Junior Monique Smith always greets the Kent State starters as they’re announced and leads them when they huddle immediately afterwards. (Photo by David Dermer from team Twitter feed.)
Scoring 87 points and winning by 19 against a good MAC opponent is worth an A on any report card. Other numbers back that up: The Flashes met benchmarks in seven of eight categories for the first time this season.
GAME STORY: Flashes best offensive games moves it into fourth place in MAC.
Kent State 87, Toledo 68
Score 70 points on offense: 87. Tied for their most in four years in MAC play. ACHIEVED and then some.
Hold opponent under 70: 68. Not as good as recent games, but ACHIEVED.
Make 40% of shots: 49.3. Second best in MAC play, third best of the season. ACHIEVED.
Hold opponent under 40%: 39.7, Close but still ACHIEVED.
Outscore opponent by five on free throws: The one benchmark not achieved. It was Toledo 13 out of 13, Kent 12 out of 15. Still far better than Toledo’s 26-6 margin the first time the teams played. NOTACHIEVED.
Outscore opponent by five points off turnovers: In a big, big way. Kent State 30, Toledo 4. ACHIEVED.
Have 14 assists: On the dot. 14 on 33 baskets, led by Asiah Dingle’s six. ACHIEVED.
Get 10 points from the bench: A season-high 29, led by Dingl’e 22. ACHIEVED.
BOTTOM LINE: A clear A.
Around the MAC
Akron, Ohio, Ball State and Western Michigan all won on the road.
Akron knocked off Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti 64-53 and knocked the Eagles out of fourth place in the regular standings. Kent State’s win over Toledo leaves it alone in fourth in regular standings and tied with Eastern in the “golf” standings, which emphasize winning on the road and not losing at home.
But Toledo, Eastern, Kent State and Western Michigan are all within a game of each other in the race for the last bye in the conference tournament.
Akron held Eastern to two of 16 shooting in the fourth quarter in its victory. Senior forward Haliegh Reinoehl had 13 points for the Zips, including the 1,000th of her career. Shaunay Edmunds, who scored her 1,000th in January, led Akron with 15 points. Areanna Combs had 23 for the Eagles.
Ball State sent Buffalo to its fifth straight defeat with a 69-58 win. Buffalo, picked as the third best MAC team in the preseason coaches’ poll, hasn’t lost five in a row since 2016. Sophomore guard Thelma Dis Agustdottir led Ball State with a career-high 26 points.
Ohio’s 84-70 win at Miami was its third victory in a row. Erica Johnson led five Bobcats in double figures with 23 points. Johnson leads the MAC in scoring in conference play at 21.4 points a game. Lauren Dickerson had 16 for Miami, which has lost three in a row after winning three in a row.
Central Michigan ran its unbeaten record to 12-0 with an 82-75 win over last-place Bowling Green at home. Central lost its first three games of the season to good opponents. Since then, the Chippewas are 19-1. Kyra Bussell hit five 3-point baskets and scored 23 points to lead CMU. Angela Perry had 19 points and 10 rebounds for BG.
Western Michigan got 18 points and 11 rebounds from Breanna Mobley and edged Northern Illinois 68-65 in DeKalb. The game saw five ties and six lead changes. Courtney Woods had 18 points for NIU.
BEST WEDNESDAY GAMES: Toledo at Ohio, Kent State at Central Michigan.
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”).
-6
- Central Michigan (12-0, 19-4)
-3
- Ball State (9-3, 17-7)
- Ohio (9-3, 16-7)
-1
- Kent State (7-5, 14-9)
- Eastern Michigan (7-6, 12-12)
Even
- Western Michigan (6-6, 13-10)
- Toledo (6-6, 11-12)
+2
- Buffalo (4-8, 13-10)
- Akron (4-8, 11-12)
- Northern Illinois (3-8, 7-15)
+3
- Miami (4-9, 11-14)
+5
- Bowling Green (1-11, 8-16)