Two games in a row Kent State has had a chance to reach overtime with a long three-point shot at the buzzer.

Two games in a row the shots — both by redshirt freshman Tyra James — have bounced off the rim.

You certainly can’t blame the loss on James’ shot. It was 22 feet away, low percentage at best.

It was things early in the game — eight fouls in the first quarter, 10 turnovers on the first half, and 1-for-17 three-point shooting for the game — that kept KSU on the losing end of a a 67-64 score to Toledo.

The Flashes are now 4-17 on the season, 1-10 in the MAC. Toledo is 12-, 7-3 in the conference.

There was a lot of good in the game against one of the better teams in the conference. KSU came from eight points down at halftime to tie the game 49-49 at the end of the third quarter. They stayed within four points of Toledo most of the fourth quarter, and if a Jordan Korinek layup hand’t rolled off the rim with 1:03 the go, it might have been different.

After Korinek’s miss, KSU was forced to foul, and Toledo’s Brenae Harris made two fouls shots. The Flashes got within 65-64 when Larissa Lurken snatched an airball from McKenna Stephens and threw it in and converted a three-point play.

But Harris made two more foul shots, and James’ last-second shot didn’t go in.

“The biggest difference (between the two halves) was that players committed themselves to the board,” coach Danny O’Banion said after the game, “and we took better care of the basketball.”

KSU outrebounded Toledo 20-15 in the second half and outscored them 17-10 on second-chance points. The Flashes held their turnovers to six in the second half.

Led by Korinek, the Flashes outscored Toledo 42-16 in the paint.

The Rockets won the game at the foul line — where they were 17 of 20 — and on three-pointers. Their three-point percentage wasn’t great — 29.6 percent — but they made eight when KSU could hit just one.

Kent State jumped to a 9-0 lead, but Toledo came back, mostly on nine straight free throws. Fouls put Korinek, Kent’s leading scorer, in trouble in for most of the last three quarters.

Still, the 6-2 sophomore scored 23 points on 9 of 13 shooting and 5 of 6 foul shots. She had seven rebounds in 29 minutes.

“I’m very proud of Jordan,” O’Banion said. “That was about as much adversity as she’s had in fouls this season, and she stayed aggressive and engaged. She showed more patience and was effective in the point (when she had four fouls).”

Notes:

• Lurken had 13 points and six rebounds. She was 5 of 15 from the field and 1 of 7 from three-point distance. She had six turnovers.
• Walk-on freshman Paige Salisbury started her fourth straight game — all among KSU’s best performances of the year. She had four points, two assists and equaled her season high in turnovers —  all of two —in 34 minutes. The 19 points Toledo scored off turnovers had little to do with her.
• Sophomore McKenna Stephens had perhaps her best game as a Kent State player. She scored 12 points on 6 of 11 shooting and led the team with eight rebounds.  She had two assists and a block in a career-high 33 minutes.
• The Flashes got a good six minutes out of 6-4 freshman Merissa Barber-Smith, who scored four points on 2 of 2 shooting and blocked a shot.
• After playing a man-to-man defense for most of the game at Miami Wednesday, KSU returned to its match-up zone for most of the night. It was as effective as it’s been this year.

KSU has a week off before it hosts the MAC West’s best team, Ball State, next Saturday.

Box score

Other MAC scores:

• Akron (12-10, 6-5) 77, Miami (9-12, 3-7) 65, at Akron.
• Ohio (18-4, 10-1) 95, Northern Illinois (9-12, 2-8) 70, at Ohio.
• Ball State (16-5, 8-2) 59, Buffalo (11-10, 3-7) 57, at Buffalo.
• Central Michigan (15-7, 9-2) 76, Bowling Green (8-11, 4-5) 75, at Bowling Green.
• Eastern Michigan (14-8, 5-6) 70, Western Michigan (13-10, 5-6) 66, at Eastern.

MAC standings

Kent State gets its second chance at Toledo this season at 5 p.m. Saturday as part of a doubleheader with the KSU men’s team.

One ticket gets you in both games. The men’s game. also against Toledo, will start about a half hour after the women’s ends, probably about 7:30.

KSU (4-16, 1-9 in the MAC) lost at Toledo 73-67 Jan. 6. The Flashes outplayed Toledo in three-quarters of that game, but that one quarter was a pretty bad. They were outscored 28-14 in the second quarter and were behind by as much as 15 points in the second half until they scored nine points in a row in with about four minutes to go in the game.

It will be interesting to watch the KSU defense. The Flashes went away from the match-up zone they had use almost exclusively this season to a man-to-man for much of Wednesday 55-52 loss against Miami. It was the second-lowest point total of the year for a KSU opponent and while Miami was missing its leading scorer and is not a great offensive team in any event, it was encouraging.

The Flashes held Miami to 36 percent shooting. KSU struggled at times with defensive rebounding and defensive rotation, both quite different in a man defense than a zone, and coach Danny O’Banion promised the team would work on cleaning up those areas before the Toledo game.

KSU lost the game on the offensive end, where it shot just 30 percent from the field — 9 percentage points below its season average — and 59 percent from the foul line, including eight critical misses in the fourth quarter. KSU forced 22 turnovers and had 12 steals, which tied its highest in conference play (and was four above any other conference game).

Toledo is 11-9, 6-3 in the MAC. All three of the Rockets’ conference losses have come on the road, but they beat Western Michigan 80-68 Wednesday at Western.

Guard Brenae Harris leads the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game. The Rockets are eighth in the conference in scoring offense and sixth in scoring defense and pretty much in the middle of the league in most statistical categories. They played a rough non-conference schedule, which makes their statistics look worse than other KSU opponents.

All four of Kent’s victories this season have come at home. Like most of the Flashes’ games in the second half of the season, it’s a game they could win if they play well.

Audio for the game starts at41:45 on WHLO 640 and Golden Flash iHeart Radio. You can get video and live statistics through the Kent State website.

Kent State statistics

Toledo team webpage

MAC statistics

MAC standings

It was about as close as Kent State could come to winning its first road game of the year.

Tyra James’ three-point shot bounced off the front of the rim at the buzzer at Miami Wednesday night and the Flashes lost to the Redhawks, 55-52.

But the missed shot really didn’t cost the game. Missing six free throws in the fourth quarter did.

“I liked our effort, and I liked the bounce we had,” coach Danny O’Banion said in her postgame radio interview. “We took a step forward. But we have to remember that the 50-50 plays, the rebounds, the rotation on defense makes the difference in a close game.

“And we have to make layups, and we have to make free throws.”

The Flashes, who won their first MAC game last Wednesday when they made 22 of 24 free throws against Northern Illinois, made 13 of 22 at Miami. The misses didn’t come from the bench. Jordan Korinek, an 84 percent shooter, Larissa Lurken (78 percent) and Alexa Golden (74 percent) all missed.

KSU is now 4-15 on the season, 1-9 in the MAC and in last place in the East Division. Miami is two-and-a-half games ahead of the Flashes at 3-6 and is 9-11 overall.

It was one of Kent State’s best defensive games of the year, and it came when Kent State went away from the match-up zone defense it has played overwhelmingly. The Flashes played predominately man-to-man and held Miami to 37 percent shooting and 24 percent on three-pointers. KSU forced 22 turnovers and scored 24 points off of them with full-court and half-court pressure.

“We just need to keep clean up the rebounding if we’re going to keep using it,” O’Banion said.

Miami scored 18 second-chance points on 16 offensive rebounds.There’s a major difference in technique in blocking out on rebounds in a man-to-man versus in a zone.

One thing to remember, though, is that Miami isn’t a great offensive team (10th in scoring in the conference) and was missing its leading scorer, Baleigh Reid, who was out with an injury.

Miami threw an unexpected defense at Kent State, too. Usually a man-to-man team, the Redhawks played a 2-3 zone most of the night.

Kent State managed to shoot just 30 percent against it. The only player to make more than half her shots was freshman guard Paige Salisbury, who had a career-high eight points on three of four shooting. But Korinek, who makes 54 percent of her shots (fourth best in the MAC), was 2 for 9. Lurken, who was 11 of 14 against NIU last week, was 3 of 15. 

Salisbury, a walk-on from Brunswick, made her third straight start.

“She’s one of the best walk-ons I’ve had a chance to work with,” O’Banion said. “We keep track of how players do in practice, and as long as Paige was on the floor, her team was winning. So we figured that if she could do it in practice, we should give her a chance to do it in a game.”

KSU has played some of its best basketball of the season in Salisbury’s three starts — the win against NIU, a first half in which KSU outscored 13-8 Western Michigan, and against Miami.

Salisbury isn’t particularly fast or smooth, but she handles the ball very reliably. She had one turnover in 32 minutes Wednesday and has just 10 turnovers in 248 minutes this season. 

Notes:

• Lurken was the only Kent player in double figures with 13 points. She led the team in rebound for the third straight game with seven. Chelsi Watson also had seven, including offensive boards. Korinek, KSU’s leading rebounder, had just three.
• KSU equaled Miami’s total of 16 offensive rebounds but scored five fewer second-chance points. Overall, Miami outrebounded the Flashes, 42-36.
• KSU’s Golden had five steals, which equals the highest for a Flash this season. The freshman from Pittsburgh leads the team and is ninth in the MAC in steals.

Kent State returns to the MACC center Saturday for a 5 p.m. game against Toledo. A men’s game against the Rockets will follow the game by about a half hour. One ticket gets you in both games.

Box score

Other MAC scores:

• Buffalo (11-9, 3-6) 51, Ohio (17-4, 9-1) 43, at Buffalo.
• Ball State (15-5, 7-2) 78, Akron (11-10, 5-5) 71, at Ball State.
• Central Michigan (14-7, 8-2) 66, Eastern Michigan (13-8, 4-6) 65, at Eastern.
• Toledo (11-9, 6-3) 80, Western Michigan (13-9, 5-5) 68, at Western.

MAC standings

Kent State heads to Miami Wednesday for a game it could win — and needs to win if they’re going to make any kind of move in the second half of the MAC season.

Miami is 2-6 in the MAC (8-11 overall) and just a game and half ahead of Kent in the East Division. The Redhawks have beaten Northern Illinois and Buffalo at home. KSU, which is 1-8 in the MAC and 4-15 overall, beat Northern in Kent but lost to Buffalo here.

The biggest stumbling block for the Flashes Wednesday may be the simple fact that the game is on the road. They’ve yet to win a road game this year and really played well only once — a 73-67 loss to Toledo.

Miami, which beat Kent State twice last season, started the season 7-2 but has since lost 9 of 12.

5-10 sophomore guard Baleigh Reid, a Twinsburg High School grad, leads Miami. She averages 15.3 points a game.

As a team, Miami is 10th in the league in scoring (just behind Kent State) at 62.7 points a game and ninth in defense at 68.2. KSU is last in defense at 73.6.

Miami made a season-high 10 three-point shots in 77-54 loss at Central Michigan Saturday. That isn’t great news for Kent State, which has had trouble defending the three-pointer in conference play.

But Miami is last in the conference in turnover margin and commits more turnovers than any team in the league. Expect Kent State to use its full-court and half-court pressure defense.

Guard Larissa Lurken this week became the first KSU player since 2011 to be named MAC East player of the week. Last Wednesday she scored 37 points and had 11 rebounds against Northern Illinois, and on Saturday she had 11 points and nine rebounds again Western Michigan.

Lurken’s scoring average is 14.3 points per game, 12th in the MAC. Forward Jordan Korinek averages 15.7, which is seventh in the league. Korinek is fourth in the conference in shooting percentage at 54.7 and fourth in free-throw percentage at 84.2.

Audio for the game starts at 6:45 on WHLO 640 and Golden Flash iHeart Radio. Video is on ESPN3 and live statistics are on the Miami website. The video is online only or on cable of satellite TV if you subscribe to ESPN; it’s now free on the ESPN app for portable devices.