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.