Katie Shumate didn’t start for the first time this season but had 13 points at Toledo Saturday. (File photo from KentWired’s Savannah Monks.)
The report card on Kent State’s 69-60 loss to Toledo didn’t look any better than final score. The Flashes only hit two benchmarks, and a huge negative margin on foul shots made most other categories a minor factor
GAME STORY: Weak second half, 26-6 deficit in free throws made the difference
Toledo 69, Kent State 60
Score 70 points on offense: 60. Toledo’s deliberate play made it a low-scoring game. So did Kent State’s 11-point third quarter. NOT ACHIEVED.
Hold opponent under 70: 69. ACHIEVED, just. But without a win.
Make 40% of shots: 39.3. NOT QUITE ACHIEVED.
Hold opponent under 40%: 42.2. Not terrible, but NOT ACHIEVED.
Outscore opponent by five on free throws: It was 26-6 in favor of Toledo. That’s the worst margin since Todd Starkey became coach four years ago. Second worst I could find was negative 15. Third was negative 10. Kent State has outscored its opponents in four shooting in 80 of Starkey’s 120 games. Bad officiating Saturday? Maybe in part. But Toledo was more aggressive than Kent State, especially on rebounding. NOT ACHIEVED.
Outscore opponent by five points off turnovers: It was 16-4 Kent State, which partially offset the foul shooting disparity. But it was jus 4-2 in the second half, when Toledo outscored the Flashes to pull away. Kent did have a season-low seven turnovers. Toledo had 17. ACHIEVED.
Have 14 assists: Eight on 24 baskets. Not a good total, not a good percentage of assisted baskets, not a good enough shooting percentage to make up for it. NOT ACHIEVED.
Get 10 points from the bench: 27. But that was because regular starters Katie Shumate (13 points) and Megan Carter (12 points) came off the bench. ACHIEVED with a big asterisk.
BOTTOM LINE: We’ll hope the foul disparity was a fluke. Assists have been a problem all season. Scoring was seven points below Flashes’ average. Game grade, especially the second half, was probably a D.
Around the MAC
Central Michigan finished the first half of the MAC season a perfect 9-0. This week the Chippewas beat Buffalo 92-90 in overtime in Mt. Pleasant. It was CMU’s second victory of the season over East-leading Ohio — by a total of three points. Central is three ahead of second-place Ohio and Ball State. But as dominant as the Chipps have been in the win column, they’ve won only two conference games by more than eight points.
Central star Micaela Kelly scored just 10 points, her lowest of the season and 13 off her average. But she had 12 assists (and 10 turnovers). Junior forward Kyra Bussell had a career-high 33 points; freshman guard Molly Davis had 23. Ohio guard Cierra Hooks had 35 points without making a 3-point basket.
In another overtime game, Akron beat Eastern Michigan 88-81 in Akron. Five Akron players scored in double figures, led by senior forward Haliegh Reinoehl with 19 and senior guard Alyssa Clay with 17. Clay had five 3-point baskets for the second game in a row. Eastern sophomore guard Juanita Agosto led five Eagles in double figures with a career-high 21 points.
Two games didn’t go to overtime but were just as close.
Ally May hit a layup with 4.9 second to go to give Northern Illinois a 64-63 upset over Buffalo at NIU. Senior forward Courtney Woods and junior guard Gabby Nikitinate had 17 points for Northern. Dyaisha Fair had 23 for Buffalo, which has lost three of four games.
Ball State freshman guard Estel Puiggros hit two free throws in the last 20 seconds to help the Cardinals hold off Western Michigan 68-65 in Muncie. Senior Jasmin Samz had 19 to lead Ball State. WMU graduate transfer Chelyane Bailey had 18 points.
Miami had four players score in double figures, led by freshman guard Peyton Scott’s 23, to lead the Redhawks to an 80-59 win at Bowling Green. Angela Perry had 23 points for BG but was the only Falcon in double figures.
Miami won another home game Monday, beating Western 70-67 in a game postponed from last Wednesday. Western had forced the postponement in a small panic over two possible off-campus cases of coronavirus. They turned out not to be that infection.
The ‘golf’ standings
Miami’s win at Bowling Green was the only road victory Saturday, so the Redhawks were the only team to gain in the “golf” standings.
They give a team -1 for a road win (a “birdie”) and adds a point for a home loss (a “bogey.” A home win or road loss gets zero (“par”).
-5
- Central Michigan (9-0, 16-4)
-1
- Ball State (6-3, 14-7)
- Ohio (6-3, 13-7)
- Eastern Michigan (5-4, 10-10)
Even
- Toledo (5-3, 10-9)
- Kent State (4-4, 11-4)
- Buffalo (4-5, 13-7)
- Western Michigan (4-5, 11-9)
+1
- Miami (3-6, 10-11)
+2
- Akron (3-6, 10-10)
- Northern Illinois (2-6, 6-13)
+3
- Bowling Green (1-7, 8-12)