Month: January 2021

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Flashes have another game postponed, this time because of COVID-19 problems at Eastern Michigan

By on Friday, January 29, 2021

KSU coach Todd Starkey is back at work after missing time with COVID-19. His team got back to practice this week.

For a while today, it looked as if the Kent State women’s basketball team would get to play its first game in 17 days.

The Flashes returned to practice Wednesday after COVID-19 issues had forced postponement of five straight games. They were preparing to play Eastern Michigan Saturday.

But at about 4:30 p.m., that game was postponed because of COVID problems at Eastern.

The Mid-American Conference, as it always does, says it hopes to reschedule the game.

“It’s disappointing,” coach Todd Starkey said. “But we do have team back when we can play.”

Multiple KSU players — and Starkey — have had COVID-19 infections. Others have been sidelined by contact tracing.

The team returned to practice Wednesday with only four players available, Starkey said. Thursday’s practice had five, Friday’s eight — the minimum required to play in times of COVID-19.

Starkey said more players might have been active Saturday.

“There’s no manual for this,” the coach said. “It’s the first time in my career I’ve never been through anything even remotely like it.”

This week’s practices, Starkey said, were the first time he and the team had been together in person since the Flashes beat Eastern Michigan Jan. 2. He missed the team’s next game after he tested positive for the virus. At that point, no other coach or player had tested positive.

At practice, he said “they were just happy to be back together.”

“There was good spark, and they were in good spirits,” he said. “But like you would expect, things were a little out of rhythm, and people were treating a little heavier than they normally do.”

Starkey had been back in the office after he recovered.

“I had a rough couple of days, but overall I feel blessed that it wasn’t any worse,” he said.

Starkey said the virus hits people differently.

“We’ve had some players who have had heavy symptoms, and others who went through their 10-day isolation and came out pretty good,” he said.

Through the postponements, Starkey said, he’s been watching a lot of basketball, especially MAC basketball.

Every other team in the league has played at least twice as many games as Kent State, which has the MAC’s only undefeated record at 4-0. Three teams have played 10 games.

Every other team in the conference has lost at least two games.

“It’s been as turbulent and unpredictable as it’s been in the five years I’ve been here,” Starkey said.

Starkey said he hadn’t heard from the MAC on how standings and tournament seedings would be decided if teams don’t play the same number of games.

In football, the conference went by winning percentage (a 5-0 team was ahead of a 6-1 team) if the teams played a minimum of four games.

The NCAA is requiring teams to play at least 13 games — half of the maximum schedule — to quality for its March tournament.

If the MAC did that for conference play, it would require 10 games.

Kent State’s next scheduled game is at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Ohio, which is 6-4 in the MAC and 8-5 overall.

MAC Standings

Updated with games from Saturday, Jan. 30

MAC
W-L 		Pct. Home Away
All
KSU4-01.000 2-02-05-2
BGSU9-2.8175-14-113-3
CMU8-3,7274-24-110-5
Buff6-3.6674-12-29-5
BSU6-3.6672-24-18-5
NIU6-3.6673-23-18-6
Ohio7-4.6363-24-29-5
EMU6-4.6002-34-19-6
Toledo4-7.3643-31-48-7
Akron1-9.1001-30-64-9
WMU1-9.1001-40-52-10
Miami0-11.0000-50-61-14

Saturday scores

  • Ohio 85, Eastern Michigan 55 at Ohio.
  • Bowling Green 76, Toledo 59 at BG.
  • Central Michigan 66, Buffalo 62 at Central.
  • Ball Sate 78, Western Michigan 71 at Western.
  • Northern Illinois 66, Miami 62 at NIU.
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Kent State women's basketball

Flashes have third straight game — Wednesday vs. Toledo — postponed

By on Monday, January 18, 2021

Kent State’s Wednesday game against Toledo has been postponed. 

The decision was not unexpected. The Flashes last week “paused” practice and team activities because of COVID-19 issues and postponed games scheduled against Akron and Western Michigan. The Mid-American Conference said it plans to reschedule the games.

COVID Quarantine lasts 10 to 14 days, and Wednesday will be nine or 10 days since the Flashes stopped activity. KSU’s next game is scheduled to be at Northern Illinois Saturday.

NIU will play Toledo Wednesday. Toledo’s scheduled Wednesday game against Ball State was canceled because of COVID problems at BSU. That now leaves both Toledo and Ball State with an open date on Feb. 6.

The schedule shuffle seems to be the way the MAC is going to go for the rest of the season. If two teams are free and haven’t played yet, they’ll be scheduled — even on a couple of days’ notice.

NIU lost its first two MAC games, then has won four in a row, including beating previously undefeated Bowling Green and Central Michigan.

Kent State is the only undefeated team left in the MAC at 4-0. Buffalo is 5-1; everyone else has lost at least two.

I’m trying to figure out how the league standings will work if teams don’t play the same number of games. I suspect it would be like football, where they went by winning percentage if teams played a minimum number of games. To qualify for the NCAA Tournament, a team has to play at least 13 games (half of the maximum 25). If MAC did the same thing, that would be 10 league games. Of course, the conference can always change the rules. (See Ohio State football.)

Vanderbilt canceled the rest of its its season today. That’s three Power 5 teams — Duke, Virginia and Vanderbilt — that have done so. San Jose State and Dixie State also have ended their 2020-21 seasons.

MAC standings.

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Uncategorized

COVID postpones Flashes’ two games for this week

By on Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Flashes in the huddle in Saturday’s 70-61 win over Ball State. (Photo by Hayley Steffy

Kent State has postponed this week’s two women’s basketball games and paused practice and other team activities.

The Flashes had been scheduled to play at Akron Wednesday and to host Western Michigan on Saturday.

It’s KSU’s third game in the last two weeks postponed because of COVID-19. Last week’s game in Kent against Northern Illinois wasn’t played after coach Todd Starkey tested positive for COVID. No other players or coaches had tested positive at that time. The team played and beat Ball State Saturday.

The KSU statement said team activities had been postponed “following COVID-19 protocols.” It didn’t say whether any individual had the virus. (Kent State never has named individuals for any team.) But teams have generally continued to play if several players had to sit out because of contact tracing.

The statement said the Mid-American Conference was working to reschedule the games.

Kent State has one scheduled bye date for the rest of the season. Otherwise, games would have to be made up by playing three times in a week.

So far this season, only the Flashes have had women’s MAC games postponed because of COVID. Multiple men’s games have been postponed, including one for Kent State.

The Kent State women are 4-0 and in second place in the MAC behind Central Michigan, which is 5-0. I don’t remember any formal announcement from the MAC on how basketball standings would be determined with a reduced schedule. In football, the league went by winning percentage. For example, a team was a 4-0 record would rank ahead of a 5-1 team.

Kent State had a previous pause in team activity just before the season started in December. That led to the cancellation of the Flashes’ first two games. A pause usually last seven to 14 days.

Many Division I teams have had such pauses this season, including No. 4 Connecticut and No. 6 Baylor.

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Kent State women's basketball

Kent State wins 5th straight and goes to 4-0 in MAC with 70-61 win over Ball State

By on Saturday, January 9, 2021
Associate head coach Fran Recchia with team in huddle. Recchia led the team because head coach Todd Starkey is recovering from COVID-19. (Photo by Hayley Steffy from KSU Athletic Communications.)

Nila Blackford kept piling up the double-doubles in MAC play.

Hannah Young and Casey Santoro stepped up in reserve roles and played their best basketball of the season.

Associate head coach Fran Recchia won her first game as an acting head coach.

And Kent State is 4-0 in the Mid-American Conference and alone is second place after a 70-61 win over Ball State Saturday. The Flashes have won five in a row and are 5-2 on the season.

Blackford: Points and rebounds keep coming

Blackford had 20 points and 11 rebounds, her fourth time in fourth league games with double figures in both. She was a season-best 8-of-11 shooting, made a 3-point basket and had three steals. Blackford is averaging 13 rebounds a game in MAC play, best in the league in conference games only.

“When she puts complete games together — as she’s been doing — she gets really hard to guard,” said Recchia, who ran the team from the bench. Coach Todd Starkey was home after testing positive for COVID-19.

“She competes on every possession,” Recchia said, “and is an aggressive, instinctual player. She wants to win and really listens to coaching.”

Blackford talked about playing for her team.

“They need me to crash the boards really hard,” she said. “I feel like I just have a knack for the ball. I try to stay aggressive on offense, try to get mismatches and be strong to the basket — just strictly for my team.”

Santoro and Young: Big games from the bench

Freshman Santoro ran the KSU offense after starting point guard Mariah Modkins went out with an injury three-and-a-half minutes into the second quarter. The Flashes trailed 22-21.

Twenty-four seconds later Santoro fed Blackford for a layup to give Kent the lead, and a minute later Santoro hit a 3-point shot. Kent State never trailed again.

Santoro scored 12 points with two 3-point baskets and three assists. She played 33 minutes, the most of her short career.

“You have to step up when the opportunity presents itself,” Recchia said. “Casey took advantage of that opportunity. We see it in practice every day. Our team has a lot of trust in her with the ball in her hands.

“We’ve really been talking to her about staying aggressive offensively and defensively and listening to the scouting report. That’s always an adjustment for freshmen.”

Kent State outscored Ball State 49-39 with Santoro at the point.

Young came into the game in the second quarter. With 3:07 left in the half, she grabbed an offensive rebound and scored. Two minutes later, she did it the same thing.

For the game, Young had seven rebounds and 12 points in 23 minutes, all by far season highs.

“Hannah had a really good week of practice, and it translated to the game today,” Recchia said.

“Toward the end of last year, she was playing well,” Recchia said. “2020 has been crazy with the coronavirus, and some people lost a little bit of their rhythm. If Hannah continues like that, she can really contribute.”

Winning with rebounding

After being outrebounded 9-7 in the first quarter, the Flashes dominated the boards for the rest of the game. They outrebounded Ball State 14-6 in the second quarter, then outrebounded the Cardinals 22-18 in the second half. Game totals were 43-33 Kent State.

Kent State had 17 second-chance points. Ball State had two.

“Rebounding is a mindset,” Recchia said. “We talked about after the first quarter, but the girls just decided that we were going to win this game with defense and rebounding. So they kind of flipped the switch.”

The Modkins collision

Modkins went out after she and Ball State guard Essence Booker banged knees hard as Booker attacked the basket. Booker lay on the court for several minutes and could put no weight on her leg as she was helped off the court. Ball State’s second-leading scorer at 12.8 points a game, Booker was on crutches after the game.

Modkins was on the ground for a shorter time, then managed to get to the KSU bench. She sat in the front row of the socially distanced bench for the rest of the game.

Asked after the game how Modkins was doing, Recchia said: “She’s OK. She’ll be all right.“

Modkins was Kent State’s second-leading scorer at 10.8 points a game and leader in assists at 3.5.

Thall the floor leader

As point guard, Modkins is the team’s leader on the floor. After she went out, junior forward Lindsey Thall took on more of that role.

“She and Mariah have become leaders of this team,” Recchia said. “So when Ri when out, Lindsey really stepped up. She was really talking to the team in all the dead balls, repeating what we were saying on the sidelines and keeping the five on the floor together.”

Thall scored 11 points, had five rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot.

Recchia: 1-0 as a coach

It was the first game Starkey had missed as a coach in 21 years, he told told Allen Moff of the Record-Courier before the game.

He and Recchia had talked throughout the week as the team prepared for the game.

Leading the team was a new experience for Recchia, who has been an assistant at Radford College before coming to Kent State. She was head coach at William Byrd High School in Vinton, Virginia, from 2007-10.

“It’s a lot different when you’re the one making the decisions,” she said. “Until you’re actually in that position, you don’t really understand just how many decisions go into a game day — from shootaround to even writing on the board.

“As an assistant, you can suggest. Then coach gets to and decipher through all that and decide what to actually tell the team. I feel very fortunate because (Starkey) allows us to have a big voice in practice and games. So the girls have been used to hearing our voices.”

Starkey tweeted congratulations to Recchia and the team minutes after the game.

Blackford said the change in coaching was different but not that big of a deal.

“She’s always coaching us,” Blackford said. “We talk every day.”

The San Diego seniors

It was Senior Day, and forward Monique Smith and Margaux Eibel started for the Flashes. Smith is the last member of Starkey and Recchia’s first recruiting class. Eibel walked on the team her freshman year and earned a scholarship that summer.

Neither have ever played big minutes, though Smith had made a difference on defense and rebounding in some key games. She had five rebounds in six minutes in KSU’s win at Eastern Michigan last week. Smith had started one game her freshman year.

Eibel has played in 24 games over four years and scored 18 points.

Both she and Smith are from the San Diego suburbs but had never met before they arrived at Kent State. They’re the only two California players I can remember playing for the Flashes in 30+ years of following the team.

Smith and Eibel played two minutes at the beginning of the Ball State game and checked out with the Flashes leading 6-4. Smith scored a point on a free throw. Both returned for the last 39 seconds.

The second-place Flashes

Four teams went into Saturday undefeated in the MAC. Only Central Michigan and Kent State still are. Central (5-0 in the league, 7-2 overall) beat Buffalo (4-1 and 7-3) 79-63 in Buffalo. Bowling Green (4-1 and 8-2) lost its first league game to Northern Illinois (4-5 and 2-2) at BG.

Kent State is 4-0. It has played one fewer game than than the other leaders because the Flashes’ Wednesday game against NIU was canceled after Starkey’s positive COVID test.

In other MAC games Saturday, Akron (1-4 MAC, 4-4 overall) beat Miami (1-8 and 0-5) 84-77 at Akron. Ohio (3-2 and 5-3) beat Toledo (2-3 and 6-3) 85-66 in Athens. Link to MAC standings.

Box score

Notes

  • Kent State made a season-high 45.8% of its shots. Ball State hit 37.1%. From 3-point distance, the Flashes were 7 of 20 for 35%; Ball State was 6 of 18 for 44%.
  • The Flashes committed a season-low 12 turnovers; BSU was even lower at eight. Off those turnovers, the Cardinals outscored KSU 16-4.
  • Sophomore guard Clare Kelly had a career-high four assists to lead the Flashes in that category. She also had seven points and two steals.
  • The last time Kent State started the MAC season 4-0 was 2010-11, when the Flashes won their fifth game and went on to finish 11-5 and second in the MAC East and 20-10 overall.
  • Oshlynn Brown, Ball State’s all-conference forward, led the Cardinals with 16 points and 13 rebounds. But she sat out eight minutes of the second quarter with two fouls. During that time, KSU took control of the game.
  • The game is the only meeting between the two teams in the regular season.

Wednesday at Akron

The Flashes travel 13 miles to the James A. Rhodes Arena for a 6 p.m. game against the Zips. The game will be on ESPH+.

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Kent State women's basketball

Flashes host Ball State, a big winner Wednesday and a big loser last Saturday

By on Friday, January 8, 2021

Ball State, KSU’s opponent on Saturday, is a hard team to figure out.

Katie Shumate averages 10 points a game and is third in the MAC in 3-point shooting percentage at 56.3% and free-throw percentage 93.8%.

In their preseason poll, MAC coaches picked the Cardinals to finish third in the league. But, playing without all-MAC forward Oshlynn Brown, Ball State lost its first three games.

In early conference play, BSU lost to Eastern Michigan at home without Brown, then won by seven at Akron.

Last Saturday, Bowling Green, which has the MAC’s best record at 8-1, destroyed the Cardinals in Muncie 89-55. But at home on Wednesday, Ball State beat Toledo 93-78. The Rockets had had the second-best record in the MAC.

So the Cardinals come into the Kent State game 4-4, 2-2 in the MAC. Kent State is 4-2 and 3-0 in the conference. Its Wednesday game against Northern Illinois was postponed after KSU coach Todd Starkey tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week.

Associate head coach Fran Recchia will direct the team while Starkey is in quarantine.

The game starts at noon Saturday at the M.A.C. Center. No fans are allowed because of COVID protocols. The team will be streamed on ESPN+, which costs $5.99 a month. The link will direct you to how to sign up. Audio starts at 11:45 a.m. on Tune-In Radio.

Ball State (2-2, tied for 5th in MAC, 4-4 overall) at Kent State (3-0 and 4th in MAC, 4-2 overall)

Team comparisons

NET: Kent State 148th of 358 Division I teams. Ball State 169. (The NET is the NCAA’s statistical measure to compare teams and is based on:

  • A team’s “net efficiency” — offensive points per possession minus opponents’ points per possession, adjusted for opponents’ net efficiency and game locations (home/away/neutral).
  • A team’s “value index” — which rewards teams for playing and beating other good teams, adjusted for location. Link to NET rankings for MAC teams on WarrenNolan.com.)

RPI: Kent State 25th of 358 Division I teams. Ball State 136. RPI, used by the NCAA until this season, is based on a team’s record and schedule strength. I usedRealTimeRPI.com. (Link is to MAC rankings.)

Schedule strength: Kent State 39. Ball State 138. (From RealTimeRPI.)

Kent State home record: 2-0. Ball State road record: 3-1.

Scoring average: KSU ninth in MAC at 66.0 points per game. Ball State eighth at 66.8.

Defensive average: KSU eighth at 72.3. Ball State fifth at 67.5.

Field-goal percentage: KSU 10th at 38.2% (first on 3-pointers at 39.4%). Ball State eighth at 40.0% (10th on 3s at 26.9).

Field-goal defense: KSU seventh at 42.3% (11th on 3s at 35.8%). Ball State fifth at 39.8% (sixth on 3s at 30.5%).

Free throw shooting: Kent State 11th at 62.2%. Ball State ninth at 70.7%.

Rebounding margin: KSU fourth at +2.5 per game. Ball State fifth at -1.5.

Turnover margin: KSU 10th at -4.3 per game. Ball State eight at -1.6. KSU last in steals at 5.0 per game. Ball State seventh at 6.5.

Assists: Kent State 10th at 11.8 per game. Ball State ninth at 12.0.

Blocked shots: Kent State first at 3.5 per game. Ball State second at 3.1.

Key Kent State players

  • 6-2 sophomore forward Nila Blackford (14.5 points, second in MAC at 10.0 rebounds per game).
  • 5-0 junior guard Mariah Modkins (10.8 points, 3.5 assists, 1.3 steals).
  • 5-11 sophomore guard Katie Shumate (10.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, third in MAC in free throw percentage at 93.8%, third in MAC in 3-point percentage at 56.3%).
  • 6-2 junior forward Lindsey Thall (10.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocked shots).
  • 5-10 sophomore guard Clare Kelly (6.5 points, 3.2 rebounds).
  • 6-4 junior center Linsey Marchese (4.5 points, 4.7 rebounds)
  • 5-4 freshman guard Casey Santoro (5.8 points)

Key Ball State players

  • 6-1 senior forward Oshlynn Brown (14.8 points, 10.8 rebounds).
  • 5-8 junior guard Essence Booker (12.8 points. 2.1 steals)
  • 5-8 freshman guard Sydney Freeman (11.- points, 4.0 assists. 2.1 steals).
  • 6-0 senior forward Thelma Dis Augstsdottir (10.4 points, 5.8 rebounds).

Links

Kent State website, with links to roster, statistics schedule and more.

Ball State website, with links.

MAC statistics.

MAC standings.

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Uncategorized

Starkey’s positive COVID test cancels Kent State’s Wednesday game

By on Tuesday, January 5, 2021

KSU women’s basketball coach Todd Starkey has COVID-19, and Kent State’s Wednesday game against Northern Illinois is postponed.

The Mid-American Conference announced the postponement at midday Tuesday.

Soon after 8 p.m., the Record-Courier’s Allen Moff said that Starkey had confirmed that he had COVID.

Moff’s story said that no other coach or team member had tested positive, and Kent State’s Saturday game against Ball State was expected to be played at the M.A.C. Center. Link to Record-Courier story.

Associate head coach Fran Recchia will run the team while Starkey is in quarantine. Saturday’s game between Kent State (4-2, 3-0 in MAC) and Ball State (3-4, 1-2) starts at noon. No fans are allowed; the game will be streamed on ESPN+.

The women’s team had to suspend activities just before the start of the season and several non-conference games were canceled.

Current reading of ESPN’s daily listings of women’s games shows as many as a fourth of all women’s games are being canceled or rescheduled.

No. 5 Baylor’s game against No. 3 Connecticut was canceled Tuesday when Baylor coach Kim Mulkey announced she had tested positive for the virus. Dixie State, a member of the Western Athletic Conference, canceled the rest of its season Tuesday. Duke had done so in December.

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Kent State women's basketball

Blackford keeps dominating, Flashes keep hitting 3s to stay in 1st place in MAC

By on Saturday, January 2, 2021

In her first start of the year, sophomore Clare Kelly scored 12 points, hit both her of 3-point shots, had three assists and two steals. She played a career-high 33 minutes. (Photo by Scott Galvin from team website.)

In Kent State’s three games in the early MAC season, Nila Blackford has been playing like an all-conference selection.

The 6-2 sophomore had her third double-double in three league games to lead the Flashes to a 67-61 win at Eastern Michigan.

“She’s started to really feel it here in her sophomore year,” coach Todd Starkey said. “Her effort has been phenomenal. When she starts finishing more around the basket and making free throws, she’s going to be a difficult stop.

Blackford had 14 points — 12 in the second half — and 13 rebounds against Eastern. Over KSU’s last four games, she’s averaged 12.5 rebounds. For the season, she’s averaging a double-double — 14.5 points and 10.0 rebounds.

The Flashes are tied for first place in the MAC, with two of their wins coming on the road against winning teams. Overall Kent State is 4-2. Eastern Michigan is 4-4 and 1-2 in the conference.

The sharpshooting continues

For the third time in four games, KSU made more than 50% of its 3-point shots. The Flashes were 8 of 15. They lead the MAC in 3-point percentage at 39.4%; in their three league games, they’re making 44.4%.

“We’ve got a lot of good shooters,” Starkey said, “and we had some very timely 3s. Mariah (Modkins) had two back-to-back to get us out of a funk in the first half. Clare (Kelly) had a big one in the fourth quarter.”

Next step, according to Starkey: “We’ve got to get a little better on our inside-out game (where post players feed shooters on the perimeter).”

KSU’s best defense of the season

The Flashes held Eastern to 32% shooting, lowest of any opponent by 5 points, and 2 of 11 on 3-pointers, the fewest against them all season. Eastern had 19 turnovers, the most against KSU so far.

“We were solid,” Starkey said. “We missed some assignments on (Areanna) Combs on drives. But she’s really talented. Any given night she can be the best player in the league. Our philosophy topical has not been to try and shut down somebody’s leading scorer but to play solid all the way around.”

Combs, who is seventh in the MAC with a 19.5-point average, had 29 points. But it took her 25 shots to make her nine baskets.

Kent State’s best defense came when they needed it at the end. Eastern made three-of-11 shots over the last seven minutes.

“We dug in a little bit more defensively and got a little bit better focus,” Starkey said. “We did a little bit better of a better job of keeping Combs out of the paint and making them shoot tough shots.”

Another good game for Mariah Modkins

Modkins had a career-high 16 points, including her two 3-point baskets.

“She’s literally 5-foot-zero — probably the smallest Division I player in the country,” Starkey said, “and she just comes out and leads our team and makes tough plays. She gets banged around, and she just keeps playing.”

After the game, Starkey said, Modkins was “kind of down a little bit.”

“She’s thinking about the turnovers that she didn’t want to have down the stretch as opposed to the fact she had a career high,” the coach said. “That’s how she’s wired. She expects a lot out of herself, and that’s why she’s playing a lot better this year.”

Last season Modkins split the point guard role with Asiah Dingle and averaged three points and 15 minutes a game. This season she’s averaging 10.8 points and 33 minutes.

A successful start for Clare Kelly, a successful game for Linsey Marchese

Sophomore Clare Kelly started her first game for the season, scored 12 points, made all four of her shots and both her 3-point shots, had three assists and a steal. Her 33 minutes were a career-high. She also guarded Combs through most of the second half and “by and large, did a good job on her,” Starkey said.

Because Kelly started, Linsey Marchese did not. But the 6-4 transfer from Indiana still had her best game in a Kent State uniform. Marchese scored 10 points and had five rebounds in 20 minutes, making four-of-five field-goal attempts. The 10 points beat her career-high at Indiana.

“Her best game by far,” Starkey said. “Hopefully that will be a nice shot in the arm for her and give her some confidence.”

Monique Smith: five rebounds in six minutes

Smith, a senior, had four rebounds in the last 2:29 of the first half when starting forwards Lindsey Thall and Blackford were on the bench with two fouls.

“She’s one of the key reasons why we won because we really needed her to help us close out the first half,” Starkey said. “Then she came in late in the game and played great defense. Some of the rebounds we got as a team were because she was doing a great job of boxing out. So her play probably led to more like 10 rebounds because of how hard she was playing.”

Less good: turnovers and foul shooting

Kent State committed 23 turnovers, its highest total of the season. Eastern Michigan, which has been known for years for high-pressure defense, scored 24 points off of them. Kent State scored 13 off of EMU’s 19 turnovers.

The Flashes missed 14 of their 31 foul shots. If they made half of those, the game isn’t close. Eastern was 21 of 26. But Modkins and Shumate made six of six free throws in the last 1:02.

“The nice thing about it is we’re finding ways to win games, but we’re not playing our best,” Starkey said. “There’s definitely a room for improvement, and the good thing is that the team recognizes that.”

Box score

Notes

  • Kent State made 45.7 of its field-goal attempts, its best percentage of the season. The Flashes outrebounded EMU 39-37
  • The game was both teams’ first since Dec. 21. So far Kent has had the beginning of its season delayed three weeks because of COVID-19, opened at Ohio State on three days notice, had seven days off, played three games in five days, had eight days off, played Duquesne at home, then had 12 games off before Saturday. “It’s really hard to get in a rhythm,” Starkey said.
  • Kent State has won four games in a row at Eastern and seven of eight overall since Starkey became head coach in 2017. Before then, the Flashes had lost 11 in a row.
  • Ce’Nara Skanes, who had 23 rebounds in Eastern’s previous game against Tarleton, had 14 Saturday. She leads the MAC with a 10.5 average. Blackford is second at 10.0.

Coming home

The Flashes have two home games next week, though fans aren’t allowed because of pandemic protocol. They will play Northern Illinois at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The Huskies are 1-2 in the MAC and 3-5 overall. They beat Western Michigan 73-56 at home Saturday.

On Saturday, KSU will play Ball State (1-1 in MAC, 3-3 overall) at noon. The Cardinals were playing a late Saturday game against Bowling Green.

Other MAC scores

  • Central Michigan (3-0 MAC, 5-2 overall) 90, Ohio (1-2, 3-3) 87 at Ohio.
  • Toledo (2-1, 6-1) 65, Akron (0-3, 3-3) 57 at Toledo
  • Buffalo (3-0, 6-2) 75, Miami (0-3, 1-6) 67 at Miami.
  • Northern Illinois (1-2, 3-5) 73, Western Michigan (0-3, 3-5) 56 at NIU.
  • Bowling Green (3-0, 7-1) 89, Ball State (1-2, 3-4) 55 at Ball State.

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Kent State women's basketball

Flashes return to action at noon Saturday at Eastern Michigan

By on Friday, January 1, 2021

Nila Blackford leads Kent State in scoring (14.6 points per game) and rebounding (9.4 a game). (Photo from KSU website.)

11 months ago, Kent State’s women and Eastern Michigan were supposed to meet in the MAC Tournament semifinals.

The game never happened; it was one of the first 2020 games canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saturday Kent State will play at Eastern in the first game of calendar 2021. The game starts at noon on ESPN+. ESPN+ costs $5.99 a month. It streams most MAC men’s and women’s games.

The Flashes (3-2 overall) have won three in a row and are tied for first place in the MAC with Central Michigan, Buffalo and Bowling Green at 2-0.

Eastern Michigan is 1-1 in the MAC and 4-3 overall.

“Even though we won three straight games, there was room for improvement, and I think our team recognizes that,” coach Todd Starkey told Allen Moff of the Record-Courier this week “We want to continue to expand on some of the good things we were doing.”

Among the good things:

  • The Flashes have made 45.7% of their 3-point attempts in the last three games and averaged 10.7 3-pointers per game.
  • They’ve outrebounded their opponents by almost 10 a game in that time.
  • They’ve had six players score in double figures in a game at least once this season.

Sophomore forward Nila Blackford has had 37 rebounds in her last three games and is second in the MAC in rebounding at 9.4 per game. She also leads Kent State in scoring at 14.6 points per game.

Lindsey Thall averages 11 points a game, Katie Shumate 10.6 and Mariah Modkins 9.8. Thall also leads the MAC in blocked shots at 2.5 per game.

Eastern is led by two transfers. Areanna Combs was a second-team all-MAC selection last season after transferring from Oklahoma State. A 5-10 guard, she has averaged 18.1 points a game so far this season. Ce’Nara Skanes, a 6-foot post transfer from Florida International, leads the MAC in rebounding at 10.0 per game. She grabbed a school-record 23 rebounds against Tarleton State in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic.

Notes

  • Kent State has won six of its last seven games against Eastern but fell 74-69 in Kent last season.
  • Audio on the game starts at 11:45 a.m. David Wilson is the announcer.
  • Live statistics are available during the game on the EMU website.
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