Kent State raced to its best first quarter of the MAC season and went on to score its most convincing win Wednesday, beating Bowling Green 81-57.

Senior forward Jordan Korinek had a best of her own, scoring 36 points, the most in her career.

Leading 10-9 halfway through the first quarter, Kent outscored BG 19-2 for the rest of the quarter. Bowling Green made it a little more exciting with some three-point baskets in the second half but never got within 16 points.

The Flashes dominated almost every aspect of the game, making 47 percent of their shots and outrebounding BG 43-31. They had 18 assists on 25 baskets. Bowling Green had three assists all game.

Coach Todd Starkey gave two freshmen and redshirt sophomore Megan Carter their first starts to try to shake the team up after a bad loss at Akron Saturday. The new starters only scored a total of five points, but Starkey said they gave the team a spark and allowed him to bring more firepower off the bench. Usual starters Naddiyah Cross, McKenna Stephens and Ali Poole combined for 30 points.

Korinek made 12 of 18 field goals, two of three three-point shots and 10 of 11 free throws as she beat her previous high point total by five points. She also had nine rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Kent State is now 4-6 in the MAC and 11-11 overall. Bowling Green is 2-8 and 10-11.

Box score

DETAILED STORY WILL FOLLOW WITH QUOTES FROM STARKEY, KORINEK AND POOLE.

We’re halfway through the conference season, and the Kent State women’s basketball team is far from where we hoped as it starts second-round action against Bowling Green at home Wednesday night.

The Flashes are 3-6 in the MAC. That is:

• One more loss than they had all last season, when they unexpectedly went 13-5 and won the East Division.
• In ninth place in the conference overall. That’s not good. The first four teams in the standings get a bye to the conference tournament quarterfinals at Quicken Loans Arena. The next four host a home game in the the first round of the tournament. Seeds 9 through 12 have to play on the road. The Flashes are one game out of eighth and two games away from a four-way tie for fourth.

So what’s happened?

• The Flashes lost two games I thought they would win — at Bowling Green and at Akron. Both those teams are below KSU in the standings. They won one game I thought they would lose — at Toledo, which has the fourth best overall record in the conference. They lost two two games I thought were possible wins — at Northern Illinois and at home against Western Michigan. And they lost to Central Michigan and Ball State, two of the best teams in the league.

This time last season KSU was 5-4 and had won three games no one before the season would have expected them to win  — at Ohio, at Western Michigan and against Toledo in Kent.

• KSU really hasn’t found a way to compensate for the loss of Larissa Lurken, last year’s MAC player of the year. She was the only starter to graduate, but she left a 24-point hole in the starting lineup and she was a perimeter threat that every team had to account for.

The returning starters and top reserves all are playing as well or better than they did last season. They just aren’t playing 24 points better.

Senior forward Jordan Korinek is the star we expected her to be, averaging 20 points a game, about two points better than she did in conference play last season. (I’m going to compare current stats to conference stats because Kent came into its own last year in the MAC season.)

Forward McKenna Stephens has about the same stats. Junior Alexa Golden and senior Naddiyah Cross are up about three points each, and Megan Carter is up about five. Sophomore Ali Poole stepped into Lurken’s spot in the starting lineup and is averaging about 8.5 points a game, up six points from last season. That’s good  improvement but far from the 10 points a game Lurken jumped between her junior and senior years.

Lurken also was the team’s clear leader, steadied the team when it needed it and was the player with the ball when Kent needed her. There’s been no one like that this season.

So will things get better? Here’s how they could:

• The Flashes play six of their last nine games at home, where MAC teams usually have the advantage.
• Someone may step up. The Flashes really jelled in the second half of the season last year, going 8-1. Korinek, Stephens and Carter all made major jumps in their play. My candidates this season would Poole, who has shown streaks of scoring, and further improvement from Carter, the team’s second leading scorer since she became eligible after sitting out the first semester.
• The Flashes find better ball handling — they’re last in the conference in turnovers and haven’t shown signs of improving. It has to happen, I think, to get anywhere beyond eighth place.
• Their schedule may be easier. Six MAC teams have RPIs in the nation’s top 100. KSU played four of them the first half. Buffalo is the only powerhouse in the East  (16-3 and 7-1). But I figured the records of the Kent’s opponents in the first half — 39-41 in the MAC and 104-77 overall — and its opponents in the second half — 37-42 in the league and 105-73 overall. The’s much closer than I expected. (I doubled the record of any team KSU played twice to get the right weighting).

I think the season comes down to the series against Ohio and Miami. Both teams have better records than Kent — but not that much better. Ohio is 5-4 and 10-9. Miami is 4-5 and 12-8, with a softer non-conference schedule than Ohio. The Flashes’ remaining three away games are at those teams and Buffalo. They also play them in Kent, of course.

So here’s the second half:

The Flashes have a solid chance of beating Bowling Green, Northern Illinois and Miami at home. (They did lose to all three on the road.)

They have to go 2-2 or 3-1 against Miami and Ohio.

Any win against Buffalo would be an unexpected bonus.

So would be 5-4 or 6-3 second half and a 9-9 or 8-10 MAC record overall. 9-9 should get the first-round home game in the tournament. 8-10 would be iffy.

That would add up to about a .500 season overall (16-14 or 15-15, plus their record in the MAC tournament).

Two years ago — when Kent State hadn’t had a winning record in five years — we would have been delirious at the prospect.

Last year spoiled us.

Wednesday’s game vs. Bowling Green

At the time, it was the most disappointing game of the season to me.

On Jan. 17, Bowling Green beat the Flashes 60-50 at BG. That is Kent State’s lowest point total of the MAC season and third lowest of the season. (Those other two games are sort of anomalies. One was a 54-41 loss to No. 13 Michigan at Michigan. The other was a 46-31 victory at Robert Morris, which currently has a 16-4 record, though against strength of scheduled rated 332 of 349 Division I teams.)

In the first Bowling Green game, Jordan Korinek had seven points — the only time all year she hasn’t scored in double figures. The Flashes made 34 percent of their shots and 16 percent of their three-pointers. They made 20 turnovers. They were outscored 20-4 over the last eight minutes. It was pretty grim.

Since then, BG has lost three in a row by an average of 19 points. Kent State has lost two of three.

Bowling Green’s best players are guard Carly Santoro, who averages 13.4 points and 9.5 rebounds, and guard Sydney Lambert, who averages 10 points and leads the team in three-point shooting.

To follow the game

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

Video is on ESPN3. You can follow it online if your subscribe to ESPN on cable or on satellite.

Audio starts at about 6:45 p.m. on Golden Flash iHeart Radio and WHLO 640.

Live statistics will be available through the Kent State website.

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

Preview from the Bowling Green website, including links.

 

MAC statistics, including standings.

 

 

 

 

The Kent State women’s basketball team starts second-round MAC play Wednesday against Bowling Green.

Game time is 7 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center.

The Flashes are 3-6 in the conference halfway through he season. BG is 2-7 but beat KSU 60-50 in Bowling Green earlier this month. Overall the Flashes are 10-11; BG is 10-10.

I’ll get a full preview up after the men’s game but wanted to post something now.

 

 

 

The way it started and the way it ended told the story of Kent State’s 75-60 loss at Akron Saturday.

The Flashes missed seven of their first nine shots. Three-point shots rolled around the rim. Layups bounced away.

It was still close — 13-11 at the quarter, 32-29 at the half, 47-42 after three quarters.

But the end…

The Flashes missed 10 shots in the last minute, not being able to convert on six offensive rebounds.

Kent State missed 20 shots in the last quarter, when they were outscored 28-18 as Akron pulled away.

Meanwhile, Akron pushed the ball down the court after Kent’s missed shots and 13 turnovers. The Zips outscored KSU 14-0 on fast-break points, which are loosely defined as when a team scores before its opponent gets back and sets up its defense. The Zips outscored Kent 13-3 off of turnovers and made 47 percent of their shots.

KSU shot a season-low 29 percent. The Flashes missed 23 layups and 21 three-point shots. They took 77 shots, a season high and 13 more than Akron. They missed 55 of them.

It was Akron’s first victory in nine Mid-American Conference games. Overall the Zips are 7-13. Kent State is 3-6 in the MAC and 10-11 overall.

“We missed some unexplainable baskets right out of the gate,” coach Todd Starkey said in his postgame press conference. “Five baskets — four layups — that went in and came back out. For whatever reason, they went down for us and not for them — playing on their home court, maybe.

“They just wanted it more than we did. They’ve been playing good basketball in conference play, and they’ve been close sometimes, and they weren’t going to be denied today.

“They played hungry. We knew that was going to be the case, and we tried to prepare for that. And our players didn’t respond the way they needed to. We got outworked.”

Akron point guards Shaunay Edmonds (15 points, nine assists) and Destiny Perkins (19 points, four assists), often playing at the time, led a fast-paced Akron offense. Akron coach Jodi Kest was clearly delighted — and relived — at her team’s first conference win.

“At one point in the huddle — we were up by four or five — I looked into their eyes and I told them, ‘We are going to win,'” she said. “We are going to keep running and keep running and keep running. That’s who we are.”

Starkey said Kent’s defense didn’t adjust to Akron’s speed.

“Our transition defense was not good,” he said. “They broke us down up at the top and our defensive rotations were not good out of that.”

The coach struggled to explain the missed layups.

“We’ve been working on it every day,” he said. “For two weeks, we’ve been working on finishing against contact.”

Except for leading scorer Jordan Korinek, everybody missed shots for Kent State. Megan Carter, who had been making 41 percent of her shots, was two of 20 on field goals. Ali Poole (35 percent), made four of 15. McKenna Stephens (43 percent) was three of 11. Alexa Golden (33 percent) was two of 10.

Korinek made nine of 16, including two three-point baskets, and had 22 points. She also had 10 rebounds for her second straight double-double. But she picked up her fourth and fifth fouls within seven seconds of each other and was out of the game with 3:25 to go.

Box score

Notes

• The win gives Akron a half point and a 4 to 1.5 lead in the Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge, which scores every game the two teams play in all sports. Half points go when teams meet twice, as in basketball.
• Kent State outrebounded the Zips 51-42 with 21 offensive rebounds. The Flashes outscored Akron 20-3 on second-chance points but were outscored 48-20 in the paint. The wasn’t necessarily muscle inside; a lot of those points came of fast breaks and drives to the baskets from Akron’s guard, as well as the guards dumping the ball of to a post player after driving.
• Golden had a career-high 13 rebounds, including seven offensive rebounds, four assists and a steal.
• Akron had 19 assists and nine turnovers, an excellent team ratio. Kent State had 13 and 13.
• Kent State made 10 of 16 free throws and didn’t shoot a foul shot in the first half. Fouls were not called on a lot of contact, and Starkey was riding the officials most of the game. Kent State shot 38 fouls at Toledo on Wednesday, and when the Flashes do not outscore their opponents at the foul line, they struggle to win. Akron was 10 of 18 on free throws.
• Attendance was 704, and the crowd was noisy and appreciative as Akron pulled away in the fourth quarter and closed on its first win in nine games.

The Flashes are back in Kent at 7 p.m. Wednesday to play Bowling Green. The Falcons beat KSU 60-50 in Bowling Green Jan. 17 and are 2-7 in the MAC and 10-10 overall. They lost to Toledo at home Saturday, 77-67.

Other MAC scores

• Buffalo (7-1, 16-3) 97, Eastern Michigan (5-4, 9-11) 92 in overtime at Buffalo.
• Central Michigan (8-0, 16-3) 74, Western Michigan (5-4, 12-9) at Central.
• Ball State (6-3, 17-3) 81, Northern Illinois (2-7, 10-10) 72 at Ball State.
• Miami (4-5, 12-8) 64, Ohio (5-4, 11-9) 55 at Miami.
• Toledo (5-4, 14-7) 77, Bowling Green (2-7, 10-10) 67 at BG.

MAC standings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kent State missed 23 layups, 21 three-point shots and 20 shots in the fourth quarter and lost at Akron Saturday, 75-60.

The Zips used two point guards much of the game and pushed the basketball down court hard after missed KSU shots and turnovers. Akron officially had 14 fast-break points, loosely defined as beating the opponent down the court before it could set up its defense. Kent State has zero.

Akron guard Shaunay Edmonds had nine assists and 15 points and freshman guard Destiny Perkins had 19 points and four assists.

Jordan Korinek scored 22 points for Kent State but fouled out with two-and-a-half minutes to go. She made 9 of 16 shots, but everyone else on KSU’s team struggled badly shooting. Megan Carter was two of 20 from the field, Ali Poole four of 15, McKenna Stephens three of 11 and Alexa Golden two of 10.

Overall Kent State made a season-low 28.6 percent of its shots. The Flashes were six of 21 on three-pointers and 10 of 33 on layups. The Flashes had 77 shots, nine more than in any other game this season.

KSU trailed by five going into the fourth quarter but made just four of 24 shots in the last 10 minutes. Akron made 10 of 14 in the fourth.

It was Akron’s first win in nine conference games. The Zips are 7-13 overall. Kent State is 3-6 in the MAC and 10-11.

Box score

DETAILS STORY, INCLUDING QUOTES FROM BOTH COACHES, WILL FOLLOW.

Jordan Korinek in action against Eastern Michigan earlier this season.

Seniors Jordan Korinek and Naddiyah Cross are taking new career achievements with them as Kent State plays at Akron Saturday.

Both players moved into the top 10 in career statistical categories during KSU’s 62-55 victory in Toledo Wednesday.

Korinek’s overall statistics are spectacular and will be more so by the times she plays her last game. A recap:

SCORING (CAREER): Korinek has 1,553 points, ninth best in school history. Kent State will play at least 11 more games. If Korinek continues her 20 point average for the rest of the season, she’ll finish with about 1,770, fifth best in Kent State history. Her career 14.1 points per game average is 0.2 from 10th place.

SCORING (SEASON): If she keeps her average, Korinek will finish the season with about 640 points, third best in school history. Her current 20.1 point-per-game average ranks third in the conference and is seventh highest ever at KSU. She’s just 0.1 points per game behind Bonnie Beachy (1981-82) and Ann Forbes (1990-91). Larissa Lurken set both records last season with 752 points and a 23.5-point average.

FIELD GOALS: At her current pace, Korinek will finish with about 640, fifth best ever.  She would have about 1,300 field goal attempts (ninth). Her current 50.1 field goal percentage is fourth in KSU history.

FREE THROWS (CAREER): Korinek made 17 of 18 foul shots at Toledo and 17 of 19 against Eastern Michigan. At her current pace, she’ll finish with about 450, sixth in the Kent record book. She would have about 560 free-throw attempts, also sixth. Her current free-throw percentage of 80.3 is sixth, too.

FREE THROWS (SEASON): She’s projected to finish the season with about 210 made foul shots, second only to Lurken’s NCAA-record 280 last season. She’d also be second in free-throw attempts at about 255. Currently she’s second in the country in made free throws (131). She has made 41 more than any other player in the Mid-American Conference.

REBOUNDS: Korinek moved into the top 10 in her career against Toledo and now has 659. At her current 6.5 average, she would finish her career with about 730, eighth in school history. 

BLOCKED SHOTS: Though she’s not a huge shot blocker (0.7 per game this season), Korinek is likely to come very close to 10th place, now held by Anne Chicorelli (1994-98) at 66.

Cross, the 5-5 point guard who has started 81 games in her fourth years, moved into 10th in the KSU record book with 315 assists. She had four assists against Toledo, exactly her season average. Cross is currently averaging career highs in assists, scoring (6.0 points per game), rebounds (2.8), steals (1.0) and minutes (31.7). She even has three blocked shows, equaling her entire total before this season.

In Akron, Cross, Korinek and the rest of the Flashes will face a team that has yet to win a MAC game. The Zips are 0-8 in the league and 6-13 overall. They’ve lost nine games in a row but have been within 10 points in six of those games. Akron lost by three at 11-8 Ohio, by two against 10-9 Bowling Green, and by six at 13-7 Toledo.

Akron has been without its top scorer, guard Megan Sefcik (13.4 points per game), for five games, and she is not listed as probably for Saturday. Second-leading scorer is Shaunay Edmonds, a pre-season all-MAC East guard  who scored 26 points in a 73-69 loss to Kent State last season.

Both teams average in the mid-60s in points per game on both offense and defense.

Akron is sixth in the conference in three-point baskets per game at 7.3. Kent State averages 4.9. The Flashes are second in the conference in rebounding margin at plus-5.3; Akron is second to last at minus-2.7. Akron is about even with its opponents in turnovers while Kent State is last in the conference in turnover margin at minus-3.45.

On the season, Kent State is 10-10 and 3-5 in the MAC.

To follow the game

Action starts at 2 p.m. Saturday at the James A. Rhodes Arena on the Akron campus. Here are directions from the Akron website if you plan to go. It’s about a 30-minute drive.

The game of part of the Crystal Clinic Orthopedic Center Wagon Wheel Challenge, in which teams get points for head-to-head victories. Akron leads in the 2017-18 competition, 3.5-1.5. (Half points are given for a each victory when teams meet twice, as in basketball.)

Video is on ESPN3. You can follow it online if your subscribe to ESPN on cable or on satellite.

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

Live statistics will be available through the Toledo website.

Game preview from the Kent State website, including links to statistics, roster, schedule/results, record book and more. Detailed media game notes.

Preview from the Akron website, including links. Detailed media game notes.

MAC statistics, including standings.

 

 

 

Kent State’s 62-55 victory at Toledo Wednesday was such a big win in many ways:

• The Flashes broke a three-game losing streak.
• They broke Toledo’s 15-game home winning streak (9-0 this season before Wednesday).
• They beat a team with a winning record for only the second time this season. Toledo also had by far the highest RPI of any team the Flashes have beaten.
• And the win avenged a 67-63 loss in last year’s MAC Tournament that ended Kent State’s best regular season in six years.
• It may, coach Todd Starkey hopes, put the Flashes back on track for a first-division finish in the conference.

Kent State is now 3-5 in the MAC and 10-10 overall. Toledo is 13-7 and 4-4. The Flashes are tied for third in the MAC East and tied for eighth in the conference overall. Toledo is fifth in the West and seventh overall.

“We’ve been out of rhythm (through KSU’s losing streak),” Starkey said in his postgame interview on Golden Flash Radio. “We’ve really focused on ourselves for the last few days and what we needed to do better. A lot of the games we’ve lost, we’ve been beating ourselves.

“Hopefully this will give us confidence moving forward because I think we’re a better team that we’ve shown lately.”

KSU broadcaster David Wilson asked Starkey what he was going to tell the team when he got to the locker room.

“I’me going to tell them that I’m proud of them,” the coach said. “And I’m going to tell them I expect more of this coming up.”

Senior forward Jordan Korinek scored 30 points for KSU and made 17 out of 18 foul shots. The Flashes as a team made 30 of 38 free throws and outscored Toledo 30-12 from the foul line.

Korinek’s point total was one away from her career high. Her 17 rebounds equaled a career high set against Eastern Michigan earlier this month and is the fourth most free throws in a game in Kent State history. Going into the game, Korinek was seventh in the country in made free throws this season.

Starkey said Korinek’s key statistic may not have been the foul shots.

“With all the touches she had, she only had two turnovers in 38 minutes.,” Starkey said.

Korinek also had 11 rebounds for her seventh career double-double and had two steals. Much of her scoring came against Toledo’s Kaayla McIntyre, one of the conference’s better centers.

Korinek and Kent State’s defense held McIntyre, the Rockets’ leading scorer at 15.2 points a game, to eight.

“Defensively we did a fantastic job, ” Starkey said. “We tried to switch defenses a lot, and I thought that really threw them out of their rhythm.

“We were trying to double team the post. McIntyre is a tough player, obviously, and we did a really good job of holding her to eight. But our rotations out of the double team (to pick up a player left unguarded) were really good.”

Kent State held Toledo to 32 percent shooting, 10 points below its season average. KSU forced the Rockets, not usually a big three-point shooting team, to take 23 shots from distance. They made only five.

Box score

Notes

• The Flashes scored the first basket and led all but 37 seconds of the game. Toledo cut the lead to one at halftime, then Kent scored the first four points of the third quarter. The margin was between three and seven points for the rest of the game.
• McKenna Stephens came within a rebound of giving KSU two players with double-doubles. She scored 10 points and had nine rebounds, along with three assists and a steal.
• Ali Poole had three steals, including one with 21 seconds to go that ended any chance for a Toledo comeback.
• Kent State made 35 percent of its shots, about five points below its average. The Flashes outrebounded Toledo, 40-34.
• KSU guards Naddiyah Cross and Megan Carter both got into first-half foul trouble, so freshman Erin Thames saw extended minutes for the second game in a row. She also scored the first basket of her college career (her previous four points all came on free throws). Redshirt junior Tyra James played six minutes, her highest since the non-conference season.
• Kent State had 18 turnovers, about its season average, which is last in the MAC. But Toledo scored only 12 points off of them; Ball State had scored 29 off turnovers against Kent on Saturday. The Flashes scored eight points of 16 Toledo turnovers.
• Kent State usually travels the day before an away game and has a shooting session on opponent’s court. Wednesday the Flashes drove to Toledo earlier in the day and warmed up just before the game.
• Mikaela Boyd, Toledo’s 5-7 junior guard, led the Rockets with 19 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Mariella Santucci had 13 points. McIntyre had 10 rebounds, three blocked shots and three steals.
• Attendance at Savage Hall in Toledo was 3,722. Toledo averages 3,124 fans per game, best in the MAC by 1,300 and 33rd in the nation. Kent State has averaged 241 attendance in its five home games.

Kent State heads to Akron on Saturday for a 2 p.m. game. The Zips are 0-8 in the MAC (6-13 overall) and lost at home to Western Michigan Wednesday, 59-51. Six of Akron’s losses have been by less than 10 points.

The view from Toledo

Toledo coach Tricia Cullop, quoted on Toledoblade.com:

“This one hurts. It hurts because it’s at home, and it hurts because I feel like we are a lot better team than the way we played tonight. I thought Kent State outplayed us tonight and that is something I hate to see, especially at home. We didn’t have an answer for Jordan Korinek inside. I’m kind of at a loss for words because I want us to play a lot harder than we did tonight.

“We’ve had two really tough games in a row that resulted in two losses. We have to decide what we want to do here. We can feel sorry for ourselves, or we can decide that we are going to be a champion in our mindset. The way a winner thinks is next play and next game. Let’s be better and learn from our mistakes.”

Junior guard Mikaela Boyd, who led UT with 19 points and 13 rebounds:

“When we aren’t making shots, we just need to get stops. Tonight we weren’t doing that, and that made it ten times worse. Even if our offensive isn’t going, we just need to be able to get defensive stops because our stops lead to transition.”

Cullop on Boyd:

“Her effort was sensational. She willed us into staying in the game. We have to have some more firepower than Mikaela, though. At times we had some little flashes, but we just couldn’t maintain it.”

 

Other MAC scores

• Miami (3-5, 11-8) 73, Eastern Michigan (5-3, 9-10) 69 at Eastern.
• Ohio (5-3, 11-8) 77, Northern Illinois (2-6, 10-9) 75 at Ohio.
• Ball State (5-3, 15-3) 82, Bowling Green (2-6, 10-9) 41 at Ball State.
• Western Michigan (5-3, 12-8), Akron (0-8, 6-13) 51 at Akron.

West Division leader Central Michigan (7-0, 15-3) and East Division leader Buffalo (6-1, 15-3) were off Wednesday.

MAC standings

Kent State broke its three-game losing streak and Toledo’s 15-game home winning streak with a 62-55 victory Wednesday.

Jordan Korinek had 30 points, including 17 of 18 from the foul line. She had 11 rebounds and two steals in 38 minutes.

As a team, Kent State made 30 of 38 free throws and outscored Toledo 30-12 on foul shots. The Flashes held Toledo to 32 percent shooting, 10 points below its average, and to just five of 23 on three-point shots.

Kent State led from the first basket, but Toledo was always in the game. The Flashes didn’t shoot well themselves, making 15 of 43 baskets for 34.9 percent.

Kent State is now 3-5 in the MAC and 10-10 overall. Toledo is 13-7 and 4-4. The Rockets had been 9-0 at home this season.

Box score

DETAILED STORY WILL FOLLOW, INCLUDING QUOTES FROM COACH TODD STARKEY

The Kent State women finish up a very tough four-game stretch with a trip to Toledo Wednesday.

The Rockets are 13-6 and 4-3 in the MAC West. Their RPI of 45 is third best in the conference.

Kent State has lost three in a row and heads into the game 9-10 and 2-5 in the conference.  Two of those losses were to the West’s best teams — Central Michigan and Ball State, both 15-3. Central is the only team undefeated in MAC play at 6-0.

Strangely, Kent State’s two conference wins have come against the team with the third best record in the MAC — Eastern Michigan (9-9 and 5-2). The Flashes beat Eastern by seven points in Ypsilanti and in Kent. I say strangely because Eastern has beaten Northern Illinois, Western Michigan and Bowling Green, all teams KSU lost to. It’s also a surprising development that EMU, which had the MAC’s worst non-conference record against mediocre competition, has one of the league’s best conference records.

Toledo and Eastern are among five West Division teams with winning records in the MAC. In the East, only Buffalo (5-1, 15-3) and Ohio (10-8, 4-3) are above .500. In inter-divisional games this season, the West is 18-8 against East teams.

Toledo has lost conference games to Buffalo, Ohio and Eastern Michigan, all on the road. The Rockets are 9-0 at home this season and have a 15-game winning streak at Savage Arena.

Three Toledo players average in double figures, including 6-2 junior center Kayla McIntyre (15.2 points per game, ninth in the MAC). She is also seventh in the conference in rebounding (8.0 per game), first in field-goal shooting (63 percent) and sixth in blocked shots per game (1.5). Jan-Ann Bravo-Harriott, a 5-10 senior guard, averages 11.5 and junior guard Mikaela Boyd averages 11.1 Kent State coach Todd Starkey calls the Toledo roster one of the deepest and most athletic in the MAC.

As a team, Toledo is fourth in the conference in scoring defense 64.8 points per game), sixth in field-goal percentage defense (39.8), and second in three-point defense (28.7 percent).

Kent State is sixth in the conference in scoring defense (65.3) and second in rebounding margin (plus-5.3). Senior forward Jordan Korinek is third in the conference in scoring at 19.5 points per game). sophomore guard Megan Carter (13.4) and grad student forward McKenna Stephens (10.3) also average in double figures.

To follow the game

Action starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Video is on ESPN3. You can follow it online if your subscribe to ESPN on cable or on satellite.

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

Live statistics will be available through the Toledo website.

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

Toledo website, including links. Detailed media game notes.

MAC statistics, including standings.

 

 

 

Two and a half minutes into Saturday’s game, Ball State’s Jasmin Sanz grabbed a rebound on a missed Kent State three-point shot. She passed to Carmen Grande, one of the best point guards in the nation, who passed to Fannie Frazier.

Three-point shot. Three-point goal.

Thirty seconds later Grande got a rebound and pushed the ball up court, again to Frazier.

KSU foul as Frazier drove to the basket. Two free throws.

Eighteen seconds later, Kent State turned the ball over. Down court again, then a pass from Destiny Washington to BSU leading scorer Moriah Monaco.

Another three-pointer.

It was 10-2, and Kent State never got any closer.

Ball State pushes the ball constantly on offense. The Cardinals scored 26 fast-break points — roughly defined as when a team gets the ball down court and scores before its opponent can set up a defense — and beat the Flashes 79-58 Saturday at the M.A.C. Center.

It was Kent State’s third straight loss and dropped the Flashes to 2-5 in the Mid-American Conference and 9-10 overall. Ball State, who went 11-0 to start the season, broke a two-game losing streak and is 4-3 and 15-3.

“They’re really fast,” coach Todd Starkey said after the game. “They’re really good in transition, and have a phenomenal point guard. She sees things two or three levels beyond what most guards do. And they can shoot the ball. They started eight for 11 (on three-point shots). If you lock someone in an empty gym, I’m not sure they make eight out of 11. You can’t play a team like that from behind. They just can beat you in so many ways.”

When Ball State has lost, it hasn’t shot well. Saturday the Cardinals made 55 percent of their shots in the first half (61 percent on three-pointers). Great shooting, but many of the shots were open because Ball State beat KSU down the court or created wide-open shots with its half-court offense.

A lot of that was Grande, who is second in the nation in assists per game. She had 10 assists Saturday, along with 15 points and five rebounds. She would drive to he basket in the open court, dump it off to a post player underneath the basket, or pass it out for a three-point shot.

Kent State shot only 33 percent. The Flashes had trouble with a 3-2 Ball State zone defense, had trouble driving to the basket and had trouble getting the ball to leading scorer Jordan Korinek.

KSU had 22 turnovers that Ball State turned into 29 points.

“We’ve just got to limit turnovers,” Starkey said for about the 15th time this season.  “We coach it every day in practice: ‘You can’t pass it there. You’ve got to read the defense. You don’t want to force the ball in on the first side.’

“They just get a little frustrated and try to make some plays that aren’t there. So we watch film and try to continue to help them develop.”

It gets no easier for the Flashes, who travel to Toledo on Wednesday. Toledo is 4-3 in the MAC and 13-6 overall. The Rockets lost to Buffalo, the first–place team in the East Division, 87-69, in Buffalo Saturday.

Notes

• Korinek led Kent State with 18 points on eight of 16 shooting, though she was limited to 24 minutes because of foul trouble. McKenna Stephens had 11 points and Ali Poole 10. Alexa Golden had six offensive rebounds (eight total).
• Rebounds were even at 37 for the game, but in the first quarter, Ball State had 15 to Kent State’s five. That’s where many of the fast-break points game from.
• Freshman Erin Thames saw her first action of the MAC season, playing 12 minutes. “We had the turnover bug, and I had to go to somebody else,” Starkey said. “I thought she did some nice things and played aggressive.”
• Monique Smith also played the most she has in the MAC, getting two rebounds in six minutes. Freshman walk-on Margaux Eibel got in during the last two minutes and scored her third collegiate point on a free throw.
• Frazier and Grande led Ball State with 15 points each. Washington and Sanz had 12 and Monaco 10. Monaco’s total was seven below her team-leading average.

Box score

Other MAC scores

• Central Michigan (7-0, 15-3) 95, Akron (0-7, 6-12) 86 at Akron.
• Ohio (4-3, 10-8) 70, Bowling Green (2-5, 10-8) 63 at Bowling Green.
• Eastern Michigan (5-2, 9-9) 83, Northern Illinois (2-5, 10-8) 76 at Northern.
• Western Michigan (4-3, 11-8) 81, Miami (2-5, 10-8) 70 at Western.
• Buffalo (6-1, 15-3) 87, Toledo (4-3, 13-6) at Buffalo.

MAC standings