Month: December 2021

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Flashes (8-2) travel to Western Michigan (6-3) for Saturday game

By on Friday, December 31, 2021
Katie Shumate, shown diving for a loose ball vs. Toledo, is second on the team in scoring at 13.5 points per game. (Photo by David Dermer for KSU athletics.)

Kent State, 0-1 in the Mid-American Conference after an opening loss at home to Toledo, takes to the road to play Western Michigan Saturday afternoon.

The game starts at 1 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN3. The Kent State Radio Network streams audio, starting at about 12:45 p.m. Live statistics during and after the game can be found on the WMU website.

Western Michigan’s scheduled conference opener at Ball State Wednesday was postponed because of COVID protocols. It wasn’t clear which team (or both) had coronavirus problems. Three other MAC games were postponed Wednesday.

As of Thursday night, one MAC game scheduled — Ohio’s Sunday afternoon game at Miami — for this weekend had been postponed. It is the second postponement for both teams.

Western Michigan went 6-3 in non-conference games, its best start in five years. The Broncos beat St. Mary’s of the WAC (6-5) 76-67 on the road, along with three other teams with losing records and two non-Division I teams. They lost by eight points at Purdue, which is currently 9-4, and 10 points at Indiana (10-3).

WMU was picked to finish 10th in the Mid-American Conference, the same spot it placed last season.

The Broncos start four sophomores, led by 5-10 guard Lauren Ross and 6-2 forward Taylor Williams. Ross is averaging 20.6 points a game, third in the MAC. She played in only four games last season before being injured, averaging 9 points. Williams made the MAC’s all-freshman team and was honorable mention all-MAC last season. This year she’s averaging 13.4 points and 9.0 rebounds, similar to the numbers she put up last season.

All about the MAC

Kent State is 8-2 after its 69-60 loss to Toledo. That’s still the best overall record in the conference. Here’s a quick look at the league, listed by overall record.

KENT STATE (8-2, 0-1 MAC).

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: fourth.
  • NET ranking: 105 of 356 teams.
  • Schedule strength: 57.
  • Best wins: 75-69 over UCLA, 81-74 over Penn State. Best loss: 72-64 vs. Massachusetts (12-2).
  • Key statistics: 40.6 three-point shooting percentage, fifth in Division I and first in MAC. +10.8 rebounding margin, 17th in Division I and first in MAC.
  • Key players: Guard Casey Santoro (13.8 points per game, 52.9% on 3-pointers), forward Lindsey Thall (13.1 points, 7.0 rebounds).

TOLEDO (7-3, 1-0).

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: eighth.
  • NET ranking: 73.
  • Schedule strength: 232.
  • Best wins: 69-60 at Kent State (8-2). 79-58 over Idaho State (3-6). Best loss: 69-60 at Dayton (8-3).
  • Key statistics: Allows 58.6 points per game, best in MAC. Opponents’ field-goal percentage: 35.6, best in MAC.
  • Key players: Guard Quinesha Lockett (17.8 points, sixth in MAC, 2.0 steals), guard Sophia Wiard (4.2 assists).

BALL STATE (7-3, 0-0)

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: ninth.
  • NET ranking: 115.
  • Schedule strength: 223.
  • Best win: 73-67 over IUPUI (5-2). Best losses: 71-67 at Texas Tech (7-4), 64-54 vs. Pittsburgh (9-4).
  • Key statistics: 17.5 assists per game, first in MAC. Turnover margin: +5.8, second in MAC.
  • Key players: Forward Anna Slephane (17.2 points, eighth in MAC), guard Sydney Freeman (4.7 assists, third in MAC).

BUFFALO (7-4, 1-0)

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: second.
  • NET ranking: 59.
  • Schedule strength: 40.
  • Best wins: 69-55 over Rhode Island (8-3), 88-79 over Syracuse (8-5). Beat Central Michigan 92-75 in MAC opener.
  • Key statistics: 77.1 points per game, first in MAC. +4.8 turnover margin, fourth in MAC.
  • Key players: Guard Dyaisha Fair (21.7 points, first in MAC), forward Summer Hemphill (15.6 points, 8.5 rebounds).

OHIO (6-3, 0-0)

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: first.
  • NET ranking: 95.
  • Schedule strength: 125.
  • Best wins: 73-62 over Cincinnati (7-5), 98-89 over Richmond (9-4). Best loss: 66-63 to Liberty (9-1).
  • Key statistics: 81.6 points per game, first in MAC. +6.6 turnover margin, first in MAC.
  • Key players: Guard Cece Hooks, last year’s MAC player of the year (21.3 points, second in MAC, 7.6 rebounds, seventh in MAC, 3.4 steals, first in MAC), wing Erica Johnson (20.3 points, fourth in MAC, 2.6 steals).

WESTERN MICHIGAN (6-3, 0-0)

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: 10th.
  • NET ranking: 156.
  • Schedule strength: 178.
  • Best wins: 76-67 at St. Mary’s (6-5), 68-67 at Indiana State (5-6). Best losses: 70-62 at Purdue (9-4), 67-57 at No. 8 Indiana (10-2).
  • Key statistics: Allows 60.3 points per game, second in MAC. Turnover margin of +5.2 is third in MAC.
  • Key players: Guard Lauren Ross (20.6 points). Forwrd Taylor Williams (13.4 points, 9.0 rebounds).

BOWLING GREEN (5-4, 0-0)

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: second.
  • NET ranking: 139.
  • Schedule strength: 183.
  • Best wins: 72-60 over Oakland (5-7), 67-52 over Tennessee-Martin (4-8). Best loss: 76-72 over Liberty (9-1).
  • Key statistics: 72.2 points per game, fifth in MAC. 46.6% on field goals, first in MAC.
  • Key players: Guard Morgan Sharps (50% 3-point shooting), guard Nyla Hampton (3.4 steals, tied for first in MAC). BG guard Lexi Fleming, last season’s MAC freshman of the year, was injured in preseason practice and is out for the year.

AKRON (3-3, 0-0)

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: 12th.
  • NET ranking: 267.
  • Schedule strength: 192.
  • Best win: 60-50 at Robert Morris (4-6). Best loss: 57-55 at Youngstown State (9-1).
  • Key statistics: Allows 62.0 points per game, fourth in MAC. Scores 63.3 points, 11th in MAC.
  • Key player: Wing Jordyn Dawson (15.6 points, 3.0 steals).
  • Four games canceled or postponed because of COVID.

MIAMI (4-5, 0-0)

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: 11th.
  • NET ranking: 168.
  • Schedule strength: 187.
  • Best wins: 77-73 at Xavier (6-6), 81-73 over Evansville (5-4). Best loss: 82-76 at Purdue.
  • Key statistics: First in 3-point defense in MAC at 25.8%. Last in field-goal defense at 43.6%.
  • Key players: Guard Payton Scott (19.3 points, 6.7 rebounds), forward Jada Duckett (6.7 rebounds).

EASTERN MICHIGAN (3-4, 0-0)

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: fifth.
  • NET ranking: 263.
  • Schedule strength: 195.
  • Best wins: 66-62 over Binghamton (2-6). Best loss: 70-67 vs. Youngstown State (9-1).
  • Key statistics: Third in scoring at 76 point per game, second in field-goal percentage at 45.1%.
  • Key players: Wing Areanna Combs (17.1 points), center Ce’Naara Skanes (9.4 rebounds, second in MAC, 54.7 field-goal percentage, first in MAC).
  • Three games canceled or postponed.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS (3-5, 0-0)

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: seventh.
  • NET ranking: 209.
  • Schedule strength: 196.
  • Best win: 69-50 over MIlwaukee (4-8). Best loss: 92-87 in overtime vs. Western Illinois (9-2).
  • Key statistics: 10th in scoring at 69.8 points per game. 12 in points allowed at 77.1.
  • Key players: Guard Shelby Koker (17.8 points, 96.6 free-throw percentage), forward A’Jah Davis 10.4 rebounds, first in MAC)
  • Two games canceled or postponed.

CENTRAL MICHIGAN (2-8, 0-1)

  • MAC coaches’ preseason prediction: sixth.
  • NET ranking: 284.
  • Schedule strength: 113.
  • Best win: 56-50 over Marist (3-7). Best losses: 71-67 at Green Bay (6-4), 59-54 at Cincinnati (7-5).
  • Key statistics:
  • Key players: Guard Molly Davis (17.1 points, 4.8 assists, second in MAC), forward Jahari Smith (9.4 rebounds, third in MAC).
  • Central has won four of the last five regular season MAC titles but lost three key seniors and 50% of its scoring to graduation. Among the losses was 2020 player of the year Mikaela Kelly.

Link to MAC statistics

The NET is the NCAA’s ranking system for teams. It combines a team’s record, its strength of schedule, its overall offensive and defense strength. A good road record and victories over good teams are rewarded. It’s among the criteria used to determine seedings for the NCAA tournaments and has replaced the once-popular RPI rankings.

Schedule strength is reported by WarrenNolan.com, a ranking service.

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Kent State women's basketball

Shooting way below their average, Flashes fall to Toledo 69-60 in MAC opener

By on Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Junior Hannah Young goes for two of her 16 points. She also had 11 rebounds for her second straight double-double. (Photo by David Dermer for Kent State athletics.)

Through its 8-1 non-conference schedule, Kent State had been one of the best shooting teams in the Mid-American Conference.

But in its MAC opener Wednesday, all of that shooting was missing as the Flashes fell to Toledo 69-60 at the M.A.C. Center.

Kent State had been third in the country in 3-point shooting, making 42% of its long-range shots. Wednesday the Flashes were 5-of-20 for 25%.

The team had been making 43.5% of all of its shots, fifth in the MAC. Wednesday its shooting percentage was 33.3%.

Toledo’s record is 7-3. Wednesday was the first time this season the Rockets had beaten a team with a winning record.

Key things to know about the game:

  • After trailing most of the game, Toledo outscored KSU 26-15 in the fourth quarter.
  • KSU’s four top scorers made only 9-of-39 shots.
  • Senior guard Hannah Young had her second straight double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
  • The Flashes outrebounded their opponent for the 10th time in 10 games.

But KSU’s shooting problems were the story of the game.

“We had good looks from 3 from good shooters, and they just didn’t go down,” coach Todd Starkey said. “But we looked out of rhythm most of the game. A lot of that comes from not playing for three weeks. You can’t just stop playing, and then turn it back on in a conference game.

“It definitely showed on the offensive side. We’re better than scoring 60 points. We’ve been averaging 77.

“Toledo played two games last week. So they were in a better rhythm.”

Kent State missed 10 days of practice to a COVID-19 outbreak that sickened half the team before Christmas. A Dec. 21 game against Florida State was canceled.

Fourth-quarter failure

Kent State led 45-43 going into the fourth quarter and trailed 59-57 with three minutes left.

But over the next minute, Toledo pounded the ball to 6-5 Hannah Noveroske, a junior transfer from Indiana, who scored on three layups. The Flashes never got within six points after that.

Senior forward Lindsey Thall, a two-time all-MAC defender, was on the bench four fouls when Noveroske took over.

“So,” Starkey said, “we had Bridget Dunn, a freshman, trying to guard a Big Ten transfer. They executed, and it hurt us.”

Starkey emphasized that Dunn, who scored 13 points, played a good game.

“She just doesn’t have game experience at this level, with the intensity in conference play,” Starkey said. “Lindsey’s been doing this for four years.”

Toledo made six of its 12 shots in the fourth quarter and hit two 3-pointers. Kent State was 5-of-13 and 0-for-3 from distance.

The Rockets also made 12 of 14 free throws in the last quarter.

Four of the foul shots came on a KSU foul and a technical on Starkey for protesting a call.

“We were trying to get downhill to the basket,” he said. “I thought there was a lot of contact on our shooters — five straight possessions.”

Kent’s scorers weren’t scoring

Katie Shumate, Casey Santoro, Thall and Nila Blackford all had averaged more than 10 points a game before Wednesday. But Shumate went 3-for-13 shooting, Thall 3-for-12 and Santoro 3-for-9.

Nila Blackford, KSU’s leading scorer last season and a preseason all-MAC second team member, went 0-for-5 and played only 13 minutes.

Shumate, Santoro and Young went into the game making more than 50% of their 3-point attempts. Young made 2-of-2, but Shumate, Santoro and Thall combined to go 0-for-8. (Thall had been making 44% of her 3s.)

“Toledo had a really good game plan for us,” Starkey said. “They played really tough physical defense and took us out of our stuff.”

Toledo leads the MAC in scoring defense and field-goal defense.

Young continues to sparkle

Young had 16 points, 14 in the first half, and led KSU with 11 rebounds. It was her second-straight double-double. She had 16 points and 13 points against Clarion Dec. 11. The two games were the first double-doubles of her career.

She made 7-of-10 shots and 2-of-2 three-pointers.

The MAC’s best rebounders

Kent State outrebounded Toledo 43-33 with 19 offensive rebounds. The offensive total is second only to KSU’s 24 against Division III John Carroll. The Flashes have outrebounded every team they’ve played this season and average 10 more rebounds a game than their opponents.

Against Toledo, KSU scored 18 second-chance points off of those offensive rebounds. The Rockets scored 13 after nine offensive rebounds.

Next: A trip to Kalamazoo

COVID permitting, the Flashes play at Western Michigan at 1 p.m. Saturday. Western’s opener at Ball State was postponed “due to the guidelines and safety protocols of the COVID-19 global pandemic.” The announcement from both teams and the MAC didn’t say which team (or both) had COVID problems.

Western was 6-3 in non-conference play with losses to Purdue, USC and Indiana. Of thes teams it beat, only St. Mary’s of the WAC had a winning record (6-5).

Other MAC action

The Western-Ball State game was one of four MAC games postponed by COVID Wednesday. In the only other game played, Buffalo (7-4) outscored Central Michigan (2-8) 22-11 in the fourth quarter on the way to a 72-75 victory.

Box score

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Kent State women's basketball

8-1 but coming off a COVID break, Flashes open MAC season against Toledo on Wednesday

By on Wednesday, December 29, 2021
A powder-blue game: The Flashes will wear new uniforms Wednesday. These players are (from left): sophomore Lexi Jackson, senior Annie Pavlansky, sophomore Casey Santoro and freshman Bridget Dunn. (Photo from team Twitter feed.)

Two questions loom over as the Kent State women’s Mid-American Conference Wednesday opener against Toledo.

  • Will the Flashes’ 8-1 non-league record translate into a successful conference season?
  • What’s is COVID-19 going to do to the rest of the women’s basketball season? Kent State’s Dec. 21 game against Florida State was canceled because of COVID problems for the Flashes.

We start to find out this week. After playing 6-3 Toledo at the M.A.C. Center Wednesday, the Flashes travel to 6-3 Western Michigan on Saturday.

The Toledo game is part of a doubleheader with the KSU men, who play Central Michigan at 4:30 p.m. The women will play a half-hour after that game finishes, probably about 7 p.m. A ticket to the men’s games gives you a free general admission ticket to the women (and most of the women’s seats are general admission).

The game will be streamed on Boxcast through the KSU website. It can be heard on the Kent State Radio Network and live statistics during and after that game can be found on the team website.

Do the Flashes have a MAC championship in them?

Kent has the best record in the conference. Every other team in the MAC has lost at least two more games.

The Flashes have played no cupcake schedule. They beat UCLA (then ranked No. 19 in the country, now 5-3) and Penn State (7-5) by solid margins in the Gulf Coast Showcase over Thanksgiving weekend. They opened the season on the road with an 80-73 win over Northern Kentucky (now 7-3).

Yes, they played two non-Division I teams and routed them by an average of 53 points. They didn’t play their best in their last two Division I games against St. Bonaventure and Duquesne.

But their schedule is rated between second and fourth hardest in the MAC by various services that do that kind of thing.

Kent State has piled up some fancy statistics in its best start to a season in 13 years. The Flashes:

  • Rank third in the country in 3-point shooting percentage (42.0%) and seventh in 3-pointers per game (10.2). The Flashes are 13th nationally in fewest turnovers per game (12.0), 17th in rebounding margin (+10.9) and 30th in scoring average (77.3 points per game.)
  • Were ranked 13th in this week’s College Insider Mid-Major Poll, highest of any MAC team. Buffalo is 18th. Kent State coach Todd Starkey and Ohio coach Bob Bolden are on the 31-member panel that votes in the poll.
  • Sophomore guard Casey Santoro is third in the country in 3-point percentage (54.55%) and 10th in the country with a 3.08 assist-to turnover ratio. Lindsey Thall is 43rd in 3-point percentage at 43.4%). KSU’s Katie Shumate actually averages an even higher percentage of 55.2%, but she hasn’t taken enough shots to qualify for the NCAA rankings.

NCAA statistics.

In the MAC, Kent State is:

  • Second in scoring offense (77.3), first in scoring margin (+17.9) and second in scoring defense (59.4).
  • First in 3-point percentage (42.0, more than 5 points ahead of any other team) and first in 3-pointers per game,
  • Third in field-goal defense (opponents are shooting 28.8%).
  • First in rebounding margin (+10.9, more than five rebounds a game ahead of any other team).
  • First in fewest turnovers per gtame (12.0), second in assist/turnover ratio (1.19).
  • Kent State players rank 1-2-3 in 3-point percentage: Shumate (55.2%), Santoro (54.5%) and Hannah Young (52.4%). Thall is ninth (43.4) and Bridget Dunn 12th (39.4%).
  • Nila Blackford is seventh in rebounding (7.8 a game), Thall is ninth (7.1) and Hannah Young 10th (7.0).
  • Shumate is fifth in field-goal percentage (52.2%) and Santoro fifth in free-throw percentage (85.7%).
  • Santoro leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio (3.1) and is ninth in assists per game (4.1).

MAC statistics.

“We’ve had a solid start,” coach Todd Starkey said. “Now we’re going to have to prove it game-in and game-out. Everybody is 0-0 now. Everybody in the league is solid.”

The Flashes need to focus on consistency, he said.

“There have been games we’ve played very well,” Starkey said. “There have been games we’ve played solid for 30 minutes— and the other 10 minutes hasn’t been the best.”

About Toledo

The Rockets have won six games but haven’t beaten any team with a record better than 4-7. They have played good teams well in their three losses, losing 69-60 to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Dayton (8-3) and 68-63 in overtime to Seton Hall of the Big East. Last week Toledo lost 60-46 to Missouri, the top-ranked mid-major team.

Toledo has the MAC’s best scoring defense (58.4 points per game, a point better than KSU) and best field-goal defense (35.8%).

Guard Quinesha Locket averages 18.6 points per game, sixth in the MAC. Point guard Sophia Wiard leads Toledo in rebounding (6.7 per game) and assists (4.1). She also averages 10.8 points a game.

Game preview from Toledo website.

The COVID conundrum

All 12 MAC teams were supposed to open the conference season Wednesday. Only four will. As of Tuesday night, four of six games had been canceled because of COVID outbreaks. Besides the Toledo-KSU game, the only other game is Central Michigan at Buffalo.

Kent State missed 10 days of practice (and the FSU game) because of a COVID outbreak that started just after the team’s 89-43 win over Clarion on Dec. 11.

Akron had three games non-conference games canceled, Eastern Michigan two and Northern Illinois one.

The Flashes returned to practice on Dec. 26. Starkey wouldn’t say much beyond “we’ll have enough healthy players” to play Toledo.

Starkey said this fall that all team members and coaches were vaccinated, but that was before booster shots and the Omricon variant.

As Kent State learned last year, early postponements in league play can be crippling. The Flashes started 5-0, then lost 25 days to COVID problems on the team. They ended up playing more games than any other MAC team in February to make up some of the missed contests and were pretty worn down by the end of the season.

But as has been the case since the pandemic started, there are more COVID questions than answers. Here are three on my mind:

How bad will this get? 65 Division I games scheduled for this week already had been canceled or postponed by Tuesday afternoon. The CDC reported more COVID infections yesterday than at any time in the pandemic, and a lot of experts are predicting a very bad January because of the Omricon variant.

Will colleges adapt the new CDC recommendation that cuts quarantine time to five days (from 10) for non-symptomatic infections and for people who had had close contact with someone who was infected? Those five days could be the difference between one game being canceled to losing three games. State and local health authorities, plus individual schools and conferences, would have to sign off on that. The recommendations are so new that we won’t know the answer to this question for days.

Will Kent State’s early problems help it in the long run? Previous infection can help build immunity and prevent COVID for a time. Perhaps this season KSU will watch other teams wear themselves out making up postponed games. But teams can be hit by COVID more than once. That happened to KSU last season, but that was pre-vaccination.

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Kent State women's basketball

Casey Santoro’s triple-double — first in KSU history — leads Flashes past Clarion 89-43

By on Saturday, December 11, 2021
Sisters Cory (left) and Casey Santoro, who played against each other in a game for the first time Saturday, gave a joint interview afterwards at the request of their hometown newspaper. (WbbFlashes photo.)

Playing against her sister and in front of her parents and a big group from her hometown, sophomore guard Casey Santoro put up the first triple-double in Kent State history as the Flashes overwhelmed Division II Clarion 89-43 Saturday.

Santoro had 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. No KSU player — man or woman — had ever done that before.

Santoro had eight rebounds when she went to the bench with five minutes to go in the game. “Put her back in!” her teammates and some assistants told head coach Todd Starkey.

“That’s when I knew I was close,” Santoro said.

She went back in with 3:32 left and passed to Bridget Dunn to set up a 3-point basket 11 seconds later. A minute later, as the crowd cheered for another assist, Santoro passed to Dunn for another 3 and a place in the record book. Santoro got a standing ovation when she came out of the game shortly afterward.

“It feels pretty awesome,” Santoro said. “But I couldn’t have done it without my teammates knocking down the shots.”

The big things to know from the game:

  • Santoro’s triple-double included assists on eight 3-point baskets.
  • Senior Hannah Young scored a career-high 16 points and had her first collegiate double-double. Bridget Dunn (15 points) and Annie Pavlansky (10) had career highs in scoring.
  • The win gives the Flashes an 8-1 start, tying for second-best in school history.

Here’s the pass that gave Santoro the triple-double:

Santoro made 4-of-6 three-point attempts and 6-of-10 shots overall. She had a career-high 10 assists, two steals and only one turnover in 31 minutes

The Santoro backstory

“It was awesome to see Casey play like that,” Starkey said. “I don’t think she went into the game trying to do that. But you don’t do it by accident. It’s the type of habits she has every day, her work ethic, her focus. She’s tough as nails as a player.

“There were a lot of coaches that didn’t even look at recruiting her. They said she was too small. (Santoro is 5-4.) I said, ‘She doesn’t have to be good for you. She just has to be good for me.'”

Starkey has no problem with small point guards.

“I’ve won six championships in my career,” the coach said. “Every championship I’ve won, I’ve had a small point guard. They play with the chip on their shoulder. People tell them they can’t do it, and they go out every day to try and prove that they can. That’s what Casey’s all about.”

Santoro scored 2,400 points in Bellevue High School and made the all-Ohio first team three times. Last season she averaged about 20 minutes and scored 6.7 points a game. Her shooting percentage was just 31.1%.

This year, she’s making 47.1% of her shots and 54.5% of her 3-point attempts, which is fourth in the Mid-Amerian Conference.

Last season she averaged a bit more than two assists and 1.5 turnovers per game. This season she’s averaging 4.1 assists and 1.3 turnovers. Her assist-to-turnover ratio — something coaches care a lot about in point guards — is second in the MAC at 3.1-to-1.

“She was such a prolific scorer in high school,” Starkey said. “There’s an adjustment to playing with really good players around you and the type of post players that we have.

“So it was a process that she had to go through last year. And in a COVID year, we didn’t have as much time to work with them individually, and there were gaps where we couldn’t have them in to watch film.

“She’s gotten better at learning her teammates. You have to know not only the other team’s personnel but your own personnel. You have to know where your teammates need the ball and where not to throw it. Just because they’re open doesn’t mean they’re the right person to throw it to.

“And Casey’s been a really good student of the game. She spends a lot of time watching film. She spends a lot of extra time in the gym — the old cliche, ‘first one in the gym, last one to leave’ — well, it’s true with her.”

Saturday’s game was the first this season that Santoro has started. She said that Mariah Modkins, the usual starter, had COVID-19. (Starkey has said that the entire team has been vaccinated. But protocol still requires a player to sit out if they show breakthrough symptoms or have a positive test.)

The Santoro sisters did a joint interview after the game, mostly for the Sandusky Register, their hometown newspaper.

Cory said it was “pretty cool” to see her sister get a triple-double. “I guess it’s OK if she gets it against your team,” she said, laughing.

Here’s link to the Sandusky Register story on the sisters by sports writer Billy Heyen.

Scoring from unexpected places

Neither of KSU’s top scorers going into the game managed 10 points. But Santoro and three other players did.

One was Young, who has started all nine games this season after starting only seven total her first three years. A 5-10 guard, Young had achieved her double-double against Clarion with six minutes to go in the third quarter. Her 16 points were one above her previous best and her 13 rebounds were two off her career-high. (“One of the coaches was telling me, ‘Try to beat it,'” Young said, smiling.) She played only 21 minutes in the game.

Dunn, a 6-3 freshman forward from Carmel, Indiana, had 15 points and seven rebounds, both the best of her young career. She made 3-of-7 three-point shots and ranks 15th in the MAC in 3-point shooting at 39.4%.

“She’s had a good start,” Starkey said. “She has a very high basketball IQ and is a really good passer for a post player. Obviously, she can shoot really well from outside.”

The coach said Dunn’s style of play is similar to senior Lindsey Thall, who has started every game in her four-year career.

“We thought Bridget would be great to play and learn beside Lindsey,” Starkey said, “and then be able to be a lot like her as she continues to develop.”

Pavansky, a senior, had 10 points, the most of her career.

“We’ve had a lot of talent here over the last four years, and she hasn’t been able to get the playing time that she would like to,” Starkey said. “So when you get opportunities for somebody like her to have a game like that — where it’s fun, your teammates are cheering — it’s an awesome thing.”

Every time Starkey talks about Pavlansky, he points out she has a perfect grade point average. She’s only one of three upperclassmen in the MAC to have a 4.0 average.

The coach also smiled as he remembered that Pavlansky’s uncle was Starkey’s junior varsity basketball coach in the early 1990s at Canfield High School outside Youngstown.

Dunn and Pavlansky combined for five 3-pointers. Santoro assisted on all of them.

A fast start and a tough next opponent

The victory gives Kent State an 8-1 start to the season, tying for its second-best in the 45 years of KSU women’s basketball. The best start was 11-1 in 2008-09, when the team finished 20-9. Teams in 1978-79 and 1993-94 also started 8-1. (wbbFlashes’ preview on the Clarion game has some interesting detail on those teams and three of the best teams in school history, which got off to mediocre starts.)

Clarion is 2-5 on the season.

Kent State has 10 days off for final exams.

Then they’ll host Florida State of the Atlantic Coast Conference, a team that has made the NCAA Tournament the last nine years. The Seminoles were ranked in the top 25 for several weeks earlier in the season. They are 6-2 going into Sunday’s game with Florida (8-3).

The game will be at the M.A.C. Center at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 21 (the same afternoon the KSU football team plays in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl). The FSU game is the first game of a doubleheader with the Kent State men’s team, which plays Cleveland State a half-hour after the women finish.

Box score

Notes

  • Starkey said junior guard Abby Ogle was out indefinitely with an injury. She was on the bench with her leg heavily bandaged. Ogle is a transfer from West Virginia who was a third-team all-American in junior college. She had played in six games and was tied for the team lead in steals despite playing just 11 minutes a game.
  • With Modkins out, junior Clare Kelly backed up Santoro at point guard. She didn’t score but had four assists, four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. Kelly started 13 games last season at shooting guard and averaged 8.8 points, scoring 27 against Toledo.
  • Every KSU player in uniform got into the game, with freshman guard Jenna Batsch logging 21 minutes. Bexley Wallace, a 6-3 junior forward and transfer from Penn State, scored her first two baskets for Kent. Sophomore Lexi Jackson, the team’s tallest player at 6-4, saw her first action in almost a month after being sidelined with illness. She scored four points and had a rebound.

Numbers

The statistics were as lopsided as you’d expect a 46-point win to be.

  • KSU outrebounded Clarion 55-30, its biggest margin in three seasons.
  • Clarion made only 24.1% of its shots and 15.4% of its 3-pointers. The Flashes shot 44.1% from the field and 45.2% on 3-pointers.
  • Kent State outscored Clarion in the paint 36-14, on second-chance points 24-7 and on fast breaks 19-7. The Flashes equaled ther season high of 23 assists and blocked five shots, the most since their opener at Northern Kentucky.

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Flashes (7-1) play Division II Clarion and Casey Santoro’s sister on Saturday. Also: Notes on KSU’s best season beginnings

By on Friday, December 10, 2021
Sophomore Casey Santoro leads in scoring at 14.6 points a game and is making 51% of her 3-point shots. On the other side of the court against Clarion will be her sister, Cory, who is a freshman guard on that team. (File photo from KSU Twitter feed.)

The women host Division II Clarion Saturday with the likelihood of equaling the second-best start of a season in school history.

A win would make them 8-1, the same as teams in 1978-79 and 1993-94. KSU’s best start was 11-1 in 2008-09.

Win No. 7: How Flashes held on to beat Duquesne 71-66

The Clarion game starts at 1 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center. Tickets are $10 for chairback general admission and $5 for bleacher seats. Students get in free with their I.D. The game will be streamed on ESPN3.

Clarion is 2-5. Both it and KSU played at St. Bonaventure earlier this season. Clarion lost 81-49 and Kent State won 64-53. When Clarion and KSU met in 2018, the Flashes won 92-38, the fourth-largest margin of victory in school history.

The game pits KSU sophomore point guard Casey Santoro against her sister, Cory, who is a freshman guard for Clarion. Cory has started all seven of Clarion’s games and averages 10 points. Casey and Cory played together most of their lives, including three years at Bellevue High School. There they won three straight league champions together (and two more in the years they weren’t both on the team).

Clarion’s top scorer is 5-9 freshman guard Sierra Bermudez, who averages 18.6 points a game.

Kent State’s Santoro, Lindsey Thall and Katie Shumate have traded off leading the team in scoring through eight games. Shumate currently averages 14.8 points a game, Thall 14.6 and Santoro 14.0. All are shooting better than 44% from 3-point distance. The Flashes as a team are shooting 41.5% on 3s, which ranks second in the country.

Kent State’s best starts

Good starts don’t necessarily predict great seasons.

  • The 2008-09 team (11-1 start) finished 19-10 and tied for second in the MAC East at 8-8. They were 8-9 after the outstanding beginning.
  • The 1978-79 team (8-1), playing before the MAC sponsored women’s basketball, lost three games in a row after its fast start. Those Flashes went on finish 23-8 and at the end of the season finished third in an women’s basketball tournament among Ohio universities and colleges.
  • The 1993-94 team (8-1) finished 20-9 overall and fourth in the MAC at 10-8.

The best teams in KSU history?

  • The 1995-96 team went 24-7 after a 3-3 start, losing to Texas Tech, Nebraska and LSU. It made the second round of the NCAA tournament before losing to Penn State. Those Flashes won the MAC regular-season conference championship at 16-2 but lost to Toledo in the MAC tournament finals. The team got an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, where it beat Texas A&M in the first round. Amy Sherry, Carrie Templin and Billie Jean Smith-Goldman led that team.
  • The 1997-98 team started 3-4 but finished 23-7, swept the MAC regular season at 18-0 and finished 23-7. It won the MAC tournament, then lost 79-76 at Iowa State in the first round of the NCAA. Julie Studer, Dawn Zerman and Templin were that team’s top players.
  • After a 3-4 start, the 1999-2000 team finished 25-6, the best record in school history. Zerman and Studer led KSU to a MAC regular season championship at 15-1 and the league tournament title. The Flashes lost to Arizona in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

I’ve written before that the 2010-11 team started 11-1. I was wrong. That record belonged the 2008-09 team. The 2010-11 team started 6-0, the longest undefeated beginning in school history. It then lost two in a row, finished 20-10 and second in the MAC East at 11-5.

Question without an answer: Which is better — a 6-0 start or an 11-1 start?

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Flashes hold off Duquesne 71-66 to extend fourth-best start to season in school history

By on Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Katie Shumate led KSU with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting. She made 3-of-6 and 3-of 6 3-pointers and 4-of-4 foul shots and had three assists. Shumate is fourth in MAC in shooting percentage and fourth in 3-point percentage. (File photo from KSU Twitter feed.)

It won’t end up being one of Kent State’s best games of the season, but the Flashes fought off a Duquesne comeback Wednesday and won 71-66.

KSU is 7-1, the fourth-best start ever for the team. Duquesne, traditionally a strong mid-major, is 4-6.

What you need to know about the game:

  • Kent State led by as many as 13 in the third quarter, but in the last five mnutes, Duquesne came within one point twice and within two points four times.
  • Katie Shumate had 21 points, Casey Santoro 19 and Lindsey Thall 16. The three combined to make 19-of-35 baskets and 10-of-17 3-pointers. KSU’s 3-point shooting percentage of 41.5 continues to be in the top six in the nation.
  • The Flashes had assists on 14 of their 24 baskets, part of a pattern of sharing the basketball that’s much improved over the last few seasons.

“It wasn’t pretty,” coach Todd Starkey said. “Duquesne was very physical and made it a tough game for us. It’s two games in a row we weren’t necessarily playing our best and still found ways to win.

“This was a very intense game. It’s one of the reasons we schedule a tough (non-conference) schedule because this is what conference play looks like night in and night out.” 

Holding off Duquesne

The Flashes led 52-39 with 1:32 to go in the third period. But behind 15 second-half points from Fatou Pouye, Duquesne closed it 58-57 with 5:02 to go. It was a two-point game with 1:05 left when Clare Kelly passed above the Duquesne defense to Thall in the opposite corner. Thall nailed the 3-pointer to give the Flashes a five-point lead.

“Our players have played a lot of minutes together,” Starkey said. (KSU’s top eight players from last season all returned.) “It comes out in moments when you’re not playing your best.

“I really liked our team’s composure down the stretch, even when they were putting on a run. Nobody looked panicked or rattled. That’s that’s experience coming out.”

Santoro said the game came down to “just toughness and who wanted it more.”

Duquesne’s comeback was fueled by a lot of foul shots, especially by Pouye, who made 8-of-10 in the last 11 minutes. The teams shot a total of 31 free shots in the second half after shooting just seven in the first.

“The game gets really choppy” Starkey said. “It gave them an advantage because they had the opportunity to get back on defense and switch defenses. It took us out of a flow a lot.”

The fouls definitely went both ways. Duquesne had two players foul out and another with four fouls. At one point in the fourth quarter, the Dukes were called for three fouls in one second — the first on the court and the next two on inbounds passes. For the game, KSU had 32 fouls, Duquesne 30. Thall, Kelly and NIla Blackford all had four fouls.

Wednesday’s Big Three

SHUMATE scored 21 points, making 7-of-14 shots from the field, 3-of-6 from 3-point distance and 4-of-4 from the foul line. She is fourth in the Mid-American Conference in field goal percentage (55%) and fourth in 3-point percentage (55.6%).

She leads KSU in scoring at 14.8 points a game, though she, Thall and Santoro have traded the lead all through the season.

“Katie has been making big shots since she’s been here,” Starkey said. “She’s a heckuva shooter; she led the MAC in conference games in 3-point percentage when she was a freshman.

Shumate was slowed by a knee problem all of last season but still averaged 12.2 points a game, second on the team. She says she feels better and is glad to see fewer COVID-19 restrictions.

“The team gets to see each other more,” she said. “We have fans. It just feels a lot different being on the floor this year.”

SANTORO moved into eighth place in the MAC in shooting percentage at 47.3% with her 6-of-9 performance Wednesday. She also made 4-of-5 three-pointers and is seventh in the conference in that category at 51.9%.

Santoro averaged just 31.1% shooting last season. Starkey has repeatedly how hard she worked to improve her game over the summer.

“She scored 2,400 points in high school,” Starkey said. “She made 10 3s in a game in high school and had 40 points. The reason we’re a good team is because we’ve gone out and got some really good pieces and put pieces together that fit. And they’re playing to the level of their capabilities.”

THALL made six of her 12 shots, including 3-of-6 from 3-point distance. She’s 10th in the MAC in 3-point percentage (44%) and eighth in overall shooting (47.1).

Thall also led the team with nine rebounds. She is averaging 7.9 rebounds a game. Last season she averaged 5.1.

“Reounding and defense are ‘want to’ skills,” Starkey said. “You have to want to do them to be good. Lindsey’s ‘want to’ has gone up It’s not like we’ve done like new miraculous rebounding drills. It’s just her focus and energy in that area has significantly increased.”

Assisting their teammates

The Flashes had 14 assists on their 24 baskets against Duquesne. They’re averaging 13.1 assists per game, up from 11.1 last season when they were 10th in the MAC. KSU’s current average would have put them fourth.

Santoro: “We’ve been emphasizing assists, and we’re doing a really good job of moving the ball this year. I just try to drive and kick and get my teammates open shots. It also helps me because they don’t know if I’m going to pass or shoot. They have to pick whether they want to give me the lane or close out. If they do close, my teammates are open and connect on the shots.”

Shumate: “You can just feel a difference when points are coming from assists versus individual plays.”

Starkey: “We’ve got a lot of really good players. We’ve have to make sure everybody’s getting touches by moving the basketball.”

Sunday against Clarion

Kent State hosts Division II Clarion (2-5) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the M.A.C. Center. Santoro’s younger sister Cory is a freshman for Clarion. She has started every game and averages 10.6 points.

Notes:

  • The Flashes scored 14 points on 13 Duquesne turnovers. The Dukes scored only three off 10 KSU turnovers.
  • Kent State outrebounded Duquesne 32-30. The Flashes have had more rebounds in every game this season.
  • Junior post player Bexley Wallace, a transfer from Penn State, played her first extended moments in a Kent State uniform. She missed all of last season with a torn Achilles tendon and saw less than a minute of action at St. Bonaventure last week. She played seven minutes Wednesday and had an assist and a steal.

Box score

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Back at home and off to a great start, Flashes (6-1) take on Duquesne Wednesday

By on Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Senior Annie Pavlansky is one of three players in the MAC with a 4.0 grade point average. The Flashes’ team GPA ranked 16th of 325 teams last season.

Kent State fans get a chance on Wednesday to see a women’s team that is off to one of its starts ever.

The Flashes host Duquesne (4-5) at 7 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center in their first home game in three weeks. General admission tickets are $10 for chairback seats and $5 for the bleachers. The game is also on ESPN+.

Since they beat John Carroll 101-49 at home on Nov. 18, the Flashes have:

  • Run their record to 6-1, the best in the Mid-American Conference and equaling the fourth-best start in KSU history.
  • Beaten UCLA and Penn State, only the third time in the program’s 45-year history they won against two Power 5 schools in a season.
  • Ranked 17th-ranked in the College Insider Mid-Major Poll.

They’ve done that with some of the best 3-point shooting in the country and very balanced scoring.

Coach Todd Starkey offers plenty of reasons to like this team.

“This is an exciting bunch to watch,” Starkey said. “They’re high character young women and really good students. They play hard and the right way, and I’m excited to coach them.”

Top student athletics

The team had an average GPA of 3.655 last year, 16th among about 325 Division I women’s basketball teams. Last fall, the group’s average was 3.710, the team’s highest ever.

All five of the team’s current starters and three other players earned academic all-MAC honors last season. That’s the most ever for Kent State and the most in the MAC last year. To earn academic honors, a player has to have a 3.2 cumulative GPA and appear in half her team’s game. Sixty women’s players got academic honors last season. Current Kent State senior Annie Pavansky was one of three MAC players with a 4.0 average.

Other current Flashes honored last season were current seniors Mariah Modkins, Lindsey Thall and Hannah Young and juniors Nila Blackford, Clare Kelly and Katie Shumate. Linsey Marchese, a junior last season who transferred in the summer, also was honored. Freshmen aren’t eligible for the award.

Running the numbers

Some statistics from the team’s first seven games:

  • Kent State is making 41.4% of its 3-point shots, which ranks fifth in the country. The current average is 2.5 points above school record. The Flashes make an average of 9.6 3-point shots a game, 12th in Division I.
  • The team has outrebounded every opponent so far this season. It averages 10.1 rebounds more than its opponents, first in the MAC by two full rebounds.
  • The team is fourth among conference teams in scoring (76.6) per game, second in scoring defense (60.9) and first in scoring margin (15.7 points).
  • Four players average more than 10 points a game: Thall (14.4), Shumate (13.9), sophomore Casey Santoro (13.3) and Blackford (10.99). That’s the most in double figures in the MAC.
  • Blackford is sixth in the league in rebounding at 8.3 per game, Thall eighth at 7.7 and Young 13th at 6.6.
  • Shumate is third in the league in shooting percentage at 53.6 and third in 3-point percentage at 57.1. Thall is eighth in shooting percentage at 46.7.
  • Young is seventh in 3-point percentage (50), Santoro ninth (45.5), Thall 10th (45.2) and freshman Bridget Dunn 15th (41.7). With Shumate, that’s five players in the top 15. No other school has more than one in the top 15 and three in the top 25.

All about Duquesne

Wednesday’s opponent, Duquesne, has a 4-5 record. Its best win was 58-47 against Akron at home when it held the Zips’ leading scorer, senior wing Jordyn Dawson, to four points. That’s 20 below her average.

Duquesne’s best game probably was a 69-64 loss to Pittsburgh, which is 7-2.

The Dukes’ leading scorer is Fatou Pouye, a 6-foot graduate student guard from Senegal. She averages 12.4 points in just 23 minutes a game. 5-7 freshman guard Megan McConnell averages 10.4 points and 5-9 freshman guard Tess Myers 10.1.

McConnell and 5-9 guard grad student guard Libby Bazelak lead Duquesne in rebounding at 5.9 per game.

McConnell has two double-doubles this season and leads Duquesne in assists and steals.

The Dukes start four guards and 6-4 center Precious Johnson.

Kent State is 4-5 against Duquesne overall but has won the last two games, including a 73-66 win in Kent last season.

If you can’t make the game in person, you can watch it on ESPN+, listen to it online on the Kent State Radio network and follow statistics during the game on the Kent State website.

The game is the first of four-straight home games for the Flashes, who play Division II Clarion on Saturday, Florida State on Dec. 21 and open MAC play against Toledo Dec. 29.

Preview from KSU website, including links to roster, statistics, schedule and more.

Preview from Duquesne website, including links.

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Kent State women's basketball

Make it a 6-1 start: Rebounding and defense lead Flashes to 64-53 win at St. Bonaventure

By on Friday, December 3, 2021

Katie Shumate led Kent State with 19 points, including 3-of-5 three-point baskets. She is making 57% of her 3-pointers so far this season. (File photo from KSU Twitter feed.)

Kent State’s rebounding has it off to the team’s best start since 2010.

For the second straight game, the Flashes overwhelmed their opponent on the offensive boards as they won at St. Bonaventure 64-53.

KSU is now 6-1 to start the season. The 2010-11 team, which finished 20-11, started 6-0 before losing two games in a row. St. Bonaventure is 5-2.

The quick summary:

  • Kent State outrebounded St. Bonaventure 35-26 and 14-3 on offensive boards. Three Flashes had at least eight rebounds.
  • Katie Shumate led KSU with 19 points. Nila Blackford had 16, her most of the season.
  • Kent State’s defense held St. Bonaventure to just 43 shots, the Bonnies’ fewest of the season and also the fewest by a KSU opponent.

Winning on the boards

Kent State has outrebounded opponents by an average of 10.1 a game, by far the best in the Mid-American Conference. Against St. Bonaventure, the margin was 35-26, with a 14-3 advantage in offensive rebounding. Against Penn State on Sunday, the offensive-rebounding margin was 17-2.

Friday’s edge helped the Flashes to an 18-5 differential in second-chance points, more than their margin of victory.

Guard Hannah Young led KSU with nine rebounds. Forwards Lindsey Thall and Nila Blackford each had eight.

“We’re doing it by committee,” coach Todd Starkey said. “I think all the best rebounding teams do it that way. Everybody’s got to join the party when it comes to rebounding.”

Blackford, who is 6-2, was third in the MAC in rebounding last season, averaging 10.8 a game. Thall, also 6-2, is averaging 7.7 rebounds a game, 2.6 more than last season.

The 5-10 Young worked her way into the starting lineup by becoming one of the best rebounding guards in the league.

Blackford gets on track

Blackford scored 16 points, her most of the season. She was only 1-for-7 shooting midway through the third quarter, but made her last four shots.

“They were really double-team hard,” Starkey said. “That led to some tough shots and turnovers for a good bit of the game.

“Then we came to a timeout and talked about that. She slowed things down a little bit and just finished her shots. She’s gotten a lot of attention in the early part of the season, and she continues to learn how to play through that.”

Thall and Young contribute big without scoring

Thall, who averagd 19.7 points a game in last weekend’s tournament in Florida, scored only three points. So did Young.

“In a tough gritty game like this one, you could still win basketball games by doing the hard things,” Starkey said. “They both did that tonight. To have two starters with three points and nine rebounds, I think, is a testament to us doing whatever it takes to win.”

Katie Shumate led the Flashes in scoring with 19 points, making 7-of-11 shots and 3-of-5 three-point attempts. She is tied for first in the MAC in shooting percentage at 53.6% and is fourth in 3-point percentage at 57.1%.

Casey Santoro had 11 points, all but one in the first half, two assists and three steals.

Kent State’s 64 points, despite being 14 below the team’s average, was still the most scored against St. Bonaventure all season.

A time for defense

Starkey said the Flashes’ defense made the biggest difference the game.

“We looked like we were running in mud at times,” Starkey said. “Nothing came easy.

“We’ve talked to the team since summer that you’re going to have to rely on your defense to be solid every night — that there are nights that like tonight, when you’re not going to shoot the ball and things aren’t going to go as smoothly. And defense and rebounding is something that you can take with you everywhere and you can depend on it.”

St. Bonaventure got off only 43 shots, the fewest they’ve taken all season and also the fewest Kent State has allowed against any opponent.

The Flashes forced 19 St. Bonaventure turnovers, tied for the most this season against a Division I team.

A key defensive run came after the Bonnies had closed the scfore to 40-36 with 4:37 to go in the third quarter. Over the next eight minutes, KSU held St. Bonaventure without a point, forcing three turnovers and 0-of-6 shooting.

After that, KSU led 51-36.

Next: A home game at last

The Flashes play Duquesne at 7 p.m. Wednesday in their first game at the M.A.C. Center in two weeks. Duquesne is 4-4 this season.

Box score

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Flashes travel to St. Bonaventure Friday. Both teams are 5-1, but KSU’s schedule has been much stronger

By on Thursday, December 2, 2021
Sophomore point guard Casey Santoro has averaged 15.0 points a game, coming off the bench in all six games.

After a most successful Florida tournament, the Kent State women’s basketball team returns to action Friday at St. Bonaventure.

Both teams are 5-1, but KSU has played a considerably stronger schedule. The Flashes beat two Power 5 teams — UCLA and Penn State – at the Gulf Coast Showcase last weekend. St. Bonaventure’s best win has come against 3-3 Robert Morris of the Horizon League.

The game starts at 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+, which costs $6.99 per month. The service will broadcast nearly all KSU men’s and women’s games that aren’t on commercial TV this season. The game also is streamed on the Golden Flashes Radio Network. Live statistics can be found during the game on the St. Bonaventure website.

Four Kent State players average at least 10 points a game, and two more average more than six. Senior Lindsey Thall averages 16.3 points a game and has made 48.6% of her 3-point shots. She scored the 1,000th point of her career and made the all-tournament team in Florida. Casey Santoro, who has come off the bench in all six KSU games, averages 15.0, Katie Shumate averages 13.0 and Nila Blackford 10.0. Blackford, who had her first double-double of the season Sunday, leads KSU in rebounding at 8.3 per game.

St. Bonaventure is led by 5-8 senior guard Asianae Johnson, an all-Atlantic 10 third-team member last season. She averages 15 points and 3.5 assists. I’yanna Lops, a 6-3 junior forward, leads the Bonnies in rebounding, averaging 8.2 per game.

Preview from KSU website, including links to statistics, schedule, roster and more.

Preview from St. Bonaventure website, including links.

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