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.
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.