Kent State women's basketball

Flashes edge Miami 71-69 on Lindsey Thall’s last-second putback

By on Saturday, February 6, 2021

Lindsey Thall shoots one of her four 3-pointers against Miami. She made three — and the game winning shot.

Kent State’s women are still far from back to normal after their COVID-19 outbreak, but the Flashes made two big plays in the last seconds Saturday to beat Miami 71-69.

Lindsey Thall rebounded a missed shot and banked in the follow-up with 1.8 seconds to go. Then Katie Shumate snatched the inbounds pass inches out after it was thrown to clinch the game.

The win gives Kent State a 5-1 record in the MAC (6-3 overall). The Flashes are still technically in first place with a .833 winning percentage, but second-place Bowling Green is 10-3 with a winning percentage of .769. KSU plays the Falcons Wednesday. Miami is 1-12 in the MAC and 2-15 overall.

The game was KSU’s second after a 25-day layoff that saw more than half the team come down with COVID.

“We found a way to win today, and we have to let the natural process of improving and getting into a rhythm happen,” coach Todd Starkey said at his postgame press conference. “It’s not like you sprinkle fairy dust on it, and their legs are in game shape and their lungs are in game shape.”

“It takes awhile to get back into mid-season rhythm, coming back from almost a month of not just playing but also not practicing.

“I keep telling them that we want to be playing our best basketball when the tournaments come around at the end of the season. We’re just trying to stay patient but also continue to get their game edge back and steadily improve. It’s a delicate balance.”

Thall said the team was having to re-connect on the floor.

“Since we haven’t been playing, it’s been hard to get back in the rhythm of the game the way we were before this whole break happened,” she said “It’s being connected on the floor with your teammates, knowing where they’re going to be, knowing when to make the extra pass, knowing when to take your shots.

“I think slowly but surely we’ll get back to where we were and even better.“

The Flashes had won five straight games before COVID hit the team.

Thall’s winning basket

At the press conference, Thall and Starkey took reporters through the last two seconds.

“Before that last play,” Starkey said, “I told them: ‘Be opportunistic. Once the shot goes up, you’ve got the crash the boards and find a way.‘ It was a great bang-bang play for Lindsey.”

Thall said she knew she had little time to work with.

“We weren’t going to have an opportunity to play much offense,” she said. “So all of our mindset was just crash the boards, rebound and get it back up.”

Miami called timeout right after the basket to advance the ball to the front court. Shumate, one of KSU’s best defenders, guarded Miami’s Peyton Scott as she prepared to pass the ball into play. Scott had already scored 34 points.

“We put Katie on the ball because she’s long and bouncy,” Starkey said. “And I said, ‘Katie, just follow the ball with your eyes and your hands and find a way to get a deflection. Because if you can touch the ball, the clock’s going to start.’ And they only had 1.8 seconds left.

“And she did more than touch it. She stole it.”

As in Wednesday’s 85-70 loss at Ohio, the Flashes played a solid first quarter. They led 20-14 but were outscored 19-9 in the second. Against Ohio, it was 24-12 in the second.

“Our offense get very stagnant, very passive,” Starkey said. “We have a saying on our team, ‘Passive always fails.’

“The offensive side of the ball suffers when you have these breaks (from illness). Offense is much more rhythm-based. So we’ve got to figure that piece out, maybe figure out some offensive actions that keep us aggressive and moving.”

The scorers

Thall, Nila Blackford and Clare Kelly led the Flashes in scoring.

Blackford, KSU’s leading scorer and rebounder, had her fifth double-double in six MAC games. (The sixth game she had nine points and nine rebounds.)

Blackford scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds, an assist, two steals and a blocked shot. She also drew 10 fouls from Miami players.

“Sometimes I think we just go ‘ho hum’ when she gets a double-double,” Starkey said. “I mean, she went eight for 12 shooting, made all of her free throws, got 10 rebounds — a really good performance. 

“And she was in quarantine the longest — the last one back.”

Sophomore guard Clare Kelly had 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting, made 2-of-2 three-pointers and grabbed five rebounds.

“She was not happy with the way that she played against Ohio — no points, no rebounds,” Starkey said. “She came back and she played like herself again today.”

Thall scored a season-high 17 points, hitting on 6-of-10 field-goal attempts and 3-of-4 three-point shots. She blocked four shots and continues to lead the MAC in that category for the third straight year. Thall played a team-high 36 minutes and leads Kent State in minutes played this season. She has started every game of her three-year career.

Freshman guard Casey Santoro had seven assists, second-best for any player on the team this season, against two turnovers. She scored five points and had three rebounds and a steal in 24 minutes.

“We needed that,” ‘Starkey said. “She did a good job of really taking care of the ball. She’s a tough player.”

Turnover trouble

The Flashes committed 20 turnovers after having 22 against Ohio. Miami scored 22 points off of KSU turnovers.

“We’ve got to get better at taking care of the basketball,” Starkey said. “Averaging 21 turnovers a game in this league is not a good sign.“

Miami, which averaged 17 turnovers a game going into the game, had only eight. Kent State scored 12 points off of them.

A big night at the foul line

Kent State made 17 of its 18 free throws, by far its best performance of the season.

“We needed every single one of them,” Starkey said.

The only missed throw was by Shumate, who had missed only one previously all season. She ranked second in the MAC in free-throw percentage (.909).

Going into the game, Kent ranked last in the conference in free-throw percentage. After Saturday, it’s up to 69.5% in league games, 10th in the league.

Notes

  • Scott, Miami’s sophomore point guard, scored 34 points on 14-of-25 shooting. She had scored 37 points against Western Michigan on Wednesday. She also had four steals, three assists and five rebounds. But no other Redhawk scored in double figures.
  • Miami had 22 more field goal attempts than KSU and led the Flashes in points off turnovers, points in the paint and second-chance points. But Kent State outshot the Redhawks 48% to 40% and made 11 more free throws.
  • Kent State leads the all-time series against Miami 48-46.

Box score

Video of postgame press conference with Starkey and Thall.

MAC Standings

Through games of Saturday, Feb. 6.

MAC
W-L		Pct.MAC
Home 		MAC
Away 		All
games
Kent St5-1.833 3-02-16-3
BGSU10-3.7696-14-214-4 
Buffalo7-3.7004-13-210-5
NIU7-37004-23-19-6
CMU9-4.6924-36-111-6
Ball St7-4.6362-35-19-6
Ohio8-5.6154-24-310-6
EMU6-4.6002-34-19-6
Toledo4-7.3643-31-48-7
Akron2-10.1661-41-65-9
WMU1-11.0831-40-72-12
Miami1-12.0761-50-62-14

Saturday in the MAC

Central Michigan scored five points in the last minute to avoid an upset at Western Michigan 74-71.

Akron won its second MAC game by beating third-place Ball State at Ball State 89-94 in overtime.

Bowling Green beat Ohio 69-53 at BG. The Falcons held Ohio’s Cece Hooks, the nation’s second-leading scorer, to 12 points.

Next up for the Flashes

Kent State plays Toledo at the M.A.C. Center at 2 p.m. Monday. It’s a makeup game for one postponed by COVID. The Flashes won 61-57 at Toledo in December. Toledo is 4-7 in the MAC and 8-7 overall. The Rockets were off on Saturday.

Wednesday the Flashes will host second-place Bowling Green at 6 p.m.

Both games are on ESPN+.

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