It’s been like watching a horror movie on repeat for the Kent State women’s basketball team.
This time the Flashes lost to Northern Illinois 61-55 on Wednesday to fall to 2-6 in the Mid-American Conference. KSU shot terribly from 3-point distance, still managed to stay in the game, but lost in the last minute.
That’s happened in five of the team’s six conference losses. In the sixth, Kent led early in the fourth quarter but fell 69-60.
The Flashes are in 10th place in the MAC and 10-7 overall. They have lost two straight games. Northern Illinois is eighth at 4-4 and is 7-9 overall. The Huskies have won three games in a row.
“A tough loss,” coach Todd Starkey said after the game. “We just couldn’t buy a shot. Six for 34 on 3s, and I thought probably 30 of the 3s were wide open.”
The coach said there really isn’t a pattern to the last-minute losses other than missing shots.
“There were a few times we gave up a lead and lost,” Starkey said. ” Some we were trying to come back. I don’t think there’s a common thread other than the fact that we’re just not shooting the 3 in conference play.”
28 missed 3-pointers
For three quarters, Kent State took more 3-point shots than 2-point attempts. It kept missing. The Flashes were 4-of-12 from distance in the first quarter, 1-of-9 in the second, and 0-for-5 in the third. Bridget Dunn, who has made and attempted more 3-pointers than anyone on the team, missed 8-of-10. Casey Santoro, Hannah Young and Katie Shumate — all of whom have led the MAC in 3-point percentage at one time this season, combined to go 1-of-10.
Lindsey Thall made three of her six 3-point shots, but she was in foul trouble most of the game and played just 22 minutes.
In non-conference play, Kent State made 42% of its 3-point attempts. That ranked third in the country. Since then, the team has shot 28.4% from distance, second to last in the MAC.
“Six-for-34,” Starkey repeated. “If you go 10-for-34, even 9-for-34 — which still isn’t great — you win the game. We got so many great looks. You think at some point, you’re going to make a few. And they just didn’t go down.”
Blackford’s terrific 4th quarter
When 3-pointers weren’t falling, the Flashes went inside to forward Nila Blackford in the fourth quarter. It almost pulled out the game.
Blackford made 7-of-8 shots — all under the basket. After the Flashes had trailed by 10 points, Blackford finished a 10-0 KSU run with a basket and free throw to tie the game at 53-53 with 1:08 to go. She made another layup about 40 seconds later to tie the score again at 55.
In the most dominating performance by a Kent State player this season, Blackford finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds.
Blackford led KSU in scoring and rebounding last season but has struggled on offense most of this year. She averaged 9.0 points a game going into Wednesday, almost 6.5 points fewer than she did last season. She was making just 38.8% of her shots, down 9 percentage points.
Against NIU, she made 10-of-14 field-goal attempts. She now is close to averaging a double-double, as she did last season, at 9.6 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.
“She’s just got back to doing what she’s capable of,” Starkey said. “I liked her aggressiveness down low. We’re trying to make sure we’re getting her good touches in good spots. And we got good scores from there, but the 3s it opened up just didn’t go down.”
Blackford was going against NIU’s A’jah Davis, who herself averages a double-double and led the MAC and was fourth in the nation in rebounding at 11.9 per game before Wednesday. Blackford drew four fouls against Davis and keep her out of the game for 10 minutes, and she scored when Davis had to back off on defense when she was on the court. Davis finished with seven rebounds.
The last 32 seconds
As Blackford broke free to tie the game at 55, NIU’s Erin Hodges fell to the floor with blood coming from a cut to her head.
Officials looked at a replay for long minutes. In the end, they counted Blackford’s basket but charged her with what Starkey called an “excessive contact” foul. They gave Northern two foul shots, taken by Janae Poisson because Hodges was on the bench, then possession of the ball. Poisson split the foul shots, then was fouled herself. She made both of those to put NIU ahead 58-55.
Kent State called timeout and advanced the ball to the front court.
“We drew up a play, and they executed great,” Starkey said. “We had an option for a 2-point shot and a 3-point shot. Clare Kelly breaks wide open for 3 — another great look — and we just couldn’t make it.”
NIU hit three free throws in the last 15 seconds to finish the game.
A potentially costly injury for NIU
Chelby Koker, Northern’s point guard and the sixth-leading scorer in the MAC, went to the court with an apparently non-contact injury with 8:19 to go. She had to be helped to the locker room by two teammates.
She returned to the bench late in the quarter and sat with an ice pack on her knee. After the game, Starkey sought her out and patted her on the shoulder. Each of her teammates gave her a hug as she sat fighting back tears.
Better injury news for Kent State
Senior guard Hannah Young, who at out the second half of KSU’s Jan. 14 game with Buffalo with an ice pack on her ankle, started and played 27 minutes. She had two points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal. When she was on the court, the Flashes outscored NIU by 14 points.
The numbers
- Kent State outrebounded NIU 37-36, the 16th time in 17 games the Flashes have outrebounded their opponent. The other game was a 43-43 tie on the boards.
- Northern Illinois made 40% of its shots (22-of-55) and 44% of its 3-pointers (8-of-18).
- NIU’s 61 points were nine below its average. In MAC games, KS allows only 60.4 points a game, third best in the league. But the Flashes have scored fewer than 60 against league competition three times and fewer than 65 in all but one MAC game. They averaged 78 before Christmas.
- The Huskies scored 10 points off of 12 KSU turnovers. Kent scored eight off of 10 NIU turnovers.
Next: Another week off, then Central Michigan
The Flashes, which had nine days off before the Northern Illinois game, will have another seven games before they play again. They host 11th-place Central Michigan at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the M.A.C. Center.
Central won its second MAC game of the season Wedneday, beating Miami (2-5 MAC, 6-9 overall) 70-59.
Central has won or shared the last five regular-season MAC championships. But the Chippewas are 2-7 in the league and 4-14 overall. They lost three key starters, including MAC player-of-the-year Micaela Kelly, to graduation.
Games postponed by COVID-19 have scrambled the MAC schedule. Only Kent State, Central Michigan and Toledo played the number of games they were scheduled to in the first four weeks of the season. Even then, KSU played four teams not on its original schedule as the league shuffled opponents to play as many games as possible.
Other MAC scores
The top three teams in the standings— Toledo, Buffalo and Western Michigan — all lost.
- Ohio (5-2 MAC, 11-5 overall) 79, Toledo (8-1, 14-4) 72 at Toledo. Ohio, which beat second-place Buffalo on Wednesday, outscored Toledo 15-2 over the last five minutes. Ohio has won three games in a row.
- Ball State (5-4, 12-7) 72, Buffalo (5-3, 11-7) 70 at Buffalo. Buffalo missed three layups in the last 12 seconds and has lost three in a row.
- Bowling Green (4-3, 9-7) 67, Western Michigan (4-2, 10-5) 51 at Bowling Green. BG has won two in a rwo.
- Akron (5-3, 8-6) 68, Eastern Michigan (1-7, 4-11) 64 at Akron. Eastern has lost six straight and fallen into last place.