The Kent State women have added a Wednesday game at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania.
In this season of COVID-19, games are canceled on a day’s notice when virus problems break out on a team. And they’re added days before a game as coaches try to fill their schedules.
Kent State’s home game last Saturday against Ohio was postponed. Saint Francis had a game scheduled for Tuesday (Dec. 7) canceled.
Kent State’s game at Ohio State last week was scheduled on five day’s notice after both teams had a game canceled the previous weekend.
Saint Francis is 0-4, losing lopsided games to Michigan State (77-44) and Penn State (87-54) and close games to mid-majors Duquesne (69-67) and La Salle (76-68). Saint Francis, traditionally one of the best teams in the Northeast Conference, was 11-19 last season and tied for fourth in the league.
The game is at 5 p.m. and will be streamed on NEC Front Row. Audio will be Kent State’s Tune-In Radio channel, with the pregame show starting at 4:45. Like many college games so far this season, fans won’t be allowed at the game because of the pandemic.
Kent State opened the 2020-21 season last week with a 103-57 loss at No. 19 Ohio State.
Saint Francis’s nickname is the Red Flash. So the game will be the Golden Flashes versus the Red Flash.
The Red Flash are in some ways an ideal opponent for Kent State at this point. Saint Francis is a solid mid-major program, but nowhere near the level of Ohio State.
It should give the Flashes a competitive game under their belt before they open MAC play. KSU also will have had another week of practice. Against Ohio State, the Flashes had had just three full practices after a 10-day “pause” because of COVID issues on the team.
The Flashes return four starters from a team that went 19-12 last year and won the MAC East title: junior forward Lindsey Thall (11.7-point average last season) and junior point guard Mariah Modkins (3.0), and sophomore guard Katie Shumate (12.3) and sophomore forward Nila Blackford (12.4 points and 8.0 rebounds in 2019-20). Against Ohio State, Blackford led KSU with nine points, and Modkins had eight.
Joining the returning starters in the lineup is 6-4 Indiana transfer Linsey Marchese, who had six points and five rebounds against OSU.
Saint Francis has a 6-4 post player of its own in sophomore Katie Dettwiller, who is averaging 4 points, 3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. She’s from Portsmouth, Ohio, near the West Virginia border.
No other starter is taller than 5-11. For Kent State, Thall and Blackford are 6-2; Shumate is 5-11.
The Red Flash’s leading scorer is 5-8 senior guard Karson Swogger, who is averaging 14.3 points a game. Their second-leading scorer is 5-7 guard Lili Benson at 9.0. Kaitlyn Maxwell, a 5-7 freshman averaging 3.5 points a game, scored 2,125 points in high school. (Kent State freshman Casey Santoro scored 2,156, the most ever for a KSU recruit.)
Kent State and Saint Francis have played three times. St. Francis won in 2012 and 2010; Kent State won in 2006.
Saint Francis and Robert Morris dominated the NEC over the last 25 years, with Saint Francis winning 12 league championships during that time. Kent State played hard-fought games with Robert Morris over the last four years, winning last year 82-81 on a steal and a basket at the buzzer. Robert Morris left the NEC for the Horizon League this season.
Saint Francis is located not far from Altoona, about 80 miles east of Pittsburgh.
- Preview from Kent State website, including links to roster, schedule, statistics and more.
- Preview from Saint Francis website.
- Live statistics will be available during the game on the St. Francis website.
- Kent State’s game against Ohio has been rescheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at the M.A.C. Center, the MAC announced Tuesday. On Sunday, KSU is scheduled to play at Toledo at 2 p.m. Both games are on ESPN+; no fans will be allowed at either.
- The Flashes were originally scheduled to play No. 24 DePaul at the M.A.C.C. on Thursday. That game was canceled so DePaul could play Louisville in the Jimmy V Classic in Connecticut. The nationally televised game raises money for the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Jimmy Valvano, a broadcaster and coach, died of cancer in 1993. DePaul lost to No. 2 Louisville 116-75.
Kent State’s second-worst loss ever
I dug around in the Kent State record book this week. It seems that the 56-point loss to Ohio State was the second-worst in team history. In 1976 — the second year of varsity play for KSU, the Flashes lost to Pittsburgh 98-38. Here’s link to OSU game story if you’re a glutton for punishment.
MAC scores
Dec. 8
- Miami (1-1) 67, Valparaiso (2-2) 49 at Miami. Valparaiso has lost to two MAC teams (the other was 70-60 to Bowling Green 70-60 in its opener). But it has beaten two Big Ten teams — Illinois (62-59) and Purdue (52-47).
Dec. 6
- Bowling Green (3-0) 64, Milwaukee (3-1) 62 at BG.
- Buffalo (2-1) 87, Canisius (0-1) 45 at Canisius.
- Akron (3-0) 77, Dayton (1-1) 74 at Dayton.
- Eastern Michigan (3-1) 63, Southeast Missouri State (1-2) 49 at Southeast Missouri.
Dec. 5
- Toledo (2-0) 75, Detroit Mercy (0-4) 65 at Toledo.
- Northern Illinois (2-1) 79, Western Illinois (0-2) 67 at Northern.
- Ball State (1-3) 58, Western Kentucky (0-2) 54 at Western Kentucky.
- Western Michigan (1-0) 80, Illinois-Chicago (1-2) 76 at Western.
Dec. 4
- Northern Illinois (1-1) 82, Eastern Illinois (1-2) 72 at Eastern.