Flashes come from 21 points down at CMU but run out of steam in 84-71 loss

Katie Shumate led Kent State with 17 points, her third-straight game in double figures. She also had six rebounds. (File photo from Hayley Steffy of KSU Athletic Communications.)

Kent State’s women are playing tired, but they’re still playing plenty hard.

The Flashes came back from a 21-point deficit in the second quarter to tie Central Michigan 71-71 with 6:03 to go in the game. But KSU didn’t score again as Central won 84-71.

Kent State’s schedule has been in disarray since a COVID-19 outbreak in January. Half the team tested positive for the virus, and players still haven’t got their stamina back.

“They’re really tired,” coach Todd Starkey said. “In any normal year, you don’t go 25 days between games. And then when you come back, you don’t play five games in 11 days. It was just going like zero to a hundred.”

Starkey has had to juggle playing time to keep his players going.

“Lindsey Thall…I need to rest her desperately,” the coach said. “She’s just exhausted, but I can’t afford to take her off the court.

“I probably played Katie Shumate a little longer than I needed to. She averages close to 35, 36 minutes a game and played only 32. Nila Blackford only played 28 minutes.

“When you can’t play your best players their usual minutes because of how tired they are, it has an effect.”

The loss drops the Flashes (6-3 in the Mid-American Conference, 7-5 overall) from second place to a fourth-place tie in the league. Central jumps from fifth to third with the win and is 11-4, a half-game behind Bowling Green.

Kent State trailed 43-22 with three minutes to go in the second quarter. The Flashes outscored CMU 10-4 for the rest of the half, then 29-17 in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, two free throws each from Mariah Modkins and Blackford and 3-pointers by Shumate and Clare Kelly tied the game at 71 with 6:03 to go. But the Flashes missed their last 11 shots.

“The shooting percentages kind of tell the story,” Starkey said.

Kent State made 11-of 16 shots (69%) in the third quarter but 10% (2 of 20) in the fourth.

In Kent State’s rally, Starkey said, “We were just playing more solid basketball.”

“I think they got frustrated with the way the game started, and they didn’t want to quit,” the coach said. (KSU trailed 19-10 after making just 4-of 17 shots in the first quarter.)

“We made a few adjustments,” he said. “We did a better — though not great — job defensively. There were some moments that we looked a bit like our old selves. But overall, we’re still off the mark significantly from what we’re capable of doing.”

Central Michigan guards Micaela Kelly and Molly Davis put on a spectacular show. Kelly had 35 points, Davis had 32. The two combined to make 10-of-15 three-point shots and 22-of-36 field goals. They accounted for Central’s entire 13-0 run at the end of the game.

“They’re very good,” Starkey said. “We helped them look really good, too, at certain spots. But they are two of the top five scorers in the league and among the better guards in the country.” 

Turnovers are better again

Kent State had ranked toward the bottom of the league in turnovers but tied a season-low of 12 for the second game in a row. The Flashes had only four in the second half.

“It’s something we’ve been working on, and we’ve gotten much better,” Starkey said. “We’re getting better shots, but our legs are tired and they’re not going in. There are a lot of pieces to the equation here.”

Offensive rebounds but not enough points

Kent State had 21 offensive rebounds, one more than the season-high 20 the Flashes had against Bowling Green Wednesday. But Starkey said the 18 second-chance points they got from them still weren’t enough. “We didn’t convert as many as we needed to,” he said.

Overall, Kent State outrebounded CMU 44-33.

Three players in double figures

Shumate led Kent State with 17 points. Kelly had 15 and four 3-point baskets. Blackford had 13 points and 12 rebounds, her eighth double-double in nine MAC games.

The view from Central Michigan

Coach Heather Oesterle, as quoted on the CMU website:

“That was a very good win for us. Kent State’s a very good team, a very balanced team.”

“We did a much better job of finding their shooters when it came down the stretch. They were looking to shoot the 3. We knew they were, and then we came up with a couple of huge rebounds. (Kent State) is a very good rebounding team. I was really proud of the way we handled that adversity when they did go on their run.”

“(Kelly) and Molly, they put on a show today. That was the most efficient 35 and 32 that I’ve ever seen. I love the way they play together, and it’s hard for me to take either of them out of the game. They do have a great chemistry.”

Box score

Notes

• Freshman Lexi Jackson had career highs in points (5), rebounds (5) and minutes (11).
• Lindsey Thall had nine rebounds and two blocked shots but had no field goals for only the second time in her career.
• For the game, Kent State made 35.8% of its shots, about 4 percentage points below its average, and 39.3% of its 3-point shots, 2 points above average. Central made 50% of its shots and 47.6% of its 3-pointers, both well above its averages.

Back on the road again

Kent State took the six-hour bus ride home from Mt. Pleasant after the game.

They’ll get the day off Sunday, then practice on Monday and Tuesday before the six-hour ride to Kalamazoo to play Western Michigan on Wednesday. Western is tied for 10th in the MAC at 2-12.

After that game, they’ll go directly to Northern Illinois, the western outpost of the conference. Next weekend they’ll play NIU on both Saturday and Sunday, games that will make up for two postponed in January. Northern moved into second place in the MAC Wednesday with an 81-75 win at home over Buffalo.

In other MAC games, Toledo won at Akron 75-62 and Ball State edged Miami at Miami 79-77.

MAC Standings

Through games of Saturday, Feb. 13.

	MAC W-L	Pct.	MAC Home	MAC Away	All  games
BGSU	11-3	.786	6-1	5-2	15-4
NIU	9-3	.750	5-2	4-1	11-6
CMU	11-4	.733	5-3	7-1	13-6
Ohio	10-5	.667	5-2	5-3	12-6
Buffalo	8-4	.667	4-1	4-3	11-6
Kent St	6-3	.667	4-1	2-2	7-5
EMU	6-4	.600	2-3	4-1	9-6
Ball St	8-6	.571	2-5	6-1	10-8
Toledo	5-9	.357	3-4	2-5	9-9
Akron	2-12	.143	1-5	1-7	5-12
WMU	2-12	.143	2-4	0-8	3-13
Miami	1-14	.066	1-7	0-7	2-17