Post players Merissa Barber-Smith (22) and Lindsey Thall celebrate during a game earlier this season. Thall leads the MAC in blocked shots per game. Barber-Smith is third. (File photo from KSU website.)

 

Kent State and Akron have had a week off to prepare for a Saturday game that means a great deal to both teams.

The Flashes are regrouping from a four-game losing streak that came after a 3-0 start in Mid-American Conference play.

The Zips are coming off their biggest victory of the season, a 70-64 overtime win over Toledo (12-6, 4-3 MAC) at the J.A.R. last Saturday. It was the first time they had defeated a team with a winning record all season.

The teams play at 2 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center.

KSU and Akron both are 3-4 in the MAC and and tied with Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois for sixth place. Overall Akron is 12-6 but has had the second easiest schedule in the conference. Its schedule ranks 283rd of 351 Division I teams. Other than Toledo, the best team they’ve beaten (Saint Bonaventure) has an RPI of 208. Akron’s RPI is 147.

Kent State (10-8) has played the fifth hardest schedule in the MAC and 77th hardest in the country. The Flashes’ RPI is 89.

KSU’s losing streak has includes defeats by three of the four best teams in the conference — Central Michigan (14-3, RPI 24), Ohio (17-2, RPI 38) and Miami (14-4, RPI 84). The Flashes’ 79-63 loss to Miami last Saturday looks a little better after Miami’s 67-61 victory at Ohio on Wednesday. KSU’s fourth loss in the streak was 48-44 loss at Ball State last week.

Akron had lost three in a row before beating Toledo. It has an 4-4 record against common opponents with Kent State. KSU’s record against those teams is 7-1.

The Zips have a new coach this season in Melissa Jackson, the longtime assistant to Jodi Kest, who retired last spring. Kest was Akron’s most successful coach but struggled through weak seasons in her last three years.

Akron has a lineup very much like the team that split games with the Flashes last season. Its best player is senior guard Megan Sefcik, one of the best three-point shooters in the MAC. She ranks 10th in the country (second in the MAC) in three-pointers per game at 3.44 and makes 37.8 percent of her shots from that distance, which is 14th in the league. Sefcik, a 5-10 redshirt senior, is fifth in the conference in scoring at 17.5 points a game and scored 29 against Toledo, including six-of-12 three-pointers.

The Zips’ second-leading scorer (9.9 ppg) and leading rebounder (7.3) is 6-2 junior Hallegh Reinoehl. Point guard Shaunay Edmonds also is close to double figures at 9.8 points a game.

Kent and Akron are close statistically in most categories but field goal percentage, both on offense and defense. The Flashes are still the best in the conference in field-goal defense (37.8 percent) but eighth in three-point defense (31.8). Akron’s field goal defense is eighth (39.7) and three-point defense 11th (32.4).

Akron makes 34.2 percent of its three-pointers, fourth in the league, and 40.2 percent  of field goals overall, which is ninth. KSU is 11th in field-goal percentage (37.6) and seventh in three-point offense (31.8).

KSU redshirt junior guard Megan Carter has scored at least 20 points in four of the team’s last five games and ranks seventh in the conference at 15.9 points a game. Freshman guard Asiah Dingle averages 13.2 and freshman forward Lindsey Thall 9.7. Thall is tied for first in blocked shots at 1.4 per game. Merissa Barber-Smith is fourth at 1.2.

Senior guard Alexa Golden is fourth in steals at 2.5; Dingle is tied for fifth at 2.3. In conferences games only, Golden is first and Dingle third.

BOTTOM LINE: It depends on which team shows up — the KSU that struggled through two difficult losses last week or the one that won seven in a row in December and early January. Or the Akron team that beat a good Toledo team Saturday or the team that couldn’t come close to beating another team with a winning record. Home court should help the Flashes.

To follow the game

The game starts at 2 p.m. Saturday at the M.A.C. Center. Reserved seat tickets are $10, general admission $5. KSU students get in free with student ID.

Audio starts at about 1:45 p.m. on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. Jacob Pavilack is the announcer.

Video is through ESPN3.You can watch if you subscribe to ESPN on your cable or satellite system or on the ESPN app. David Wilson is the play-by-play announcer.

Live statistics are available through the KSU website.

Links

Kent State women’s website, including links to statistics, roster and more.

Akron website, including links.

MAC statistics.

MAC standings.

 

 

 

Freshman forward Lindsay Thall scored 16 points, one off her career high, against Miami. Thirteen of her points came inside the paint. She had been scoring mostly from three-point shooting. (File photo from KSU website.)

 

Kent State finished what’s likely to be its toughest five-game stretch of the season on Saturday.

It did not go well.

The Flashes lost their fourth straight game, 79-63 at Miami, and fell to 3-4 in the conference, 10-8 overall. Miami is 13-4 and 4-2 in the MAC.

The Flashes started the league season with three straight wins, capped by their best game of the year, a 58-47 win at Toledo. But then they lost competitive games to Ohio and Central Michigan, two of the best teams in the league.

On its road trip this week, KSU played its worst offensive game of the season Wednesday at Ball State, losing 48-44, and Saturday played its worst defensive game of the season, losing 79-63.

In their last five games, the Flashes played four on the road and played four of the league’s best five teams 

Kent State now gets a week off before it hosts Akron next Saturday. Akron beat Toledo 70-64 in overtime Saturday for its first victory this season over a team with a winning record. The Zips are tied with Kent, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois and  for sixth in the conference at 3-4, and are 12-6 overall.

“We looked tired — more mentally than physically,” coach Todd Starkey said in a phone interview. “We knew these five games were going to be tough, and we didn’t handle them as well as I hoped we would.

“Miami was coming off of its bye week, and they looked like it. They were fresh. and they had put in a couple of actions that we hadn’t seen before.”

“It’s a good time to have the week off,” the coach said.

Miami leads the MAC in defense, but the Redhawks played some of their best offense of the season. The 79 points were the most they’ve scored (they hit 78 twice in non-conference play). They made 54 percent of their shots — 13 points above their season average.

Starkey said Miami’s high scoring was “about half us and half them.”

Associate head coach Fran Recchia was stronger in her postgame interview with David Wilson on Golden Flash iHeart Radio.

“I was really disappointed on our defensive effort,” she said. “Giving up 79 points just is not acceptable in a game like this.

“They did a great job of picking us apart. They had 18 assists. We’d take one action away, and the found another and capitalized on it. They did a great job of adjusting to every style of defense we played tonight.”

Kent State had led the MAC in field-goal defense at 36 percent. Miami shot 18 percentage points above that — the best any KSU opponent had done since North Caroling State in the second game of the season. N.C. State is now 18-0 and ranked eighth in the country.

Miami jumped to an 11-0 lead, then Kent scored six straight points to close the margin to five. The Flashes never came closer. Miami led 22-10 after the first quarter. The teams played evenly for the nest two quarters, but KSU never got within seven in the second half and within 14 in the fourth quarter.

Freshman forward Lindsay Thall played one of her best offensive games of her career for KSU. She had 16 points on six-of-eight shooting. Thall leads the Flashes in three-point baskets, but 13 of her 16 points came on inside scoring.

“That’s something we’ve been talking with her,” Recchia said. “She’s really aggressive in practice, and we’ve told them we’d rather you get an offensive foul because you’re being aggressive. IF she doesn’t she up in the first half (when Thall scored 12 points), we’re not even in the game.”

So what does Kent State work on in its bye week?

“Everything,” Starkey said. “Our transition offense. Defensively we’ve gotten away a little bit from some of the toughness we had. I think some of our young kids really are kind of them a little bit of a mental wall, and the bye week will be good for us. So we’ll try to do a great job breathing new life into them and coaching them better.

“I’m still real optimistic about where we’re heading and what we can still do this season.”

Box score

Notes

• Loss was KSU’s second worst of season. Flashes lost by 17 to North Carolina State (now 18-0 and ranked eighth in country) in second game of season. Since then, they hadn’t lost a game by more than seven points.
• Megan Carter led Kent State with 21 points eight-of-16 shooting. It was the fourth time in five games she’s had more than 20 points. Carter also had five rebounds, two assists and a steal.
• The Flashes, who were second in the MAC in turnover margin going into the game, had 17 Saturday while Miami had just 13. That was the fewest turnovers by an opponent since Youngstown State had 11 in November. Miami scored 22 points of of KSU turnovers; Kent scored 14 off Miami turnovers. The Flashes had eight steals, led by Asiah Dingle’s three and Alexa Golden’s two. Miami had nine steals.
• Miami, which leads the nation in three-point defense, held Kent State to three-of-17. The Flashes’ three-point defense was substantially better than its average. Miami made five-of-20 three-pointers.
• After going three of 11 shooting in the first quarter, Kent State made 45 percent of its shots for the rest of the game.
• The Redhawks outrebounded KSU 35-28 and pounded the Flashes 20-10 in the second half.
• Lauren Dickerson and Savannah Kluesner led Miami with 19 points each. Kristen Levering had 15 and five rebounds in 14 minutes. Leah Purvis had 11.
• Everyone on both teams’ active roster got in the game. 

KSU’s Saturday game against Akron starts at 2 p.m.

Other MAC scores

• Ohio (16-1, 6-1) 82, Bowling Green (7-10, 0-7) 79 at BG.
• Akron (12-6, 3-4) 70, Toledo (12-6, 4-3) 64 in overtime at Akron.
• Central Michigan (14-5, 5-2) 71, Eastern Michigan (10-8, 3-4) 61 at Central.
• Buffalo (14-4, 6-1) 93, Northern Illinois (11-8, 3-4) 64 at Buffalo.
• Western Michigan (8-9, 2-4) 65, Ball State (7-12, 2-5) 62 at Ball State.

MAC standings

 

 

 

 

 

Two Kent State players had birthdays Friday — sophomore forward Monique Smith (left) and junior guard-forward Ali Poole. (Photo from KSU Twitter feed.)

 

The Kent women have a tough road test Saturday against Miami, a team with the third best overall record (12-4) in the MAC.

The game starts at 1 p.m.

The Redhawks are 3-2 in the conference and in fifth place, a half game ahead of Kent State. KSU is 3-3 and 10-7 overall and coming off its worst offensive performance of the season, a 48-44 loss last Ball State. In that game, the Flashes missed 51 of the 67 shots they took.

It was the third loss in a row by the Flashes after they had won their first three games of the MAC season.

“It’s a really important game,” coach Todd Starkey after the BSU game. “We need to try to find a way to play well and steal a road win.

“Miami is a better defensive team than Ball State. It’s the best defensive team in the conference. We’ll score 15 points if we play like this again.”

The Redhawks give up 58.9 points a game, best in the MAC, and allow opponents to make 39.4 percent of their shots, fourth in the league. Kent State still leads the conference in field goal defense at 36.8.

But Miami really stands out in three-point defense. The Redhawks lead the country, allowing opponents make only 21.8 percent of their shots. Such defense is one of the weaker parts of KSU’s. Kent opponents make 32.2 percent of their three-pointers, which is ninth in the MAC.

Miami’s top player is point guard Lauren Dickerson, who averaged 14.4 points, 5.9 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 2.3 steals a game. Her assist average leads the MAC. Forward Savannah Kluesner is the Redhawks’ leading rebounder at 7.6 a game. In Miami’s five league games, she has averaged 18.8 points and 10.4 rebounds. Wing Kendall McCoy was a preseason all-MAC East selection and averages 12.7 points.

Kent State had been averaging more than 70 points a game in MAC play until Wednesday’s struggle on offense. Guard Megan Carter averages 15.8 points a game, which is seventh in the MAC. Freshman Asiah Dingle averages 13.7, but Ball State slowed her by packing the middle against her drives and daring her to shoot from three-point distance, where she was zero for four.

Despite Miami’s better record, Kent has a slightly higher RPI — 86 to the Redhawks’ 93. That’s mostly because KSU has played a tougher schedule.

THE BOTTOM LINE: It would be a great game to win. But it will be hard. Miami is 6=1 at home and has won two straight, including an upset at Central Michigan 10 days ago. KSU’s defense should be able to contain Miami’s offense. But can the Flashes bounce back on offense after Wednesday?

The game starts at 1 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN3. You can also hear David Wilson’s broadcast on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. Pregame starts at 12:45.

To follow the game

The game starts at 1 p.m. Saturday at Miami’s Millett Hall. It’s about a four- hour drive from Kent. Here are directions from Google maps. Tickets are $7 and $10. It’s the first of a doubleheader with the Miami men, who play Bowling Green at about 3:30. One $12.50 ticket gets you in both games.

Audio starts at about 12:45 p.m. on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. David Wilson does play by play

Video is through ESPN3.You can watch if you subscribe to ESPN on your cable or satellite system or on the ESPN app.

Live statistics are available through the Miami website.

Links

Preview from Kent State women’s website, including links to statistics, roster and more.

Preview from Miami website, including links.

Detailed media notes for Miami.

MAC statistics

MAC standings

 

 

 

Coach Todd Starkey in the huddle earlier this season. (File photo from KSU Twitter feed by Austin Mariasy.)

 

Kent State took 67 shots — its third highest total of the season — against Ball State Wednesday but could only make on 16 and fell on the road 48-44.

The Flashes’ 44 points and 24 percent shooting were both their lowest of the season.

It was KSU’s third loss in a row and dropped its record to 3-3 in the MAC, where it is tied for sixth. Kent is 10-7 overall. Ball State is 2-4 and 7-11.

“We couldn’t throw it in the ocean from the end of the pier,” coach Todd Starkey said in a phone interview after the game. “We got looks. We just didn’t make shots. We caused 23 turnovers and couldn’t turn them into points. That’s the game.”

For most of the game, Ball State prevented KSU guards Asiah Dingle and Megan Carter from driving to the basket, a key part of the Flashes’ offense.

“They crowded every single drive,” Starkey said. “We were trying to run actions to  get people open, but our plays were breaking down. They were defending our first and second actions really well. There was no place to drive it, and  we had players standing around watching them (KSU’s guards) trying to make a play.

“Ball State did a great job of making us take tough shots, and we missed. We’d miss the tough shots and the easy ones.”

When Kent tried to shoot from outside, it made only four of 28 three-point shots. The 14.3 percentage was KSU’s second lowest of the season. KSU made 8 percent of 24 shots against Wright State.

Ball State led 9-8 after the first quarter, and Kent State led by one point at halftime, and Ball State led by one after three quarters. The Flashes rallied to take a 35-34 lead with 4:33 to go.

Then Oshlynn Brow, BSU’s 6-1 leading scorer and rebounder, made two three-point plays in a minute and five seconds to give the Cardinals a 42-41 lead. The second one fouled out KSU forward Lindsey Thall. Ball State made six foul shots over the last two minutes to guarantee the victory.

“That’s the second game in a row teams have pounded the ball inside on us late,” Starkey said. “We’ve had some good post defense until this point, but all of a sudden, people are exposing us a little bit. So obviously we’ve got to make some adjustments.”

The team needs to change some other things, Starkey said, “to find a way to get us out of the little funk that we’re in.”

“Right now we’re a pretty easy team to scout,” he said. “We’re not making the extra pass and moving the ball the way we need to. We’ve turned into a team that when a play breaks down, Megan and Asiah try to drive it on people, and we’re standing around and doing a lot of watching.

“We’ve struggled to find someone who can finish around the basket. We’ve got to get that solved because we’re getting some looks down there.”

In the second half, Ball State’s defense played as much as six feet off of Dingle, almost daring her to shoot from three-point distance.

“I would, too,” Starkey said. “That’s the scout on us right now. We’ve told her to try to get the ball in and our of her hands quickly. The places she’s going to be open are going to be when she gets the ball back or in transition.”

Dingle is clearly one of the top three freshmen in the MAC, but she’s shooting only 16  percent on three–point attempts.

Box score

Notes

• Going into the game, Kent State had been playing well offensively in the conference season. The Flashes were third in scoring, and second in three-point percentage (though 11th in field goal percentage) in its first five MAC games. KSU was third in free throw percentage (76.4) but made only eight of 14 Wednesday.
• Carter led Kent State with 12 points, three below her average, and Dingle had 11, about three below hers.
• Thall took only four shots and scored one point, her lowest total of the season and nine below her average. She did lead KSU in rebounding with eight. No other KSU player scored more than five points.
• Alexa Golden equaled a career high with six steals, and Dingle matched her best with five. The Flashes stole the ball 12 times and scored 19 points on 23 Ball State turnovers. The Cardinals scored 13 points off 17 KSU turnovers.
• Freshman Hannah Young played 19 minutes, mostly in the first half because of foul trouble by Dingle and Ali Poole. It was the most she’s played since the second game of the season. Young had five points, six rebounds and blocked shot.
• Junior college transfer Sydney Brinlee played 11 minutes, by far her most in a close game, She hit a basket in the last minute of the first half that gave KSU its 20-19 lead and had two rebounds.
• The Flashes outrebounded Ball State 46-44. Besides Thall’s eight and Young’s six, Merissa Barber-Smith had seven, Carter six and Golden five. The Flashes had 19 offensive rebounds but only nine second-chance points.
• Kent State hasn’t beat Ball State at Ball State since 1997, when current BSU coach Brady Sallee was a first-year assistant at Kent State.

The Flashes finish a string of four road games in 17 days at Miami Saturday. Miami is 3-2 in the MAC and 12-4 overall. The Redhawks, one of the top defensive teams in the conference, were idle Wednesday and beat Ball State 60-57 at home Saturday.

Other MAC scores

• Preseason MAC favorite Central Michigan (13-5 lost at Toledo 62-59 and fell into a third-place tie with the Rockets (12-5) at 4-2.
• Ohio (16-1) beat Northern Illinois 69-53 in DeKalb and shares first place with Buffalo (13-4), which routed Akron at home 91-72. Buffalo and Ohio have 5-1 league records. Akron is 11-6 and 2-4 in the MAC.
• Eastern Michigan beat Bowling Green 81-74 at Eastern. The Eagles are tied with Kent State for sixth in the conference at 3-3 and is 10-7 overall. BG is 0-6 in the MAC and 7-10 overall.
• Miami (3-2 and 12-4) and Western Michigan (1-4 and 7-9) were off.

MAC standings

The team on the plane before leaving for flight to Ball State. (Photo from team Twitter feed.)

 

After losing two games in a row to the MAC’s best teams, Kent State gets a less high-powered opponent on Wednesday.

The Flashes travel to Ball State, which has the worst overall record in the league and is tied for 10th at the MAV at 1-4.

Kent State 10-6, 3-2 in the MAC and last week most to Ohio and Central Michigan. Both games were decided by less than 10 points, and the Flashes certainly showed they could compete with top-ranked MAC teams.

KSU is in a four-way tie for fourth in the league behind CMU, Ohio and Buffalo, which are tied for first at 4-1.

Ball State has beaten only last-place Bowling Green. They’ve lost to Buffalo, Ohio, Toledo and Miami, all among the league’s better teams. On Saturday Ball State lost at Miami 60-57. Miami is 12-4 but has a higher RPI (97) than Kent State (76).

Ball State’s RPI is 188 of 351 teams, third worst in the MAC. The RPI ranks teams based on their record and strength of schedule. It was was once heavily in deciding seedings for the NCAA tournament but has fallen somewhat out of favor. The selection committee now looks more at a team’s record and “quality wins” over high-ranking teams.

BSU was the league’s third-best team last year, lost a couple of good seniors to graduation and was battered by the NCAA’s graduate transfer rule, which allows students who have completed their degrees to be immediately eligible at another school. Other transfers have to sit out a year.

Ball State lost Carmen Grande, the MAC’s assist leader last season and one of the best point guards in the league, to Ohio State, where she’s a starter. The Cardinals lost Destiny Washington, their best retuning forward, to Florida Gulf Coast, where she is also starts.

“They lost arguably more than anybody in the league from last year,” Kent State coach Todd Starkey said after the Central Michigan game. “They’re solid. There’s no easy game in this way. I don’t care what record you look at.

“We’re going to have to show up for every single game. Everybody obviously still has a shot at first, but we could also finish last. It’s that tight in the league.”

The Cardinals’ lineup now consists of two sophomores, a freshman and two seniors. Leading scorer is sophomore forward Oshlynn Brown, who averages 13.7 points and 9.1 rebounds. Second is senior guard Jasmin Sanz, who averages 10.3 points.

Kent State got 23 points from Megan Carter and 19 from Asiah Dingle in its 82-75 loss to Central Michigan Saturday. They are KSU’s leading scorers on the season; Carter averages 15.8 points per game, Dingle 13.7. Merissa Barber-Smith is KSU’s top rebounder at 6.9 per game. She made her sixth start of the year against Central, probably because CMU is a strong rebounding team. We may see junior Ali Poole back as a starter Wednesday.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Ball State certainly is not as good as Central or Ohio and statistically isn’t as good as any of the three league teams KSU has beaten. Common opponents in the MAC are Ohio and Toledo. KSU lost 83-81 in at OU, Ball State lost to the Bobcats 90-75 at home. Kent beat Toledo at Toledo 57-48. Toledo beat Ball State 65-58 in Toledo. Home court advantage helps the Cardinals; they average about 1,600 fans per game. But if the Flashes can beat Toledo at Toledo, they should have a solid shot at beating Ball State.

To follow the game

The game starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the John E. Worthen Arena at Ball State. It’s about a four-and-a-half hour drive from Kent. Here are directions from Google maps. Tickets are $7 and $10.

Audio starts at about 6:45 p.m. on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. David Wilson does play by play

Video is through ESPN Plus, which costs $4.99 a month. The service covers about 75 percent of KSU men’s and women’s basketball games and some other sports. It includes access to many other MAC games and those of other mid-major conferences. You can watch it through your cable or satellite company or the ESPN app. Here’s a link to the ESPN broadcast, which will guide you through a purchase.

Live statistics are available through the Ball State website.

Links

Preview from Kent State women’s website, including links to statistics, roster and more.

Detailed media game notes for Kent State.

Preview from Ball State website, including links.

Media notes for Ball State.

MAC statistics

MAC standings

 

 

 

 

 

Megan Carter drives toward the basket in Saturday’s game. She had 23 points, her highest total of the season. (Photo from KSU website.)

 

Central Michigan is third in the country in three-point goal percentage. In the Chippewas 82-75 win over Kent State Saturday, they were seven of 21 for 33 percent.

CMU’s Presley Hudson and Reyna Frost are both candidates for MAC player of the year. They average 40 points a game between them and play nearly all 40 minutes of many games. Saturday they played a combined one minute in the last quarter.

In its first four MAC games, Kent State owned the fourth quarter, outscoring opponents by an average of 26 to 18. Saturday Central shot 71 percent in the last 10 minutes and outscored KSU, 25-20.

The most atypical game between first-place teams left CMU at 4-1 in the MAC and 13-4 overall. Kent State is 3-2 and 10-6.

The Flashes led Central 36-33 at halftime, playing one of their best halves of the season against a team that is 21st (of 351 teams) in the latest RPI rankings. But in the second half, the Chippewas made 65 percent of their shots to pull away.

“They shot 74 percent in the fourth quarter, and we shot 30,” KSU coach Todd Starkey said. “They executed, they finished shots. We didn’t.

“Obviously Hudson and Frost not playing in the fourth quarter was surprising. But we let two players beat us.”

Those players were Micaela Kelly, Central’s third leading scorer (14 points a game) and reserve forward Kyra Bussell, who had averaged seven. Kelly scored nine points  in the fourth quarter on four-of-five shooting and finished with 20. Bussell (7.6 average) had nine of her 15 points in the quarter.

“Kelly basically took over the game in the fourth quarter, and we didn’t do anything about it,” Starkey said.

Kent State had built its halftime lead with some excellent defense against one of the MAC’s best offenses. With guard Alexa Golden dogging Hudson and Lindsey Thall and Merissa Barber-Smith guarding the low post, Central made four of 11 shots in the first quarter and seven of 16 in the second. The Chippewas, who get 37 percent of their points from three-point baskets, had only three in the half.

But in the second half, Central stepped up its inside game and transition game.

In the first half, KSU outscored the Chippewas in the paint 22-12. Fast-break points were close — 11-9 Central. In the second half, Central won the paint 28-8 and fast break 12-4. The paint points came from inside moves by Frost, run-outs after rebounds or steals, and drives to the basket.

“They just pounded it inside,” said KSU guard Megan Carter, who had 23 points. “They were running their offense and getting to the matchups they wanted.”

Starkey said Central was able to isolate some post players on guards in the second half and, “we didn’t play very good post interior defense or communicate defensively the way we needed to.”

On offense, Starkey said, “We forced some shots, needed better ball movement and missed a lot of shots at the basket. We forced 19 turnovers and scored only 14 points off of them.

“We made too many mistakes. Against the best team in the league. your margin for error is really small.”

Hudson, the conference’s second-leading scorer, picked up her fourth foul in the last minute of the third quarter. Frost, the MAC’s leading rebounder and fourth-leading scorer, picked up her fourth about a minute into the fourth quarter. Neither returned. Other Chippewas, especially Kelly and Bussell, were playing so well Central coach Sue Guevara left them on the bench.

“For us to pull that out with those two seniors on the bench. that’s huge for the confidence of our players — and for me, too, to have that confidence in a tight game,” Guevara said in an interview on ESPN3 after the game.

Box score

Notes

• Guevara on Kent State: “They’re a very hungry team. They get after you, they attack you, and I’m just happy that we were able to withstand their attacks.”
• Freshman point guard Asiah Dingle had 19 points, many, as usual, coming on hard drives to the basket. “I just to get to the basket and see if they can guard me,” she said. Dingle made seven-of-seven free throws, had two assists and two steals. She did pick up four fouls and sat out about nine minutes of the second half.
• Golden had five assists, five steals, three rebounds, seven points and a blocked shot.
• Thall fell to the floor in a scramble on a rebound with about 90 seconds to go. She lay on her back on the court for several minutes and was helped off the court by Starkey and a KSU trainer. After the game, Starkey said she should be fine. Thall had seven points and eight rebounds, one off of her career high.
• The Flashes had 15 offensive rebounds and outscored Central 15-4 on second-chance points. They also missed about more more five put-back chances. Central, the best offensive rebounding team in the conference, had nine but won the overall rebounding margin 37-32. Frost had eight rebounds but saw her streak of 14-straight double-doubles end.
• Kent State shot 37.7 percent from the floor, about its season average. Central’s hot second-half shooting brought its final shooting percentage to 53, about 5 above its average.
•  A couple of interesting new statistics in Kent State’s media box score this season: One is plus-minus points when a player is on the floor. Dingle was the only KSU player with a positive, plus four. Best for Central was reserve Gabrielle Bird, who was plus-10 despite scoring only two points. She was on the court for much of the Chippewas’ second-half rally. The other new stat is fouls drawn by a player. Other players fouled Dingle nine times. Carter drew six. Best for Central was Bussell, who drew six.
• Kent State outscored Central 8-2 in the last minute, forcing four turnovers.

The Flashes go back on the road this week with a game Wednesday at Ball State (6-11, 1-4 in the MAC). The Cardinals lost at Miami (12-4, 3-2) Saturday, 60-57. Kent plays at Miami next Saturday.

Other MAC scores

• Buffalo (12-4, 4-1) 61, Western Michigan (7-9, 1-4) 59 at Western. Buffalo outscored Western 20-5 in the fourth quarter and won on a shot at the buzzer by Summer Hemphill, set up by a full-court baseball pass by Cierra Dillard.
• Toledo (11-5, 3-2) 79, Bowling Green (7-9, 0-5) 65 at BG.
• Ohio (16-1, 4-1) 85, Eastern Michigan (9-7, 2-3) at Ohio.

The game between Akron (11-4, 2-2) and Northern Illinois (10-6, 2-2) was delayed until Sunday by the snowstorm.

Ohio, Central Michigan and Buffalo are tied for first in the league at 4-1. Miami, Kent State and Toledo are 3-2.

Full MAC standings

 

 

Kent State’s Ali Poole drives to the basket in KSU’s last home game, when the Flashes beat Northern Illinois, 87-78. (Photo by David Dermer from KSU Twitter feed.)

 

Kent State lost to the second-best team in the MAC Wednesday.

Saturday it plays the best — Central Michigan, which is 12-4 and has the highest RPI in the conference. The Chippewas beat then-undefeated Ohio by 18 points in Athens. They lost their first league game to Miami Wednesday at home, which means they likely will come to Kent mad.

“I know they lost tonight,” Kent State coach Todd Starkey said after the Ohio game. “But Central still is the best team in the league until somebody consistently proves otherwise.”

The Flashes (10-5) are in a four-way tie for first in the MAC with Central, Buffalo and Ohio at 3-1.

The game is at noon in the M.A.C. Center. The time was moved five hours earlier to try to beat the heavy snowstorm predicted for Saturday. It is first game of a doubleheader with the KSU men, who play Northern Illinois at about 2:30. One ticket gets you in both games.

Central Michigan is the same team it’s been for the last four years — high scoring and very good. CMU was fourth in this week’s CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top 25 and third in ESPN’s Mid-Major Top 10. The Chips are 21st of 351 teams in the NCAA’s RPI rankings despite their loss to Miami. They’ve received votes in both the AP and coaches’ top 25 polls.

Their roster starts with two all-MAC seniors:

Guard Presley Hudson, who is second in the conference in scoring at 20.9 points a game and leads the MAC in three-point baskets per game (3.6). She broke the MAC record for career three-point baskets earlier this season and is 30 points away from becoming Central’s all-time leading scorer.

Forward Reyna Frost, who leads the conference in rebounding at 12.2 per game and is fourth in scoring at 18.6. She has had 14 double-doubles this season, fourth most in the country. She broke the career MAC record for rebounding earlier this month.

Sophomore guard Micaela Kelly averages 14.1 points a game and makes 44.7 percent of her three-point shots.

As a team, Central averages 79.6 points a game (third in the conference, makes 48 percent of its field-goal attempts (first), 41 percent of its three-point attempts (first) and 77 percent of its foul shots (first).

Defensively, the Chippewas rank in the middle of the league in most categories.

Miami (11-4, 2-2 in the MAC) beat Central by playing its best offensive game of the season and with defense. The Redhawks shot 54 percent from the field and 47 percent on three pointers. They held CMU 10 points below its scoring average, 6 percentage points below is shooting average, and 17 points below its three-point average. Hudson was four for 16 shooting and zero for five on three-pointers. Miami won the game on a three-point play with two seconds to go.

Kent State ranks third in the conference in scoring defense at 60.1 point a game, that’s about a point and a half behind Miami and Toledo. Despite allowing Ohio to make 46 percent of its shots in Wedneday’s 83-81 loss, the Flashes still lead the league in field-goal defense last 35.9 percent.

KSU’s RPI actually went up nine spots to 62nd despite its loss to Ohio. That’s because only 25 percent of the RPI is based on a team’s record. The rest is based on strength of schedule — 25 percent on opponents’ record and 25 percent on opponents’ opponents’ record. Road losses also aren’t weighted as heavily.

Alexa’s Golden’s 22 points against Ohio boosted her scoring average to 7.4 points a game. Starters Megan Carter (15.3), Asiah Dingle (13.4) and Lindsey Thall (10.0) lead the Flashes. Ali Poole averages 9.5. Merissa Barber-Smith leads the team in rebounding at 6.9 per game and may see more action against Central Michigan to try to contain Frost.

Here’s what Starkey told the Record-Courier’s Allen Moff about the Central game:

“They’ve got probably two of the top three or four candidates for MAC Player of the Year. Frost is averaging 24 points and 15 rebounds in conference play. Hudson has scored over 2,000 career points. Kelly is also a really good player, so they’re a three-headed monster with some good support players, as well. ”

It’s going to be a really tough game for us, but I feel optimistic. We can’t have a bad quarter against them. Miami played four really good quarters and shot the ball well, which is what you have to do to beat them.”

THE BOTTOM LINE: Central is really, really good despite its loss to Miami. Without a doubt, they’re the favorite in this and almost every game they play. Kent State played very well against Ohio after a lousy first quarter. Again it’s KSU’s good defense against am opponent’s very good offense.

The view from Ohio U

Coach Bob Bolden, quoted in other’s student newspaper after Wednesday’s game with Kent State:

About KSU’s 50-point second half: “I’m so disappointed with where we are defensively that it’s hard to find joy in anything at this moment. We got to get better, and quick.”

About the game’s 55 fouls: Nobody enjoyed watching that game. It was a terrible game. I would have rather watched ‘Bachelor in Paradise.’”

OU junior guard Amani Burke: “It definitely feels like we survived it. We didn’t play to our full potential, and we still won.”

To follow the game

The game starts at noon Monday at the M.A.C. Center. Reserved seat tickets are $10, general admission $5. KSU students get in free with their ID. It’s the first game of a doubleheader with the KSU men. One ticket gets you in both games.

Audio starts at about 11:45 a.m. on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. Jacob Pavilack is the announcer.

Video is through ESPN3. You can watch free if you subscribe to ESPN on your cable or satellite system or on the ESPN app. David Wilson is the play-by-play  announcer.

Live statistics are available through the KSU website.

Links

Kent State women’s website, including links to statistics, roster and more.

Central Michigan website, including links.

MAC statistics

MAC standings

 

 

Senior Alexa Golden had a career-high 22 points, seven rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocked shots. (File photo by Bill Howard for KSU website.)

 

Only one team has beaten Ohio University this season. No one else has come closer to the 14-1 Bobcats than Kent State did Wednesday.

The Flashes fell at OU 83-81, ending KSU’s seven-game winning streak. The Flashes are tied for first in the Mid-American Conference with Ohio, Buffalo and Central Michigan at 3-1. CMU lost its first conference game Wednesday, 70-67, to Miami at home.

The score wasn’t quite as close as it looked. Guard Alexa Golden, who had a career-high 22 points, hit a three-point shot at the buzzer. Even if she hadn’t, it would have been Ohio’s second closest win of the year. The Bobcats beat Buffalo 74-71 in overtime in Buffalo. Their only loss came to CMU at home, 88-70.

The game didn’t look remotely as close in the first quarter, when Ohio built a 25-12 lead. The Bobcats led 47-31 at the half.

But KSU outscored OU 19-11 in the third quarter and closed to 63-61 with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The game was played within six points for most of the rest of the game.

“Against a high-power offense like they have, you can’t be down 13 points at the end of the first quarter,” coach Todd Starkey said. “It’s really not a whole lot more complicated than that.

“We weren’t ready to play. Once we started trying to play more aggressively offense and communicate better on defense and box out on rebounds, things started going in our favor.

“We fought back really hard. But in the second half, we had a couple of key plays that went against us right when we needed them to go for us.”

Golden played perhaps her best game in four years in a Kent State uniform. She had eight of KSU’s 12 points in the first quarter and scored eight of the team’s last 10  points. She had seven rebounds, three assists, four steals and two blocked shots.

“She was the only one who was really consistent from start to finish in her effort and energy,” Starkey said. “We had other players do well at times.”

Golden, the team’s only senior starter, “gets it,” the coach said.

“She knows how difficult it is to play on the road in this conference,” he said. “I was proud of the way she played, but she definitely needed more support, especially early on.”

Redshirt junior Megan Carter, the team’s leading scorer, had two points in the first quarter but ended with 20. Ali Poole had nine and Asiah Dingle, Merissa Barber-Smith and Lindsey Thall all had eight. Barber-Smith also had nine rebounds in 14 minutes of play.

Referees called 55 fouls in the game — 28 on KSU and 27 on Ohio. Three Ohio starters, including star guard Cece Hooks, played the entire fourth quarter with four fouls until she fouled out in the last minute. Key reserve Erica Johnson picked up four fouls in the last quarter to foul out. Four Kent State players had four fouls.

“At one point, we looked out and eight of the 10 players on the court had four fouls,” Starkey said. The refereeing, the coach said, was “confusing.”

Part of Kent’s strategy, assistant coach Morgan Toles said in a postgame interview with David Wilson on Golden Flash iHeart Radio, was to try to take advantage of Ohio’s aggressive defense and draw fouls.

Dingle, Kent’s second leading scorer, picked up two early fouls and played only 17 minutes, her lowest of the season. It was the first time in the conference she has played against guards like Ohio, who are quick enough to challenge Dingle’s speed on offense and defense.

“She’ll be fine,” said Toles, who coaches the point guards. “We’e got to keep her out of foul trouble, but we’ve got a long way to go this season, and she’s going to get better and better.”

Ohio plays a fast-paced game and is the fifth-highest-scoring team in the country But over the last five minutes, the Bobcats actually ran down the shot clock to protect its players in foul trouble and to keep KSU from coming back.

Ohio made its season average of 46 percent (best in the MAC) of its field goals. That was about 11 above Kent State’s defense average, which had led the league.

“Ohio is going to play the way they play and dare you to stop them,” Starkey said. “And we couldn’t do that early.”

Box score

Notes

• Kent State’s 31 points in the fourth quarter were the most the team has scored in any quarter since the NCAA women switched from halves in 2014. The Flashes have outscored every league opponent in the last quarter and after averaging 26.5 points in the last 10 minutes in conference play.
• KSU ended up making 41 percent of its shots (27 of 66) after going two for 17 in the first quarter. That’s about 2 points above their season average. They made six of 19 three-pointers for 31.6 percent and 21 of 27 free throws.
• Ohio had led the league in turnover margin by a huge amount (plus-eight, four ahead of anyone else. But KSU had five fewer turnovers — 17 to the Bobcats’ 22. Kent scored 21 off those turnovers, Ohio 19.
• Rebonds were almost even: Ohio 36, Kent State 35. The Flashes had 14 assists on 28 baskets.
• Freshman guard Mariah Modkins played 27 minutes, her season high besides  the one game she started when Dingle was hurt. She had four points, three assists and a steal.
• Hooks, who was last year’s freshman of the year in the MAC, led Ohio with 23 points. Redshirt freshman guard Erica Johnson had 15 off the bench Amani Burks had 15 and Dominique Doseck had 14.

Next for the Flashes is Central Michigan, which is 12-4 after the loss to Miami (11-4, 2-2 in the MAC. The game starts at noon Saturday and is the first of a doubleheader with the men, who play Northern Illinois at about 2:30. The time of the games has been moved up because of an expected snowstorm.

Other MAC scores

• Eastern Michigan (9-6, 2-2) 72, Akron (11-4, 2-2) 60 at Akron.
• Buffalo (11-4, 3-1) 77, Ball State (6-10, 1-3) 65 at Buffalo.
• Northern Illinois (10-6, 2-2) 66, Bowling Green (7-8, 0-4) 52 at BG.
• Toledo (10-5, 2-2) 80, Western Michigan (7-8, 1-3) 57 at Western.

MAC standings

 

 

 

Ali Poole (23), Asiah Dingle (3) and Hannah Young (32) celebrate at KSU’s 58-47 win at Toledo Saturday. (Photo by Austin Mariasy from KSU Twitter feed.)

 

Quite suddenly and remarkably, Kent State has become one of the top four teams in the Mid-American Conferences.

The Flashes are one of two teams with a 3-0 record. Their 58-47 win at Toledo Saturday jumped them 23 spots in the NCAA’s RPI rankings to 73rd. That’s fourth highest in the MAC and the highest for Kent State in at least 10 years.

They are 10-4 overall, their best start since 2010-11, and have won seven straight games.

Before the conference season, KSU was around eighth in the 12-team MAC in five national rankings systems I found. The team was far behind the top six.

Since then, the Flashes have beaten three solid and successively better MAC teams — Eastern Michigan (currently 8-6), Northern Illinois (9-6) and Toledo (9-5). The win at Toledo was especially impressive. The Rockets win 75 percent of their home games. The win made a big different in the RPI, which heavily rewards beating a good team on the road.

The Flashes’ reward:

They travel Wednesday to Ohio, one of the two top teams in the MAC.

The Bobcats are 13-1, losing only to first-place Central Michigan in Athens, 88-70. Their RPI is 51 of 351 Division I teams. They beat Purdue (13-5, RPI 45) at home, 80-73, and Buffalo (10-4, RPI 37) on the road in overtime, 74-71.

Ohio ranks fifth in the country in scoring (83.6 points a game) and 25th in offensive efficiency, accordion to Her Hoop Stats, an analytics site. The Bobcats are 20th in the country in field goal percentage (46.5) and 17th in three-point percentage (38.0). Their 13.9 turnovers per game is 37th lowest in the country.

“3-0 is certainly a good place to be,” coach Todd Starkey said after the Toledo game. “I think it gives us some confidence.

“Our job now is to make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves. I think we’ve done a good job so far in conference play and taken things one game at a time. We’re just have to they don’t think they’re better than we are yet.

And, the coach emphasized, “We’ve only played three conference games. There is a lot of basketball left.”

Ohio, Starkey said, “is a very good team and can beat you in a lot of different ways.”

Under coach Bob Bolden, the Bobcats have always had a high-powered offense, usually playing four guards. They shoot often and well and far. A total of 36 percent of their shots are three-pointers, the 34th highest percentage in the country.

Top scorer is last year’s MAC freshman of the year, 5-8 guard Cece Hooks, who averages 16.6 points a game. Sophomore forward Gabby Burris averages 15.0 and, at 5-fooot-11, leads the team in rebounding at 5.6 per game. Dominique Doseck, a 5-8 senior guard, leads the league in three-point percentage at 45.5.

Defense isn’t as good. Ohio gives up 65 points per game, seventh in the MAC. Opponents make 39 percent of their shots, sixth in the league, and 32 percent of their three-pointers, which is 10th. The Bobcats’ rebounding margin is minus-2.9, second worst in the MAC.

OU is, however, a very good ball-hawking team. The Bobcats have a turnover margin of plus-eight per game. That’s four better than any other team in the MAC. They lead the league in steals at 11.93 per game.

Kent State has somewhat opposite strengths. The Flashes are second in the league in scoring defense (59.0 per game) and first in field-goal defense (39.0 percent). They are, though, last in three-point field goal defense (32.9).

Although KSU’s offense has improved throughout its winning streak, it’s sixth in the MAC at 67.3 points a game. Its field goal percentage is 10th at 38.2. KSU ranks third in the conference in turnover margin at plus-four.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Before MAC play started, I thought Kent State had very little chance of winning of beating a team like Ohio. The Flashes are still underdogs. Keys are whether Kent’s good defense can slow down Ohio’s outstanding offense and whether the Flashes can score against OU’s average defense. Ohio always plays well at home. But two years ago, Kent State went into Athens with an 8-9 record and handed OU its first home loss of the season, 68-65. The Flashes went on to win the MAC East.

To follow the game

The game starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Convocation Center at Ohio University. It’s a three-hour drive from Kent. Here are directions from the OU website. General admission tickets are $10.

Audio starts at about 6:45 p.m. on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. David Wilson does play by play.

Video is through ESPN3. You can watch if you subscribe to ESPN on your cable or satellite system or on the ESPN app. It’s free.

Live statistics are available through the Ohio website.

Links

Kent State women’s website, including links to statistics, roster and more.

Ohio website, including links.

MAC statistics

MAC standings

 

 

 

 

Megan Carter fights for position against Toledo Saturday. Carter matched her season high of 22 points in KSU’s seventh-straight victory. (Photo by Austin Mariasy from KSU Twitter feed.)

 

Three days after outscoring one of the best offenses in the Mid-American Conferences, the Kent State women beat one of the league’s best defenses.

The Flashes used outstanding defense of their own to win their third straight MAC game and first on the road over Toledo, 58-47, on Saturday. The victory was KSU’s seventh in a row and brings its record to 10-4. The Flashes are tied for first place with Central Michigan at 3-0.

Toledo is 9-5 and 1-2 in the MAC. The Rockets, which have now lost three straight games to Kent State in Toledo, have won 77 percent of their home games in coach Tricia Cullop’s 11 years there.

Kent State held Toledo 17 points below its scoring average and the Rockets’ shooting percentage 13 points below its average of 43.8. The Flashes lead the league in field-goal defense at 35.2 percent. Toledo is third at 38 percent.

On Wednesday, Kent State had beaten Northern Illinois, the No. 2 scoring team in the conference, 87-78, in Kent.

“I like the versatility,” coach Todd Starkey said. “This team was able to score and defend against Northern Illinois, then come back and win a completely different style game like this.”

You could tell the Toledo game was different very quickly. At the media timeout six minutes into the first quarter, the score was 6-6. The teams had made a combined four of 19 shots.

The Flashes went on to hold Toledo to 18 points in the first half.

“It was an unbelievable effort on defense,” assistant coach Mike McKee said in a postgame interview with David Wilson on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. “The girls were really, really locked in on the scouting report.”

The Flashes’ defensive plan was to keep Toledo from scoring in transition and to limit all-MAC forward Kaayla McIntyre, who had made 58 percent of her shots this  season.

Toledo had one fast-break basket. McIntyre got off 10 shots and made only four.

“We changed our defenses frequently,” Starkey said. “So they didn’t really know if a double team was coming or not. We couldn’t be predictable. With McIntyre, if they know what’s coming, they run action to get her open. And she’s really good.”

Chief defenders on McIntyre were senior Merissa Barber-Smith, who had a career-best three steals, and freshman Lindsey Thall, who had a career-best four blocked shots. Thall leads the MAC in blocks.

Redshirt junior guard Megan Carter equaled her season high of 22 points to lead the Flashes.

“The last couple of games I haven’t been shooting the ball well,” Carter said on EPSN after the game. “During the break, I’ve been in the gym, just trying to refocus and get back to basics and better mechanics.”

It was the third straight game a different player had put up big points for the Flashes. Freshman Asiah Dingle had 29 against Eastern Michigan in Kent’s MAC opener. Junior Ali Poole had 28 against NIU.

“It makes it more difficult to prepare for us when we’re having different players step up every game,” Starkey said. “We’re starting to understand each other’s games and are able to play through different people based on how teams are playing us.”

After Toledo cut the Kent State lead to 34-32 at the end of the third quarter, the Flashes scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter. Carter hit two three-point shots in that stretch.

Did Starkey tell them to do anything differently?

“They did what they were supposed to do,” he said. “When those things happen, it’s not like they come out of a timeout, and I sprinkle fairy dust on them. It’s a matter of just paying attention to certain things or making an adjustment or two. But in the end, we just start playing a little better.

The Rockets pulled within six points late, but KSU ended the game on a 7-2 run.

The Flashes have dominated the fourth quarter in all three league games, outscoring their opponents by a combined 71-49.

Box score

Notes

• The seven-game winning streak equals the longest in Starkey’s three years. The team also won seven on its way to the MAC East title in his first season.
• The last time KSU started the conference season 3-0 was 2010-11. The Flashes won their first five that year and eventually finished 11-5 and second in the East.
• Kent State made 19 of 54 field goals for 35.2 percent, about 3 points below its average, and six of 16 three-points baskets for 37.5 percent, about 3 points above its average. The Flashes made six of 10 shots and two of three three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
• KSU’s margin of victory came almost entirely from the foul line. The Flashes made 14 of 20; Toledo five of seven. Toledo point guard Mariella Santucci fouled out and starters McIntyre, Mikaela Boyd and Nakiah Black all finished with four fouls. No Kent player had more than three.
• Toledo made 10 of 25 layup attempts, an online statistics I hadn’t seen before. Kent made five of 18. KSU had eight assists, its lowest in six games. Senior guard Alexa Golden had half of them.
• The Flashes committed 14 turnovers, Toledo 18. Both teams scored 11 points off turnovers.
• Toledo outrebounded KSU 41-39. Golden had seven, Dingle six and Thall five.
• Sara Rokkanen led Toledo with 12 points on four three-point baskets. She also had eight rebounds. McIntyre had 11 points and five rebounds.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for Kent State. The Flashes play at 13-1 Ohio University Wednesday. Ohio, 2-1 in the MAC, beat Ball State (6-9, 1-2 MAC), 90-75 in Muncie on Saturday.

Other MAC scores

• Central Michigan (12-3, 3-0) 89, Northern Illinois (9-6, 1-2) 66 at Northern.
• Akron (11-3, 2-1) 74, Bowling Green (7-7, 0-3) 71 at Akron.
• Buffalo (10-4, 2-1) 66, Miami (10-4, 1-2) 59 at Miami.
• Eastern Michigan (8-6, 1-2) 64, Western Michigan (7-7, 1-2) 61 at Eastern.

MAC standings