KSU seniors (from left) Chelsi Watson, Lacey Miller, Larissa Lurken, Keziah Lewis and McKenna Stephens with coach Todd Starkey. Photo from KSU website.

Senior center Lacey Miller has been on the Kent State women’s basketball team for three years.

She’s played exactly 19 minutes. She has scored two points in her career.

Senior guard Keziah Lewis is the only Kent State player not to score a point this season. She’s played 26 minutes this year.

Yet the two have been significant parts of one of the most best stories in Kent State sports history.

One thing this year’s team — which has gone from from last place in 2016 to first place in the MAC East this season — has is chemistry.

First year coach Todd Starkey has said many times how much the KSU players seem to like each other and how well they work together. Former coach Danny O’Banion said the same thing a year ago.

Miller and Lewis are very much a part of that. Watch team members on social media, and it’s easy to tell they’re as much a part of the group as senior Larissa Lurken, a four-year starter who is having one of the best years in Kent State basketball history — men or women.

Miller, Lewis and Lurken, along with Chelsi Watson and McKenna Stephens, will be honored at Senior Day Saturday in their last game at the M.A.C. Center. The Flashes play Buffalo at 2 p.m.

Miller joined the team as a walk-on her sophomore year. She was a transfer from Mercyhurst North East, a two-year campus of Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania. She played high school basketball at Mentor High school.

Miller never played a minute in the regular season her first season but earned a scholarship from O’Banion, who saw her a major contributor in practice. She got in three games last season and seven this year, scoring her first and only basket against No. 2 Baylor at the Gulf Coast Showcase tournament. She’s a special education major.

Lewis grew up about as far from Kent State as anywhere in the world — Hobsonville, New Zealand. That’s 8,500 miles. O’Banion found her at Ellsworth Junior College in Iowa Falls, Iowa, where she scored 771 points in two seasons. She never became the scorer Kent hoped she’d be. Last season she played in 22 games, scoring 26 points.

Lurken, of course, we all know about. She’s leading the MAC in scoring, leading the nation in free throws made and attempted, and is among league leaders in nine of 13 officials categories. She was named a second-team academic All-American this week. You can read all about that at this blog post.

Watson was the first player for the bench last season and a situational player this year. Starkey uses her when he needs a quick post player, especially on defense. Watson is just 5-10 but has the highest vertical leap on the team. Though she averages just 13 minutes a game, she has 43 offensive rebounds — second on the team. Watson is from Monroe, Louisiana, and player at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, before transferring to Kent State.

Stephens is sort of a senior. Academically, she’s in her fourth year of college and will  graduate this year. But because she transferred to Kent State from Michigan State, NCAA rules required her to sit out a year. So she has a year of eligibility left, in which she could attend graduate school on full athletic scholarship. That’s not uncommon; men’s player Galal Cancer was a grad student in business a year ago.

Starkey said in an email that Stephens’ plans for next year were “not definite.” Other Kent State players have forgone their last year of eligibility before. Most prominent one was Andrea Csaszar, at 6-6 the tallest player ever to play women’s basketball at KSU. Csaszar, a second-team all-MAC player in 2002 and 2004, lost a year to a knee injury but graduated on time and returned to Europe to play professional basketball. (She’s still playing and averaging 17 points and 12 rebounds for BBC Les Portes du Soleil Troistorrents in Switzerland.)

Stephens, a 6-foot forward, has been Kent State’s third leading scorer and rebounder this season. Her emergence as a scoring threat — she’s been in double figures 10 times in conference play — made a huge difference in KSU’s run to the division title. She’s started every game this season except one and averages 8.9 points and 5.4 rebounds a game.

In conference games alone, she ranks sixth in the league in field goal percentage (53.2 percent), 25th in scoring average and 15th in rebounding average. She has one of the best midrange jump shots in the conference and is second on Kent State with 23 three-point baskets. She started 19 games last season and three her freshman year, when she was eligible on the the second semester.

Stephens originally went to Michigan State on a softball scholarship and transferred to Kent State in basketball after she injured her throwing arm. She was a third-team all-state player in basketball at Lake High School in Uniontown. Stephens majors in public health.

About Saturday’s Buffalo game

10 days ago, it looked as if this game might determine the MAC East title and the fourth seed in the league tournament.

Now it means little as far as the standings are concerned.

Kent State has clinched at least a tie for first in the East and is guaranteed the first-round bye in the tournament next week at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. A Buffalo loss at Bowling Green last Saturday dropped it to third in the East, two games behind Kent State. The Bulls will host a first-round tournament game next week.

Starkey said KSU’s clinching the East title Wednesday allowed the team to “exhale” and avoid the pressure of a must-win game against Buffalo.

“It’s our senior night,” the coach said on KSU’s weekly Flash Talk radio show Thursday. “We want to make sure we show our best and continue our trend of play upward. But it’s nice we know we don’t have (the fight for tournament seeding) hanging over our head. We know we’re not going to play against until Wednesday.”

Buffalo, he said, is “one of the toughest matchups in the league for us.” (The Bulls beat Kent State 77-62 in Buffalo last month.)

“The thing about Buffalo is that they have to think about playing on Monday, no matter what happens on Saturday,” Starkey said. “And to be honest, Monday is a more important game for them.

“I don’t know if their approach is going to be, ‘Let’s go for broke and win,’ or ‘We’ve got to rest some kids.'”

In Buffalo, the Bulls held Kent State to 8 points in the first quarter and 23 in the first half. Lurken didn’t score at all in the half for the only time in conference play.

“At their best, they’re as good a defensive team as there is in the conference,” Starkey said.

Buffalo beat KSU without its third-leading scorer and rebounder, 6-3 Cassie Ourseler, who was out with an ankle injury. In the Bulls 81-55 win at Akron Wednesday, Ourseler had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. She’s had three blocks in four straight games.

Junior point guard Stephanie Reid is fifth in the nation with 8.1 assists per game. She played only three minutes in the first half against KSU in the first game because of foul trouble. JoAnna Smith, the only senior on the Bulls, averages 17 points a game and scored 31 against Akron. In her last three games against Kent State, she has scored a total of 70 points and made 13 three-point baskets. She made 7 of 10 three-pointers in Kent last season.

Buffalo’s record is 20-8, 10-7 in the MAC. The Bulls won their first nine games of the season and still have a higher RPI (93) than Kent (102).

Kent State is 18-11, 12-5 in league play.

Chart from MAC sports information department

The seedings game

Kent State has clinched a first-round bye and at least the fourth seed in the MAC tournament. They will play either Ohio or Toledo on Wednesday. But which one depends on Saturday’s results.

If the Flashes win Saturday and Northern Illinois (19-9, 12-5) loses at Western Michigan (16-12, 7-10), KSU gets the third seed. In that case, KSU’s opponent would likely be Toledo (11-6, 20-8) if the Rockets lose at first-place Ball State (14-3, 21-8). It would be Ohio (11-6, 20-8) if Ohio loses at Akron (2-15, 9-19) and Toledo beats Ball State.

If Kent State gets the fourth seed, they’ll play Ohio if the Bobcats win. They’ll play Toledo if the Rockets win and Ohio loses.

That’s assuming that Ohio and Toledo win their first-round games Monday, which will be against Akron and Eastern Michigan, the worst two teams in the league.

Kent State beat defending-champion Ohio twice during the season in close games, 68-65 in Athens and 83-77 in overtime in Kent. The Flashes beat Toledo 70-60 in Kent in February.  Toledo star Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott missed the game with a concussion.

KSU won’t play Buffalo. The Bulls can’t get any better than a sixth seed, and to do that, they need to beat KSU. If they do, KSU can’t get any better than a fourth seed.

At least, that’s the best I can figure it. With the MAC’s five levels of tie breakers if teams have the same record, it can be very confusing.

If you can’t go to the game

• Video starts at 2 p.m. on the Kent State website.
• Audio starts at about 1:50 on Golden Flash iHeart radio and 640 AM WHLO.
• Live statistics can be followed though the KSU website.
• In-game updates on Twitter are at @KentStatwbb.

Kent State statistics, with links to roster and schedule/results.

Preview from the Buffalo website, with links to statistics, roster and schedule/results.

Preview from the Kent State website.

MAC statistics and standings, with links both to overall and conference-only stats.

Here’s an interesting Wednesday column from Kent Stater sports editor Henry Palattella, urging students to go to women’s games. KSU’s attendance this year averages 390, 11th in the 12-team MAC.

Senior guard Larissa Lurken (left) and junior forward Jordan Korinek.

Larissa Lurken and Jordan Korinek are Kent State’s fourth and fifth Academic All-Americans in women’s basketball.

Both were named to the Division I second team announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America. KSU was the only team to have two players among the 15 named.

The all-Americans were chosen from among players named academic all-district last month. To be eligible, a player must have at least a 3.3 GPA and be a starter or key reserve on a team. Nominations are made by sports information personnel at NCAA institutions.

“It’s phenomenal that our two best players are also our two best students,” KSU coach Todd Starkey said on iHeart Radio’s weekly FlashTalk program Thursday. “If you look at the definition of a student athlete, Larissa Lurken and Jordan Korinek are it. It’s a blessing and an honor to be a part of a program with them.”

Lurken, a four-year starter at guard, is having one of the best seasons in Kent State basketball history. She leads the Mid-American Conference in scoring at 23.3 points per game. That’s sixth best in Division I and almost two points higher than any KSU women’s player has ever averaged before. She’s already set Kent State career records in three-point field goals made and attempted and season records in free throws made and attempted. She leads the nation in both free throw categories, and her numbers are MAC records, too.

Lurken is a senior nursing major with a 3.72 average. Among her coursework the last two years have been “clinicals,” in which she works a 12-hour day in an area hospital once a week.

Thursday she was at work at 6:30 a.m., four hours after a bus ride back to Kent with the team after the Flashes clinched the MAC East title at Miami University.

Lurken plans to become a nurse practitioner, a job that combines some of the duties of a doctor and a nurse. She is from Cottage Grove, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.

Korinek is a junior special education major with a perfect 4.0 average. She’s one of four all-Americans with 4.0 or better averages. (Some universities allow A+ grades, which can boost the GPA above “perfect.” Kent State does not.) Korinek is from Cuyahoga Falls and was a graduate of St. Vincent St. Mary’s High School.

She is Kent State’s second leading scorer at 15.7 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with a 6.6 average.

Both players became 1,000-point career scorers this season.

Kent State’s previous academic All-Americans were:

Lindsay Shearer, national academic player of the year in 2006, when she was also MAC player of the year. Shearer was second team all-American in 2005 and third team in 2004.

Kate Miller, a transfer who played just one season for the Flashes, a first team all-American in 2002.

Carrie Templin, a second-team selection in 1997 and 1998 and on the third team in 1996.

This year’s academic player of the year was Iowa senior Ally Disterhoft, who won the award for the second year in a row. She is an accounting and finance major with a 4.03 average and has scored more than 2,000 points in her career.

Other first-team members were from Duke, DePaul, New Mexico and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. No other player from a MAC school made any of the teams.

It’s unusual but not unprecedented for a team to have two academic all-Americans. Best I could tell from the sports information group’s website, 12 schools have done it since 2000.

DePaul had a second-team and a third-team member last season. Three schools — Harvard in 2004, Purdue in 2001 and Murray State in 2009 — have had two players on the first team.

Lurken and Korinek play the final home game of their at 2 p.m. Saturday against Buffalo at the M.A.C. Center. KSU opens MAC tournament play at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland Wednesday.

Academic All-American announcement.

Lurken biography from Kent State website.

Korinek biography from Kent State website.

 

 

 

 

“Great,” junior forward Jordan Korinek called it.

“Amazing,” said junior guard Naddiyah Cross.

“I certainly didn’t expect it,” coach Todd Starkey about the last-place team he took over in April.

But Kent State’s women’s basketball team — 6-23 a year ago and no better than ninth in the Mid-American Conference for the last five years — clinched at least a share of the East Division title Wednesday with a 78-51 victory.

The victory is Kent State’s sixth in a row and 11th in its last 13 games. It gives them a 12-5 record in the MAC and an 18-11 for the season. It clinches a first-round bye in next week’s MAC tournament. Eighteen is as many games as the team won in the last three years combined.

Larissa Lurken — perhaps the leading candidate for conference player of the year — had one of her best all-around games in her spectacular senior season. She had 24 points — one above her league-leading average. She had 9 rebounds. She had 7 assists, 3 steals and a blocked shot.

In his postgame radio interview on WHLO, Starkey tried to put the season in perspective.

“I’ve never been part of anything like this,” he said. “I’ve won championships before, had some great runs. But to see what this group of girls has done since Day 1 when we got here and to see the metamorphosis that’s taken place and where we are now — I certainly didn’t expect it.

“I wanted to bring a championship mentality here. They just bought into everything we said. They actually believed it…how about that? They’ve been fighting, digging, clawing all the way through.

“What a great thing for these players and for Kent State to bring a championship back to Kent.

“This group is just really connected. They really believe in each other. They do a really good job of making adjustments as we’re going through the game. They’ve gotten so much better at that as we’ve gone through the year.

“They looked at that tough non-conference schedule and said, ‘Hey, why not? Let’s do it. It’s exciting to us.’

“Then we get down to Florida (at the Gulf Coast Showcase tournament, where they looked to be the weakest team in the field) and do some nice things, and that’s a kind of trigger for us.

“And people have to remember that we started off 1-3 in the league. To battle back and be 12-5 at this point is a phenomenal, phenomenal thing for this group.

“It hasn’t always been pretty, but we’ve found ways to win games when we weren’t playing our best. And when we do play well on the defensive end, and we’re making shots, we’re a pretty tough team to beat.”

Wednesday KSU ran off to a 16-2 lead, then saw Miami come back to tie the game at 20 four minutes into the second quarter.

But the Flashes went on a 20-6 run to finish the first half, then outscored the Redhawks 20-10 in the third quarter. The 27-point margin was Kent State’s biggest of the season; 51 points were the fewest the Flashes have allowed this year.

Kent State comes home Saturday for Senior Day against Buffalo — the last game in Kent for Lurken and the team’s other seniors. Buffalo was the last team to beat Kent State and did it soundly — 77-62 in Buffalo Feb. 4. The Flashes haven’t beaten the Bulls since 2011.

Then the Flashes are off until a Wednesday quarterfinal game at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

“We’re not done,” Korinek said. “We’ve got a bigger goal — winning the tournament.”

Notes

• The last time the Flashes won a division championship was 2004-05, when they tied for first with Marshall. Lurken would have been in about the fourth grade then.
• Northern Illinois lost to Toledo 79-75 Wednesday, so the Huskies are now tied with Kent State for third in the overall standings. The Flashes could slip into the third seed in the tournament if NIU loses at Western Michigan Saturday and KSU beats Buffalo. If the KSU and Northern tie, Northern owns the tiebreaker  because it beat KSU twice.
• It’s also possible Ohio could tie the Flashes if the Bobcats beat Akron and KSU loses to Buffalo. But Kent State will still get the first-round bye because the Flashes beat Ohio twice this season.
• Korinek had 20 points and 12 rebounds, her fifth double-double of the season. Many of her points came on passes from Lurken. She had a season-high four assists, many of them passes to Lurken. She made 8 of 12 shots, including a three-pointer, and had three blocked shots, her most of the season.
• McKenna Stephens had 14 points on 6 of 11 shooting, including two three-pointers when KSU took control of the game in the second quarter. She also had 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block. Alexa Golden had 8 points and 5 rebounds. She had two three-point baskets for the third game in a row.
• KSU outrebounded Miami 44-27 (15-8 on offensive rebounds) and outscored the Redhawks 32-22 in the paint.
• Kent State had 15 turnovers, Miami 17, with the Flashes outscoring the Redhawks 20-16 off turnovers.
• Freshman guard Lauren Dickerson and sophomore forward Kendall McCoy each had 15 for Miami. Kent State held the Redhawks to 33 percent shooting, 8 points better than KSU’s defensive average. The Redhawks were 5 of 20 from three-point distance.
• Miami is 4-13 in the MAC and 10-20 for the season.
• All 13 Kent State players in uniform got into the game.

Box score

Game story from the Kent State website.

Game story from the Miami website, including video highlights and interview with coach Cleve Wright.

Game story from KentWired, website of the Kent Stater student newspaper.

The view from Miami

Coach Cleve Wright, from video on the Miami website:

“We came out not hitting shots, dug a hole, came all the way back. I thought we showed a lot of heart in that. Then we allowed them to go on a run again.”

“The most disappointing thing was our effort on boards. We had eight offensive rebounds. When you shoot 25 percent in the third quarter and 28 in the fourth quarter, there’s a lot of offensive rebounds to be had. When you’re shooting that poorly, you have to get second-chance opportunities.”

“We did a good job in the first half of keeping them off the free throw line — they only shot four free throws.”

In the second half, “They started getting confident and getting into rhythm and came out and really knocked some shots down”.

“Apparently we didn’t prepare them enough for what we wanted to do on the defensive end. I don’t think we challenged them as well as we should have. I think we got flat and out of position.”

On a flagrant foul called against Miami’s Savannah Kluesner in the second quarter that led to a lengthy delay while officials reviewed video:

“One of the turning points. I thought it was going to be for us, and it ended up being against us. I think we did not respond well after that.”

Kent State went on a 13-2 run after the foul. 

Other MAC scores

Ball State (14-3, 21-8) 64, Eastern Michigan (1-16, 6-23) 54 at Eastern.

Central Michigan (14-3, 22-7) 94, Western Michigan (7-10, 16-12) 73, at Western.

Toledo (11-6, 20-8) 79, Northern Illinois (19-9, 12-5) 75 at Northern.

Ohio (11-6, 20-8) 79, Bowling Green (4-13, 8-21) 68 at Ohio.

Buffalo (10-7, 20-8) 81, Akron (2-15, 9-19) 55 at Akron.

MAC standings

Game stories from MAC website.