Sophomore Nila Blackford leads Kent State is scoring (16.8 points her game in MAC play) and rebounding (13.0). Her rebounding average also leads the MAC. Her 52.2% field-goal average is third in the league.
Barring any last-minute problems, the Kent State women return to action for the first time in three weeks at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Ohio University.
The game is on ESPN+, which costs $5.99 a month. Almost all of the women’s game games are on the ESPN+ stream, as are most of the KSU men’s games and most other games in the MAC. Radio streaming of the game starts at 5:45 p.m. on the Kent State Radio Network.
Kent State had five straight games in January postponed by a COVID-19 outbreak on the KSU team. A game scheduled for last Saturday was postponed on less than 24 hours notice because of COVID problems at Eastern Michigan.
The Flashes are 4-0 and in first place in the Mid-American Conference (5-2 overall). But every other team in the league has played at least twice as many games as Kent State.
Ohio is 7-4 and 9-5 overall and in seventh place in the MAC, but the Bobcats are only a half game out of third place and two games behind second-place Bowling Green. Ohio senior guard Cece Hooks is averaging 30.4 points over her last five years and ranks second in Division I in scoring.
Kent State beat the Bobcats 84-80 in Kent on Dec. 11, the first victory in its current five-game winning streak.
In conference play, the Flashes have six players averaging at least 8.5 points a game: Blackford (16.8), point guard Mariah Modkins (10.3), sophomore guard Katie Shumate (9.5), freshman guard Casey Santoro (9.0) and junior forward Lindsey Thall (8.5).
The makeup games begin Monday
The MAC has rescheduled the first of Kent State postponed games.
The Flashes will host Eastern Michigan at 2 p.m. Monday afternoon (Feb. 8).
The game between the two teams was originally scheduled for last Saturday, but postponed because of COVID issues in the Eastern Michigan program.
It means Kent State will play four games in eight days — Saturday vs. Miami, Monday vs. Toledo, next Wednesday vs. Bowling Green and Saturday, Feb. 13, at Central Michigan.
It’s hard to figure out how Kent State can make up all seven games that have been postponed in the five weeks before the MAC Tournament starts March 10.
But I suspect we’ll see a number of Monday-Wednesday-Saturday game weeks before then. KUS also has a bye Feb. 20 that likely will be filled with a makeup game.
The MAC hasn’t announced how it will seed teams for the tournament if they haven’t all played the same number of games. In football, the league went by winning percentage. For example, a team with a 12-2 record (.833 winning percentage) would rank ahead of a 14-3 team (.823).
MAC Standings
Through games of Saturday, Jan. 30
| MAC W-L | Pct. | Home | Away | All | |
| KSU | 4-0 | 1.000 | 2-0 | 2-0 | 5-2 |
| BGSU | 9-2 | .817 | 5-1 | 4-1 | 13-3 |
| CMU | 8-3 | ,727 | 4-2 | 4-1 | 10-5 |
| Buff | 6-3 | .667 | 4-1 | 2-2 | 9-5 |
| BSU | 6-3 | .667 | 2-2 | 4-1 | 8-5 |
| NIU | 6-3 | .667 | 3-2 | 3-1 | 8-6 |
| Ohio | 7-4 | .636 | 3-2 | 4-2 | 9-5 |
| EMU | 6-4 | .600 | 2-3 | 4-1 | 9-6 |
| Toledo | 4-7 | .364 | 3-3 | 1-4 | 8-7 |
| Akron | 1-9 | .100 | 1-3 | 0-6 | 4-9 |
| WMU | 1-9 | .100 | 1-4 | 0-5 | 2-10 |
| Miami | 0-11 | .000 | 0-5 | 0-6 | 1-14 |