A grand celebration at the victory bell after Kent State’s 67-58 win over 21-5 Miami. (Photo by Austin Mariasy)

 

All season, KSU coach Todd Starkey has said that if the Flashes could put four good quarters together, they could beat anyone in the Mid-American Conference.

Wednesday, they did so in a big way.

Kent State upset first-place Miami 67-58 at the M.A.C. Center. The Redhawks had won 11 games in a row and had beaten KSU 79-63 in January.

“That’s what we’ve been hunting for a year,” Starkey said. “Everybody needed to contribute to beat that team, and they did.

“Defensively, I thought we were fantastic all four quarters. We did a really good job of executing on the offensive end and getting the ball where we wanted to.”

The Flashes had lost five previous games to the MAC’s top four teams. Usually they fell well behind in the first half and battled back to make it close at the end.

On Wednesday, the Flashes led 18-15 after first quarter and outscored Redhawks in every quarter but the second, which was 14-13.

Five superlative performances led the way for Kent State:

Asiah Dingle

The 5-4 freshman guard led the team in scoring with 19 points, her third highest total of the season. Her seven field goals in 11 attempts was her best shooting of the season, and she made two 3-point baskets for only the second time this season.

“I’ve been working on the 3s with coach McKee,” Dingle said. His advice? “Step into my shot, follow through high, and make sure I jump.”

McKee is assistant Mike McKee, who as a player on the Kent State men’s team made 143 3-point baskets between 2006 and 2010.

Dingle squashed Miami’s last comeback with a drive and traditional 3-point play with 3:11 to go and made a long-distance 3 90 second later.

She and the KSU defense smothered Redhawk guard Lauren Dickerson, who had scored 53 total points in two games last week. Dickerson went 4 of 20 from the field and 1 of 12 on 3-pointers. Kent rarely gave her a good look at the basket.

“Just stay in front of her,” Dingle said of the strategy. “Stay in front without reaching and fouling.”

Dingle, who has struggled with foul trouble, had only one personal  Wednesday.

Lindsey Thall

Thall, a 6-2 freshman forward, followed a career-high 22 point game against Ohio on Saturday with 16 points against Miami. She made six of eight 3-point shots against WMU; she made 4 of 6 against Miami. 

“I’ve been getting up extra shots in the gym,” Thall said. “But really my teammates getting me open is why I was able to get those shots in the first place.”

Thall scored 10 straight points in the third quarter when Kent State turned a close game into a nine-point lead. Starkey was most happy with inside moves from Thall.

“She got more aggressive off the dribble,” Starkey said. “We’re really trying to turn her into a multidimensional scorer and not just somebody you could find at the 3-point line.”

Megan Carter

Kent State leading scorer, Carter also had 16 points on 5 of 11 shooting.

“We ran action for her when she was hitting pull-up jump shots,” Starkey said.

“Coach says, ‘If it’s there, take it,'” Carter said. “He has confidence in me, and I have confidence in myself.”

That’s a major statement for Carter, who has struggled with believing in herself last times in her career.

Like Starkey, Carter loved the four good quarters.

“It’s hard,” she said. “It takes consistency and adjusting to what they’re doing throughout the game. We just have to make sure we follow the game plan and whatever coach says on the sideline.”

Carter and Dingle didn’t start for the first time time this season when both were healthy. “Coach’s decision,” Starkey said, declining to elaborate. Carter said it didn’t bother her.

“Hey, we won the game,” she said. “I can ride the bench and win the game, and I’ll be happy.”

Alexa Golden

The team’s only four-year starter and its leader on defense, Golden had a strong game without scoring a lot of points. She had eight steals, seventh highest in school history and the most for a Kent State player since 2008. She took four charging fouls.

“That’s nine charges in the last two games,” Starkey said. “You probably can’t find a player in the country who’s had more than five or six in two games.”

Golden also had four assists, five rebounds and no turnovers.

Merissa Barber-Smith

The team’s only other senior and tallest player at 6-foot-4, Barber-Smith had 11 rebounds for the second game in a row. She had five in the third quarter and a total of six offensive rebounds.

“When they’re playing a lot of true post players, she is going to play more,” Starkey said. “She’s so talented a rebounder.”

Barber-Smith also had four points — a good game for her — and a blocked shot.

Box score

Notes

• Kent’s record is 9-6 in the MAC and 16-10 overall. The Flashes are still tied for fifth with Northern Illinois and Toledo and are a game behind Buffalo for the fourth seed and a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament.
• The win guarantees a winning season for the Flashes and clinches at least a home game in the MAC Tournament.
• Miami is 12-3 in the league and 21-5. The loss slips the Redhawks into a first-place tie with Central Michigan.
• Starkey calls Miami the best defensive team in the league. Redhawks opponents make only 23 percent of their 3-point shots, second best in Division I. KSU made 36 percent of its 3-pointers Wednesday. The Flashes’ overall shooting percentage was 42.9; it was 53.8 percent in the second half. Their season average is 37.5.
• Miami’s shooting percentage was 48.1 — 8 points above KSU’s usually defensive average. But the Flashes held Miami to 5 of 21 on 3-pointers.
• Barber-Smith and freshman Mariah Modkins started in place of Dingle and Carter.
• Miami’s leading scorer was 6-2 forward Savannah Kluesner, who had 12 points. Kendall McCoy had 11 and Dickerson nine, which was nine below her average.
• Kent State dominated most statistics. The Flashes outrebounded Miami 32-28 and scored 21 points off of 18 Miami turnovers while the Redhawks scored just 11 off of 13 Kent turnovers.
• KSU outscored Miami 30-22 in the paint, 13-8 on second-chance points and 9-6 on fast breaks.
• There are excellent video clips and photos of the game on KSU’s Twitter feed — @kentstatewbb.

The Flashes now go on the road for two games against teams they beat in Kent. On Saturday, they play at last-place Bowling Green, and on Wednesday at eighth-place Akron. But both those teams have upset Buffalo on their home courts in the last two weeks.

Other MAC scores

• Buffalo (10-5 MAC, 18-6 overall) 73, Ohio (11-4, 22-4) 43 at Ohio. Buffalo had lost three of four. The 43 points were Ohio’s lowest total of the season and almost 40 below its average, which was 13th in the country.
• Toledo (9-6, 17-9) 73, Western Michigan (4-12, 9-17) 63 at Toledo.
• Northern Illinois (9-6, 17-10) 70, Eastern Michigan (5-10, 12-14) 60 at Northern.
• Akron (7-8, 16-10) 83, Bowling Green (1-14, 8-18) 73 at BG.
• Central Michigan (12-3, 21-6) 81, Ball State (2-13, 7-20) 64 at Ball State.

With three games to go in the regular season, Central and Miami are tied for first at 12-3. Ohio is 11-4 and Buffalo 10-5. Kent State, NIU and Toledo are 9-6.

Full MAC standings

 

Megan Carter has led Kent State in scoring since the first game of the season. She currently averages 17.2 points a game in conference play. (File photo from KSU team website.)

 

The bane of Kent State’s offense this season has been the old-fashioned 2-point basket.

The Flashes rank 311th of 351 teams in Division I in shots inside the 3-point arc this season, making 39 percent. That’s below nine MAC teams’ percentage of all shots. In regular season and MAC play, KSU is last in the league on 2-pointers.

Kent State compares much better in three-point shooting, ranking second in conference games at 35.2 percent and 99th in the country in all games. (All statistics are from herhoopstats.com, the best analytics site I’ve seen on women’s basketball.)

What’s going on?

“We’re struggling with finding someone who can finish in the paint,” coach Todd Starkey said. “We have to have some people who can make some pretty baskets around the rim and high-percentage shots, and right now we’re struggling to get that done.”

It’s been true all season and true for most KSU players. Average on 2-pointers across the country is about 44 percent. Only forward Lindsey Thall (44.3 percent) and guard Megan Carter (41.5) are above 40. The rest of the team’s starters are clustered around 39 percent.

The Flashes play first-place Miami at the M.A.C.C. Wednesday night. When the two teams met in Oxford on Jan. 26, KSU had one of its better 2-point shooting nights at 52.8 percent, but the team was 3 for  17 on 3-pointers.

About the Miami game

Miami (12-2 MAC, 21-4 overall) at Kent State (8-6, 15-10) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the M.A.C. Center.

WHAT’S AT STAKE: Kent State is tied for fifth in the conference but 0-5 against the top four teams. There’s a chance the Flashes could move into fourth and get a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament, which is in two weeks. But beating Miami is almost essential to the plan. Miami is one game in front of Central Michigan and Ohio. Losing just one game down the stretch could cost them the top seed in the tournament and, perhaps, an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament if they don’t win the league’s.

COACH TODD STARKEY: “I’m not really quite sure (what’s causing his team’s slow starts). I’d like to use our youth as an excuse, but at this point in the season you can’t use that anymore. We’ve gotten really good looks early in games, but for some reason missed so many open layups and jumpers. Our players are aware of it and trying to figure out ways to get off to better starts. The teams we play are also aware of it and looking to jump on us early.

“Miami is the most balanced team in our league, not only from a position standpoint. They’re also balanced on both ends of the floor. They’re one of the more experienced teams in the league, and they’re on a roll. When we play the top teams in the league our margin for error is very small, and we haven’t been able to crack that code yet. But I feel optimistic that if we play our best we can beat any of them.”

As quoted by Allen Moff in the Record-Courier

About Miami

IN THE MAC: In first place at 12-2, losing only to Buffalo at home and at Northern Illinois. The Redhawks have won 11 in a row.

RPI: 42 of 351 teams, third best in the MAC after Central Michigan and Ohio. Schedule strength: 165. Road record: 11-3. Fifteenth in this week’s College Insider Mid-Major Top 25. Redhawks have won 20 games in two straight seasons for the first time since the 1980s.

LAST GAME: Beat last-place Bowling Green 75-62 in Oxford, outscoring Falcons 20-10 in fourth quarter.

KEY TEAM STATS (conference statistics only)

• Scores 69.6 points a game, fourth in MAC. Opponents score 62.8 (sixth).
• Field-goal percentage: 43.0 (third). Field-goal defense: 41.5 (sixth).
• Three-point percentage: 31.0 (10th). Three-point baskets per game: 5.7 (11h). Three-point defense: 27.7 (first).
• Rebounding margin: Plus-2.8 (third). Turnover margin: plus-2.8 (third).

KEY PLAYERS

• 5-foot-3 junior guard Lauren Dickerson: 18.7 points per game, fourth in MAC. Field-goal percentage 38.1 (12th). Three-point baskets per game: 2.4 (seventh). Assists: 4.8 (fourth). Steals: 2.5 (fourth). Rebounds: 5.0. 
• 6-2 junior forward Savannah Kluesner: 16.3 points (10th). Field-goal percentage 50.3 (fifth). Free-throw percentage: 70.2 (ninth). Rebounds: 9.9 (second).
• 6-0 junior wing Kendall McCoy: 12.1 points (23rd). Field-goal percentage: 41.6. Three-point percentage: 35.8 (20th). Free-throw percentage: 88.0. Rebounds: 6.6 (14th). Assists: 2.4 (21st).

About Kent State

IN THE MAC: Tied for fifth with Northern Illinois and Toledo at 8-6, one game behind Buffalo and four games behind first-place Miami.

RPI: 83. Schedule strength: 79. Home record: 9-3. Has won five of last seven games.

LAST GAME: Lost 69-67 to Ohio at home Saturday.

KEY TEAM STATS (conference games only)

• 67.1 points a game (seventh). Opponents average 65.2  (third).
• Field goal percentage: 37.6 (last). Field goal defense: 40.1 (third).
• Three-point percentage: 35.2 (second). Three-point baskets per game: 7.5  (fifth). Three-point defense: 33.2 (seventh).
• Free-throw percentage: 74.3 (fourth). Has taken and made second most foul shots in league (behind Buffalo in both categories).
• Rebounding margin: Plus-0.7 (fifth). Turnover margin: Plus-1.8 (fourth)
• Blocked shots: 3.9 (first). Steals: 8.6 (third).

KEY PLAYER STATS

• 5-7 redshirt junior guard Megan Carter: 17.2 points (sixth). Field-goal percentage: 42.9 (10th). Three-point percentage: 42.6 (fifth). Free-throw percentage: 75.0 (sixth). Assists: 2.2 (24th).
• 5-4 freshman point guard Asiah Dingle: 12.8 points (19th). Free-throw percentage: 78.3 (fifth). Assists: 2.4 (21st). Steals: 2.3 (sixth).
• 5-9 senior guard Alexa Golden: 9.6 points. Three-point percentage: 35.9 (19th). Three-pointers per game: 1.6 (19th). Steals: 3.2 (first). Assists: 2.8 (17th). Blocks: 0.8 (ninth).  Rebounds: 6.2 (17th).
• 6-2 freshman forward Lindsey Thall: 10.4 points. Three-point percentage: 47.5 (second). Three pointers per game: 2.1 (13th)/ Blocked shots: 1.7 (second). Rebounds: 5.2.
• 6-0 junior guard Ali Poole: 9.7 points. Three-point percentage: 36.4 (17th). Three-point baskets per game: 1.7 (17th).

THE BOTTOM LINE: Kent’s 16-point loss at Miami was its biggest conference margin of defeat. Miami has won 11 in a row. Flashes will have to play their best game of conference season to win.

To follow the game

The game starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the M.A.C.C. Center-court chairback tickets are $10, general admission $5. Students are free with Kent State ID. Average home attendance has been 953, seventh in conference.

Audio starts at about 6:45 p.m. on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. Jacob Pavilack does play-by-play.

Video is through ESPN+, which costs $4.99 a month. It covers about half of MAC men’s and women’s games (the rest are broadcast elsewhere) and all except the finals of the MAC Tournament. You can watch it through your cable or satellite company, on the ESPN website, or the ESPN app. Here’s a link to the ESPN broadcast, which will guide you through a purchase. David Wilson and Henry Palattella are the announcers.

Live statistics are available through the Kent State website.

Links

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

Miami website, including links.

MAC conference-only statistics, including link to full-season stats.

MAC standings

 

Lindsey Thall scored a career-high 22 points and made six three-point baskets. (File photo from KSU Twitter feed.)

Kent State is four points and two bad first quarters away from being a first-division team in the Mid-American Conference.

The Flashes’ 69-67 loss to second-place Ohio Saturday was the second time this season they’ve lost to the Bobcats by two points. In both games, a slow start made KSU play from behind almost the whole game.

Saturday the Flashes did catch up, coming from 16 points behind to tie the game at 67 with 1:14 to go. But Ohio’s Amani Burke made a layup on a play that could have been an offensive foul with 44 seconds to go. Then Megan Carter’s jump shot in the paint was blocked with two seconds left.

The loss leaves Kent State (8-6) tied for fifth place in the MAC with Toledo and Northern Illinois. Ohio (11-3) is still tied for second with Central, one game behind first-place Miami. The Redhawks play at Kent State Wednesday night.

Overall Ohio is 22-3 and KSU 15-10.

“I told them I’m tired of coming here after playing against really good teams and saying, ‘Hey, you guys fought,'” coach Todd Starkey said. “Fight’s great. But at some point you’ve got to come out on the right side  against good teams.”

Kent’s record against the top four teams in the league is 0-5, with four of the losses by nine points or less. Against the rest of the league, the Flashes are 8-1.

KSU missed its first five shots of the game and didn’t make a basket for five minutes, falling behind 12-2. It was similar to KSU’s first game with Ohio, when the team trailed by 13 after the first quarter.

“You can’t spot a team that good so many points — open looks, straight-line drives,” Starkey said. “I’ve been saying all year that consistency is everything for this team. We’ve got to find a way to play at a level defensively the way we played in the fourth quarter the whole game.

“The time for talking about youth and growing up and being on a learning curve is over. We’ve got four games left in the season.”

KSU trailed by 16 points in the second quarter, then closed it to eight at halftime. Ohio extended its lead against to 12 going into the fourth quarter.

The last quarter was one of Kent State’s best of the season. The Flashes held Ohio, the 13th-highest scoring team in Division I, to 10 points. KSU hit four-of-seven three-point shots and scored 20.

“We got good ball movement,” Carter said. “We were able to drive, kick it out and knock down shots.”

Freshman forward Lindsey Thall had 13 points in the fourth quarter, including a cross-court drive for a layup that tied the game at 67.

On the next possession, the Bobcats had to call timeout when they couldn’t get the ball in on an out-of-bounds play. When they got the ball in, Amani Burke moved toward the basket with the shot clock running out. As the shot, KSU’s Alexa Golden went to the floor and Burke banked in a layup.

“I thought they were going to call a charge,” Carter said. “And when you see it go through the hoop, it’s kind of deflating. But you can’t let it distract you from the next play.

The next play belonged to Carter. The Flashes held for the last shot to tie or win. Carter drove the the center of the free throw lane, but three Ohio defenders surrounded her and Gabby Burris blocked her shot with 2.8 seconds left.

“We wanted to go one-on-one and they kind of collapsed on me,” Carter said.

“We thought we had a favorable match-up,” Starkey said. “She drew three players and probably should have kicked it out. She just didn’t make the right read there. But we want the ball in her hands in that situation.”

Thall’s best offense

Thall finished with a career-high 22 points and made six-of-eight three-point shots. It was the most three-pointers made by a Kent State player since Larissa Lurken went six of eight against Eastern Michigan two years ago.

“I just got the hot hand,” Thall said. “They tell me to hunt my shot down, and that’s what I tried to do in the second half.”

“Hunt,” she said, “means looking for spots and screens that get her open.”

She hit two three-pointers from the left corner. Her shots more often come from in front of the basket. “It’s not my favorite spot,” she said, “but I’ve worked on it.”

Starkey said it was certainly one of Thall’s best games offensively. But both he and Thall agreed that her defense wasn’t as good.

Thall had three blocked shots to maintain her spot as second highest in the MAC. She hadn’t blocked a shot in her three previous games. Thall also had six rebounds.

Notes

• Carter was the only other player to scored in double figures with 18, including three for three from three-point distance. She also blocked a shot and had five rebounds.
• Kent State made 44 percent of its three-point shots but only 34 percent overall. Ohio made 31 percent of its three-pointers, eight points below its 25th-in-the-country average. Overall the Bobcats shot 40 percent, slightly below its average and about KSU’s defensive average.
• Ohio’s 69 points tied for its third-lowest point total of the season. The Bobcats average 82.5 points a game.
• Merissa Barber-Smith had eight rebounds in six minutes in the third quarter. She finished with 11, six of them offensive. Kent State outrebounded Ohio 26-15 in the second half and 44-36 for the game. The Flashes had 19 second-chance points to Ohio’s nine.
• Golden had seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.
• Freshman Asiah Dingle equaled her career best with six assists and had three steals. But she went two-of-12 shooting.
• Junior Ali Poole went three-of-18. She had been second on the team in shooting at 40 percent.
• Kent State committed 18 turnovers and Ohio 16, but KSU outscored the Bobcats 18-8 off turnovers.
• The Flashes had 14 assists on 23 baskets, one of its best performances on the season.
• Ohio redshirt freshman Erica Johnson had 24 points and 12 rebounds. Cierra Hooks had 15 and Burke 14.

Box score

The view from Ohio

Coach Bob Bolden: “We got a road win, and road wins are hard to come by. We also understand that we still have some work to do. I think if we’re a team continues to try and get better until the end of the season, maybe we’ll make it.”

Assistant coach Tavares Jackson: “You can’t take for granted plays like Gabby’s block to win it. These kids put in so much work to get to this point. You don’t win this game if it’s not for the habits that we work on in practice. It was an excellent play by her to get on the basketball and defend the shot the way she did.”

As quoted on the Ohio team website.

Around the MAC

Akron (6-8 MAC, 15-10 overall) did Kent State a big favor by upsetting Buffalo (9-5, 17-8) 70-59 at Akron. Buffalo’s loss keeps KSU a game behind the Bulls for the fourth seed and a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament.

Other scores:

• Toledo (8-6, 16-9) 63, Ball State (2-12, 7-19) 62 at Ball State.
• Miami (12-2, 21-4) 75, Bowling Green (1-13, 8-17) 62 at Miami.
• Central Michigan (11-3, 20-6) 76, Northern Illinois (8-6, 16-10) 52 at Central.
• Western Michigan (3-11, 9-16) 71, Eastern Michigan (5-9, 12-13) 68 at Western.

MAC standings

 

 

Kent State in the huddle against Bowling Green in its last home game. (Photo by Austin Mariasy from KSU website)

 

Kent State plays its two biggest home games of the Mid-American Conference season over the next six days.

On Saturday afternoon, the Flashes host second-place Ohio, which has the best overall record in the conference at 21-3.

On Wednesday, first-place Miami comes to town.

If KSU is to challenge for a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament, they likely have to win one of these games and beat fourth-place Buffalo in Kent in the last game of the regular season.

It won’t be easy. Both teams beat Kent State on the road in the first half of the conference season. Ohio build a big first half lead and held off a KSU rally to beat the Flashes 83-81 on Jan. 16. Bowling Green topped the Flashes 79-63 on Jan. 26. It was KSU’s widest loss and worst defensive performance of the MAC season. it was also the last game of a four-game losing streak for KSU.

Since then, the Flashes have won five of six, though the competition has been considerably less than Ohio and Miami.

“Ohio and in Miami have really have really done the best job of taking the team that they had and moving to the top of the league,” KSU coach Todd Starkey said on KSU’s Hoop Scoop broadcast Thursday. “It’s going to be going to be tough. But that’s what this conference is all about, and that’s why we love Mac play.

“I think our players understand what’s at stake — that we have an opportunity to really get ourselves on the cusp of the top four and a bye to Cleveland.”

Kent State is now tied for fifth with Northern Illinois at 8-5; if the teams tie at the end of the season, Kent gets the higher seed in the tournament because of its 87-78 victory over the Huskies. The Flashes are a game ahead of Toledo, another team it holds a tie-breaker against.

KSU is one game behind Buffalo, two games behind Ohio and Central Michigan in second, and three games behind Miami. There are five regular-season games left.

Besides the Ohio, Miami and Buffalo home games, Kent State travels to Akron (5-8 in MAC) and Bowling Green (1-12). The Flashes have beaten both teams in Kent.

About the Ohio game

Ohio (10-3 MAC, 21-3 overall) at Kent State (8-5, 15-9) at 2 p.m. Saturday at the M.A.C. Center.

WHAT’S AT STAKE: At this point, Kent State is the best of the second tier of the MAC. Ohio is a chance to prove the Flashes belong among the top four. Ohio is tied for second place, a game out of first. The Bobcats can’t afford to lose a game like this if they want a conference championship.

STARKEY ON THE OHIO GAME: “I think Ohio has probably the most weapons in the conference, especially from a perimeter standpoint. They shoot the three so well. If they’re down, they can come back in the blink of an eye. and if they’re up, they can put you away really quickly.

“They play a unique style of defense that can really disrupt what you’re trying to do. They can completely take a team out of what they’re trying to do.

“They’ve got one of the top five players in the league in Cece Hooks.  She can just take over the game.

“Ohio has a whole week of prep because this is their bye week. It’s not the team you necessarily want to play when they get a week to rest to prepare for you and get their legs back under them.”

Above is from Starkey’s Hoop Scoop interview. Last quote is from Allen Moff in the Record-Courter.

“Our margin for error against Ohio is pretty small. We have to do a lot of things right, and we have to shoot the ball well.”

About Ohio

IN THE MAC: Tied for second at 10-3, losing to Miami and Central Michigan at home and at Toledo.  It has won four of its last five, including a 78-75 win at Central.

(I use full league standings because seedings are determined solely on the conference record. Where a team finishes in its division means nothing.)

RPI: 31 of 351 teams, second best in the MAC after Central Michigan. Schedule strength: 132. Road record: 8-1. Tenth in latest College Insider Mid-Major Top 25.  CMU is seventh, Miami 14th and Buffalo 15th. Toledo and Kent State also received votes.

LAST GAME: Beat Western Michigan 70-56 in Athens on Saturday. Had a midweek bye.

KEY TEAM STATS (conference statistics only)

• Scores 76.8 points a game, third in MAC. Opponents score 69.0 (sixth).
• Field goal percentage: 41.8 (sixth). Field goal defense: 42.0 (eighth).
• Three-point percentage: 34.7 (tied for second). Three-point baskets per game: 10.0 (first). Three-point defense: 33.7 (eighth).
• Rebounding margin: Minus-2.5 (eighth). Turnover margin: plus-5.5 (first).

Including non-conference games, Ohio is 13th in the country in scoring, seventh in three-point baskets per game, 25th in field goal percentage, 10th in turnovers margin and 22nd in steals per game.

KEY PLAYERS

• 5-foot-8 sophomore guard Cierra Hooks (18.1 points per game, fifth in MAC) Field-goal percentage 49.5 (sixth):  Assists: 4.4 (sixth). Steals: 2.7 (third). Rebounds: 5.6 (20th)
• 5-11 redshirt freshman forward Erica Johnson (14.5 points, 12th). Three-point percentage 45.6 (second). Three-point baskets per game: 2.1 (13th). Free-throw percentage: 67.9 ninth). Assists: 3.5 (12th). Rebounds: 6.3 (17th). Steals: 1.7 (15th). A leading candidate for MAC freshman of year.
• 5-9 junior guard Amani Burke (12.8 points, 19th)). Three-point percentage: 37.5 (13th). Three-point baskets per game: 2.8 (sixth). Blocked shots: 1.1 (fifth).

About Kent State

IN THE MAC: Tied for fifth with Northern Illinois at 8-5, one game behind Buffalo and three games behind first-place Miami.

RPI: 80. Schedule strength: 97. Home record: 9-2. Has won five of last six games.

LAST GAME: Won 56-52 at Western Michigan Wednesday.

KEY TEAM STATS (conference games only)

• 67.2 points a game (eighth). Opponents average 64.9  (third).
• Field goal percentage: 37.8 (last). Field goal defense: 40.1 (third).
• Three-point percentage: 34.4 (fifth). Three-point baskets per game: 7.4 (seventh). Three-point defense: 33.3 (seventh).
• Rebounding margin: Plus-0.2 (seventh). Turnover margin: Plus-2.1  (fourth)
• Blocked shots: 3.9 (first). Steals: 8.8 (third).

KEY PLAYER STATS

• 5-7 redshirt junior guard Megan Carter: 17.2 points, eighth in MAC. Field-goal percentage: 42.9 (10th). Three-point percentage: 38.6 (11th). Free-throw percentage: 75.7  (fifth). Assists: 2.3 (23rd).
• 5-4 freshman point guard Asiah Dingle: 13.1 points (18th). Free-throw percentage: 77.8 (fourth). Steals: 2.2 (seventh).
• 5-9 senior guard Alexa Golden: 9.8 points. Three-point percentage: 36.7 (18th). Steals: 3.3 (first). Assists: 2.8 (17th). Blocks: 0.8 (tied for 11th). Rebounds: 6.2 (18th).
• 6-0 junior guard Ali Poole: 9.8 points. Three-point percentage: 40.4 (sixth). Three-point baskets per game: 1.8 (tied for 15th).
• 6-2 freshman forward Lindsey Thall: 9.5 points. Three-point percentage: 43.4 (fourth). Three pointers per game: 1.8 (tied for 15th). Blocked shots: 1.6 (second). Rebounds: 5.2.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Ohio is favored. At home, Kent State should have a chance. But the Flashes can’t afford the long offensive droughts that hurt them at Western.

To follow the game

The game starts at 2 p.m. Saturday at the M.A.C.C. Center-court chairback tickets are $10, general admission $5. Students are free with Kent State ID. Average home attendance has been 932, seventh in conference.

Audio starts at about 1:45 p.m. on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. Jacob Pavilack does play-by-play.

Video is through ESPN3. You can watch it through your cable or satellite company or the ESPN app. David Wilson is play-by-play announcer.

Live statistics are available through the Kent State website.

Links

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

Ohio website, including links.

MAC conference-only statistics, including link to full-season stats.

MAC standings

Megan Carter led KSU in scoring with 22 points on eight-of-15 shooting. (File photo by David Dermer from KSU website.)

 

The game came down to Kent State’s most experienced players, and Megan Carter and Alexa Golden came through in the Flashes’ 56-52 victory at Western Michigan Wednesday.

Carter scored 22 points, her eighth time this season above 20 and the 16th time she has led the Flashes in scoring. She and Golden combined to make five free throws in the final 30 seconds to guarantee the victory.

Golden led the team with eight rebounds and had nine points and two steals.

The victory leaves the Flashes at 8-5 and tied for fifth in the MAC with Northern Illinois. Kent State could move past Buffalo into fourth place, they would get a bye to the quarterfinals at Quicken Loans Arena.

KSU is 15-9 on the season. Western Michigan is tied for 10th in the league at 2-11 and is 8-16 overall. It was the second four-point win for Kent State over the Broncos; the Flashes beat WMU in Kent 55-51 two weeks ago.

“Megan showed up big, especially in key moments,” coach Todd Starkey said in a postgame interview with Golden Flash iHeart Radio announcer David Wilson. “In the second half she wanted the ball in her hands and that’s what we need her to do. She doesn’t really have the type of personality that’s, ‘Give me the ball.’

“She’s so talented. She needs to be more selfish, to be honest. I think her teammates really, really trusted her down the stretch and went to her.”

Carter, who is one of the better three–point shooters in the MAC, got off only two shots off from that distance.

“Coach said just take what they give us,” she said.

Starkey said coaches designed plays to get Carter some mid-range jump shots.

Then, he said, “things started to break loose a little bit for us.”

Carter was the only Kent State player to make more than half of her shots (eight of 15). The rest of the team combined to go 10 of 40.

Three times during the game the Flashes went more than four minutes without scoring. They didn’t score for the first six minutes of the game, fell behind 8-0 but came back to lead 13-10 after the first quarter.

In the third quarter they were stuck on 33 point for six minutes. But Western scored only four in that time. The Broncos scored six points in the quarter, KSU seven.

In the fourth quarter, Kent State pushed its lead to 47-35 with five minutes to go, then didn’t score until 1:40 left after Western had closed the score to 47-42. The Broncos got within 53-50 but didn’t score after that until there were three seconds to go.

“We’ve been talking about the consistency thing all season,”  “Starkey said. “And it certainly almost bit us tonight.

“The goal for any coach is to be playing your best basketball in late February and early March. At times, we’re playing really good basketball and at times it looks like we’re setting the game back 20 years.”

But, the coach said, “We found a way again to get a win. And any road win in the conference is so hard to come by.”

Even when Golden doesn’t score, she has been a key player for the Flashes in almost every game.

“Lex is ole Miss Reliable,” Starkey said. “She’s playing hurt right now. I’d say that about 70 percent of the time I’ve been here, she’s been hurt in one form or another. She’s so tough that half the time she doesn’t let us know.

“She played through a lot of pain tonight and still was very reliable with the ball in her hands. She was one of our biggest talkers defensively when it seemed like everybody else wanted to be silent.”

Starkey didn’t specify Golden’s injury, but last season she had such bad shin splints that she didn’t practice most of the last three weeks of the season.

Box score

Notes

• After the first quarter, Kent State had three turnovers that had led to four WMU points. The Flashes made only seven turnovers for the rest of the game. Western, usually one of the MAC’s best teams at protecting the basketball, had 13 more. For the game, Kent outscored the Broncos 19-7 off turnovers. KSU’s 10 turnovers were its lowest of the season.
• Besides hitting the foul shots to clinch the game at the end, Kent made 14 for the game to nine for Western.
• Kent State’s 34 percent shooting percentage was about 5 points below its average and 9 points below its defensive average. Western’s 37 percent was 3 points below its average and Kent’s defensive average.
• Western, which is last in the MAC in rebounding margin,  outrebounded KSU 41-35. Five-foot-seven guard Deja Wimby had 12 rebounds for the Broncos.
• Wimby scored 20 points, with many coming on post moves close to the basket. “I’ve never seen a guard have that good moves down low,” Carter said.
• KSU freshman guard Hannah Young blocked three shots and have five rebounds in nine minutes. She had blocked only four all season before Wednesday.
• Strangely, Kent’s best plus-minus player (points the team outscored the opponent when she was on the floor) was freshman reserve guard Mariah Modkins. Team was plus-15 in the 15 minutes she she was on the floor. She had two points and one steal. Team was plus-two in Carter’s 38 minutes.
• The game was the sixth time in 15 conference games Kent has held its opponents under 60 points.
• Kent State’s six assists were second lowest of season. (Flashes had five in loss to Wright State.)

The Flashes are home Saturday against second-place Ohio, which is 21-3 and beat Kent State 83-81 in Athens in January. Then the Flashes to play first-place Miami in Kent on Wednesday.

Other MAC scores

• Miami (11-2 MAC, 20-4 overall) 65, Toledo (7-6, 15-9) 56 at Toledo.
• Central Michigan (10-3, 19-6) 92, Bowling Green (1-12, 8-16) 54 at BG.
• Buffalo (9-4, 17-7) 97, Ball State (2-11, 7-18) 58 at Ball State.
• Eastern Michigan (5-8, 12-12) 67, Akron (5-8, 14-10) 60 at Eastern.

Ohio and Northern Illinois were off.

Miami leads the conference at 11-2, Ohio and Central Michigan are 10-3, Buffalo is 9-4 and Kent State and NIU are 8-5.

Full MAC standings

An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the win clinched a home game in the MAC Tournament. The Flashes’ magic number is two — any combination of KSU wins and Eastern Michigan losses that total two would guarantee the home game. I got incorrect information from a usually very reliable source and didn’t double check the math.

 

The idea for this post was prompted by GoldenFlash01, who also goes by Burden on Flash Fanatics, the main KSU fan bulletin board. If you haven’t checked that out, it’s well worth it. Burden is one of the other big women’s basketball fans on the board.

 

Kent State has a most interesting six games left in the regular MAC season.

The Flashes play — on the road — Western Michigan, Akron and Bowling Green. They’re all teams KSU beat at home. All have worse conference records and RPIs at least 60 points lower. But the games on the road, and winning in the MAC away from home is rarely easy.

The Flashes should be favored on all three. They also could could lose them all,

At home, they play Ohio, Miami and Buffalo. Kent State lost to all of them on the road. Ohio and Buffalo were fairly close; Miami was by the largest margin in KSU’s conference schedule. Miami is in first in the MAC, Ohio second and Buffalo fourth. All have RPIs in the top 50 (of 351) in the country. Kent’s RPI is 81.

The Flashes should be underdogs in all three games. But at home, they could win any or all.

Kent State is 7-5, tied for fifth in the MAC and own the tie-breaker for the fifth seed in the MAC Tournament. The first four seeds get byes to the quarterfinals at Quicken Loans Arena. The next four host the first round of the tournament on campus sites.

The Flashes are a game behind fourth-place Buffalo. The teams have almost identical schedules, though KSU plays its key games at home. Buffalo plays at Ohio and Kent State and home against Miami.

The teams KSU is tied with — NIU and Toledo — play in the weaker  Western Division. Both have to play at 9-3 Central Michigan and play each other at Toledo. The Rockets play 10-2 Miami at home Saturday. So both are likely to lose at least two games.

In some ways, the season reminds me of two years ago, when Kent State was also 7-5 at this point and won all six of its final games and the MAC East title. No one expected that. I don’t think anyone expects it this season. Ohio, Miami and Buffalo are all substantially better teams than they were that season. Is KSU better? The Flashes have much less experience, no star like Larissa Lurken but probably more overall talent..

How do we make sense of that? We really can’t. It’s more than a cliche this season: This season will be decided on the court.

Wednesday Kent State travels to Western Michigan, which Kent State held on in the fourth quarter to win 55-51 in Kent 10 days ago.

Here’s the preview:

The game

Kent State (7-5 MAC, 14-9 overall) at Western Michigan (2-10, 8-15) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at University Arena.

WHAT’S AT STAKE: It’s a game Kent State needs to win to stay in the running for a good seed in the tournament. Western is mired in 10th place and is playing for pride. It will be Western’s third game in five days. They lost 77-64 at Northern Illinois Monday in a game rescheduled because of snowstorm a few weeks ago.

PLAY4KAY (again): The game is Western’s “Play4Kay” game to support research into women’s cancer. Kent State just had its game Saturday.

WHAT COACH TODD STARKEY IS SAYING: Pretty much what he’s been saying for the last month:”Any win this time of year is really big.  Everybody needs to understand is how good this league is.”

(How good? The MAC has the seventh highest RPI of the 31 leagues in Division I. Seven teams have RPIs in the top 100. Both are the best ever for the conference. Rankings are from WarrenNolan.com.)

About Western Michigan

IN THE MAC: Tenth at 2-10. Has beaten only the two teams below it in the standings, Bowling Green and Ball State. Took fourth-place Buffalo to overtime.

(I use full league standings because seedings are determined solely on the conference record. Where a team finishes in its division means nothing.)

RPI: 266 of 351 teams, lowest in the MAC. Schedule strength: 227. Home record: 2-8. Has lost five in a row.

LAST GAME: Lost 70-56 at Ohio on Saturday.

KEY TEAM STATS (conference statistics only)

• Scores 60.8 points a game, last in MAC. Opponents score 71.2 (eighth).
• Field goal percentage: 40.5 (ninth). Field goal defense: 42.8 (ninth).
• Three-point percentage: 32.0 (ninth). Three-point baskets per game: 7.7 (fifth). Three-point defense: 29.3 (second).
• Rebounding margin: Minus-8.8 (last). Turnover margin: Minus-2.6 (10th).

KEY PLAYERS

• 5-foot-7 senior point guard Deja Wimby (12.9 points per game) Rebounds: 6.7. Assists: 4.1. Steals: 1.6.
• 6-foot sophomore forward Leighah-Amori Wool (12.1 points). Rebounds: 4.8.
• 5-7 junior guard Kamrin Read (11.0 points). Three-point percentage: 37.5.

Kent State

IN THE MAC: Tied for fifth with Northern Illinois and Toledo at 7-5, one game behind Buffalo and three-and-a-half games behind first-place Miami.

RPI: 81. Schedule strength: 89. Road record: 5-7. Has won four of last five games.

LAST GAME: Beat Bowling Green 77-73 in Kent on Saturday.

KEY TEAM STATS (conference games only)

• 68.1 points a game (eighth in MAC). Opponents average 66.0  (third).
• Field goal percentage: 38.2 (last). Field goal defense: 40.4 (third).
• Three-point percentage: 35.0 (third). Three-point baskets per game: 7.5 (sixth). Three-point defense: 34.0 (ninth).
• Rebounding margin: Plus-0.7 (fifth). Turnover margin: Plus-1.8  (fourth)
• Blocked shots: 3.9 (first). Steals: 9.1 (third).

KEY PLAYER STATS

• 5-7 redshirt junior guard Megan Carter: 16.8 points, ninth in MAC. Field-goal percentage: 41.9 (10th). Three-point percentage: 40.5 (sixth). Free-throw percentage: 74.6  (seventh).
• 5-4 freshman point guard Asiah Dingle: 13.5 points (17th). Free-throw percentage: 81.0 (fifth). Steals: 2.3 (sixth).
• 6-0 junior guard Ali Poole: 10.2 points. Three-point percentage: 38.9 (eighth).
• 6-2 freshman forward Lindsay Thall: 9.8 points. Three-point percentage: 45.9 (fourth). Blocked shots: 1.8 (tied for first). Rebounds: 5.3.
• 5-9 senior guard Alexa Golden: 9.8 points. Three-point percentage: 37.0 (16th). Steals: 3.4 (first). Assists: 3.1 (14th). Blocks: 0.8 (11th). Rebounds: 6.4 (14th).

THE BOTTOM LINE: A game Kent State needs to and ought to win. But it was too close when Flashes beat Western in Kent. Flashes will need more than one good half.

To follow the game

The game starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday at University Arena at Western Michigan University. It’s about a four-and-a-half hour drive. Here are directions from the WMU website. Tickets are $4 to $8. Average Western attendance is 671, ninth in the MAC.

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

Video is through ESPN+, which costs $4.99 a month. The service covers about 50 percent of KSU basketball games (the rest are broadcast elsewhere), other games and features. 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 WMU website.

Links

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

Western Michigan website, including links.

MAC conference-only statistics, including link to full-season stats.

MAC standings

 

Kent State President Beverly Warren, who’s about 5 feet tall, between 6-4 women’s coach Todd Starkey (right) and 6-6 assistant Mike McKee during National Anthem at team’s “Play4Kay” game Saturday. Game honors women’s cancer survivors like Warren. 

 

After four quarters so different it seemed as if Kent State and Bowling Green had played four games, it came down to freshman Asiah Dingle.

The score was 73-73 with fewer than 10 seconds to go. Dingle, the Flashes’ ultimate drive-to-the-basket player, had the ball at the top of the key. Other KSU played cleared the foul lane and Dingle took off, going around one player and drawing a foul five seconds left.

She made both fouls shots, the Flashes forced a turnover on BG’s last chance, and Megan Carter hit two more free throws to end the game.

“We wanted to make them defend us without fouling,” coach Todd Starkey said. After a lot of foul calls had gone against the Flashes in the fourth quarter, “We wanted to give the officials have the same opportunity to call the same fouls for us.

“So we wanted to get Asiah to the basket. If they don’t collapse on her, she finishes or draws the foul. If they do, we have a shooter in the corner ready for her to kick it.

“It was kind of the parting of the Red Sea. They stayed on the other shooters and Asiah got the foul. Percentage-wise she’s our best free-throw shooter, so we’re comfortable with her in that situation.”

As she always does, Dingle took the ball from the official at the line and almost in the same motion, shot it. “Don’t want to get all anxious about it,” she said.

Dingle finished with 21 points, her second-highest total of the year. She also had five steals and four assists.

Dingle led four KSU players in double figures. Ali Poole had 17 and a critical steal in the fourth quarter, Carter scored 16 with four assists and Lindsey Thall had 12.

Kent State is now 7-5 in MAC and tied for fifth in the conference. BG is 1-11 and 8-15.

The game’s tight ending came after four quarters of crazy swings. In the game’s first six minutes, the teams combined to make nine of 13 three-point shots. By the end of the quarter, it was 25-19 Kent. The Flashes had six assists and outscored BG 7-0 off turnovers. (KSU committed none all quarter.)

But in the second quarter, BG forced eight Kent State turnovers and outscored KSU 13-2 off of them. The Falcons made four-of-six three-point attempts and six-of-11 shots overall. Kent made three-of-11 field goal tries.

So at halftime, it was 40-38 Bowling Green.

The third quarter swung the other way. The Flashes outscored BG 20-8, outscoring the Falcons 6-0 off turnovers and hold them to three-of-11 shooting. KSU made nine of its 18 shots. Key was a defensive adjustment after Bowling Green made seven-of-13 three-pointers in the first half.

“We were helping on drives, but they weren’t really driving to score,” Starkey said. “They were driving to kick out to three-point shooters, and it gave them so many open looks. So we said, ‘Stay on the shooters,’ and they weren’t able to get as many.”

Kent State led by as many as 13 points halfway through the fourth quarter, then the momentum swung back to BG. Kent missed four shots and committed two turnovers as Bowling Green went on an 11-0 run and tied the game at 71 with 1:54 to play.

“We had really good looks,” Dingle said. “They just didn’t go down. But we hung in there.”

In the huddle, Carter said, the word was, ‘Don’t get down on ourselves. Keep playing — the next play, then the next play. We’re fine. ‘”

With just over a minute left in the game, Poole knocked the ball away from BG senior Sydney Lambert and drove three-quarters of the court for a layup. It was 73-71 KSU.

“We needed that one so bad,” Starkey said. “We just needed something to go our way. It was a huge, huge individual play by Ali.”

Dingle the thief

Dingle had five steals for the third time this season and, just as important, committed only two fouls. She’s fought foul trouble throughout the season. What gave her the steals?

“They were just dribbling it in front of them,” she said.

“She has phenomenal timing,” Starkey said. “We’ve been trying to coach her to pick her spots so she’s not getting fouls in areas where it doesn’t make a difference. But in areas that it does, she can time the dribble. And if they expose it, I have a lot of confidence in her being able to steal the ball without fouling.”

Dingle averages 2.3 steals in MAC games, sixth in the conference.

In first is teammate Alexa Golden at 3.4, which is 0.6 ahead of the rest of the league. Golden had four steals Saturday, the seventh time in 12 league games she’s had four or more.

As a team, Kent had 13 steals Saturday, its high for the conference season and tied for second for the year.

Box score

Notes

• The win ties Kent State with Toledo and Northern Illinois for fifth place in the MAC, one game behind Buffalo. The Flashes beat NIU and Toledo earlier in the season and therefore would get the fifth seed in the league tournament if the teams tied.
• Team’s 14th win is one more than Flashes won all last season with at least seven games to play.
• Kent State made 26 of 67 shots for 38.8 percent, about its season average. Buffalo was 22 of 44 for 50 percent, 9 points above its average and 10 points above Kent’s defensive average.
• But the Flashes took an astounding 23 more shots than BG because of a 23-15 turnover advantage and a 12-3 edge in offensive rebounding. KSU had 13 second-chance points to Bowling Green’s four.
• Kent State had 13 assists on its 26 baskets. When the Flashes get more than 10 assists, they seem to play much better.
• The game was KSU’s “Play4Kay” event to support women’s cancer research and to honor cancer survivors. After KSU’s starting lineup was announced, seniors Golden and Merissa Barber-Smith went into the stands to hand Kent State President Beverly Warren a bouquet. Warren, a breast cancer survivor, also stood with the team during the National Anthem.
• Attendance was announced at 1,660, second highest of the season.

Kent State travels to Western Michigan Wednesday. The Flashes built a big lead against Western last week and held on for a 55-51 win.

Around the MAC

• Central Michigan (9-3 MAC, 18-6 overall) 100, Buffalo (8-4, 16-7) 95 at Buffalo.
• Northern Illinois (7-5, 15-9) 54, Toledo (7-5, 15-8) 52 at Northern.
• Ohio (10-3, 21-3) 70, Western Michigan (2-9, 8-14) 56 at Ohio.
• Miami (10-2, 19-4) 67, Akron (5-7, 14-9) 61 at Akron.
• Eastern Michigan (4-8, 11-12) 56, Ball State (2-10, 7-17) 53 at Eastern.

Miami still leads the league at 10-2. Ohio is second at 10-3, Central third at 9-3 and Buffalo fourth at 8-4.

MAC standings

 

 

In National Play4Kay competition among women’s programs, fans pledge money for each free throw a team makes in February. Link to Kent State donation page.

The game

Bowling Green (1-10 MAC, 8-14 overall) at Kent State (6-5 MAC, 13-9 overall), 5 p.m. Saturday at M.A.C. Center. Game is first of a doubleheaders with KSU men, who play a half hour after women finish. One ticket gets you in both games.

WHAT’S AT STAKE: Bowling Green has won just one MAC game, but it was quite a game. The Falcons broke a 10-game losing streak (all in the league) Wednesday with a 78-72 upset of Buffalo, the second-place team in the conference and No. 31 (of 351 teams) in the latest RPI rankings. BG will be hungry for a second win. Kent State needs to win games like this in order to keep challenging for a first-division finish in the MAC.

PLAY4KAY: The  game is Kent State’s annual “Play4Kay” game to support research against women’s cancers. Players and coaches wear pink (shoes, warmups, ties, etc.) and the team takes donations. Cancer survivors and their families are honored. The team is also taking part in the Play4Kay Free Throw Challenge, in which a donation is made for every foul shot the team makes in February. (Details in caption above.) Game is named for Kay Yow, a Hall of Fame coach at North Carolina State who fought three occurrences of cancer before dying in 2009. About Play4Kay.

WHAT COACH TODD STARKEY IS SAYING: “We’re still struggling with our consistency —  game-to-game, sometimes quarter-to-quarter. You can take that as frustrating, or look at it as a positive since we’re 13-9 and No. 81 in the RPI and we still haven’t played our best basketball yet.

“Bowling Green will come in with a heightened sense of confidence. They’re a good team that’s continued to improve throughout the season. They play really hard and have enough shooters to make it interesting against anybody.”

(As quoted by Allen Moff in Record-Courier.)

About Bowling Green

IN THE MAC: Last at 1-10. Only win was Wednesday against Buffalo at BG.

(I use full league standings because seedings are determined solely on the conference record. Where a team finishes in its division means nothing.)

RPI: 210 of 351 teams. Schedule strength: 121. Road record: 2-8. Besides Buffalo, best win was 61-60 at home against 13-8 Robert Morris, which currently leads the Northeastern Conference with an 11-0 record. Kent State beat RMU 54-46 in December.

LAST GAME: Beat Buffalo 78-72. Kent lost at Buffalo 75-66 a week ago.

KEY TEAM STATS (conference games only)

• Scores 68.1 points a game, seventh in MAC. Opponents score 78.3 (11th).
• Field goal percentage: 40.8 (eighth). Field goal defense: 44.8 (last).
• Three-point percentage: 32.2 (eighth). Three-point baskets per game: 7.9 (third). Three-point defense: 36.1 (10th).
• Rebounding margin: Minus-1.1 (seventh). Turnover margin: Minus-3.4 (11th).

COACH: In her first year at BG is Robyn Fralick, who was enormously successful at Ashland. Her teams went 104-3 in three years, won Division II Tournament in 2016-17 and was runner-up last season.

KEY PLAYERS

• 6-1 junior wing Andrea Cecil (15.0 points per game,13th in MAC).  Field goal percent: 41.5, (10th). Three-point percentage: 36.4. Rebounds: 5.5.
• 5-9 freshman guard Morgan McMillen (11.2 points). Three-point percentage: 32.6 Three-pointers per game: 2.5 (seventh). Takes 7.8 three-point shots a game. McMillen went through the non-conference as MAC’s highest-scoring freshman but has cooled during league play.
• 5-8 senior guard Sidney Lambert (12.8 points). Assists: 3.8. Rebounds: 4.8.
• 5-9 freshman guard Kadie Kempfling (8.2 rebounds, seventh in MAC. 4.9 points).

Kent State

IN THE MAC: Tied for sixth with Northern Illinois at 6-5, one game behind Toledo, one game ahead of Akron, and three games behind first-place Miami.

RPI: 81. Schedule strength: 74. Home record: 8-2. Has won three of last four games.

LAST GAME: Won at Eastern Michigan 67-54 on Wednesday.

KEY TEAM STATS (conference games only)

• 67.3 points a game (eighth in MAC). Opponents average 65.4  (third).
• Field goal percentage: 38.2 (tied for last). Field goal defense: 39.7 (second).
• Three-point percentage: 34.9 (fourth). Three-point baskets per game: 7.34 (sixth). Three-point defense: 32.7 (sixth).
• Rebounding margin: Plus-0.4 (fifth). Turnover margin: Plus-1.7  (fifth)
• Blocked shots: 4.18 (first). Steals: 8.73 (third).

KEY PLAYER STATS

• 5-9 senior guard Alexa Golden: 10.1 points. Steals: 3.4 (first in MAC). Three-point percentage: 39.6 (10th). Assists: 3.1 (15th). Blocks: 0.9 (ninth). Rebounds: 6.4 (14th). She had Kent State’s first double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds against Eastern Michigan.
• 5-7 redshirt junior guard Megan Carter: 16.8 points, ninth in MAC. Field-goal percentage: 41.9 (ninth). Three-point percentage: 42.1 (sixth). Free-throw percentage: 72.6  (fifth).
• 5-4 freshman point guard Asiah Dingle: 12.8 points (19th). Free-throw percentage: 78.8 (third) . Steals: 2.1 (sixth).
• 6-2 freshman forward Lindsay Thall: 9.5 points. Three-point percentage: 45.5 (fourth). Blocked shots: 1.9 (tied for first). Rebounds: 5.3.
• 6-0 junior guard Ali Poole: 9.5 points, 4.2 rebounds.

THE BOTTOM LINE: On paper and at home, Kent State is clear favorite. If BG plays anywhere near the way they did against Buffalo, though, things will get interesting.

To follow the game

The game starts at 5 p.m. Saturday at the M.A.C. Center. It’s the first game of a doubleheader with the KSU men, who play Eastern Michigan a half hour after the women finish. A $5 women’s general admission ticket or any men’s ticket gets you into both games. Average Kent State attendance is 1,329, seventh in the MAC and highest in at least 15 years.

Audio starts at about 4:45 p.m. on Golden Flash iHeart Radio. Jacob Pavilack is the announcer.

Video is through ESPN Plus, which costs $4.99 a month. The service covers about 50 percent of KSU basketball games (the rest are broadcast elsewhere) and other games and features. 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. David Wilson is play-by-play announcer.

Live statistics are available through the Kent State website.

Links

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

Bowling Green website, including links.

MAC conference game statistics, including link to full-season stats.

MAC standings

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The game starts at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Alumni Arena at the University of Buffalo. It’s about a three-and-a-half hour drive from Kent. Here are directions from the Eastern website. General admission tickets are $5. Average Buffalo attendance is 1,856, fifth in the MAC.

Video is through ESPN3. You need a subscription to ESPN on your cable or satellite system or through the ESPN app.

Links

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

Detailed media notes from Kent State.

Preview from Eastern Michigan website, including links.

Media notes from Eastern Michigan.

 

 

 

 

 

Alexa Golden led Kent State at Eastern Michigan with 17 points. She also had 10 rebounds and four steals. Golden leads the MAC in steals in conference games only and is fourth in all games. (File photo from KSU website.)

It wasn’t quite the complete game coach Todd Starkey had been wanting, but the Flashes put up their second-largest scoring margin of the MAC season, winning at Eastern Michigan 67-54.

For senior guard Alexa Golden, however, it was a most complete game.

Golden scored 17 points, all in the first half, had 10 rebounds, four steals, two assists and two blocked shots.

The victory takes Kent State to 6-5 and a tie with Northern Illinois for sixth place in the Mid-American Conference. Overall the Flashes are 13-9 — as many wins as the team had all last season with at least eight games to go. Eastern Michigan is 3-8 in the MAC and 10-12 overall.

“We did some good things tonight,” Starkey said. “But Alexa was the only one who played well from start to finish.

“So much of what Lex does goes unnoticed by the common fan — her toughness, her communication on defense. A couple of times in the game she’s out there with four freshmen, and she’s directing traffic and making sure everybody knows where to go and what to do.”

Golden’s 17 points in the first half were the best 20 minutes of scoring in her career. Her high for a game is 22.

“If they’re not going to guard me from the three-point line, I’m going to shoot it,” she said in a radio interview with David Wilson on Golden Flash iHeart Radio.

Golden made three-of-five three-pointers Wednesday and leads the team in three-point percentage at 39.8. She also leads the team and the MAC in steals per conference game and leads KSU in assists. Golden is second in rebounding and blocked shots for the Flashes.

“She’s been a warrior for us every year,” Starkey said. “This year she’s a senior playing with a lot of confidence.”

Defense has always been Golden’s speciality, and her team held Eastern to its third-lowest point total of the MAC season. It also was the ninth team KSU has held a team to 54 points or fewer. The Flashes limited Danielle Minott, EMU’s leading scorer and a preseason all-MAC West selection, to five points.

“We wanted to get her in foul trouble,” Golden said. “And it was just, ‘Move our feet, stay in front of her and make her take tough shots.'”

Minott picked up three fouls in the first half, finished with four fouls and made two-of-eight shots.

Key to playing the Eagles, Golden said, was attacking them offensively and defensively.

“You can’t be passive,” she said. “You have to be the aggressors. And we came out tonight and were the aggressors, although in the third quarter we fell back a little bit. But we got it back on track.”

Starkey wasn’t happy with the team’s play in that quarter, when Eastern outscored KSU 16-15 and outrebounded the Flashes 13-8 (5-0 on offensive rebounds). And he really didn’t like the way KSU started the game.

Kent State give up four steals in the first quarter and had seven turnovers. The Flashes missed six of its first nine shots.

“We’re still having to overcome ourselves,” the coach said. “We’re searching for that complete team effort from start to finish. You could say that some of your best players don’t have their best games and we still won on the road by 13.

“At times we look really good in games, and other times in the same game we look like a completely different team.

“I was proud of the way we played through some of that early sloppiness. We had some moments that we played some really good basketball. But if the goal is to get to the top of the league, we’ve got to continue to improve. This conference is unforgiving, and every game down the stretch is going to be huge.”

Box score

Notes

• Three Kent players scored in double figures besides Golden. Megan Carter had 12, Asiah Dingle 11 and Lindsey Thall 10. It was the fifth time this season four Flashes have scored in double figures. Ali Poole just missed being the fifth with eight points. KSU hasn’t had five players score in double figures since 2010. Poole also had eight rebounds.
• The win was KSU’s second over EMU this season; the Flashes won the first 71-64 on Jan. 5. Under Starkey, Kent has beaten the Eagles all six times it has played them. Before that, the team had lost 11 in a row.
• Kent State made 41 percent of its field goals, about 3 points above its average, and 40 percent of its three-point attempts, 5 points better. Eastern made 32.8 percent of its shots, 5 points below its average and 6 points below KSU’s defensive average.
• Each team committed 16 turnovers, with Eastern outscored the Flashes 19-11 off of them.
• KSU outrebounded Eastern for the game 41-37. Golden’s double-double was Kent’s first of the season.

Kent State hosts Bowling Green at 5 p.m. Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader with the KSU men, who play Eastern Michigan at about 7:30.

(An earlier version of this story said Golden had nine rebounds. The unofficial statistics during the game were changed in the final box story.)

Around the MAC

Bowling Green won its first league game Wednesday, and it was quite an upset. The Falcons (1-10 MAC, 8-14 overall) beat second-place Buffalo 78-72 at BG. Bowling Green made 61 percent of its shots in the first half and 57 percent for the game. Buffalo is 8-3 and 16-6 and has the 31st-best RPI of Division I’s 351 teams. BG’s RPI is 210. Kent State’s is 82.

Another surprise came in Toledo, where the Rockets routed first-place Ohio 76-50. Toledo is 7-4 (15-7 overall) and in fifth place in the MAC, a game ahead of Kent State. Ohio slipped to a tie for second at 9-3 and is 20-3 overall.

Miami claimed first place for the first time this season with a 70-45 win over NIU. The Redhawks are 9-2 and 18-4 overall. Northern is 6-5 and 14-9.

Other scores:

Central Michigan (8-3, 17-6) 87, Western Michigan (2-8, 8-13) 53.

Akron (5-6, 14-5) 91, Ball State (2-9, 7-16) 61.

Miami is in first at 9-2, Ohio second at 9-3, Central and Buffalo tied for third at 8-3. Toledo is fifth at 7-4 with Kent State and NIU tied for sixth at 6-5. Akron follows at 5-6, then Eastern at 3-8, Western at 2-9, Ball State at 2-9 and BG at 1-10.

Complete standings.

 

Casey Santoro and family at the M.A.C.C. (Photo from her Twitter feed.)

Kent State has received its first class of 2020 verbal commitment from Casey Santoro, a 5-4 guard from Bellevue who was first-team all-state as a sophomore. She tweeted earlier this month that she planned to join the Flashes.

Santoro averages 22.5 points a game and leads the Sandusky Bay Conference in scoring. Earlier this season she scored 40 points in a game, connecting on 10 three-point shots. Her team is 16-2 and ranked sixth in the state in Division II. Santoro averaged 19 points a game as a sophomore and was district player of the year.

Casey is the sister of Carly Santoro, who was Bowling Green’s best player for three years, then graduated early and transferred to Ohio State. She’s currently a starter there. The Santoro sisters’ father, Kory, is Bellevue’s head girls coach.

The Sandusky Register reported that Casey received the offer from Kent State after the Classic in the Country Tournament in Berlin, Ohio, in January. (The rest of this post except for the last paragraph is from the Register story by Sarah Baker with some small editing.)

Santoro’s father said KSU coach Todd Starkey “was impressed with the way she played against some of the taller guards that were already committed to Division I for Aurora.

“He had been watching her for a while, but he just needed to see her play with her high school team.”

Coach Santoro said he believes Casey was impressed with the Kent State coaching staff.

“The coaching staff is off the charts,” he said. “I’ve known coach Starkey for a couple years. He came in after Kent State had a losing record; he came in the next year and won a MAC championship in his first year there.

“He’s a very good coach and he has a great staff. Kent has a great point guard coach (assistant Morgan Toles, who started at point for Florida State and Auburn), so I know Casey’s excited.”

Kent State coaches can’t comment on a recruit until she signs an official letter of intent, which can’t happen until November.