Kent State has a 6-5 record and some good moments against top-rung teams, but the Flashes need a win against a a good team this week to go into the conference season.

KSU travels to suburban Pittsburgh Tuesday to Robert Morris in a 10 a.m. game. It’s the Flashes’ last game before the MAC season starts at Eastern Michigan on Saturday, Dec. 30.

The early time is because the game is part of Robert Morris’s Career and Education Day. Its website doesn’t define that, but it’s usually the kind of thing when high school (sometimes even elementary) students are invited to campus. Such games tend to get very noisy in favor of the home team.

Robert Morris is the kind of team the Flashes haven’t beaten so far this year and the kind of team they’re going to need to beat to have a chance at defending their MAC East title.

The Colonials are 7-3 and have won five in a row. Like Kent State, they haven’t beaten a team with a winning record. The teams they’ve beaten have been better than the ones Kent State has defeated. The teams they’ve lost to aren’t as good as the ones that have beaten the Flashes.

Two of them are the same teams. Robert Morris beat Northern Kentucky 69-60 and Youngstown State 84-52. The Flashes beat NKU 59-54 in their opener and Youngstown 55-44 in their second game. Both games were on the road. Robert Morris’s win against Eastern Kentucky came on the road; it beat YSU in home.

A year ago Robert Morris beat the Flashes 68-65 in overtime at the M.A.C. Center.

All that says the teams are well matched. So does RPI ratings. Kent State is ranked 217th of 349 teams. Robert Morris is 204th. RPI is a system that rates teams based on their record and strength of schedule.

The Colonials’ five-game win streak has come against teams that have won no more than three games. Kent State has lost two in a row, but those were to No. 23 Michigan and to Wright State, which is ranked 15th in the Mid-Major Top 25.  KSU played well at times in both of those games, The Flashes led Michigan after a quarter and were tied 19-19 at halftime.

But the Flashes haven’t beaten a team that has won more than three games.

Robert Morris is led by 6-2 sophomore Nneka Ezeigbo, who has come off the bench in every game she’s played and who averages 12.8 points and 7.3 rebounds a game. She scored four points and had 13 rebounds (12 of them defensive) against KSU last season. The Colonels start three seniors and two freshman guards. Seven of the 13 players on their roster are international — from Canada to England to Finland to Japan.

KSU is coming off a nine-day break for final exams. In the Flashes’ game at Michigan Dec. 10, guard Alexa Golden led the Flashes with 13 points. She’s averaging 9.4 points a game this season, double her average last year. Coach Todd Starkey calls her an “opportunistic scorer,” who can be aggressive when other teams concentrate on senior forwards Jordan Korinek and McKenna Stephens.

Golden, a criminal justice major, graduated Saturday after just two-and-a-half years on campus. She was an excellent high school student and came into college with a ton of advanced placement credit. I assume she’s enrolled in graduate school for the second semester. Golden grew up in suburban Pittsburgh, probably no more than a half hour drive from Robert Morris.

Senior point guard Naddiyah Cross, a business major, also graduated Saturday. Cross had perhaps the best week of her college career before exams. She scored a career-high 19 points and hit a three-point shot that sent Kent State’s game at Eastern Kentucky into overtime (KSU won, 65-57). She had eight assists in KSU’s lost to Wright State and seven more at Michigan. Her major contribution against the Wolverines, however, was the defensive work she put in against Michigan all-American candidate Katelynn Flaherty. Cross, often chasing Flaherty in a box-and-one defense, held the Wolverine guard to four points. That’s the second lowest in her career.

The game should be the last for the Flashes without redshirt sophomore guard Megan Carter, who was academically ineligible first semester. KSU finished finals Friday, but grades won’t be official until Wednesday. University rules don’t allow Carter to play until then. Carter was a key contributor to the seven-game win streak that took Kent State to the Eastern Division title last season.

To follow the game

Action starts at 10 a.m.  If you plan to go, here are direction, according to the Robert Morris website. The game is at the university’s recreation center because RMU is building a new basketball facility. Here’s info from the university.

Video of the game is through the Robert Morris website.

Audio starts at about 9:45 a.m. on Golden Flash iHeart Radio.

Live statistics will be available through the Robert Morris website.

Preview from the Kent State website, including links to roster, schedule/results, record book and more.

Preview from the Robert Morris website, including links. Here are detailed game notes for the media.

MAC statistics.

A MAC team is not going to play better defense against a Top 25 opponent than Kent State did against Michigan Sunday.

The Flashes held Michigan to five points in the first quarter, 19 points in the first half and 54 for the game. They held Katelynn Flaherty, Michigan’s all-time leading scorer and an All-American candidate, to four points, second lowest of her career.

It wasn’t enough. Kent State lost, 54-41, as Michigan forced 21 turnovers and held the Flashes to 33 percent shooting.

Kent State is now 6-5 on the season. The Flashes have lost to two teams in the Top 25 and three teams in the Mid-Major Top 25.

Michigan, ranked No. 24 in last week’s AP poll and No. 21 in the Coaches Poll, is 8-2. Its only losses have been to No. 5 Louisville and No. 3 Notre Dame.

“The effort was fantastic,” coach Todd Starkey said. “They did a good job of paying attention to details, of making them take a lot of tough shots, especially early on.”

The Flashes shut down Flaherty, who has scored 2,200 points in her career, with a box-and-one defense that put point guard Naddiyah Cross in her pocket for much of the game. Flaherty was 2 for 12 from the field and 0 for 7 on three-point shooting.

“It’s something you can try to use to try to equalize things against a more talented team with a great player,” Starkey said. “Naddiyah had 38 minutes of phenomenal defense.”

What was it that like for Cross?

“It’s mind over matter,” she said. “You tell yourself you’re not tired and do your job.”

The Flashes jumped to a 15-5 first-quarter lead (“a little bit of fool’s gold that wasn’t going to last”), Starkey said.

But for the next two quarters, Kent State made just 4 of 20 field goals.

“The story of the game for us is that we had too many turnovers and missed too many open looks,” Starkey said. “If they go down, it’s potentially a different story.”

Michigan is a long, quick team that had eight steals –– what coaches call “moving ball turnovers” that often turn into points. The Wolverines had 16 points off 21 Kent State turnovers. The Flashes scored seven off 13 Michigan turnovers.

KSU also struggled to run its offense — especially to Jordan Korinek in the post — a number of times. The Flashes also played at a slower speed to keep the score down. “You try to play a fast-paced game against a team like Michigan, you’re asking for trouble,” Starkey said.

Starkey gave 6-4 junior Merissa Barber-Smith her first college start to deal with Michigan’s front line, which includes 6-5 all-Big Ten center Hallie Thome and forward who are 6-2 and 6-1. Barber-Smith had four points, five rebounds and blocked a shot in a career-high 29 minutes. She took Ali Poole’s spot on the starting line-up, though Poole played 27 minutes.

Kent State was playing its third game in six days — overtime Tuesday at Eastern Kentucky, home Thursday against 6-2 Wright State and at Michigan. “Between that and as hard as they played defensively, they were struggling to get their legs into shots at the end,” Starkey said.

Box score

Notes

• Alexa Golden led Kent State with 15 points and made three of six three-point shots. She also had five rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.
• Jordan Korinek had 10 points on four of 12 shooting. She had been averaging more than 50 percent from the floor. Korinek led KSU with eight rebounds.
• KSU outrebounded Michigan 32-28. It was the eighth time in 11 games the Flashes have outrebounded their opponents.
• Kent State shot only eight free throws, making five. Michigan was 11 fo 14. The Flashes’ struggle if they don’t shoot more foul shots than their oppponents.
• Michigan was led by Thome and guard Halley Brown, who each had 11 points.
• After shooting 18 percent in the first quarter and 31 percent in the first half, the Wolverines made 48 percent of their shots in the second half (40 percent for the game). They were five of 19 on three-pointers. Kent State was 15 of 45 from the field and 6 of 17 on three-point shots.
• It was the second time in a year that Kent State has given Michigan a tough game on its home court. The Flashes lost to the Wolverines 67-60 in the first round of the WNIT in March. Michigan, which has won 32 of its last 34 at home, went on to win the tournament.

Kent State is off for nine days for final exams and will play at 6-3 Robert Morris at 10 a.m. Dec. 19. The Flashes open conference play at Eastern Michigan Dec. 30.

Kent State held Michigan’s all-time leading scorer to the second-lowest point total of her career and Michigan to its lowest total at home in two years.

But the Wolverines played good defense of their own, forcing 21 Kent State turnovers and beating the Flashes, 54-41.

Michigan, ranked No. 24 in the country in last week’s AP poll, is 8-2.

Kent State is 6-5. The Flashes have lost to two teams in the top 25 and three in the Mid-Major Top 25.

KSU led 15-5 after the first quarter and was tied 19=19 at halftime. A box-and-one defense led by point guard Naddiyah Cross kept Michigan’s Katelynn Flaherty in check.

Alexa Golden led Kent State with 15 points; Jordan Korinek had 10.

Full story with quotes from coach Todd Starkey and players is upcoming.

KSU in action at Michigan in last spring’s WNIT.  (Photo by David Dermer from kentstatesporrts.com)

Nine months ago the Kent State women’s team walked away from the Crisler Center at the University of Michigan feeling pretty good about itself.

The Flashes had lost to Michigan in the first round of the WNIT but played about as good a second half as they did in their wonderfully surprising 19-13 season. KSU outscored Michigan, the third-place team in the Big Ten, 38-24, in the second half of the 67-60 game. Michigan went on to win the tournament.

Sunday the Flashes go back to Ann Arbor in a game scheduled well before the teams met in the WNIT. Michigan (7-2) is still very good — No. 24 in last week’s AP Poll, No. 21 in the Coaches Poll.

The Flashes (6-4) are still trying to find their identity without Larissa Lurken, who set a single-season KSU scoring record last year and was MAC player of the year. They’ve shown extended moments of good play this season, but, as coach Todd Starkey says after almost every game, they’ve lacked consistency.

Lurken was spectacularly consistent last season. She was averaging 22 points a game on Dec. 1 last season, 22 of Jan. 1, 23 on Feb. 1 and 23.6 at the end of the season. She scored fewer than 18 points just three times.

Nobody was going to replace Lurken. Like an ace baseball pitcher who a team could count on stop a losing streak, Lurken could control the floor when the Flashes started to struggle.

But individual scoring has been up and down this season. Senior Jordan Korinek is scoring 19.8 points a game and can be dominant when she gets the ball. But she’s had two games when she’s scored just 10. Second-leading scorer McKenna Stephens has had as many as 22 and as few as three. Ali Poole has had five games in double figures but scored four and five in KSU’s last two. Same with junior guard Alexa Golden: 18 points against Detroit Mercy Nov. 30, two against Eastern Kentucky five days later.

Teams want to have different player step up on different nights, but such major swings can mean a lack of offensive rhythm.

Defensively the Flashes have been as inconsistent, especially against good teams. KSU’s four losses have come to three teams in the Mid-Major Top 25 and to No. 18 Stanford. In each of those games the Flashes have outscored their opponent in at least one quarter and come within two points in another.

Michigan is another good team. The Wolverines two losses have come to No. 3 Louisville and No. 4 Notre Dame. They’ve beaten only one team with a winning records (8-2 George Mason) and two .500 teams — 4-4 Marquette (82-76 at home on Thursday) and 3-3 Ohio (74-61 in Athens).

Michigan has two players Starkey calls potential All-Americans — senior guard Katelynn Flaherty, the leading scorer in team history (2,230 points), and 6-5 center Hallie Thomas, who averages 17 points and and 6 rebounds a game.

The Wolverines average 74 points a game and have shot better than 50 percent in their last three.

Merissa Barber-Smith, the 6-4 junior who is Kent State’s tallest player, had 13 rebounds and eight points in 19 minutes against Michigan last March. She plays her best against tall opponents. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her and Korinek on the court together a lot on Sunday. Korinek battled foul trouble and scored 10 points in 21 minutes in the WNIT . If Kent State is to have any chance, she’ll need to stay on the court more this time.

To follow the game

Action starts at 2 p.m. If you plan to go, it’s an easy four-hour drive. Here are directions from the Michigan website. They’re toward the end of the page.

Video is available through BTN plus, the paid secondary network of the Big Ten. You can buy a game (actually monthly) pass for $9.95 here. Make sure you cancel it after the game or it will automatically renew.

Audio starts at about 1:45 p.m on Golden Flash Radio.

Live statistics will be available through the Michigan website..

Preview from the Michigan website, including links to its roster and schedule. Here are EKU’s detailed media game notes.

Kent State statistics, including links to roster, schedule/results, record book, etc. I’ll post the preview from the site when it’s available.

MAC statistics.

Alexa Golden drives against Wright State Thursday. Golden had three three-point baskets, a career high. (Photo from kentstatesports.com.)

Going into Thursday’s game, the question was open:

Despite a 6-3 record, how good this season’s women’s basketball team?

The answer, in the form of an 72-60 loss to Wright State:

So far, not good enough to beat a good team.

Every weakness the Flashes have shown so far this season was evident in the loss — one bad quarter, often the first; too many turnovers; lapses on defense and, according to coach Todd Starkey, lapses in effort.

The things Kent State has done well were on display, too, at times: significant stretches of good play against a better team, good scoring in the post from forward Jordan Korinek, good foul shooting and solid rebounding.

“They’re a more talented team than we are,” coach Todd Starkey said of Wright State, which is 7-2 and ranked No. 23 in the Mid-Major Top 25 this week. “When that’s the case, your margin of error shrinks significantly. And we made far too many errors.”

About those errors:

INCONSISTENCY OF EFFORT: Wright State scored on nine of its first 11 possessions against some of the weakest defense the Flashes have played this season. Starkey yelled from the sidelines, he yelled in the huddle, he shuffled nine players looking for a spark.

Wright State led after a quarter, 26-17. The Flashes have been outscored in the first quarter in eight of their 10 games. In the games they’ve lost, they’ve trailed by an average of 10.5 points.

“We tell the players over and over, ‘We shouldn’t have to coach focus and intensity,'” Starkey said. “We talk about it every day. We look really good at times, and then for periods in the game, for some reason, we just check out.”

TURNOVERS: Wright State had eight steals, forced 18 Kent State turnovers and scored 18 points off them. KSU just scored four point off 10 Raider turnovers. Kent State is minus-2.2 in turnover margin, worst in the MAC. In games they’ve lost, the average margin is minus-eight.

The teams that have beaten the Flashes are good teams — No. 18 Stanford and Florida Gulf Coast, Gonzaga and Wright State, all of whom are ranked in the Mid-Major Top 25. But so are four MAC schools — Buffalo, Central Michigan, Ball State and Toledo. Ohio and Northern Illinois have gotten votes.

MISTAKES AT KEY TIMES: “I can think of probably five possessions in the second and third and fourth quarter where we get a stop, and we don’t come up with the rebound,” Starkey said. “Or we turn it over right after we get a defensive rebound, and that directly led to scores for them.”

BENCH SCORING: The Flashes got four points from the four reserves who played. This season KSU’s bench is averaging seven points a game with no player above three. (Wright State was even worse; the Raiders bench scored just two points.)

After the first quarter, the Flashes played Wright State evenly. When Kent got the ball to Jordan Korinek, she was hard to stop. She had 22 points Thursday and could have had eight or 10 more. Korinek was eight out of 20 shooting. “I need to be more efficient,” Korinek said. “I missed way too many shots in crucial moments.”

In the end, Korinek echoed her coach.

“We haven’t been able to put a full game together,” she said. “There were good moments in the game but definitely more bad moments. There’s a lot to work on.”

Box score

Notes

• Kent State outrebounded Wright State 35-34, but the Raiders had 13 offensive rebounds to KSU’s 11. Wright State outscored the Flashes 16-9 on second-chance points. Korinek led the Flashes with eight rebounds.
• The Flashes were 17 of 21 on free throws. Wright State was 14 of 19. KSU has outscored its opponent from the foul line in nine of 10 games this season.
• From the field, the Flashes were 19 of 51 for 37.3 percent. Their 45.5 percent on three-pointers (5 for 11) was a season high. Wright State shot 41.9 percent from the field and 31.3 on three-point shots. But the Raiders were four of seven on three-pointers in the first quarter when they took their big lead.
• Wright State’s 72 points were nine below its season average and third lowest total of the year. Kent State had been allowing 65 points a game. The Flashes scoring was four below their average of 64.
• There’s a section of the box score called “play analysis” that Wright State absolutely dominated. The Raiders outscored Kent State 38-20 in the paint, 18-4 off turnovers, 16-9 on second-chance points and 12-2 on fast-break points.
• Alexa Golden had 13 points for the Flashes and made three of four three-point shots. McKenna Stephens had 10 points and four assists. Naddiyah Cross had a season-high eight assists (but also seven turnovers).
• Redshirt junior Tyra James saw extended action for the second game in a row, playing 20 minutes. She had six rebounds, including one sequence where the grabbed three straight offensive rebounds, then was fouled trying to put the last one back in. James  was zero for six field goal attempts, though, and hasn’t found the scoring that made her No. 3 on the Flashes two years ago. She missed last season because of a knee injury.
• Wright State’s Chelsea Welch, the Horizon League’s preseason player of the year, led all scorers with 26 points to go with five rebounds, five assists, a block and two steals. She’s a transfer from Pittsburgh.
• The loss broke an eight-game home winning streak for Kent State, dating back to last season. The game also ended a three-game winning streak for Kent this season, and extended Wright State’s win streak to four.
• Attendance was 375, about as low as we’ve seen in the last few years.

It gets no easier for the Flashes. On Sunday, Kent State will travel to Michigan to play the No. 21 Wolverines. It’s a rematch of last season’s WNIT game, which Michigan won, 67-60.

The Flashes then break for final exams and play at Robert Morris Dec. 19. They’re not home against until a conference game against Western Michigan on Saturday, Jan. 6.

Wright State, ranked 23rd among mid-major women’s teams, jumped to a 26-17 first quarter lead and beat Kent State 72-60 at the M.A.C. Center Thursday.

The Flashes drop to 6-4 on the season. Wright State is 7-2.

Chelsea Welch, the Horizon League preseason player of the year, had 26 points and five assists for Wright State.

Jordan Korinek led Kent State with 22 points. Alexa Golden had 13 and McKenna Stephens 10.

Wright State scored on its nine of its first 11 possessions as KSU struggled defensively early. The Flashes eventually closed to within six points of the Raiders after the first basket of the fourth quarter but never got closer.

Box score

FULL STORY TO COME, WITH QUOTES FROM KORINEK AND COACH TODD STARKEY

Kent State has a 6-3 record, and I’m still not sure how good this team is.

We may find out tonight.

The Flashes (6-3) host Wright State, which is 6-2 and ranked 23rd in this week’s CollegeInsider’s Mid-Major poll. The game starts at 7 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center.

KSU is in a similar place to where it was when it traveled to Wright State with a 4-4 records last season. The Flashes started that game with three of their best quarters of the year and hung on to beat the Raiders 79-69, breaking an 18-game road losing streak. Wright State finished last season 25-9 and second in the Horizon League.

Kent State went on to be a solid road team, finishing the year 7-7 on opponents’ home court. So far this season the Flashes are 3-0 on the road.

But the three wins have come against teams with a combined 3-17 record. So far the Flashes haven’t beaten any team that has won more than two games.

Wright State has beaten one team with a winning record (5-4 Stetson) and won its last two games against teams with a combined 0-15 record. But the Raiders came within two points of No. 23 Missouri on the road and five points of Providence (currently 6-4) at the Savannah Invitational.

When Kent State has played upper-tier competition, it has lost by double digits, playing well in spots but not enough to challenge Stanford, Florida Gulf Coast and Gonzaga in the end.

The fact that it’s a home game — only Kent State’s second of the season — should help the Flashes. Wright State has played only one true road game, at Missouri.

The Raiders are led by 5-9 senior guard Chelsea Welch, an all-Horizon player last season who is averaging 20.3 points and 4.9 assists so far this year. Three other players average in double figures; a fourth averages 9.3. None of Wright State’s starters reach 6 feet tall, but the Raiders are outrebounding opponents by 11 a game.

Kent State has an average plus-five rebounding margin this season and got a huge lift Tuesday from 6-4 junior center Merissa Barber-Smith, who had 15 rebounds in KSU’s 65-57 overtime win at Eastern Kentucky.

Kent State’s leading rebounder is grad student forward McKenna Stephens, who averages 6.2 a game. Guard Alexa Golden averages 5.3 and senior forward Jordan Korinek 5.1. For Korinek, KSU’s tallest starter at 6-3, that’s at least a rebound a game below her average last two seasons. She’s had more than five rebounds only twice.

Korinek, a second-team all-MAC player last season, leads the team in scoring at 19.6 points per game.

To follow the game

Play starts at 7 p.m. at the MACC.

Video is on ESPN3. You can watch it online if you subscribe to ESPN on cable or satellite TV.

Audio starts at about 6:45 p.m on Golden Flash Radio.

Live statistics will be available through the Kent State website.

Preview from the Kent State website, which has links to statistics, roster, schedule/results, record book, and more.

Preview from the Wright State website, also with links.

MAC statistics.

It was ugly, hard-fought, hard-won and certainly improbable on many levels.

But Kent State escaped Eastern Kentucky Tuesday with a 65-57 overtime victory and a 6-3 record.

Most improbable, perhaps were the Kent State heroes, point guard Naddiyah Cross and back-up center Merissa Barber-Smith. Cross hit a three-point shot with five seconds to go to send the game into overtime and had a career-high 19 points. She had been averaging five points a game.

Barber-Smith, the 6-4 junior center, had or equaled career highs in rebounds (15), points (9), blocks (4) and minutes (25). She was playing in relief of Jordan Korinek, KSU’s leading scorer, who tied season lows of 10 points and 21 minutes and fouled out with two minutes to go.

“If Merissa doesn’t come off the bench and play great defense, we certainly don’t win,” coach Todd Starkey said in his postgame interview on Golden Flash Radio. “We didn’t play well. I didn’t think Northern Kentucky played particularly well. 

“We were out of rhythm all night. it was like we were running in mud, but the last the last three or four minutes of the fourth quarter we dug in and we got some stops. And Naddiyah buries a three, and we go to overtime. I think we just felt like we had a new life, and we finally start playing defense in overtime.”

The Flashes outscored Eastern Kentucky 24-8 over the last 4:40 of regulations and the five minutes of overtime. They outscored the Colonels 9-0 in the first four minutes of overtime.

So let’s look at some of the strange things that either led to the win or that Kent State managed to overcome:

• Eastern Kentucky missed five free throws in the last two minutes. The Colonels had made six of seven in the game before then. They had made 64 percent on the season.
• Korinek scored 11 points below her season average. Second leading scorer Ali Poole had four points, six below her average. Fourth leading scorer Alexa Golden had two, seven below her average.
• Kent State’s bench outscored Eastern Kentucky 19-2. KSU reserves had outscored opponents only twice this season and then only by three points. They had no more than eight points in five of their seven previous games. Besides Barber-Smith’s nine points, Tyra James had seven, all in the second quarter. It was her highest total of the season in her most playing time — 19 minutes.
• KSU took only 10 foul shots, making eight. Eastern Kentucky make nine of 15. The Flashes had averaged 25 free-throw attempts a game. They had been outscored at the foul line only once before this season, and that was by No. 18 Stanford.
• Cross was the team’s third option on the three-pointer that sent the game into overtime. Both McKenna Stephens and Poole had shot at least 13 more than she had this season, and both had made a higher percentage. The Flashes’ best three–point shooters — Korinek and Golden — had fouled out.

Here’s how Cross described the play:

“We had play drawn up, and (Eastern Kentucky) did a great job covering all the spots. So it was my shot, and luckily it went in.”

Did she know it was good when she shot it?

“All I was thinking about was the next play, where I could crash, where it might bounce if it does miss, how we would get back on defense if it did go in.”

The Flashes got back on defense with five seconds to go. Eastern Kentucky’s Shay Solomon drove into the lane and shot from about nine feet.

Barber-Smith blocked it with one second left.

“I looked at the time, and I looked at how fast she was coming,” Barber-Smith said. “There wasn’t enough time for her to get a layup, so she’d have to take a jump shot. So I had to get close enough to block it but not so close I would foul her. I could see her looking straight up, so I watched her eyes. And when the ball was released, I just hit it.”

Cross was guarding Solomon as she raced down the court.

“(Barber-Smith) yelled she was behind me, so I let (Solomon) drive. I was like, ‘Don’t foul,’ and I was so happy she blocked it.”

Five minutes earlier, it looked as if Cross wouldn’t even be able to finish the game. Her knee buckled as she drove to the basket and was called for a turnover. KSU’s trainer helped her off the court. After her knee was checked out and she rested for a few minutes, she was jogging behind the bench to test it, then headed back in. Cross said the knee was “just a little hyperextended.”

Box score

Game story from the KSU website.

Game story from the Eastern Kentucky website.

Notes

• KSU had three players in double figures, with Stephens (11 points) joining Cross and Korinek.
• Kent State outrebounded EKU 45-31 and 19-8 in the last quarter and overtime. Golden was second to Barber-Smith with seven rebounds.
• The Flashes made 40.6 percent of their shots, about their season average, and 23.6 percent of their three-pointers. Eastern Kentucky shot 36.8 percent.
• Eight Flashes played at least 19 minutes, by far the most use of players in a close game this season. A lot of that was because of foul trouble to Korinek, Golden and Cross.
• Kent State scored 15 points off of 15 Eastern Kentucky turnovers. The Colonels scored 13 off 17 KSU turnovers. The Flashes had 15 second-chance points to Eastern Kentucky’s five. Barber-Smith had eight of Kent’s 15 offensive rebounds. The Flashes outscored EKU in the paint 32-18.
• Eastern Kentucky (2-5) was led by Abby Wright with 19 points. The Colonels have now lost to four MAC teams — Kent State, Ohio, Bowling Green and Akron.

The Flashes are back at the M.A.C. Center Thursday for their second and last home non-conference game of the season. They’ll play 6-2 Wright State, which lost to No. 23 Missouri by two points and Providence by five. It will be a very tough test.

Naddiyah Cross hit a three-point shot at the end of regulation, and Kent State outscored 9-0 to start overtime as the Flashes beat Eastern Kentucky 65-57 Tuesday.

Cross had a career-high 19 points, and Merissa Barber-Smith had 15 rebounds, nine points and four blocked shots.

Kent State is now 6-3 and has won four games in a row. Eastern Kentucky is 2-5.

FULL STORY, INCLUDING INTERVIEWS WITH CROSS, BARBER-SMITH AND COACH TODD STARKEY TO COME.

When Kent State went into last year’s game against Eastern Kentucky, we didn’t know what to expect.

The Flashes were coming off of a 77-52 victory over Bradley in coach Todd Starkey’s first game at Kent State. They were also coming off five straight losing seasons and a 6-23 record.

Eastern Kentucky came in with an 18-12 record in 2015-16, a prediction of a third–place finish in the Ohio Valley Conference, and the league preseason player of the year.

Kent State beat the Colonels 80-67 and went on to a 19-13 season and a MAC East title. Eastern Kentucky struggled to a 12-20 record and seventh place in the OVC, though it did become the first seventh seed in conference history to make the league tournament championship game, where it lost to Belmont.

This year KSU goes to Eastern Kentucky as a clear favorite. The Flashes are 5-3; EKU is 2-4. The Flashes have four starters returning from last year’s championship team; Eastern has one back from a disappointing season.

It’s still a road game, which is always a bit dicey, and Kent State has yet to beat top — or even above average — competition. But the Flashes are in a much better place than they were going into last year’s Eastern Kentucky game.

Eastern has lost three games in a row and three of its four losses have come to the MAC’s Bowling Green, Akron and Ohio. The fourth was to Cincinnati. All of the losses have been by double digits.

The Colonels have a roster that includes eight freshmen and four junior transfers. their leading scorer and rebounder is 5-8 junior guard A’Queen Hayes, a transfer from Mississippi, where she was on the SEC all-freshman team. She is averaging 14.3 points and 6.7 rebounds. Top returnee is 5-11 forward Abby Wright, who had 20 points against Ohio last Tuesday.

Kent State is led by 6-3 senior forward Jordan Korinek, who is averaging 20.8 points a game and has increased her career point total to 1,301. That’s 15th most in Kent State history. Korinek is shooting above 50 percent from the field and from three-point distance and making 80 percent of her free throws. She has shot and made more foul shots than any other player in the MAC.

Six-foot guard Ali Poole is averaging 10.6 points a game and 6-foot forward McKenna Stephens 10.3. Guard Alexa Golden is close to joining them in double figures, averaging 9.4.

Eastern Kentucky actually has a better record than any team KSU has beaten. Youngstown State, Southeastern Louisiana and Memphis each have won one game. Northern Kentucky and Detroit are winless.

To follow the game

Action starts at 7 p.m. If you plan to go, it’s a 5 1/2-hour drive. Here are directions from the Eastern Kentucky website.

Video is available through the EKU website.

Audio starts at about 6:45 p.m on Golden Flash iHeart Radio.

Live statistics will be available through EKU.

Preview from the Eastern Kentucky website, including links to its roster and schedule. Here are EKU’s detailed media game notes.

Kent State statistics, including links to roster, schedule/results, record book, etc. I’ll post the preview from the site when it’s available.

MAC statistics.