Kent State played about as good a quarter as it has this season in cutting a 15-point Akron lead to 5 Saturday

But the Zips scored the first five points of the fourth and held that margin for a 70-60 win at the MAC Center Saturday.

The loss leaves Kent State at 5-20, 2-14 in the MAC. Akron is 15-12, 9-7 inn the conference.

Akron outshot KSU by 20 percentage points — 52 to 32 — to take a 40-25 halftime lead. The Zips held Kent leading scorer Jordan Korinek to 1 of 5 shooting and two rebounds.

But in the third quarter, Korinek scored nine points on 4 of 4 shooting, including a three-pointer. As  team, Kent State made 7 of 11 in the quarter and cut the lead to 49-44.

But 14 seconds in the fourth quarter, DiAndra Gibson hit a three-point shot. Then Anita Brown, the MAC’s leading scorer, scored the first of 12 fourth-quarter points to give Akron a 10-point lead. Brown, who had verbally committed to Kent State four years ago before coach Bob Lindsay was fired, also had four steals in the quarter.

“I like that players were committed to get the basketball to the paint in the third quarter,” coach Danny O’Banion said in her postgame radio interview. “And we took better care of the basketball. But we had to take better care of the basketball for 40 minutes.”

Akron scored just four points off KSU turnovers in the third quarter but scored nine off turnovers in the fourth quarter. For the game, they scored 31 points off 24 Kent State turnovers.

Larissa Lurken led the Flashes with 19 points. Korinek had 18 and eight rebounds.

“Larissa was very active,” O’Banion said. “She takes her role personally. She knew she underperformed on Wednesday (against Ohio), was aggressor tonight and knew what she needed to do.”

 

Box score

Video highlights, including O’Banion interview, and KSU website story

Other MAC scores

• Buffalo (15-12, 7-9) 70, Ohio (22-5, 14-2) 58, at Ohio. Both of Ohio’s conference losses have been to Buffalo.
• Bowling Green (10-15, 6-10) 76, Miami (9-18, 3-13) 56, at Bowling Green.
• Ball State (19-8, 11-5) 67, Eastern Michigan (18-9, 9-7) 63, at Eastern.
• Central Michigan (19-8, 13-3) 73, Western Michigan (15-13, 7-9) 61.
• Toledo (16-11, 11-5) 89, Northern Illinois (11-16, 4-12) 83, in overtime at Northern.

I’m still under the weather, so this will be a very short preview of the game with a couple of links.

Really what you need to know is this:

10 days ago Kent State led Akron by 11 points at halftime. Everything went right. Jordan Korinek dominated inside.

Kent State lost that game by 12. Everything went wrong in the last 14 minutes. Akron double and triple teamed Korinek in the post and shut her down. And KSU self destructed with turnovers.

That’s sort of the second half of the KSU season. There has been some very good play. When Korinek is on and not in foul trouble, Kent can be a good team. But the Flashes haven’t shown enough consistency to be a winning team.

Let’s hope they can Saturday.

The game is at 2 p.m. at the MAC Center.

Here are links to the previews on the Kent State and Akron websites. Media information is in the KSU link.

http://www.kentstatesports.com/news/2016/2/26/womens-basketball-m-a-c-c-hosts-wagon-wheel-challenge-game-this-saturday.aspx

http://www.gozips.com/sports/wbkb/2015-16/releases/20160226k5n89k

 

 

The score was pretty much what you’d have expected when 21-4 Ohio played 5-19 Kent State.

It was 86-52, but the way Ohio won was a little different that its usual formula.

Ohio usually scores from outside; the Bobcats are fifth in the nation in three-point scoring, averaging 9.9 per game. They are last in the MAC in rebounding margin at minus 3.7

Wednesday Ohio outrebounded Kent State 48-35, had 16 second-chance points and outscored KSU 44-22 in the paint. And the Bobcats still made 9 of 27 three-point shots.

“Ohio is rolling,” KSU coach Danny O’Banion said in her postgame radio interview. “They’re a fun team to watch except for the two nights a season we have to play them.”

The Bobcats are sixth in the Mid Major top 25. Their RPI is 29th best in the nation, and they’re 9-2 against teams in the top 100 RPI.

Ohio is 14-1 in the MAC and now 22-4 overall. Kent State is 2-12 and last in the MAC and 5-20 overall.

Ohio jumped to an 11-1 lead, and the game was never in doubt. They shot 49 percent from the field and scored 22 points off of 20 Kent State turnovers.

All-MAC guard Kiyanna Black led the Bobcats with 19 points in 26 minutes, the most played by an Ohio player. Eight Bobcats played more than 19 minutes, and the Ohio bench played most of the fourth quarter.

Kent State was led by Jordan Korinek, who had 18 points on 5 of 6 shooting and 8 of 10 foul shots. But she was in foul trouble through much of the game, as she has through much of the MAC season. She’s had four or more fouls in 12 of KSU’s 15 games.

“We just have to continue to educate Jordan that when she’s the best player on our team, other teams are trying to get her in foul trouble,” O’Banion said. “She’s one of best players in league, so it’s well worth their effort to get her out of there.”

Chelsi Watson played one of her best games off the bench with 11 points on 5 of 9 shooting and a team-leading seven rebounds. Tyra James had nine points and four steals. Second-leading scorer Larissa Lurken had just five points on 1 of 9 shooting and six rebounds.

“I still like this team,” O’Banion said. “There’s a lot of potential and capability in the locker room. We’ve got to make sure that the final score in this game does not deter us, as well as we’ve been playing.”

The Flashes finish the season with three competitive games. They play Akron, a team they led on the road by 11 at halftime, at home Saturday, then play Miami, the team a game ahead of them in the standings at home on Wednesday. They finish the regular season at 6-9 Buffalo.

Box score

Other MAC scores

• Akron (14-12, 8-7) 65, Miami (9-17, 3-12) 62, in overtime at Miami.
• Buffalo (14-12, 6-9) 55, Bowling Green (9-15, 5-10) 52, at Buffalo.
• Central Michigan (18-8, 12-3) 67, Ball State (18-8, 10-5) 66, at Central.
• Eastern Michigan (18-8, 9-6) 58, Toledo (*15-11, 10-5) 46, at Toledo.
• Northern Illinois (11-15, 4-11) 80, Western Michigan (15-12, 7-8) 70, at Western.

MAC standings

 

I’m out sick , though I’ll try to post something after tonight’s game. 

KSU plays at first-place Ohio (13-1 MAC,  21-4 overall) at 7 tonight. 

Here’s link to KSU website preview, including broadcast information. 

http://www.kentstatesports.com/news/2016/2/23/WBB_0223165054.aspx

Kent State coach Danny O’Banion put it succinctly after her team lost to Bowling Green 65-55 Saturday

“Their post play was better than our post play,” she said on her postgame radio interview. “That’s the long and short of it.”

Bowling Green’s 6-4 center, Lauren Tibbs, had the best game of her career with 24 points on 11 of 15 shooting. Tibbs also had two three-point baskets, eight rebounds, four blocked shots and two assists. She is a a fifth-year player, a transfer from Marquette who was immediately eligible because she had finished her undergraduate degree. She had played sparingly at Marquette.

Meanwhile, Kent State’s best post player, Jordan Korinek, struggled with foul trouble. She had 14 points and five rebounds but played only 21 minutes. And right after she picked up critical fouls, Bowling Green went on runs that made the difference in the game.

In the second quarter, the score was tied 18-18 when Korinek picked up her second foul and went to the bench. One second earlier, Kent’s Tyra James, who played one of the best games of her redshirt freshman season, had picked up her second.

Bowling Green went on a 7-0 run and never trailed after that.

Kent State settled down after that BG run and pulled within three points at halftime, then to within 31-30 in the first 90 seconds of the second half.

But 30 seconds later, Korinek picked up her third foul and went out, and Bowling Green scored 10 points in a row and eventually extended its lead to 15 points.

Kent State rallied to within three with two minutes to go, but the Falcons pulled away with nine straight points.

None of Korinek’s fouls came defending a shot. Two were offensive fouls, one was on a rebound, and the fourth away from the ball just before the shot clock ran out on a BG possession.

The 6-2 forward, Kent’s leading scorer, has had at least four fouls in 11 of Kent State’s 14 conference games.

“We’ve got to help Jordan understand the value she brings to the the team,” O’Banion said. “And we have to learn how to protect her from foul trouble.”

Korinek couldn’t score taking the ball directly at Tibbs, who blocked several of her shots. But she adjusted by taking jump shots. She was effective – when she was in the game.

James led KSU with 19 points – second best of her career – and led Kent State’s comeback attempts in the fourth quarter. She also had four rebounds and two steals.

“Tyra’s a player to cheer for,” O’Banion said. “She’s invested in her game. She’s constantly in our office and constantly in the gym.”

The third of Kent “big three” scorers – Larissa Lurken – scored nine points in the first half but was held scoreless in the second  by BG senior Miriam Justinger. Justinger originally signed with Kent State but switched to BG after former coach Bob Lindsay was fired.

The Flashes are now 5-19 on the season, 2-12 in the MAC. Bowling Green is 9-14 and 5-9.

Notes:

• In the first meeting between BG and KSU, the Falcons made 15 of 29 three-point shots, most of them by guards Sydney Lambert and Rachel Myers, in a 71-49 victory. Saturday the two went a combined 5 of 20, and just 2 of 13 from three-point range. Overall, Bowling Green made 8 of 24 three-pointers.
• Bowling Green had 18 turnovers, Kent State 15. But the Falcons scored 21 points off of the KSU turnovers. KSU managed 14 from turnovers.
• For the first time in six games, point guard Naddiyah Cross played more minutes (25) than freshman Paige Salisbury (17), who had started all of those games. Neither was effective. They combined to go 0 of 4 shooting and had six turnovers between them, along with five assists.
• Bowling Green had 18 assists on 25 baskets. KSU had 10 on 21.
• BG outrebounded Kent State 34-28 and had 13 second-chance points. KSU had six second-chance points.
• It was a game Kent State pretty much had to win to have any chance to host a first-round MAC tournament game. The Flashes now are three games behind Bowling Green and Buffalo with four games to play. They’re just one behind Miami and play the Redhawks in Kent in two weeks. They’re also one behind Northern Illinois of the West Division in a struggle for the last three seeds in the tournament.

Kent State travels to Ohio Wednesday to play the league-leading Bobcats, who are 13-1 in the conference and 21-4 overall.

Other MAC scores:

• Ohio (21-4, 13-1) 101, Akron (13-12, 7-7) 73, at Akron.
• Ball State (18-7, 10-4) 60, Western Michigan (15-11, 7-7) 54, at Ball State.
• Toledo (15-10, 10-4) 81, Central Michigan (17-8, 11-3) 79, at Central.
• Buffalo (13-12, 5-9) 58, Miami (9-16, 3-11) 39, at Buffalo.
• Eastern Michigan (17-8, 8-6) 84, Northern Illinois (10-15, 3-11) 60, at Eastern.

MAC standings

 

 

 

 

Box score

If there can be a must game for a team that’s 5-18, Kent State’s Saturday game against Bowling Green is one.

The Flashes are 2-10 in the MAC but play the three teams just ahead of them in the remaining five conference games. They have three of their five games at home, where they have played their best.

Here’s the MAC East standings:

Akron                   7-6

Buffalo                 4-9

Bowling Green  4-9

Miami                  3-10

Kent                      2-11

Add to that mix Northern Illinois, which is 3-10 in the MAC West. The Huskies will be competing with the losing teams in the East for seeding in the conference tournament.

Kent State is playing its best basketball of the season. In their last six games, the Flashes have played four solid games and two good halves. (They beat NIU and Ball State and lost to Western Michigan and Miami by three points. They outplayed Western Michigan and Akron in first halves before losing.)

The teams ahead of them aren’t doing so well.

BG, Saturday’s opponent, has lost five in a row. Miami has lost four in a row. Buffalo has lost eight of its last 10. Northern has lost 10 of 12, including what would be a tie-breaker for tournament seeding to Kent State. The Huskies also play nothing but winning teams in the West for the rest of the season.

So KSU has a legitimate shot of moving past Miami and Bowling Green if the Flashes can beat them in the MAC Center. I consider Northern pretty much out of the picture, considering its schedule and the fact KSU holds the tie-breaker because of its victory over the Bulls.

So let’s look at the possible final standings. They assume Ohio wins all of its remaining games (a good bet) and Akron wins all of its remaining games (more iffy but the Zips are clearly the second-best team in the division). Then we assume that the home team will win every other game. We get:

Ohio          17-1

Akron       12-6

Buffalo     7-11

BG             4-14

KSU           4-14

Miami       3-15

NIU            3-15

The key spot is Buffalo’s. It would be the eighth seed in the tournament and get a first-round game at home.

Kent State plays Akron at home. The Flashes led the Zips by 11 at halftime on the road Tuesday. So they clearly have a chance against them at home.

Kent’s last game of the season is at Buffalo. If the Flashes would win that one and beats Akron, they and the Bulls would tie at 6-10.

That sounds nice, but there’s one big problem: Buffalo is the only team in the MAC to beat Ohio (51-43 at Buffalo). And the Bulls beat Central Michigan, the leaders in the West.

The MAC tie-breakers work like this: If everything else is even (head-to-head competition, divisional record), the league looks at records against the first place team, in the league, then the second place team, etc.

So there’s really no way Kent State could win a tie breaker against Buffalo. For the Flashes to pass the Bulls and get the home tournament game, they would have to beat Ohio at Ohio, which no team has done this season. Or Buffalo would have to lose at home to either BG or Miami. That’s somewhat more likely — Miami beat the Bulls at Miami. But I wouldn’t count on it happening again.

This is undoubtably a silly academic exercise. Upsets are bound to happen. Kent State hasn’t shown it can win on the road (where it is 0-10 this season).

But what the heck. It’s more fun than writing the same statistical preview I’ve written all season.

One statistic you ought to know about Saturday’s game, though: Bowling Green clobbered KSU 71-49 at Bowling Green Jan. 23 when it made 15 of 29 three-point shots. It was probably the low point of the season for Kent State. It might have been the high point of at least the MAC season for the Falcons, who also have beaten 7-6 Eastern Michigan at home and NIU and Miami on the road.

Saturday’s game is no cinch for Kent State. But the Flashes have a solid chance.

The game is at 5 p.m. The unusual starting time is because it originally was supposed to be the first game of a doubleheader with KSU’s men’s team, who were to play Akron at 7. But the Akron game was moved to Friday so it could be televised nationally.

Audio for the women starts at 4:45 on WHLO 640 and Golden Flash iHeart Radio. You can get video and live statistics through the Kent State website.

Kent State website preview

Bowling Green team website

KSU statistics

MAC statistics

MAC standings

 

 

For the first 20 minutes of the game, Kent State did indeed play as well as any team in the MAC is playing right now.

Coming off five solid games and a big win over Ball State Saturday, the Flashes led Akron 37-26 at the half and dominated the Zips in just about every way.

But in the second half – especially from the middle of the third quarter on, Akron overwhelmed Kent State just as badly and took a 78-66 victory.

It was KSU’s 10th straight loss on the road, where it has yet to win a game. It was the Flashes’ seventh straight loss to Akron. KSU is 5-18 on the season, 2-11 in the MAC.

Akron is 13-11, 7-6 in the conference.

The Flashes did everything well in the first half. They scored 47 points – second most in a half this season. They shot 56 percent. They outscored Akron in the paint 18-2. They forced nine turnovers while committing only six. They held Anita Brown, the MAC’s  leading scorer, to just three free throws.

In the last 14 minutes, everything reversed.

KSU led 54-44 with 4:39 to go in the third quarter after a three-point basket by Larissa Lurken.

The Flashes scored only 12 points for the rest of the game. Lurken and Jordan Korinek, Kent’s top scorers, scored only two points apiece. Akron had six steals, forced three other turnovers and scored 19 points off of them. The Zips made 12 of their last 21 shots and outscored Kent in the paint 14-8 and overall 34-12.

“It wasn’t a big secret Jordan was doing the damage (11 points in the first half),” coach Danny O’Banion said in her postgame radio interview. “In the second half, they gave her a tremendous amount of attention. We were desperately trying to get the basketball to Jordan, and she was not open. You saw us turn the basketball over with very, very good intentions.”

Akron had switched from a zone to a man-to-man defense late in the first half. That seemed to make a lot of difference.

So did Brown, who was doing her best to take over the game. After going 0 for 8 in the first half, she made 7 of 14 shots in the second half, had five rebounds, three steals and two assists.

And with all of KSU’s late turnovers, O’Banion said, “We didn’t make them earn it when they went on their run.”

Notes:

• Korinek had 15 points and 9 rebounds, but 11 of those points game in the first half. She played a career-high 39 minutes; O’Banion agreed fatigue may have been a factor in her second-half struggles.
• Lurken had 16 points of 6 of 13 shooting (3 of 7 three-pointers).
• Tyra James had 12 in one of her best games of the conference season. “There was a stretch in the second half where she was very hard to guard,” the coach said. “We’ve talked all season about having three scorers . If we can get Tyra going, I like our momentum heading into the stretch.”
• McKenna Stephens had eight points, including two three-pointers. Alexa Golden had nine, second highest of her career and most since her fist game.
• Akron’s Hannah Plybon had a career-high 30 points – 21 in the first half – and scored the games’ last six points on foul shots. She made 6 of 11 three-point shots (5 of 9 in the the first half).
• Akron outrebounded KSU 33-30 overall and 18-11 in the second half. KSU had eight offensive rebounds in the first half, zero in the second. “They took Jordan away from the rim,” O’Banion said.
• Akron point guard Alex Ricketts had nine assists and five steals. Overall Akron had 21 assists on 27 baskets. Kent State had 13 assists on 28 baskets, led by Paige Salisbury’s four.

Kent State returns home to face Bowling Green at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Falcons beat KSU 71-49 Jan. 23. Wednesday, they (8-13, 4-8) lost at home to Toledo, 68-60, their fifth defeat in a row.

Box score

Other MAC scores:

• Eastern Michigan (16-8, 7-6) 70, Buffalo (12-12, 4-9) 55, at Buffalo.
• Ohio (20-4, 11-1) 72, Miami 9-15, 3-10) 44, at Ohio.
• Ball State (17-7, 9-4) 73, Northern Illinois (10-14, 3-10) 57, at Northern.
• Toledo (13-10, 8-4) 68, Bowling Green (8-13, 408) 60, at Bowling Green.

MAC standings

 

 

 

 

Kent State won a big game at home Saturday.

Now it has to show it can win on the road.

The Flashes, coming off a 59-50 over a good Ball State team, travels to Akron for a 7 p.m. game. Kent State is still looking for its first road victory of the season. It came close last week — 57-54 at Miami — but if the Flashes are going to move out of last place in the MAC East, they have to win away from the MAC Center.

Akron hasn’t had the season it had hoped for. The Zips were picked second in the East Division and are second — but only because the division is so weak behind Ohio.

Akron is 6-6 in the conference and 12-11 overall.

The standings are really pretty interesting. They look like this:

Ohio                             11-1
Akron                           6-6
Buffalo                         4-8
Bowling Green           4-8
Miami                           3-9
Kent State                   2-10

All teams face only each other for the last six games of the season. KSU will play Akron twice.

It’s not impossible for KSU to move as high as third (second if it wins all of its games, which is highly unlikely). That might even get KSU an eighth seed and a home game in the first round of the MAC tournament. They’d have to win at least four games to do that.

If that sounds crazy optimistic for a 2-10 team (5-17 overall), it’s because Kent State is playing some of the better basketball in the conference right now.

After an 0-7 start, the Flashes have beaten Buffalo, led Western Michigan at halftime, lost by three in the last minute at Ohio and against Toledo, and beat Ball State. BSU and Toledo are first division teams in the West; Western is 7-6 in the conference.

Two things happened in those five games. The Flashes found their defense. KSU added a man-to-man defense to the match-up zone it had used earlier in the season. Over the last four games, the Flashes actually lead the conference in scoring defense. That’s a long way from the defense that was dead last in points allowed through most of the season.

The other thing is the emergence of walk-on freshman Paige Salisbury as starting point guard. Salisbury is a sure ball handler, and KSU turnovers have dropped with her in the line-up. She has shown signs of being able to score; she had eight points against Miami and Ball State.

Akron has beaten only one MAC team (Toledo) with a winning record. The Zips swept 6-6 Eastern Michigan. They lost to 3-9 Northern Illinois in the first game of the conference season in Akron, lost by seven at Ball State two weeks ago and lost by four at Central Michigan Saturday.

They’re beatable — if KSU can win on the road.

Akron and Kent State played two very good games last season, with Akron winning both times. The game in Akron had 14 lead changes and seven ties before the Zips won by seven. Akron won 54-53 in Kent on a shot by MAC player-of-the-year Sina King with four seconds to go.

King has graduated. The Zips’ leading scorer are guards Anita Brown, who scores 21.6 points a game, and Hannah Plybon, who averages 16.3.

The Zips aren’t big; Jordan Korinek, KSU’s 6-2 leading scorer, had her best game of the year against them in Akron last season and played well in Kent in 23 minutes. She had foul trouble in that game, and she’s had foul trouble throughout the MAC season. Keeping her on the court will be key to the game.

The game is part of the Wagon Wheel Challenge, the all-sports competition between the two schools. So far KSU, which has won the challenge in all three years of its existence, leads Akron 3-2 this season.

Audio the game starts at 6:45 on 640 WHLO and Golden Flash iHeart Radio. You can get video and live statistics through the Akron website.

Akron team website

KSU statistics

MAC statistics

MAC standings

 

 

 

It was the biggest and best victory since Danny O’Banion became coach four years ago.

The Flashes beat Ball State — one of the top three teams in the conference — 59-50 at the MAC Center Saturday.

Why the biggest?

Ball State — 16-6 and 8-3 in the MAC coming into the game — had the best record of any team O’Banion has beaten. It’s only the second team with a winning record the coach has ever beaten. (The other win was a 71-62 win over 5-2 Temple in 2012 during a season when KSU went 3-27.)

The Flashes beat arguably the best player in the conference — 6-2 senior wing Natalie Fontaine. Fontaine had 28 points and 10 rebounds in 40 minutes, including the 2,000th point of her career.

But no one else scored in double figures for a team that was fourth in the MAC in scoring.

It was almost certainly KSU’s best defensive game of the coach’s four years. Besides holding the Cardinals 21 points under their average, the Flashes held them to 31.5 percent shooting — 12.5 percentage points below a league-leading average. They limited BSU to 3 of 24 three-point shooting. They forced 16 turnovers and scored 14 points off of them (to 13 turnovers by Ball State that led to just eight points). They had seven steals.

And it wasn’t that Ball State was missing easy shots. Most everything was contested as Kent switched between man-to-man and match-up zone defenses.

The  win capped four-and-a-half games of good play after a dismal first half of the conference season. (The half came when KSU played poorly after leading Western Michigan at halftime.) For the season, the team is still 5-17 and 2-10 in the conference. But, as coaches say, this is the best time of the year to be playing your best basketball.

Larissa Lurken had 24 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter on 4 of 6 shooting. She had five steals, which ties a season high for KSU.

“Larissa made some huge plays,” O’Banion said in her postgame radio interview. “But I’d argue that everybody who got into the game made a pivotal play.”

Leading scorer Jordan Korinek had 11 points. She had eight in the first quarter, then got in foul trouble (as she has much of the season) and played only 17 minutes. I don’t think anyone would have dreamed KSU could beat Ball State with Korinek playing less than half the game.

McKenna Stephens led KSU with six rebounds and played 36 minutes, a career high. Stephens missed the first five games of the season with a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery and has worked hard to get into shape. “She could never have played that much earlier in the year,” O’Banion said at the coaches’ luncheon earlier in the week after Stephens played 34 minutes last game. “She’s been doing 15 minutes of extra cardio every day.”

Freshman Alexa Golden had five rebounds, five points and two steals. As she does every game, she led the KSU defense.

And there is unlikely hero Paige Salisbury, the freshman walk-on who seems to have made all the difference since she joined the starting line-up five games ago. Since then KSU has played like a different team. Salisbury equaled her career-high of eight points, including a three-pointer and two drives to the basket, and had four assists. 

“Paige continues to grow her role and teammates continue to grow their confidence in her playmaking ability,” O’Banion. “And to play 32 minutes under some duress — that’s big time play for her.”

Ball State pressured Salisbury in full-court and in half-court. Salisbury — who is not fast and not especially smooth — just handled it. She had a career-high three turnovers; there have been many games in the last four years that Kent State’s point guard had twice that many.

O’Banion also singled out 5-10 post player Chelsi Watson as playing an important role despite not scoring. “Chelsi started the third quarter so we could protect Jordan (who had three fouls) and she did a very nice job of holding it down until Jordan could get back in.”

Kent State jumped to a 13-2 lead behind Korinek’s inside scoring and foul shooting and led by eight after the first quarter, one at the half, and one after the third quarter.

Ball State rallied to take the lead by one early in the fourth quarter. But Lurken and Salisbury hit back-to-back three-pointers to put Kent State ahead.

Then when Ball State tied the game at 48 lead with 4:10 to go, Lurken hit a three-point shot and scored nine straight points to clinch the win.

Notes:

• Five games ago, Kent State was a distant last in the conference in scoring defense. In the last four games, KSU had allowed 59.25 points a game, best in the conference. League-leading Ohio is second at 60.4. It hasn’t been a cupcake schedule — KSU’s four opponents have a combined record of 53-41, 26-23 in the conference. The turnaround started when the team began to mix a man-to-man defense with the match-up zone it had played almost exclusively earlier in the season.
• The 50 points allowed were the fewest of the season for the Flashes and the second fewest scored this season by Ball State. (It had 48 at Ohio.)
• KSU made 54.2 percent of its shots in the second half after hitting 26.9 percent in the first half. For the game, that averages out at 40 percent, about its season average.
• Ball State outrebounded KSU 37-29 and had 13 offensive rebounds (but just four second-chance points).
• Ball State’s 3 for 24 (12.5 percent) three-point shooting was its worst of the season and the lowest percentage Kent State has allowed this season.
• Kent State’s 13 turnovers equaled its season low.
• Attendance of 644 was second highest of the season. Highest was 666 against Toledo last Saturday, when the Rockets brought at least 100 fans with them. The Ball State game was a “Play 4Kay” fundraiser for breast cancer research, named after former North Carolina State coach Kay Bow, who died after fighting two recurrences of the disease.
• Ball State hasn’t been the same since since it lost 68-67 to Ohio at home Jan. 30. At the time, both teams led their divisions. Since then Ball State trailed Akron at halftime at home before winning 78-71, beat Buffalo (3-8 in the MAC) by just two points, lost to division-leading Central Michigan 74-65 Wednesday and lost to Kent State Saturday.
• Fontaine’s 2,000 points are 91 behind BSU’s all-time leading scorer, Tamara Bowie, with at least seven games to play. She’s just the 15th player in MAC history to score 2,000. Fontaine’s  double-double was the 30th of her career.
• All five of Kent State’s victories this season have come at home.

KSU goes a short distance on the road Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game  at Akron, which is 12-11 and 6-6 in the MAC. The Zips lost 69-65 at Western Michigan Saturday.

Box score

Video highlights and O’Banion interview

Other MAC scores:

• Eastern Michigan (15-8, 6-6) 70, Miami (9-14, 3-9) 46, at Miami.
• Ohio (19-4, 11-1) 77, Toledo (13-10, 8-4) 57, at Toledo.
• Central Michigan (17-7, 11-2) 73, Northern Illinois (10-14, 3-9) 67, at Northern.
• Buffalo (12-11, 4-8) 63, Bowling Green (8-13, 4-8) 50, at Bowling Green.
• Western Michigan (15-10, 7-6) 69, Akron (12-11, 6-6) 65, at Western.

MAC standings

 

Kent State comes off of three-and-a-half good games that led to just one victory as it hosts one of the best teams in the West Division Saturday.

“We’re playing our best basketball,” coach Danny O’Banion said at this week’s coaches’ luncheon. “We just need to win one.”

Winning one will be tough against Ball State, which is 16-6, 8-3 in the conference. The Cardinals bring with them a top candidate for MAC player of the year in senior Natalie Fontaine, a 6-2 wing from Stockholm, Sweden. Fontaine is second in the MAC in scoring at 21 points a game and third in rebounding at 10 points a game.

She had the 29th double-double of her career Wednesday in a74-65 loss last Central Michigan. She has been all-MAC every year of her career — second team her freshman and sophomore year, first team last season.

“I’m going to buy her a graduation card,” said O’Banion, who’s coached against her all four years she has been head coach at Kent.

Ball State has not been playing particularly well of late. Before Wednesday’s loss at CMU, the Cardinals barely beat Buffalo (59-57) and Akron (78-71) after losing to league-leader Ohio 68-67 at home Jan. 30.

Kent has been playing well for a team that is 4-21 and 1-10 in the conference. The Flashes beat Northern Illinois 95-85 Jan. 27, outplayed Central Michigan for a half Jan. 30 and lost to Miami and Toledo by three points each last week.

“Our record looks discouraging, but we’re not discouraged in the locker room,” O’Banion said. “We’re starting to understand what it takes to win. If you would watch practice, you wouldn’t know our record.”

Three players who have made a difference are two we expected to at the start of the year —sophomore forward Jordan Korinek and junior guard Larissa Lurken  — and one we never did — walk-on freshman Paige Salisbury.

Salisbury joined the team just after the end of last school year. O’Banion said that the Brunswick High School graduate wanted to play Division I basketball even though her best high school sports probably was softball. (Salisbury still is in the top 10 in the record books in Brunswick in just about every statistical category.)

“Paige is a competitive young lady who just has played her way into the line-up,” O’Banion. “I remember when she and her parents were in my office when she wanted to walk on. I told her she wouldn’t touch the ball much in practice and she probably shouldn’t even look at me in a game.

“But she’s tough. We chart who’s playing on the teams that are winning in practice. Paige was always on the winning team. We figured that if she could do it in practice, she should get a chance in a game.”

Salisbury began to start four games ago, when Kent made a jump in quality of play.

“She’s not the fastest and not at the most elite level, but she takes care of the basketball and gets it to the places it needs to go.”

Salisbury had committed 12 turnovers in 282 minutes. That’s about the same rate (.04 per minute) as Ball State’s Jill Morrison, a third-team all-MAC player last season as a sophomore. Morrison does average 13 points and about two three-pointers a game.

Salisbury averages just 1.7 points and barely looked at the basket when she was coming off the bench. She did score eight points at Ohio two weeks ago. Salisbury played 66 minutes in two games last week; Naddiyah Cross, the starting guard at the beginning of the season, played 15. (To be fair, Cross has battled injuries over the last month.)

“An unlikely story,” O’Banion says.

Lurken and Korinek were more predictable.

Lurken was KSU’s leading scorer last season and third-leading as a freshman, but O’Banion says her growth as a player has been enormous.

“Her freshman year she sat in a corner and shot 3s,” the coach said. “Last season she started to make her own shots. This season she’s a complete player.”

Lurken has scored as much on drives as on long-range shooting this season and scored 38 points against Northern Illinois, eighth best in school history.

Korinek leads KSU in scoring at 15.7 points a game.  “She’s going to be a Hall of Famer here,” O’Banion said. This week Korinek was named Academic All-District team. She has a 4.0 average in special education. She’s easily on pace to be a 1,000-point scorer at Kent State.

The Ball State game is a “Play 4Kay” fundraiser, part of a series of games across the country that helps raise money for the Kay Yow Foundation, which supports breast cancer research. Yow was a long-time women’s coach at North Carolina State, and battles several recurrences of cancer.

O’Banion, who was treated for lymphoma all last season, remains cancer free.

The game is at 2 p.m., with audio starting at 1:45 on WHLO 640 and Golden Flash iHeart Radio. You can get video and live statistics through the Kent State website.

Ball State team page

Kent State statistics

MAC statistics

MAC standings