Lindsey Thall takes aim at the basket against Ohio State last season. She scored 32 points in KSU’s75-65 loss.
As fast as games can disappear in this COVID-19 basketball season, a new one can appear.
Kent State announced Monday morning that it would play its first game of the year 48 hours later.
So the Flashes will open their 2020-21 season at noon Wednesday against Ohio State in Columbus. The game will be on BTN+, the Big Ten’s paid streaming service. Here’s link to broadcast. Details on how to sign up are in the “Notes” section below.
“We are excited about finally playing,” Kent State coach Todd Starkey told Allen Moff of the Record-Courier. “I’m not sure what we’ll look like on only three days of practice. Ohio State is a very talented team. I think they have a chance to win the Big Ten this year.”
Junior point guard Mariah Modkins put it like this in an interview: “We’re just excited to touch the ball, honestly, and get up and down the floor.”
Modkins said the fall on campus has been tough, but the key has been “just being able to go with the flow.“
“Everything is up in the air,” she said. “You never know from day to day, honestly from hour to hour. So just being ready to do whatever is one of the most important things.”
Modkins the team’s pause in practice because of COVID “kind of sucked.“
“We were so close,” she said (just 10 days before their first game after having been able to practice all fall). “We’re ready to go now. Everybody’s excited.”
It will be the second game between KSU and Ohio State in two years and the second in 39 years. The Buckeyes beat the Flashes 75-65 at the M.A.C. Center last season before the biggest women’s crowd (4,272) in Kent State history. Before then, the teams hadn’t met since 1981.
Like Kent State, OSU had its first game — against Akron — canceled last week because of COVID-related issues (on the Zips team). The Flashes had their first game — at Northern Kentucky — canceled after COVID issues in Kent.
The Buckeyes played their first game Sunday, beating Duquesne 82-47. The Flashes are scheduled to play Duquesne of the Atlantic 10 on Dec. 21.
Ohio State started the season ranked 20th in the country and moved up to 19th with the Duquesne win. The Buckeyes have five starters back from last season’s team, which went 21-12 and tied for fifth in the Big Ten.
Top starter is 6-4 senior forward Dorka Juhasz, an all-Big Ten selection last season. She averaged 13.2 points and 9.4 rebounds last season and made 40 three-point shots last season. She had 10 points and 12 rebounds in 23 minutes against Duquesne.
Guard Jacy Sheldon led the Buckeyes in that game with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Guard Braxtin Miller had 16 points, including two of OSU’s three 3-point baskets.
Ohio State outrebounded Duquesne 52-37 even though the Dukes have a 6-4 center and two other 6-2 starters.
Duquesne coach Dan Burt after the game said his team had been able to have only six or seven full practices all fall while Ohio State hadn’t had any kind of shutdown. “It was like lions waiting for their meat, and unfortunately today we were that meat,” he told pittsburghsportsnow.com.
Kent State also likely will start a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 front line. The 6-4 center is Linsey Marchese, a transfer from Indiana who will be playing her first game for KSU. She would have played against Ohio State two years ago.
Kent’s 6-2 forwards are junior Lindsey Thall, who set a school record by making eight 3-point baskets against Ohio State last season, and Nila Blackford, an all-MAC freshman team member last season who led the Flashes in rebounding.
Kent State will look different at guard, where starter Megan Carter graduated, leading scorer Asiah Dingle transferred, and second-leading scorer Katie Shumate is injured.
Kent State’s pregame media notes list Marchese, Thall, Blackford, Modkins and Hannah Young as probable starters.
Modkins started 13 games at point guard last season; Young started four and guard. Also expect sophomore guard Clare Kelly and sophomore wing Annie Pavlansky, along with 5-4 freshman guard Casey Santoro and 6-4 freshman center Lexi Jackson, to see considerable action.
That’s if everyone is healthy, and this year, that’s never guaranteed for any team.
Notes
• The game will at the Covelli Center, the new 3,700-seat home of Ohio State’s volleyball, gymnastics, wrestling and fencing teams. No fans will be allowed; Columbus and Franklin County are under the state’s highest “purple” COVID rating.
• Best price to watch the game on BTN+ is to buy a $7.95 monthly pass for Ohio State games only. It will be renewed automatically every month, so cancel after the game if you don’t want to watch more Buckeye sports. You can buy a season pass for OSU events for $79.95. You’ll get Ohio State men’s and women’s basketball games that aren’t shown on the Big Ten Network, plus sports like gymnastics, baseball and softball. You can also subscribe to get all sports from all Big Ten Schools or all of the Big Ten’s games in a single sport like women’s basketball.
Other key links
- Kent State audio stream, announced by David Wilson.
- Live game statistics from Ohio State website.
- Preview from Kent State website and KSU game notes.
- Preview from Ohio State website and OSU game notes.
KSU’s home opener is Saturday vs. Ohio U.
Kent State’s second game, assuming no COVID problems, will be Saturday against Ohio University at the M.A.C. Center. Tipoff is at 2 p.m., but no fans will be allowed. Game will be streamed on the KSU website.