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 |