Junior guard Hannah Young had 10 points and five rebounds for the Flashes. (File photo by Hayley Steffy of KSU Athletic Communications.)

The obvious cause of Kent State’s 61-58 loss at Miami Saturday was a 3-point shot by the RedHawks’ Payton Scott at the buzzer.

But the real reason came at the foul line, where the Flashes missed 13 free throws.

Kent State held an 11-point lead over last-place Miami with 3:40 to go in the first half but never really found its offense for the rest of the game.

The Flashes shot only 29% after that point and for the entire game made only 2-of-12 three-point shots. KSU had been second in the conference in 3-point shooting at 36.5% and had been averaging 9.5 three-point baskets a game. The Flashes had only one assist in the second half.

Ohio and Central Michigan moved past Kent State in the Mid-American Conference standings without playing a game. Both teams had Saturday games canceled because of COVID-19 problems.

Ohio is in second place with a 10-5 MAC record and .667 winning percentage. CMU is 11-6 with a .647 percentage.

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With two games to go, all about the MAC race and possible tournament seedings.

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Kent State is now 9-5 with .643 percentage and 10-7 overall. The defeat broke a three-game winning streak for the Flashes.

“We definitely beat ourselves today,” coach Todd Starkey said from the team bus on the way home. “There’s no question about it. 

“They hit the 3 at the buzzer to win it. But if you hold a team under 60, you should win a game. We just could not get it going offensively. We got some good looks at 3s but took only 12 and made only made two. And at the free-throw line, we were not good at all.”

Those free throws

Kent State hasn’t had great success at the foul line most of the season. The Flashes rank 11th in the MAC in foul shooting, making 65.8% of their free throws.

“Free throws are such a mental thing,” Starkey said. “We practice all the time. It’s just a matter of stepping up there and shooting with confidence.”

Nila Blackford, who has played at an all-conference level for the Flashes, has struggled the most at the foul line. She only made 4-of-11 free throws against Miami and missed five in the fourth quarter. For the season she’s making only 52.7% from the line. That’s down about 12 points from last season.

“She’s just in her head a little bit,” Starkey said.

Without Blackford, though, the Flashes weren’t in Saturday’s game. She had 18 points and 14 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season. She equaled a career high with four steals.

The last 21 seconds

A steal Blackford didn’t get was key to the final seconds.

With the score tied 58-58, Katie Shumate missed a 3-point shot.

Miami called time out, advanced the ball to the front court and was holding for the last shot. Scott, the fourth-leading scorer in the MAC at 21.8 points game, lost control as she was dribbling 35 feet from the basket. She grabbed the ball back almost at half court, and Miami coach DeUnna Hendrix called time with 3.2 seconds left.

After the inbounds pass, Blackford went for a steal at half court and missed. That left Scott with a clear path, and she nailed the open shot at least five feet behind the 3-point line.

“If you’re going to gamble for the steal, you’ve got to get it,” Starkey said.

Here’s the last play, starting with Blackford’s attempted steal:

Ice. In. Her. Veins. 🥶@pcity24 wins it for @MiamiOH_WBB #MACtion

pic.twitter.com/OrqurDIMrU

— #MACtion (@MACSports) February 27, 2021

For 16 minutes, things went well

Kent State made 8-of-13 shots in the first quarter and had built its 32-21 six minutes into the second. But Miami finished the half on a 10-1 run, then outscored the Flashes third quarter to take a 51-46.

“Our offense was stagnant, and they got frustrated when they didn’t see the ball go in,” Starkey said. “They were just off today. It didn’t feel like we had the same energy or fight.”

Both teams played good defense in the fourth quarter. Kent managed to make only 3-of-12 shots and missed five straight in the last four minutes. Miami missed its first 11 shots of the quarter and didn’t make a basket until Scott hit a layup and a free throw with 51 seconds to go.

Box score

Notes

• Shumate had 12 points for Kent State. Hannah Young 10 and five rebounds off the bench. Lindsey Thall scored nine for the Flashes.
• Miami’s Scott had 25 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and four steals and played all 40 minutes.
• Each team had 16 turnovers. But from them, Kent State scored 19 points and Miami only eight.
• The Flashes led in other specialty statistics: 38 (a season high) to 24 in the paint, 15-6 on second-chance points and 15-2 on bench points. KSU outrebounded Miami 38-32.
• But Miami outscored the Flashes 18-6 on 3-pointers and 15-23 at the foul line.

Next for the Flashes

Kent State travels to first-place Bowling Green for a 7 p.m. Wednesday game and finishes the regular season Saturday with a 2 p.m. home game against Akron.

The Flashes lost to BG 80-79 in overtime when the teams met on Feb. 10. Because of COVID, the Akron game will be the only game between the two teams this season.

Other MAC scores

• Bowling Green 79, Akron 64 at Akron.
• Ball State 88, Toledo 77 at Toledo.
• Western Michigan 86, Northern Illinois 53 at Western.

Ohio at Buffalo was canceled because of COVID problems at OU. Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan was canceled because of COVID at Central.

Freshman Casey Santoro has played in all 17 KSU games and averaged 21.6 minutes per game. She is second on the team in assists (2.2 per game) and sixth in scoring (6.6 points a game). (File photo by Hayley Steffy from KSU Athletic Communications.)

As it prepares for a Saturday game at last-place Miami, Kent State is in a virtual tie for second place in the Mid-American Conference.

The Flashes officially hold second with a .692 winning percentage. Ohio and Central Michigan are tied for third at .667. Right behind them are Northern Illinois and Buffalo (.600), Ball State (.588) and Eastern Michigan (.583).

Because COVID-19 cancellations have meant teams aren’t playing the same number of games, the MAC is using winning percentages to determine standings.

The race is so close that a KSU loss and a win by any of those teams will move that team past the Flashes in the standings.

First-place Bowling Green leads the league by two games but has to play Kent State and Buffalo in its last two games. Both are at BG.

Kent State’s final three games are at 12th place Miami, at Bowling Green and 11th-place Akron at home.

KSU’s Saturday game at Miami starts at 1 p.m. on ESPN3. Internet radio is on the Kent State Radio Network. You can see live statistics during the game on the Miami website.

The last time the Flashes played Miami, they pulled out a 71-69 victory on an offensive rebound and putback by Lindsey Thall with 1.8 seconds to go. It was KSU’s second game back after a 25-day COVID-19 layoff in January.

The game was the first of three straight Miami losses by six points or fewer against top teams in the MAC. The Redhawks then beat Toledo 62-60 at Toledo but were routed by Akron 84-63 at home on Wednesday.

Miami’s primary weapon is sophomore guard Peyton Scott, who is fourth in the conference in scoring at 21.6 points a game. She has scored more than 30 points five times this season, including 34 against Kent State.

Kent State has one of the most balanced scoring teams in the MAC. Sophomore forward Nila Blackford averages 15.9 points a game, sophomore guard Katie Shumate 12.1, junior forward Thall 11.4, sophomore guard Clare Kelly at 9.8, junior guard Mariah Modkins at 7.3 and freshman guard Casey Santoro at 6.6.

In KSU’s 65-62 win over Buffalo on Wednesday, Thall moved into second place all-time in 3-point shooting for the Flashes. She has 162. That’s 50 behind Larissa Lurken. Thall has averaged about two 3-pointers a game in her three years and figures to play at least 30 more. So she has a good shot at the record,

The MAC race

Here are the games left for the eight top teams in the league. If Eastern Michigan loses its last three games and Toledo wins all three, the Rockets move into the last quarterfinal spot in the MAC Tournament in Cleveland March 10-14.

The other seven teams have clinched a trip to Cleveland. (Because of COVID, there are no first-round campus games this season.)

BOWLING GREEN: At 11th-place Akron, second-place Kent State, fourth-place Buffalo.

KENT STATE: At 12th-place Miami, at first-place BG, 11th-place Akron.

OHIO: The Bobcats have been fighting a COVID outbreak and just had their third-straight game (Saturday at fifth-place Buffalo) canceled. They’re scheduled to try against to play at Buffalo Monday, then at 11th-place Akron, then host last-place Miami.

CENTRAL MICHIGAN: At eighth-place Eastern Michigan, at seventh-place Ball State, 10th-place Western Michigan.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS: at 10th-place WMU, at seventh-place Ball State, fifth-place Northern Illinois.

BUFFALO: Third-place Ohio (COVID permitting), 12-place Miami, at first-place BG.

BALL STATE: At ninth-place Toledo, fourth-place CMU, 10th-place WMU.

EASTERN MICHIGAN: Third-place CMU, at fifth-place NIU, at ninth-place Toledo.

MAC Standings

Through games of Wednesday, Feb. 24

	MAC W-L	Pct.	MAC Home	MAC Away	All  games
BGSU	12-3	.800	7-1	5-2	16-4
CMU	11-6	.647	4-4	7-2	13-8
Ohio	10-5	.667	5-2	5-3	12-6
Kent St	9-4	.692	5-1	4-3	10-6
Buffalo	9-6	.600	4-2	5-4	12-8
NIU	9-6	.600	5-3	4-3	11-9
EMU	7-5	.583	2-4	5-1	10-7
Ball St	10-7	.588	2-6	8-1	12-9
Toledo	6-11	.333	3-5	3-6	10-11
WMU	4-12	.200	3-4	1-8	5-13
Akron	3-12	.143	1-5	2-7	6-12
Miami	2-15	.125	1-8	1-7	3-18

KSU’s Mariah Modkins scored 10 points, hit two 3-point baskets, had three assists against one turnover, and a steal against Buffalo. (Photo by Hayley Steffy of KSU Athletic Communications.)

Mariah Modkins may be the smallest player in Division I — listed, as coach Todd Starkey said, “very modestly” at 5-foot-1. She may be closer to 4-11.

But she came up very big for Kent State Wednesday, scoring two key baskets in the fourth quarter as the Flashes beat Buffalo 65-62 at the M.A.C. Center.

The win clinches Kent State a spot in the MAC Tournament in Cleveland March 10-14. Only eight teams qualify this season; first-round campus games were a casualty of COVID-19.

The victory also sends KSU into second place in the MAC with three games to go in the regular season. The Flashes are 9-4 in the conference and 10-6 overall. They are two games behind first-place Bowling Green.

Buffalo is 9-6 and tied for fifth in the MAC and is 12-8 overall.

Modkins’ first key play came with six minutes to go, shortly after Buffalo had pulled ahead by four points.

After Nila Blackford made a short jumper, Modkins stole the inbounds pass and scored to tie the game 54-54.

“She just floated it out there, and I went and got it,” Modkins said. “You have to try to catch them on their heels, when they’re not paying attention.”

With 30 seconds to go, Modkins hit a four-foot running floater as the shot clock expired. That gave Kent State a 63-62 lead, and the Flashes held on at the end to win.

“We were late in the shot clock,” Modkins said. “I knew that I wasn’t able to get to the basket, so I just loaded it up.”

“She’s been doing that all year — finding ways to win,” Starkey said. “I think she’s one of the most undertold stories in the country. (Because of her size), everybody counts her out. So she plays with a little bit of a chip on her shoulder and wants to prove people wrong.

“She’s really come into her own and blossomed into a leader.”

Last season Modkins split point guard duties with Asiah Dingle and averaged just 3.1 points a game. After Dingle transferred to Stony Brook in the offseason, Modkins claimed team leadership.

She is averaging 7.3 points a game, is ninth in the league in 3-point shooting (39.3%) and is fourth in the league in assist-turnover ratio (1.7-to-1).

“She’s the one who set the tone for us at Northern Illinois with the type of ball defense that she played,” Starkey said. KSU’s back-to-back road wins at NIU were the team’s best defensive games of the year, and Wednesday’s defense was just as good.

Defending the nation’s sixth-best scorer

The Flashes held Buffalo 10 points below its average. The Bulls’ Dyaisha Fair, who ranks sixth in Division I in scoring, had 23 points, three below her average.

Katie Shumate was the primary defender on Fair.

“We liked Katie’s length against her,” Starkey said. Fair is 5-5. Shumate is 5-11 with long arms.

“Katie did a really good job,” Starkey said. “Fair took 21 shots and only made nine. Her field-goal percentage went down as the game went on. She must have started the game 4-for-4.”

Fair leads the MAC in assists at 5.4 a game; she had just one against Kent State.

Fair had a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer in last 10 seconds. She got away from Shumate, but Clare Kelly picked her up and smothered her until Fair got off a desperation 3 at the buzzer.

Buffalo ranks in the middle of the conference with 6.7 three-point baskets per game and a 3-point shooting percentage 32.1%. Kent State held them to 1-of-8.

Buffalo’s 62 points were its second lowest total of the season. KSU held the Bulls without a field goal in the last 4:55.

Blackford booms in second half

Nila Blackford, Kent State’s leading scorer, had only two points in the first half on 1-of-8 shooting. She scored 16 in the second half, making eight of her 10 shots.

“We changed our strategy,” Starkey said. “She was getting touches in the low post and trying to score through their size and strength. In the second half, we tried to get her touches at the high post and the perimeter and let her drive.

“I was really pleased she didn’t just try and bulldozer her way to the basket. She had two or three really nice pull-up jump shots and played with much more composure.

“She was pressing a little bit in the first half. To her credit, she listened to the adjustments, calmed herself down and really played within herself.”

Blackford finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, just missing her 11th double-double of the season. She hasn’t had fewer than nine rebounds in any MAC game.

More scoring

Shumate had 17 points, 14 in the first half. She kept the Flashes in the game when they made only 9-of-33 shots. Her jump shot at the end of the first half capped a 10-3 KSU run and cut the score to 32-30 at halftime.

Shumate also had five rebounds, blocked two shots and drew nine fouls. “A really, really complete game,” Starkey said.

Modkins finished with 10 points, three assists, two 3-point baskets and a steal. She had only one turnover.

Lindsey Thall also scored 10, had three assists, blocked two shots and had two steals before fouling out.

Clare Kelly had six points, including a 3-pointer when Buffalo was leading by six and looked to be starting to pull away.

Sharing the ball

Kent State had 13 assists on 24 baskets. In their three-game winning streak, the Flashes have had their second, third and fourth highest number of assists this season.

“Our ball movement has gotten significantly better” Starkey said. “That builds trust, and they’re making that next pass, passing up good shots for great shots, or average shots for good shots.”

Freshman Casey Santoro led KSU with four assists.

How Modkins takes charge

A Starkey story from the fourth quarter:

Thall, one of KSU’s steadiest players, had fouled out with 1:21 to go. Freshman Lexi Jackson went in to replace her.

Modkins pulled her aside in the huddle and looked up 16 inches at the 6-foot-4 Jackson.

“Now do your job!” Modkins told her.

A minute later Jackson pulled down the biggest defensive rebound of the game in heavy traffic to give Kent State the ball and the lead.

Box score

Notes

• Buffalo averages 16.6 offensive rebounds, sixth best in the country. But Wednesday Kent State had 13 offensive rebounds, and the Bulls had 12. The Flashes outscored UB 14-12 on second-chance points. Overall Buffalo outrebounded KSU 37-31.
• Buffalo outscored KSU 46-28 in the paint, but the Flashes outscored UB 27-3 on 3-pointers.
• After shooting 27% from the field in the first half, Kent State made 15-of-28 shots in the second for 54%. For the game, KSU shot 39.3%, about its average for the season. Buffalo was 25-for-55 for 45.5%.
• Buffalo’s Summer Hemphill played in her first game in almost two months. A preseason all-MAC pick, she missed all of last season with an injury and was hurt again in December. Having her back will help the Bulls a lot in the tournament. She didn’t score and had four rebounds in 12 minutes against KSU.

Next for the Flashes

KSU travels to last-place Miami for a 1 p.m. Saturday game, then plays at first-place Bowling Green Wednesday night.

Home games against both of those teams were decided in the last seconds, with the Flashes beating Miami 71-69 and losing in overtime to BG 80-79.

MAC Standings

Through games of Wednesday, Feb. 24

	MAC W-L	Pct.	MAC Home	MAC Away	All  games
BGSU	12-3	.800	7-1	5-2	16-4
CMU	11-6	.647	4-4	7-2	13-8
Ohio	10-5	.667	5-2	5-3	12-6
Kent St	9-4	.692	5-1	4-3	10-6
Buffalo	9-6	.600	4-2	5-4	12-8
NIU	9-6	.600	5-3	4-3	11-9
EMU	7-5	.583	2-4	5-1	10-7
Ball St	10-7	.588	2-6	8-1	12-9
Toledo	6-11	.333	3-5	3-6	10-11
WMU	4-12	.200	3-4	1-8	5-13
Akron	3-12	.143	1-5	2-7	6-12
Miami	2-15	.125	1-8	1-7	3-18

Wednesday’s MAC results

• Toledo 72, Central Michigan 67 at Central.
• Western Michigan 66, Eastern Michigan 56 at Eastern.
• Ball State 82, Northern Illinois 79 at Northern.
• Akron 84, Miami 63 at Miami.

The Bowling Green at Ohio game was canceled because of COVID-19 problems at OU.

Source MAC communications office

Kent State returns home from a four-game road trip Wednesday to play Buffalo, a team right behind it in the Mid-American Conference standings.

Away from home, the Flashes lost games at second-place Central Michigan and 10th-place Western Michigan but swept a weekend series at Northern Illinois to move back into the center of the MAC race.

Wednesday’s game starts at 6 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center. Fans still aren’t allowed because of COVID-19 protocols. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, which costs $5.99 a month. Online radio starts at 5:45 p.m. on the Kent State Radio Network.

The Flashes are 8-4 in the conference. They and Ohio (10-5) have .667 winning percentages, which ties them for third. The league office would give OU the tiebreaker for the third seed if the league tournament started today.

The MAC is using winning percentage to determine standings. Because of COVID-19 postponements and cancellations, teams have not played the same number of league games, and there’s no way they all will when the regular season ends in 11 days.

Six teams have winning percentages between .688 (second-place CMU at 11-5) and .636 (seventh-place Eastern Michigan at 7-4). If Eastern wins Wednesday and Central loses, EMU could jump all the way to second place, depending on results of other games.

If the Buffalo beats KSU Wednesday, they’ll move past the Flashes, perhaps into a second-place tie.

Buffalo was picked to finish third in the conference in the coaches’ preseason poll. But like almost every team, the Bulls have had highs and lows. They’ve lost twice to Central Michigan and 82-74 to league-leading Bowling Green. Ten days ago, they lost at home to eighth-place Ball State by 13 points. Four days later, Buffalo beat Ball State on the road by seven.

Buffalo is led by guard Dyaisha Fair, last year’s MAC freshman of the year. She averages 24.8 points a game, sixth in Division I, and ranks in the nation’s top 25 in 3-point field goals, assists and steals. She scored 36 points at Ball State Wednesday.

Only one other player, freshman guard Cheyenne Evans, averages in double figures at 10.3 points a game.

The Bulls are third in the MAC in points per game (75.0) and third in defense (69.0 points). They’re third in the league in rebounding margin (plus-4.7) behind Northern Illinois (plus 6.6) and Kent State (plus-5.4). Buffalo leads the league in offensive rebounding.

Coach Todd Starkey was delighted with his team’s two wins at Northern Illinois, which broke a three-game winning streak.

Does he think the team is back to where it was when it was 4-0 and in first place before its 25-day COVID-19 pause in January?

“We’re different now,” he said after Sunday’s 71-58 win. “Before we were humming along offensively and needed to get better defensively. Over the last two games, our defense really improved.

“But just because you do well against one team, you have to prove it against multiple opponents to see where you really are.”

Kent State’s Nila Blackford is third in the league in rebounding (10.6 per game) and seventh in field-goal percentage (47.5%). Lindsey Thall leads the MAC in blocked shots (1.7 per game).

As a team, KSU is second in the league in 3-point percentage (36.5%). Four Flashes are among the top 12 in the league in shooting 3s: Katie Shumate is sixth at 41.7%, Thall eighth at 39.5%, Clare Kelly 10th at 38.7% and Mariah Modkins 12th at 38.5%).

The game is Kent State’s “Play4Kay” game, which helps raise awareness and funding for women’s cancer research and honors female cancer survivors. It’s named after Kay Yow, a hall-of-fame coach at North Carolina State who died after two battles with breast cancer.

MAC Standings

Through games of Sunday, Feb. 21

	MAC W-L	Pct.	MAC Home	MAC Away	All  games
BGSU	12-3	.800	7-1	5-2	16-4
CMU	11-5	.688	4-3	7-2	13-7
Ohio	10-5	.667	5-2	5-3	12-6
Kent St	8-4	.667	4-1	4-3	9-6
Buffalo	9-5	.643	4-2	5-3	12-7
NIU	9-5	.643	5-4	4-1	11-8
EMU	7-4	.636	2-3	5-1	10-6
Ball St	9-7	.563	2-6	7-1	11-9
Toledo	5-11	.333	3-5	2-6	9-11
WMU	3-12	.200	3-4	0-8	4-13
Akron	2-12	.143	1-5	1-7	5-12
Miami	2-14	.125	1-7	1-7	3-17

Hannah Young had eight rebounds in 17 minutes as Kent State outrebounded Northern Illinois 42-23. It was the first time NIU had been outrebounded by a MAC team. (File photo by Hayley Steffy of KSU Athletic Communications.)

Kent State went into this weekend’s two-day double header at Northern Illinois on a three-game losing streak.

The Flashes were coming off their worst loss of the MAC season on Wednesday.

They were mentally and physically tired after playing six games in 17 days, following 25 days without a game because of a COVID-19 outbreak on the team.

But they played their best basketball of the season, sweeping the second-place Huskies in Saturday and Sunday games. KSU won Saturday 69-65, and Sunday’s 73-58 victory was KSU’s largest margin of the year.

The victory gives Kent State an 8-4 record in the MAC and a tie for third place. The Flashes are 9-6 overall. The weekend dropped Northern from second place to a tie for fifth with a 9-5 record. Only two games separate second place from eighth in the league, and second-place Central Michigan only trails Bowling Green by a game-and-half.

Kent State made an astounding 9-of-10 three-point shots in the first quarter and led 33-17. The Flashes led by at least 15 points for the rest of the game.

“I think a lot of people counted us out after the way things have been going lately,” coach Todd Starkey said on a postgame radio interview with David Wilson. “This team showed tremendous resiliency against the odds being stacked against us to get back-to-back road wins.”

Four days ago, Kent State had lost by 13 points at 3-14 Western Michigan.

“After a performance like that, you always wonder how they’re going to respond,” Starkey said “They did a phenomenal job and really tried to reclaim our identity as a team. Our toughness really showed.”

“They played fearless and focused,” Starkey said in a later phone interview. “They really responded to our preparation and played the best defense we have all year.”

Northern had the third-highest-scoring average in the MAC. Kent State held them to 58 points, the Huskies’ lowest total of the season and 17 points below their average.

NIU had led the league in 3-point percentage and 39.8% and had been making more than nine 3-point baskets a game. The Flashes held them 10-of-34 (29.4%) over two days. The four 3s NIU made Saturday were its lowest total of the season; the six on Sunday tied for its third lowest. The Huskies 38% overall field-goal percentage Sunday was its lowest of the year against a MAC school.

“I just think (KSU players) were embarrassed by the way they had played and wanted to prove that they were better than that,” Starkey said. “They took some personal accountability, and it has to start there.

“And we as a coaching staff just kind of stayed on them and said, ‘Hey, this is not who you are. You’re better than this.‘”

Starkey especially credited point guard Mariah Modkins. She was the primary defender on NIU’s Cheryl Koker, who came into the weekend averaging 21 points, 48% shooting and 2.5 three-point baskets a game. Koker scored 15 on Saturday and 16 on Sunday. She made 11-of-27 field goal attempts (40.7%) and only one 3-pointer in six attempts.

“The defensive job that Mariah did on Coker really frustrated her,” Starkey said. “She was relentless.”

Modkins also hit two-straight first-quarter 3-point baskets after making two-straight 3s in the fourth quarter on Saturday.

The first quarter barrage

Kent State’s first quarter was one for the ages. The Flashes scored 13 seconds into the game on a pass from Lindsey Thall to Katie Shumate.

Then the Flashes made four-straight 3-point shots, missed one, then made five-straight more to end the quarter. They were 12-of-14 shooting (85.7%) in the quarter and 9-of-10 on 3s. KSU led 33-17 at the end of the quarter. The Huskies never got closer than 15 for the rest of the game.

After the first quarter, Kent made only 3-of-20 from 3-point distance. But the Flashes’ defense kicked on.

“An early lead like that can cause you to take your foot off the gas and give the other team an opportunity to come back,” Starkey said. “But our defense got better in the second quarter. They picked up the intensity.”

Northern scored just 12 points in the second quarter and eight in the third. The Huskies made 2-of-12 shots in the third quarter as KSU pushed its lead to 21 points, its biggest lead of the season.

Big-time rebounding

Northern Illinois and Kent State came into the weekend as the top two rebounding teams in the MAC. No. 1 NIU won the battle of the boards 41-33 on Saturday.

On Sunday, rebounding belonged to the Flashes. KSU had a 42-23 advantage, its second-largest of the season and NIU’s biggest deficit. Northern hadn’t been outrebounded by any MAC team before Sunday.

Kent State had 14 offensive rebounds to NIU’s four. On Saturday, the Huskies had 17 offensive rebounds. The Flashes outscored Northern 14-4 on second-chance points.

“We kind of called them out on that yesterday,” Starkey said. “Nila started the whole thing. Her relentlessness on the glass in the first quarter was phenomenal. A lot of her rebounds led to some of those 3s, and offensive rebound 3s can really demoralize the other team.

“Hannah Young off the bench was big time as well — eight rebounds in 17 minutes.”

Lexi Jackson, KSU’s 6-4 freshman center, had six rebounds off the bench for the second game in a row. Four were offensive rebounds.

The scorers

Clare Kelly led the Flashes with 19 points and made 5-of-8 three-point baskets. She also had two assists and two steals.

“Clare is continuing to come into her own,” Starkey said. “It’s nice to see a young person who puts in a lot of time and effort see stuff start to pay off for her.”

Thall had 14 points and made four 3-pointers. She had five assists, five rebounds and two blocked shots.

“Great balance and an incredible stat sheet for her,” Starkey said, “and a lot of composure, maturity and leadership.”

Blackford had her 10th double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds, along with an assist and a steal.

Katie Shumate had 12 points, four rebounds, three assists, a steal and a blocked shot.

Casey Santoro and Modkins each had six points and combined for six assists.

The view from Northern Illinois

Coach Lisa Carlsen, quoted on NIU website:

“It was quite an offensive display from Kent State in the first quarter, to say the least. We put ourselves in a hole really early, and that’s tough to dig out of. When we were able to get stops, we couldn’t get our offense going consistently.”

Home at last

The Flashes took the seven-hour bus ride home last night. They had been gone since Tuesday, when they left for Western Michigan. They went straight from Kalamazoo to DeKalb.

“Back-to-back road wins makes the trip a bit easier,” Starkey said.

The Flashes host Buffalo at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Buffalo is 9-5 (12-7 overall) and tied with Northern Illinois for fifth in the MAC.

The Bulls and most of the MAC were off this weekend, which was designed for makeup games for COVID postponements.

In Sunday’s other game, Eastern Michigan beat Toledo 69-59 in its first game after six COVID postponements.

Box score

Notes

• The 33 points in the first quarter were the most Kent State has scored since NCAA women went from halves to quarters in 2015.
• Kent State had 17 assists on 25 baskets, its second-highest total of the season. In Sunday’s first quarter, it had nine assists on its 10 baskets.
• The Flashes had 16 turnovers to NIU’s 11. But KSU outscored the Huskies off turnovers 17-12.
• Kent State’s shooting percentage was 44.9%, five percentage points above its average.
• Every active player on the Kent roster got into the game.
• The back-to-back games on one site apparently were the first in MAC history. They happened because both January games between the teams were postponed because of Kent State’s COVID problems. Northern Illinois won a coin flip to host the two games.

Mariah Modkins had six assists, her second-highest total of the year to go with eight points, two steals and her first block of the season. (She’s generously listed at 5-foot-1.) (File photo by Hayley Steffy of KSU Athletic Communications.)

Kent State had sort of lost its offense during its three-game losing streak.

It found it in a big way during the fourth quarter at Northern Illinois Saturday, putting up 25 points on its way to a 69-65 win over the second-place Huskies.

The Flashes’ win moves them to 7-4 in the MAC and 8-6 overall. They’re alone in sixth place, but fewer than two games separate the second and eighth place teams. Northern is 9-4 in the league and 11-7 overall. Kent’s win broke NIU’s five-game winning streak.

Kent State made 9-of-14 shots (64.3%) and 4-of-5 three-pointers in the fourth quarter.

“I think they were just fed up from the last games of not finishing plays and not shooting well,” coach Todd Starkey said. “That was a big emphasis for us. I thought we did that, especially in crucial possessions down the stretch.”

The Flashes hit three straight 3-point baskets to start the fourth quarter after making only 3-of-20 until then.

Starkey said coaches emphasized defense in preparation for the game, and defense helped make the difference.

“When we haven’t played well recently, we were trying to get our offense to fuel our defensive intensity,” Starkey said. “It really has to work in reverse order. Offense is sometimes a byproduct of the confidence that you’re having from solid defensive play.“

Kent’s defense held Northern Illinois 11 points below its average. The Huskies are the best 3-point shooting team in the league. Saturday they were 4-of-15 and 0-for-3 in the second half. Four 3-pointers are the fewest for NIU this season; 15 attempts ties a season low.

Northern guard Cheryl Koker averages 21 points a game. Kent State held her to 16. She makes 44% of her baskets; KSU held her to 33%. She makes almost 40% of her 3-point attempts and averages 2.5 three-pointers a game. Against Kent, she was 0-for-2. Koker also had seven turnovers

“She’s tough to guard,” Starkey said. “You can’t blink. You can’t rest at all on her because she’s always looking to make the next play.

“We wanted to crowd her and not give her as much space to operate.”

Kent State often had two players tightly guarding Koker as far out as the 3-point line. The Flashes also blocked three of her shots.

As a team, KSU blocked nine shots, the most by any MAC team this season. Freshman center Lexi Jackson, sophomore forward Lindsey Thall and sophomore guard Hannah Young all blocked two.

Kent State scored 25 points off of 21 Northern turnovers, the most turnovers by a KSU opponent this season. The Flashes had a 21-14 advantage in points from turnovers.

“We did a good job of really having active hands and showed a lot more defensive intensity,” Starkey said.

The big plays down the stretch

Kent State was behind by six points at the end of the third quarter. Nila Blackford had a key basket in KSU’s rally when she grabbed two offensive rebounds and finally scored with 3:31 to go.

Clare Kelly fed Thall for a 3-pointer with 2:20 to go to give KSU the lead for good.

With the Flashes up 67-65 with 10 seconds to go, the Flashes forced a turnover on an inbounds pass under the NIU basket. The Huskies fouled after Kent State passed the ball into play, and Mariah Modkins hit two free throws to clinch the game.

The scoring punch

Blackford led KSU with 19 points and nine rebounds, just missing her 10th double-double of the MAC season. She had just two rebounds at halftime but finished with seven offensive rebounds.

Thall had 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in a season-low 22 minutes. She didn’t play most of the first half because of foul trouble.

Katie Shumate had 10 points, four rebounds and three steals. Kelly had eight points, two assists and two steals. Mariah Modkins had eight points, six assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Casey Santoro scored seven points and had three assists.

Lexi Jackson’s best game

Jackson, a 6-4 freshman, had career highs in rebounds (6), offensive rebounds (4), blocked shots (2) and minutes (15).

She has averaged almost nine minutes a game over KSU’s last five.

“She’s getting more comfortable out there,” Starkey said. “She’s a talented young player, and we wanted to focus on getting her some more minutes as we come down the stretch. This was an important game for her.”

The view from Northern Illinois

Coach Lisa Carlsen, quoted on the NIU website.

“You have to tip your hat to Kent State. For the most part, they were the tougher team. They hit a couple of big shots, and we put ourselves in a deficit at a really bad time. You have to give them credit for being really good defensively.“

And on Sunday, they do it again

The two teams play again at 2 p.m. Sunday. The double-header weekend is the first I know of in MAC history. It happened because both games between the two teams in January were postponed because of Kent State’s 25-day COVID-19 pause.

Kent State lost a coin flip that decided whether the games would be played in Kent or DeKalb.

The game is on ESPN3, which is free if you subscribe to ESPN by cable, satellite or app, and online on the Kent State Radio Network. Live statistics are available during the game on the NIU website.

Box score

Notes

• Kent State had a season-high 11 steals, almost twice its average. Shumate had three and Thall, Modkins and Kelly two apiece.
• The Flashes’ 14 assists were their second-high of the season.
• Both teams were 24-of-55 shooting for 41.4%.
• The Flashes and Huskies are the top rebounding teams in the MAC, but NIU won on the boards Saturday 41-33. But Kent outscored Northern 16-14 on 13 offensive rebounds.

Freshman Lexi Jackson (25) has played increasing minutes for Kent State in February. She had career highs with five points and five rebounds against Central Michigan. (Photo from KSU website.)

Kent State is at Northern Illinois this weekend for two back-to-back games.

The Flashes will play NIU at 2 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Times are Kent time; Illinois is an hour earlier.

It’s the first weekend Mid-American Conference series I can remember in 30 years of following Kent State. It’s happening because both of KSU’s scheduled games with Northern Illinois were postponed during the Flashes’ 25 days off in January. The layoff came because of a COVID-19 breakout on the team.

Saturday’s game is on ESPN+, which costs $5.99 a month. Sunday’s is streaming on ESPN3, which is free if you subscribe to ESPN on cable, satellite or app. Both games will be on internet radio on the Kent State Radio Network. Live statistics will be available on the NIU website.

Northern is the hottest team in the MAC. The Huskies have won five games in a row and nine of their last 10. They’re in second place in the conference at 9-3. Bowling Green is first with a 12-3 record. Kent State is in a three-way tie for sixth at 6-4.

NIU is playing only its second game in two weeks. The Huskies had games at Eastern Michigan and Ohio postponed because of COVID problems on the other teams.

Kent State, on the other hand, is playing its seventh and eighth games in 19 days as it makes up for some of the seven games postponed in January. The Flashes are 2-4 since their layoff and have lost three games in a row, including a 71-58 setback at 10th-place Western Michigan on Wednesday. In that game, the Flashes scored their lowest points since a 103-47 defeat at the hands of Ohio State in the season opener.

Before COVID hit, they were 4-0 and in first place in the MAC.

“It kind of feels like we’re feeling our way through a dark room, trying to find the light switch,” KSU coach Todd Starkey told Allen Moff of the Record-Courier. “Everything you do is passive because you don’t want to bump into anything, you don’t want to screw anything up. You don’t know what’s out there. We feel stuck, I think. But we’re going to keep working toward getting it right. That’s for sure.”

Northern is led by guard Chelby Koker, who is fifth in the MAC in scoring at 21.0 points per game. She leads the conference in free-throw percentage. Forward A’Jah David had 17 points and 19 rebounds in NIU’s 76-63 win at Buffalo Wednesday.

As a team, the Huskies average 76.1 points a game and lead the conference in 3-point field-goal percentage (39.1%, 3-point field-goal defense (28.6%) and rebounding margin (plus-8).

Kent State averages 69.8 points a game, is second in the league in 3-point percentage (36.5%) but last in 3-point defense (34.1%). The Flashes are second in rebounding with a plus-5.4 margin.)

Kent State forward Nila Blackford has nine double-doubles in 10 MAC games. She averages 15.7 points and 10.8 rebounds. Her rebounding average is third in the conference.

Junior forward Lindsey Thall has moved into third place all-time for Kent State in both 3-point shots made and blocked shots. She leads the MAC in blocks for the third year in a row.

Preview from Kent State website, including links to statistics, roster, schedule and more.

Preview from Northern Illinois website, with links.

Detailed media game notes from Kent State.

Nila Blackford had her ninth double-double in 10 MAC games with 14 points and 12 rebounds. (File photo by Hayley Steffy of KSU Athletic Communications.)

Kent State started well in its road game at Western Michigan Wednesday, but things went downhill after that in a 71-58 loss to the 10th-place Broncos.

The Flashes led 19-12 after the first quarter, then made only four baskets in the second.

The third quarter was perhaps the low point of the season for the Flashes. They missed all 10 of their field goal attempts, missed seven foul shots, and were outscored 21-5.

Kent State outscored Western 23-19 in the fourth quarter but couldn’t get closer than 12 points.

The loss was KSU’s third in a row. It drops KSU to 6-4 in the Mid-American Conference and 7-6 overall. Western is 3-12 and 4-13. The Flashes are in a three-way tie for sixth place with Ball State and Western Michigan.

“We didn’t handle adversity very well,” KSU coach Todd Starkey said. “We got off to a decent start, but when things weren’t going our way, we kind of gave in to that.

“Then when we tried to solve some of the things that weren’t going right, it seemed like we were pressing too hard and not playing as connected as we need to be and not being as intense as we needed to be.”

The Flashes trailed 31-30 at halfway because of Clare Kelly’s offensive rebound, basket and free throw at the second-quarter buzzer.

Western outscored KSU 7-0 to start the third quarter. After two free throws by Katie Shumate, the Broncos went on another 11-2 run. The Flashes missed six layups, two 3-point shots and two jump shots in the quarter. They made nothing from the floor. When the Flashes drew fouls, they made only 5-of-12 free throws.

“That third quarter…it just wasn’t what we’re about,” Starkey said. “So we’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror. We just have to respond to adversity better than that.

“We’re still the same players in the same uniforms, but we’re not playing like it. We’ve got the tools to be capable of playing good basketball. We’re just not doing that right now.”

The game was Kent State’s sixth in 15 days since the Flashes finished a 25-day pause after a COVID-19 outbreak on the team. KSU had led the MAC at 4-0 before the virus hit; since they are 2-4.

“Everybody’s has to be truthful and honest with themselves about what they need to do to get it right,” Starkey said. “But the team has been through a lot the last couple of months. We as coaches have to figure out how hard you push. What do they have left to give? How can they respond?

“They’re a resilient bunch. They’re capable of probably a lot more than they think they are at this point. So we’re just trying to balance really caring for them and who they are as people.

“They’re also good at basketball. They love playing the game. So we’re asking ourselves a lot of questions trying to get it right. We just have to move forward and get better as long as there are games to be played.”

The scorers

Nila Blackford led the Flashes with 14 points and 12 rebounds — her ninth double-double in 10 MAC games. (In the other game, she had nine points and nine rebounds.)

Lindsey Thall had 14 points, including four 3-point baskets, and seven rebounds. Kelly had 13 points. Shumate and Casey Santoro had seven points. Mariah Modkins had four assists and two steals.

Box score

Notes

• The game was KSU’s 10th of the MAC season, which officially qualifies it for the league tournament in March. Teams had to play at least half of the 20 scheduled league games. Every other team has qualified. Eastern Michigan also has played 10 conference games. Next lowest is Northern Illinois at 12. Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Ohio, Ball State, Toledo and Western Michigan have played all 15 of their scheduled games.
• Kent State made only 11 of 24 free throws (46%), its worst performance of the season by 9 percentage points.
• Western Michigan, which leads the MAC in turnovers per game, had 12 — six below its average. Kent State scored 15 points off of them. The Flashes had 18 turnovers, slightly above their average, and the Broncos scored 18 points from them.
• Twelve KSU players got into the game. Walk-on guard Ali DiGuilio saw her first action of the season at the last minute. Senior Margeaux Eibel scored her first point of the season, a free throw in the last minute.
• Senior forward Reilly Jacobson led Western Michigan with a career-high 27 points. Freshman forward Taylor Williams had eight points and nine rebounds. She averages a double-double and had 30 points and 21 rebounds in her last game.

Next for Kent State

The Flashes travel on to Northern Illinois for a rare weekend double header with the Huskies.

KSU will play 1 p.m. games on Saturday and Sunday. They’re both makeup games from Kent’s January of COVID.

Northern Illinois is in second place in the MAC at 9-3 and is 11-6 overall. It has won five games in a row and nine of its last 10.

Around the MAC

In the game of the day, first-place Bowling Green (12-3 MAC, 16-4 overall) took the lead in the third quarter and beat third-place Central Michigan 76-67. A CMU win would have tied the two teams for first place. Central is 11-5 and 13-7 in the league.

Every other game was an upset, counting KSU’s loss.

Ball State (9-6 MAC, 11-8 overall) beat Buffalo (8-5 and 11-7) 76-63 at Buffalo. Ball State made 51% of its shots, Buffalo just 30%.

Miami (2-14 and 3-17) won its second MAC games, beating Toledo (5-10 and 9-10) 62-60. Miami guard Peyton Scott, the MAC’s fourth-leading scorer at 22.1 points a game, struggled with foul trouble, scored only seven points and had eight turnovers. But Kelly McLaughlin (25 points) and Katie Davidson (21 points) took up the slack for the Redhawks.

Eastern Michigan, scheduled to play Akron, had to postpone its fifth straight game because of a COVID outbreak. The Northern Illinois game at Ohio was postponed because of coronavirus problems at Ohio.

MAC Standings

Through games of Wednesday, Feb. 17

	MAC W-L	Pct.	MAC Home	MAC Away	All  games
BGSU	12-3	.800	7-1	5-2	16-4
NIU	9-3	.750	5-2	4-1	11-6
CMU	11-5	.688	5-3	7-2	13-7
Ohio	10-5	.667	5-2	5-3	12-6
Buffalo	8-5	.615	4-2	4-3	11-7
Ball St	9-6	.600	2-5	7-1	11-8
EMU	6-4	.600	2-3	4-1	9-6
Kent St	6-4	.600	4-1	2-3	7-6
Toledo	5-10	.333	3-5	2-5	9-10
WMU	3-12	.200	3-4	0-8	4-13
Akron	2-12	.143	1-5	1-7	5-12
Miami	2-14	.125	1-7	1-7	3-17

Kent State will try to end its two-game losing streak in a 1 p.m. Wednesday game at 10th-place Western Michigan.

The game is on ESPN+, which costs $5.99 a month. Click on the link to find out how to subscribe. Internet radio starts at 12:45 p.m. on the Kent State Radio Network. David Wilson is the announcer. You can follow the game with live statistics from the Western Michigan website.

Kent State is tied for fourth in the Mid-American Conference with a 6-3 record (7-5 overall). The Flashes are 2-3 since returning from a 25-day COVID-19 layoff in January. They have played five games in 11 days, including splitting a pair of overtime games. On Saturday, KSU came from 21 points down to tie Central Michigan in the fourth quarter but fell 84-71.

Western Michigan is 2-12 and tied with Akron for 10th in the MAC. Overall the Broncos are 3-13.

Western’s Taylor Williams, a 6-2 freshman, averages 12.6 points and 10.0 rebounds a game for Western. She had 30 points and 21 rebounds in WMU’s 74-66 win over Akron Saturday. Guard Sydney Shafer leads the Broncos in scoring at 14.3 points per game.

Kent State’s Nila Blackford averages a double-double of her own — 15.8 points and 10.7 rebounds. Both numbers lead the Flashes.

Links

Preview on KSU website, including links to statistics, schedule, roster and more.

Kent State media game notes, which tell you about everything you want to know about the team.

Preview on Western Michigan website, with links.