Kent State women's basketball

Flashes fade in last 7 minutes and fall at Saint Francis 67-64

By on Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Lindsey Thall led Kent State with 17 points and 7 rebounds. (Photo from KSU website.)

No team led by more than six points in Kent State’s 67-64 loss at Saint Francis Wednesday, but it still was a game of short scoring runs.

The last one belonged to Saint Francis, which outscored the Flashes 12-4 over the last seven minutes to win its first game of the season. The Red Flash are 1-4 with two losses coming to Big Ten teams. Kent State is 0-2.

Saint Francis had outscored KSU 6-1 in the last minute of the third quarter to take a 53-48 lead.

Then the Flashes scored 12 points on their first five possessions of the fourth quarter to take a 60-55 lead with 7:14 to go. But Kent made only one of its last 12 shots.

Junior forward Lindsey Thall led Kent State with 17 points and 7 rebounds. Sophomore forward Nila Blackford had 13 points.

Kent State, a taller team than Saint Francis, was outrebounded 43-30.

“At the end of the day, we probably got what we deserved,” KSU coach Todd Starkey said in a phone interview from the team bus on the way home. “We got outrebounded by a team we shouldn’t have. We had defensive lapses down the stretch in the fourth quarter.

“We definitely come away from this feeling like we let one slip away from us. We had our opportunities to win.”

Part of the problem, the coach said, is game experience.

“We have to get some of that game edge back,” Starkey said. “You don’t just flip a switch. This was their fifth game. For us, I don’t really count the Ohio State game because we were kind of in a fog there. We really didn’t learn much about ourselves in that game.”

Kent State lost its opener to OSU 103-47 last week, the second-worst defeat in school history.

Starkey said the short scoring runs from both teams could have been a function of the early season.

“There’s an ebb and flow in most games,” he said. “I think the more game experience that this group gets together, it has the opportunity to stop some of those runs or continue some of the ones that we had.“

Late in the game, Starkey said, the Flashes didn’t execute.

“There definitely were some defensive lapses,” he said. “We struggled offensively. We didn’t finish plays. We failed ourselves in some key possessions in toughness and focus. We have to get those things fixed before we do anything else.”

The rebounding was also a matter of desire, the coach said.

“They were a bit tougher than we were,” Starkey said. “You could tell they’ve been in these games before, and we just haven’t had experience with it in a long time. We were kind of slow to react to some stuff. We’re still getting our legs under us, and on the fitness side of things, we’re not quite where we need to be. I think that will come as we just play games.”

Saint Francis’s top rebounders were two 5-11 players and one who was 5-10. Kent State’s starting front line is 6-4. 6-2 and 6-2.

“We’ve got to get better rebounding from Linsey Marchese and Nila Blackford,” Starkey said. “There was only eight rebounds between those two combined. That’s a glaring statistic.

“They’ll fix that. They’ll get better. No question about it.”

Box score

Two point guards a once

Several times in the second half, point guards Mariah Modkins and Casey Santoro were on the court together.

“They’re both good players,” Starkey said. “They give us ball control, and both can really shoot it.

“Some people think it’s a liability to have two players that small out there, but in certain lineups against certain teams, we can use that.”

Santoro, a 5-4 freshman, had her first college 3-pointer and three rebounds. Modkins, a junior who is generously listed at 5-1, scored nine points, had four rebounds, four assists, and two steals. “She gave us a lot of toughness and leadership when we were struggling,” Starkey said.

A big player from long range

Marchese, a 6-4 transfer from Indiana, made the first 3-point basket of her college career, a clean shot from behind the men’s line in the first quarter. She took two other shots from behind the arc in the game, though one was a desperation throw from the corner at the final buzzer. Marchese never took a 3-pointer in her two years with the Hoosiers.

Other video highlights

Notes

  • For the second straight game, Kent State took more shots than its opponent but still lost. The Flashes were 23 of 60 shooting for 38.3%. Saint Francis was 21 of 52 for 40.4%. KSU was 9 of 25 from 3-point distance, 2 of 13 in the second half. Saint Francis made 7 of its 15 3-point shots.
  • The margin of victory came at the foul line, where the Red Flash were 18 of 22 and Kent State 11 of 16. Both teams had 19 fouls.
  • The Flashes scored 15 points off of 15 Saint Francis turnovers; the Red Flash scored five off of 13 KSU turnovers.
  • KSU junior Annie Pavlansky, whom Starkey called one of the most improved players on the team, played 22 minutes after playing 21 against Ohio State. She scored seven points on 3-of-4 shooting. Her 43 minutes in two games are only nine fewer than she played all last season.
  • Senior Monique Smith saw her first action of the season, grabbing an offensive rebound and blocking a shot in four minutes.

Home and MAC opener vs. Ohio Friday

Kent State plays Ohio at 2 p.m. Friday in its first home game of the season. No fans are allowed at the game because of COVID-19 protocols, but the game will be streamed for free on the Kent State website. The game was scheduled for last Saturday but was postponed, apparently for COVID-19 reasons. Ohio is 2-0 and beat Notre Dame 86-85 in Athens.

Other MAC scores

  • Central Michigan (1-1) 82, Western Michigan (1-1) 71 at Central.
  • Purdue (2-1) 82, Buffalo (2-2) 70 at Purdue.
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