with audio beginning at 6:45 on WHLO 640 and Golden Flash iHeart Radio. You can get video on ESPN3 and live statistics through the WMU website. You’ll need to have an ESPN subscription to access the online-only broadcast.

Western Michigan team website

Kent State statistics

MAC statistics

MAC standings

Who could have imagined that Buffalo would beat Kent State on three-point shooting?

The Bulls came into Saturday’s game at Kent shooting just 26.4 percent on three-pointers, worst in the MAC. They averaged just 5.4 a game,

But they made 11 of 22 against the Flashes on their way to a 77-66 victory.

Kent State is now 3-10 on the season, 0-3 in the MAC. Buffalo is 10-4, 2-1 in the conference.

The Bulls came into the game with the league’s best defense — allowng just 55.7 points a game — and worst offense — averaging 55.9.

The 76 points was the most they have scored this season. Kent’s 66 was the fourth highest a team has scored against Buffalo, and the three teams that scored more have a combined record of 34-6.

“We challenged them to make three-pointers, shots they don’t traditionally make,” coach Danny O’Banion said in her postgame radio interview. “Sometimes it’s pick your poison.”

The Flashes tried to adjust, playing an old-fashioned box-and-one defense to guard Buffalo’s Joanna Smith. At least three different players guarded her, but she made 7 of 10 three-point shots. Smith had been averaging 32.7 percent and 2.5 three-pointers a game.

Buffalo also scored 35 points off 19 Kent State turnovers. The Flashes forced 20 but scored only 17 points off of them. The Bulls had 13 offensive rebounds and 10 second-chance points.

“We just gave away too many possessions,” O’Banion said.

The Flashes overpowered Buffalo 24-13 in the first quarter on 8 of 15 shooting and 4 of 8 three-pointers. Larissa Lurken had 13 points in the quarter.

But Kent played as badly in the second 10 minutes as it did well in the first. The Flashes were 1 of 10 in the quarter and were outscored 17-5.

Leading scorer Jordan Korinek also went to the bench with two fouls, as she has for four games in a row. Lurken, Alexa Golden and Chelsi Watson also had two fouls.

But Buffalo had its foul problems. Starting center Cassie Oursler had two fouls in three minutes. Top reserve Brittany Morrison had three fouls in the first half. Oursler played only seven minutes before fouling out.

Lurken and Golden fouled out late in the fourth quarter for the Flashes.

Lurken finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. Korinek had 17 on 5 of 8 shooting and 9 of 11 foul shots. Tyra James had 13 points, six assists and six rebounds, continuing her good conference play after a rough December.

“It’s fun to see Tyra find her rhythm,” O’Banion said.

But besides James, KSU got just six points from its bench, despite playing 10 players.

“At the end, we just didn’t have the right pieces,” O’Banion said.

Notes:

• Neither team shot free throws well. Kent State was 15 of 27, Buffalo 18 of 31.
• Lurken had 13 of her 17 points in the first quarter.
• Buffalo had five three-pointers in the fourth quarter. Each one came directly after a Kent State two-point basket. 
• For the game, Kent State shot 40.7 percent from the field (30.4 percent on three-pointers). Both figures are slightly above its average. Buffalo shot 43.6 and 50 percent, both substantially above its average.
• Buffalo outrebounded the Flashes 40-32 and 24-11 in the second half.
• KSU had nine steals, its most in four games. Chelsi Watson and McKenna Stephens each had three.

The Flashes travel to Western Michigan (9-6, 1-2) and Eastern Michigan (10-3, 1-1) next week. By their home game against defending champion Ohio on Jan. 20, they’ll have played four of their first five conference games on the road.

Box score

Other MAC scores:

• Central Michigan (8-6, 2-1) 97, Akron (7-7, 1-2) at Akron.
• Ball State (10-4, 2-1) 66, Miami (7-7, 1-2) 41 at Ball State.
• Toledo (7-7, 2-1) 80, Western Michigan (9-6, 1-2) 73 at Toledo.
• Ohio (11-3, 3-0) 72, Bowling Green (5-7, 1-2) 57 at Bowling Green. 
• Eastern Michigan (11-3. 2-1) 87, at Northern Illinois (8-6, 1-2) 80 in overtime at Northern Illinois. 

MAC standings

Buffalo and Kent  State were picked to tie for fifth (and last) in the MAC East this season, but so far the Bulls have the better of the season.

Despite losing its top four scorers from a year ago, Buffalo is 9-4, 1-1 in the MAC. Kent State is 3-9, 0-2 in conference play.

The Bulls visit the MACC at 2 p.m. Saturday for Kent State’s conference home opener.

Buffalo has built its season on defense. The Bulls lead the MAC in scoring defense at 55.7 points a game, which is 36th in the nation. On Wednesday they beat Central Michigan 67-61 in Mount Pleasant, where Kent State lost 81-61 last Saturday.

The Bulls are second in the conference in field goal defense (34.8 percent) and three-point defense (26.4), fourth in blocked shots per game (3.8), and third in steals (9.8).

But the Bulls average 55.9 points a game, last in the MAC, and have the lowest field goal percentage (35.1) and three-point percentage (26.1) in the conference.

Still, they have an RPI of 76 (of 349 Division I teams), third highest in the MAC. A lot of that rank comes from their strength of schedule. The teams the Bulls have lost to (Hofstra, Duquesne, St. Bonaventure and Eastern Michigan) have a combined record of 46-8 and all rank in the top 100 in RPI, according to RealTimeRPI. RPI is based on a team’s record, its opponents’ record and its opponents’ opponents’ record, with extra weight given for road victories and home losses.

Only two of the teams Buffalo has beaten — Canisius (7-6) and Central Michigan (7-6) — have winning records, and Buffalo’s overall schedule strength is 131st in the country.

Kent State’s RPI is 332 and schedule strength 261.

Like Kent State, the Bulls force a lot of turnovers (18.8 per game) but turn the ball over themselves a lot (18.2). They have a +0.9 rebounding margin.

Kent State forces 18.6 turnovers per game while making 17.8 and is second in the MAC in steals at 10.8 per game. But the Flashes’ turnover margin has been -2.7 with only 16 steals total in their last three games.

Buffalo’s top scorer is junior guard Joanna Smith, who is the only Bull averaging in double figures at 16.5 points per game. Six-three junior center Cassie Oursler, a transfer from Robert Morris who became eligible at the start the semester, has 27 rebounds in three games.

The Bulls have 10 freshmen and sophomores on their 14-woman roster, the same as Kent State.

The Flashes are coming off its best road game of the season, a 73-67 loss at Toledo. The Flashes led after the first quarter but were outscored 28-14 in the second. They fought back from 15 points down in the fourth quarter to pull within four with 15 seconds to play.

Forward Jordan Korinek leads KSU in scoring at 15.1 points per game. Guard Larissa averages 14.6 and wing Tyra James 10.3. James has had two good conference games after struggling through most of December.

The Flashes average 65.7 points a game, seventh in the MAC, but give up 71.9, last in the league.

The game pretty much comes down to whether Kent State can score on Buffalo’s tough defense while keeping the Bulls’ low-scoring offense down.

Tipoff for the game is at 2 p.m. Audio starts at 1:45 on WHLO 640 and Golden Flash iHeart Radio. You can get video and live statistics through the Kent State website.

Buffalo team site

KSU statistics

MAC statistics

MAC standings

Here’s a link to interviews with the Toledo coach and two players after Wednesday’s 73-67 loss. Video is below the story from the UT website.

http://www.utrockets.com/news/2016/1/6/WBB_0106160503.aspx

And I meant to put this up earlier. It’s the story from the Central Michigan site on last Saturday’s 81-61 loss and includes quotes from the CMU coach.

http://www.cmuchippewas.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/010216aaa.html.

I find it interesting to see how the game looks from the other side.

Kent State returns home for a 2 p.m. game against Buffalo on Saturday.

Kent State fought back from a 15-point deficit at Toledo Wednesday but lost to the Rockets, 73-67.

KSU drops to 3-9 on the season, 0-2 in the MAC. Toledo is 6-7 and 1-1.

Except for the second quarter, the Flashes played some good basketball. They led 19-15 after 1o minutes.

But Toledo blitzed KSU 28-14 in the second quarter. As teams have done all season, the Rockets adjusted to Kent’s match-up zone and went inside. They made 9 of 14 shots and scored 12 points in the paint in the quarter.

On defense, Toledo switched to a zone in the second quarter and held the Flashes to 6 of 21 shooting in the quarter. It also hurt that point guard Naddiyah Cross and leading scorer Jordan Korinek barely played in the quarter because of foul trouble. 

Korinek had seven points on 3 of 3 shooting in the first quarter. But in the second half, she got off only two shots (making both). She finished with 11 points on 5 for 5 shooting. But five shots aren’t enough for KSU’s best player.

KSU trailed by between 10 and 15 points through the second half and was behind 67-53 with 3:56 to go.

Then the Flashes played some of their best basketball of the season, scoring nine straight points on a Cross three-pointer, four free throws by Larissa Lurken and two by Alexa Golden. They got to 71-67 with 15 seconds left.

“I’m very, very excited about this team because of how they showed that grit in an adverse situation,” coach Danny O’Banion said in her postgame radio interview. “I’m pumped to get in the locker room to see them. I know they’re disappointed but excited to get back on the court Saturday.”

KSU plays its first home conference game at 2 p.m. Saturday against Buffalo.

Lurken led KSU with 13 points. Tyra James had her second good game in a row with 10 points, six rebounds, five assists and no turnovers. Chelsi Watson had nine points off the bench. Nine different Flashes scored.

Notes:

• Eleven of Lurken’s 13 points came in the second half. “Larissa is in a difference place, a good place,” O’Banion said. “She’s transitioning into a senior leader even though she’s only a junior. (KSU has no seniors.) She’s taking the team on her back despite being pushed and held out there.”
• Thanks to 20 offensive rebounds and 20 points off of Toledo turnovers, KSU had 11 more shots than the Rockets (62-51).
• But the Flashes made only 24 baskets (38.7 percent) while Toledo shot 45.1 percent. Toledo made 6 of 17 three-point shots, KSU 8 of 26. Eight equaled a season high for the Flashes.
• Toledo made more foul shots (21 of 33) than Kent State took (11 of 18). For the first seven games of the season, the Flashes drew many more fouls than their opponents. That hasn’t been true in their last four games (all losses).
• Though KSU scored more points off turnovers, the Flashes had 16 to Toledo’s 14. They had six steals, four below their season average.
• The Flashes outrebounded Toledo 41-36. The 20 offensive rebounds were Kent’s most this season by four and led to 10 second-chance points.
• 5-foot-6 guard Cross led KSU in rebounds with seven. McKenna Stephens and James each had six and Korinek five. Stephens and Golden each had four offensive rebounds.

Box score

In the MAC

After two games, Ohio is the only undefeated team in conference play. Tuesday scores:

• Ohio (10-3, 2-0 MAC) 73, Ball State (9-4, 1-1) 48 at Ohio.
• Akron (7-6, 1-1) 68, Eastern Michigan (10-3, 1-1) 65, in overtime, at Eastern.
• Buffalo (9-4, 1-1) 67, Central Michigan (7-6, 1-1) 61 at Buffalo.
• Western Michigan (9-5, 1-1) 74, Bowling Green (5-6, 1-1) 45 at Western.
• Miami (7-6, 1-1) 66, Northern Illinois (8-5, 1-1) 60, at Miami.

MAC standings.

Kent State goes to Toledo Wednesday to play the team that has played by far the toughest schedule in the MAC.

It’s the second league game for both teams. KSU lost at Central Michigan 81-61 Saturday; Toledo lost at Ball State, 75-69.

The Rockets are 5-7 on the season. They lost their first six games, but look who they’ve played:

• No. 64 Arizona (lost 62-59 in Toledo).
• No. 2 Notre Dame (lost 74-39 in South Bend).
• No. 33 St. Bonaventure (lost 74-63 on the road).
• No. 17 Dayton (lost 83-57 in Toledo).
• No. 73 Virginia Commonwealth (won 80-61 at a neutral tournament).
• No. 70 Ball State (lost 75-69 away).

RealTimeRPI puts Toledo’s schedule strength at No. 30 in the country (of 349 Division I schools). Next highest MAC schools are Western Michigan at 97 and Ohio at 111.

Toledo’s RPI is 117, sixth among MAC schools. Ohio (9-3) is highest at 54; Eastern Michigan (10-2) is 68th. RPI is figured based on a team’s record, its opponents record and its opponents’ opponents’ record. Road wins are weighted and home losses are weighted more heavily.

Kent State (3-8) has the lowest RPI in the conference at 326 and a schedule strength of 271, ninth in the 12-team MAC.

Toledo won five in a row between its 0-6 start and Saturday’s loss to Ball State.

The Rockets have three players who average in double figures and a fourth who is just short. Five-foot-10 senior guard Brenae Harris scores 12.8 a game, 5-10 forward senior Ana Capotosto 12.2, 6-0 junior forward Janice Monakana 10.6 and 5-10 sophomore Jay Bravo-Harriott 9.8. Bravo-Harriott was MAC freshman of the year last season. Monakana is leading rebounder at 5.8 per game.

As a team, the Rockets are ninth in the conference in scoring at 65.0 per game (just behind KSU at 65.5) and seventh in defense at 66.2 (KSU is last at 71.8). They’re next to last in field goal defense (42.3 percent) to Kent (43.8). But you have to take into account their tough schedule in looking at the statistics.

Toledo makes 6.3 three-point shots a game and leads the conference in three-point percentage (35.3); KSU is last at 26.0 (4.3 per game).

KSU’s leading scorer is forward Jordan Korinek at 15.5 points a game, eighth in the conference. Larissa Lurken averages 14.7. Tyra James’ 14 points at Central Michigan moved her back into double figures in scoring at 10.3.

The game starts at 7 p.m. Audio starts at 6:45 on WHLO 640 and Golden Flash iHeart Radio. Video is on ESPN3; you can get live statistics through the Toledo website. You have to subscribe to ESPN to be able to see the online-only game.

Toledo team site. 

KSU statistics.

MAC statistics.

MAC standings.

Kent State was able to slow Central Michigan’s high-scoring guards in Saturday’s MAC opener, but the Chippewas turned to freshman forward Reyna Frost.

Frost responded with 27 points, more than double her previous career high, and led CMU to a 81-61 victory in Mount Pleasant.

“That’s the way game plan works,” coach Danny O’Banion said in her postgame radio interviews. “We kept their guards from being comfortable and made someone else step up. Frost is a good player. She did.”

CMU’s Presley Hudson Cassie Breen had averaged almost six baskets on 17 three-point attempts a game. Each was 2 of 4 Saturday.

But Frost was 13 of 20 and had nine rebounds. As other teams have done when KSU’s match-up zone slowed their three-point game, CMU was able to find openings. Many of Frost’s baskets came on open jump shots. Central had 18 assists in breaking down KSU’s zone.

Frost and Tinara Moore handled KSU leading scorer Jordan Korinek in the post. Korinek made only 3 of 11 shots, by far her worst of the season. She had been fourth in the conference in shooting at 57 percent. She picked up two early fouls and sat out half of the first half.

“Jordan got a couple of point-blank shots (at the start of both halves),,” O’Banion said. “When they didn’t go in, she got frustrated.”

Tyra James had her best game since early November. She had 14 points off the bench on 6 of 10 shooting (2 of 2 three-pointers) and had four assists and four rebounds. James hadn’t scored in double figures since KSU’s third game and was shooting just 31 percent.

“It was nice to see,” O’Banion said. “She may be one of those players who does better when she doesn’t start. We’ll know more after the Toledo game, when she’s back on other teams’ scouting reports.

Kent State came from eight points down in the first half to tie the game at 28-28. But Central oustcored KSU 9-2 over the last five minutes of the second quarter and 12-3 in the first five minutes of the second-half.

“To open the third quarter, we let Central be Central,” O’Banion said. “We were getting them to miss their first shot, but they were getting the rebound and making their second.”

For the game, CMU outrebounded Kent 42-34.

Notes:

• Central Michigan had 14 more shots than Kent (70-56) and nine more baskets.
• The Flashes had 16 turnovers to Central’s 10 and had just five steals. They had been leading the MAC in steads with 11.1 a game.
• Larissa Lurken had 11 points and three three-pointers. Korinek had 10 and eight rebounds.
• Starting point guard Naddiyah Cross had two points (1 of 5 shooting), two assists and five turnovers.
• KSU shot 52 percent in the first half but just 34 percent in the second.
• 6-4 freshman Merissa Barber-Smith, playing for the first time in three games, went 3 for 3 and had three rebounds in four minutes. Reserve point guard Taylor Parker had five points.

The Flashes play at Toledo Wednesday night.

Box score.

Other Saturday MAC scores:

• Northern Illinois (8-4) 65, Akron (6-6) 58, at Akron
• Bowling Green (5-5) 64, Miami (6-6) 58, at Miami
• Ohio (9-3), Western Michigan (8-5) 63, at Ohio
• Ball State (9-3) 75, Toledo (5-7) 69, at Ball State
• Eastern Michigan (10-2) 67, Buffalo (8-4) 56, at Eastern

MAC standings