Three weeks ago, Kent State senior guard Hannah Young started student teaching at Kent’s Longcoy and Holden elementary schools.
On Thursday, she and her new students had a wonderful time at the M.A.C. Center as the Kent State women routed Division III John Carroll 101-40. It was “Kids Day,” a KSU promotion in which close to 1,000 local elementary students were invited to a morning game.
“They’ve been like, ‘I can’t wait for this game,'” Young said at the team’s postgame press conference. “And then being able to see them out there, screaming and having so much fun.”
After the game, the young fans crowded around Young and her teammates. “Can you sign my shirt?” some asked. Other handed players signs they had made for the game. Young walked off the court with what seemed to be a double armful of signs.
The result was what you would expect when a Division III team, which offers no athletic scholarships, takes on a Division I team. After falling behind 7-4, the Flashes went on a 13-0 run and utterly dominated the game. They made half of their shots, including 15 three-point baskets, and scored 52 points off of 29 John Carroll turnovers.
KSU’s point total was the first time the Flashes have gone over 100 points in 21 years. (“One point more!” the elementary students chanted when Kent hit 99 in the last minute.)
The win also gave KSU its first 3-0 start since 2010 and coach Todd Starkey his 250th career victory at three schools. It was his 85th win in six years at Kent State, where he has the third-most victories in school history.
All 12 players who got into the game for Kent State played at least seven minutes; 11 played at least 13 minutes. All 12 scored, led by sophomore guard Casey Santoro’s 19 points.
src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″>Santoro finished with 19 points (8-12 FG, 3-4 3FG), 6 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal. pic.twitter.com/xZIe2a28zy
Santoro’s total equaled a career-high, which she set 10 days ago in KSU’s opener at Northern Kentucky. She leads KSU in scoring at 15 points a game; her freshman season, she averaged 21 minutes a game but just 6.7 points. In high school, she averaged close to 25 points a game.
7:27 2Q | Kent State 35, JCU 11
Casey Santoro drives in for a layup and a game-high 10 points.#GoFlashes ⚡ pic.twitter.com/9oJvG5mF9z
— Kent State Women’s Basketball (@KentStWBB) November 18, 2021
“It’s just confidence and experience,” Santoro said. “This summer I got to be here with everybody and be connected with everybody.” (Before her freshman year, there were no workouts because of the COVID pandemic. “That kind of stunk,” Santoro said.)
zYoung (and Starkey in earlier interviews) emphasized how hard Santoro has worked to improve.
“You’ll never see her take a day off,” Young said. “She always puts in the hustle plays, and that always translates into scoring opportunities. She has a really quick first step. She’s always looking to score coming off the ball screen, or she’s going to shoot it. You have to be ready to guard her.”
Santoro, who made just 31% of her shots and 26% of her 3-pointers last season, is shooting 56% from the field and 50% from 3-point distance so far this season. She leads the team in assists with 14.
Young also has upgraded her game.
Virginia’s Division 3A player of the year her junior year in high school, she was mostly a reserve her first three years at Kent State. But she has moved into the starting lineup this season.
“I’ve just found my role — and that’s, ‘You better go get that rebound,'” Young said. “Once I do all that, everything seems to come together.”
At 5-foot-10, Young shares the team lead in rebounding with 6-2 Lindsey Thall at 6.7 per game. She led KSU with eight on Thursday and scored 11 points for the second time this season.
“It’s all about her toughness,” Santoro said. “And she does all the little things even though she’s not the biggest player on the floor.”
Starkey said his message to the team going into a game against an opponent like John Carroll was “not wanting to practice any bad habits.”
“We did a good job of staying focused,” he said. “We had great ball movement — 23 assists and 10 turnovers was really good for us — and we shot the ball well, too.”
John Carroll actually is one of the nation’s best Division III teams. It ranked eighth in the country in the latest D3 poll and are defending Ohio Athletic Conference champions.
The game was listed on John Carroll’s website as an exhibition. For Kent, the victory and statistics against a non-Division I team won’t be counted by national rating systems, whose opinion can matter in NCAA and WNIT seedings.
Next: No. 20 UCLA
The Flashes have a week to prepare for what could be their toughest opponent of the season. On the day after Thanksgiving, they open the eight-team Gulf Coast Showcase tournament in Fort Myers against No. 20 UCLA. The rest of the field includes No. 14 Iowa State, two Big Ten teams, St. Johns and three good mid-majors.
Notes
- Freshman forward Bridget Dunn had her first collegiate game in double figures, scoring 11 with two 3-pointers, four rebounds and three steals.
- Thall had 15 points, including 3-of-4 three pointers, along with five rebounds, two assists and a steal. Nila Blackford had eight points and nine rebounds.
- Senior Annie Pavlansky equaled a career high with seven points, including the basket that put Kent State over 100. Mariah Modkins and Katie Shumate also had seven. Freshman Jenna Batsch’s five points included her first collegiate basket and first collegiate 3-pointer.
- KSU forced 28 turnovers and scored on almost all of them, gathering 52 points off turnovers.
- The Flashes outrebounded John Carroll 46-31 and had had more offensive rebounds (24) than John Carroll had defensive rebounds (23). KSU led in second-chance points 24-2.
- Kent State’s 23 assists were the most by a Mid-American Conference team so far this season.
- Attendance was announced at 1,566, including the elementary students.