For most of its season, Kent State’s defense had been its strength.

But Toledo blew all that away to beat the Flashes 79-59 Monday and end the KSU season in the second round of the WNIT.

The Rockets, regular-season champions of the Mid-American Conference, are now 28-5 on the season. Toledo next will play Marquette (23-10) in the WNIT Sweet 16.

Kent State finishes at 19-12.

Toledo made 55.8% of its shots and 53.8% of its 3-point attempts. Both are the highest percentages against Kent State this season. No other opponent had made more than 46% from 3-point distance.

Going into the game, Kent State’s defense had allowed an average of 38.9% shooting and 30.9% on 3-pointers.

“It was just their night,” coach Todd Starkey said. “They were shooting the ball well — even contested shots were going down.

“That’s a really good basketball team, with great balance. And you could tell they’re on a mission. They’re a team that felt like they got snubbed by the NCAA tournament. I hope they go on and win it all. They’re a great representative of the MAC and deserve everything they get.”

After Toledo led 22-18 after the first quarter, the Rockets outscored Kent State 23-5 in a 12-minute span from the middle of the second quarter to 7:04 to go in the third quarter.

Then the Flashes played their best of the game and cut the score to 57-47 at the end of the quarter.

But that was as much as Kent State had left. Toledo’s Quinesha Lockett started the quarter with a quick layup, then hit two 3-point baskets. Forty seconds later, Jayda Jansen hit another 3 and the lede was back to 21.

“That just kind of buried us,” Starkey said. “We just didn’t have the ability to come back from that. We gave everything we had, but at the end of the day, we ran out of gas against a better team.”

Looking back

Kent State now has won 19 games in three of Starkey’s six seasons and went 20-13 in 2018-19, when the Flashes also reached the second round of the WNIT. Kent was 19-11 and the highest surviving MAC seed when the 2019-20 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Flashes went 11-9 in last year’s COVID-shortened season.

The 2021-22 season was a strange one for the Flashes. They started the season 8-1, including victories over UCLA and Penn State. Then multiple members of the team contracted COVID before Christmas. The team was still recovering when it went 2-6 at the start of the MAC season. Then the Flashes won six in a row but went 2-4 over their last six conference games and missed the league tournament due to tiebreaker rules. Then the Flashes beat Youngstown State, co-champions of the Horizon League, in the first round of the WNIT. It was only Kent State’s third postseason win in the history of the program.

“It was up-and-down,” Starkey said. “COVID completely wrecked our rhythm and the conference schedule. We have seven games in 18 days, then one game in 18 days, then five games in 11 days, then finished with five games in 11 days. Seasons aren’t meant to be played that way.

“I’m really proud of where this program is. The season didn’t go exactly how we wanted it to go, but these kids still fought. We were 19-12, close to the top 100 teams in the NET (the NCAA’s statistical ranking system) and beat the Horizon League champion on the road. When this team was at its best, they were as good as anybody.”

Looking forward

The Flashes will return at least three starters — junior forward Nila Blackford, junior guard Katie Shumate and senior forward Lindsey Thall, who has said she is coming back for a fifth season. Guard Casey Santoro started only five games but averaged 25 minutes and 10 points a game.

Senior guard Hannah Young, who started every game for the Flashes, is eligible for a fifth season but hasn’t committed to coming back. Junior guard Clare Kelly, who led the team in steals and was third in assists, returns.

Freshman forward Bridget Dunn averaged 9.1 points and led the team in 3-point baskets and freshman guard Jenna Batsch scored 18 points in KSU’s two tournament games.

The Flashes’s incoming freshman class looks like a good one. It includes:

• Guard Corynne Hauser, a two-time all-Pennsylvania player who averaged 25 points a game her senior year.
• Point guard Dionna Gray, West Virginia player of the year in leading her team to a state championship. She averaged 21.7 points, 7.3 assists, 5.8 steals and 5.1 rebounds her senior year.
• Wing Tatiana Thomas, who averaged 11 points and seven rebounds in leading her team to the Illinois state tournament semifinals.

Running the numbers

• Thall led KSU with 11 points, including two 3-pointers. She now has 217 in her career, the most in school history. Blackford and Shumate each had 10 points.
• Kent State made 35.5% of its shots, about 6 percentage points below its average, and 29.1% of its 3-point attempts, about 5 points below average. Toledo’s defense ranked first in the MAC this season.
• Toledo outrebounded the Flashes 39-27, Kent State’s second-worst margin of the season. The Rockets outscored KSU 16-6 on second-chance points and 40-26 in the paint.
• Kent State had nine turnovers, its fewest of the season against a Division I opponent. Toledo had 13 turnovers.
• All-MAC guard Quinesha Lockertt led Toledo with 25 points. 6-5 center Hannah Noveroske, the league’s sixth player of the year, had 13 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots in just 13 minutes.
• Toledo had 20 assists on 29 baskets, led by point guard Sofia Wiard’s seven.

Box score

When Kent State and Toledo played in back December, the Flashes had a better record against better opposition than UT.

When the two teams meet again in the second round of the WNIT on Monday, Toledo will carry a 27-5 record and a regular-season Mid-American Conference championship against the Flashes, who are 19-11.

The game starts at 7 p.m. at Toledo’s Savage Arena. It will be streamed on ESPN3 and on the Golden Flashes Radio Network. Here are directions to the arena, which is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Kent. Tickets are $15 for reserved seats and $10 for general admission. 

The fortunes of both teams changed in the fourth quarter of that game in December. Kent State, which went into the game 8-1 and ranked 13th in the Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, led 45-43 going into the last 10 minutes.

But Toledo, then 7-3, outscored the Flashes 26-15 in the fourth quarter and won 69-60. The Rockets then went 19-1 in conference play and finished with the best regular-season record by a MAC team since Bowling Green went 16-0 in 2005-06. The Rockets were upset by fifth-seeded Ball State in the league tournament and ended up in the WNIT after, as usual, the MAC got only one bid to the NCAA Tournament. Toledo ended the season ranked 10th in the Mid-Major Top 25.

After December’s game against Toledo, Kent State was wildly inconsistent for the rest of the season. The Flashes lost six of their first eight MAC games, all by fewer than 10 points, then won six in a row, then went 2-4 to end the regular season. KSU finished in a four-way tie for sixth place in the MAC at 10-10 and missed the league tournament because of conference tiebreaker rules.

In the first round of the WNIT, Kent State beat Youngstown State 68-59, and Toledo beat Houston Baptist 61-51.

KSU and Toledo are the last two MAC teams alive in the postseason. On Saturday, Buffalo (25-9) lost to Tennessee (24-8) 80-67 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Bowling Green (16-16) lost to St. Mary’s (17-15) 76-67 in the second round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational. Akron, Ball State and Ohio lost in the first round of the WNIT.

The winner of the Toledo-Kent State game will play the winner of Monday’s game between Marquette (22-10) and Purdue (17-14), day and site to be determined.

The matchup 

Kent State is 19-11 and tied for sixth in the MAC with a 10-10 record. The Flashes are 7-6 in road games, have gone 6-5 over their last 10 games and have a NET ranking of 102. (The NET is a ranking system used by the NCAA. Key factors are a team’s record, its strength of schedule and offensive and defensive rankings based on points per possession. Road wins and victories over higher-ranked teams are emphasized.)

Toledo‘s record is 27-5. It won the MAC with a 19-1 record, has gone 9-1 in its last 10 games and has a home record of 13-1. The Rockets’ NET ranking of 65.

Coaches: Kent State’s Todd Starkey is 101-76 in six years at KSU and 264-171 in his 14-year coaching career. He was MAC coach of the year in 2017. Toledo’s Tricia Cullop is 294-157 in 14 years at UT and 417-283 in 22 years of coaching. She earned her fourth MAC coach of the year award this season.

Series history: Toledo leads 43-35 and has a 21-13 record at home. Toledo beat Kent State 69-60 on Dec. 29 in the teams’ only meeting this season. KSU had won three straight and six-of-seven games against the Rockets before that.

KEY TEAM STATISTICS

• Points per game: Kent State 68.6, Toledo 71.6.
• Opponents’ points per game: Kent State 61.3, Toledo 60.1.
• Field-goal percentage: Kent State 41.2, Toledo 43.2.
• Opponents field-goal percentage: Kent State 38.9, Toledo 37.0.
• 3-point percentage: Kent State 34.6, Toledo 31.3.
• 3-point baskets per game: Kent State 8.1, Toledo 6.7. Kent State set a record of 244 three-point baskets in a season when it made eight against Youngstown State.
• Opponents 3-point percentage: Kent State 30.9, Toledo 29.6.
• Rebounding margin: Kent State +6.1, Toledo +6.9.
• Turnover margin: Kent State -1.0, Toledo +0.1.

PROBABLE KENT STATE STARTERS

• 5-11 junior guard Katie Shumate: 12.1 points per game, .433 shooting percentage, .371 3-point percentage.
• 6-2 senior forward Lindsey Thall: 11.5 points, .427 shooting percentage, .388 3-point percentage, 5.3 rebounds per game. She has 215 three-point baskets in her career, a Kent State record.
• 6-2 junior forward Nila Blackford: 10.5 points, .459 shooting percentage, 8.9 rebounds.
• 5-10 senior guard Hannah Young: 6.8 points, .475 shooting percentage, .490 3-point percentage, 5.7 rebounds.
• 5-1 senior guard Mariah Modkins: 3.2 points, 1.4 assists.

KEY KSU RESERVES

• 5-4 sophomore guard Casey Santoro: 10.2 points per game, .372 shooting percentage, .377 3-point percentage, 3.1 assists. 
• 6-3 freshman Bridget Dunn: 9.3 points per game, .463 shooting percentage, .381 3-point percentage, 3.9 rebounds. 
• 5-8 junior guard Clare Kelly: 4.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.0 steals.

PROBABLE TOLEDO STARTERS

• 5-10 junior guard Quinesha Lockettitz: 17.3 points, .392 shooting percentage, 5.6 rebounds. 3.0 assists, 1.8 steals. All-MAC first team.
• 5-7 redshirt junior guard Sophia Wiard 12.6 points, .455 shooting percentage, .378 3-point percentage, 4.5 assists, 5.6 rebounds. All-MAC second team.
• 6-2 freshman forward Jessuca Cook: 8.6 points, .505 shooting percentage, 5.9 rebounds. MAC all-freshman team.
• 5-10 sophomore wing Sammi Mikonowicz: 7.8 points, .404 shooting percentage, 7.6 rebounds.
• 5-9 sophomore guard Khera Goss: 7.1 points, .471 shooting percentage.

KEY TOLEDO RESERVES

• 6-5 junior center Hannah Noveroske: 6.8 points, .597 shooting percentage, 4.2 rebounds. MAC sixth player of the year. 
• 6-0 sophomore wing Nan Garcia: 5.8 points, .397 shooting percentage, 3.4 rebounds.
• 5-9 senior guard Jayda Jansen 5.7 points, .366 shooting percentage.

Kent State will face Mid-American Conference foe Toledo Monday in the second round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. The game will be at 7 p.m. in Toledo.

Toledo, 27-5 and regular-season champion of the MAC, won its first-round game 61-51 on Friday against Houston Baptist (16-11) of the Southland Conference.

In its first-round game, Kent State (19-11) had beaten Youngstown State (24-7) on Wednesday.

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When Toledo and Kent State played on Dec. 29, Kent State was 8-1 and Toledo 6-3. Toledo won 69-60 and since then is 20-2. Kent State is 10-10. Details and full preview of WNIT second-round game is here.

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Usually, the WNIT tries to avoid two teams from the same conference meeting early in the tournament. Neither Toledo, which has played 34 WNIT games, nor Kent State, which has played seven, has ever played another Mid-American team in the tournament.

But the WNIT also schedules early rounds regionally to cut down on travel expenses. With five MAC teams in the WNIT, the tournament’s options were limited. (How Toledo ended up playing Houston Baptist is a bit of a mystery. The Houston team’s trip was among the longest in first-round matchups.)

Toledo has played in 13 WNIT tournaments, including this season, and has a 23-11 record. The Rockets won the 2011 WNIT, playing all six tournament games on its home court. All WNIT games are played on campus sites, and teams can pay, sometimes bidding against other teams, to host home games. Toledo has played 18 straight WNIT games at home. Kent State has never hosted a WNIT game and has a 2-5 record in its appearances.

In Friday’s first-round game, Toledo jumped to a 26-11 first-quarter lead, then played evenly against Houston Baptist for the rest of the game. Both teams were among the best defensively in their leagues, and statistics showed it. Toledo made 36.1% of its shots, and only 28.6% after the first quarter. Houston Baptist shot 33.3% for the game.

The MAC in the postseason

Only Kent State, Toledo and Bowling Green have won games. Buffalo plays Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

WNIT

Kent State (18-11) 68, Youngstown State (24-7) 59.

Toledo (27-4) 61, Houston Baptist (16-11) 51.

Maruette (22-10) 93, Ball State (20-13) 70.

Wake Forest (16-16) 71, Akron (17-12) 59.

South Dakota State (24-9) 87, Ohio (15-15) 57.

College Basketball Invitational

Bowling Green (16-15) 82, Furman (19-13) 61.

With 4:53 to go in the first half of Wednesday’s WNIT game, Youngstown State lost one of its best players, and Kent State found its stride.

YSU led 29-21 when guard Chelsea Olson, a five-year starter and second-team all-Horizon League player, fell to the floor during a scramble for a rebound. Olson, who had scored 11 of YSU’s 29 points to that point, left with a leg injury and never returned.

For the rest of the game, Kent State outscored Youngstown 47-30 and went on to win its second WNIT game in school history 68-59.

Kent State’s record is now 19-11; Youngstown State finishes the year at 24-7.

The Flashes advance to the second round of the tournament and will play either Toledo (25-4) or Houston Baptist (16-10). Toledo won the Mid-American Conference regular-season champions with a 19-1 record. It beat Kent State 69-60 in the first game of the conference season. Houston Baptist tied for the Southland Conference championship. Toledo and Houston Baptist play Friday in Toledo.

The second-round game will likely be on Sunday or Monday. All WNIT games are on campus sites, so we won’t know where Kent State will play next until Friday night.

Flashes start rolling

After Olson’s injury, Kent State took control of the game. The Flashes outscored YSU 9-4 for the rest of the half, then started the third quarter with an 18-2 run. Youngstown State didn’t score a basket in the first eight minutes of the third quarter.

“It was really a combination of us playing much better in the second half and them not having Olson — I have to acknowledge that,” coach Todd Starkey said in a postgame phone interview. “She’s a heck of a player. I feel disappointed for her and their program. Having a career end that way — you never wish that on anybody.”

Olson runs YSU’s offense and averaged about 11 points, six rebounds, and five assists a game. She led the team in minutes played.

But it wasn’t just Olson’s absence that made Kent State start to play well. The Flashes intensified their offense and defense. After giving up 13 points off 10 turnovers in the first half, KSU had just two turnovers in the third quarter.

The Flashes made 6-of-12 field goals and 3-of-6 three-point baskets in the quarter. The score reached 48-33 before Youngstown scored the last eight points of the quarter.

“We really dominated them for that one stretch,” Starkey said. “And after that (YSU) run at the end of the quarter, the attitude in our huddle was great. They came over and said, ‘That’s it. They got their run, and we’re going to stop in right there.’

“And they came back out in the fourth quarter and played really good basketball all the way down the stretch.”

Second-half offense

The Flashes changed their offensive plan for the second half.

“We put an emphasis on getting the ball inside — either kind of attacking early or getting the ball in the paint and then kicking out,” Starkey said. “We really tried to get the ball inside to Lindsey Thall and play off of that. She did a really good job of finishing but also did a nice job of finding people and rebounding the ball.”

In the second half, Thall scored 13 of her 15 points, making 4-of-7 shots, including a 3-pointer, and 4-of-4 free throws. She had five rebounds and blocked two shots.

Kent State made 52% of its second-half shots.

Second-half defense

Kent State’s defense in the second half held Youngstown 29.6% shooting and a 2-of-10 from 3-point distance. The Penguins had shot 48% in the first half.

“(YSU) was playing four guards,” Starkey said. “So we decided to play more four-guard to match up with that. Defensively, I thought we were really locked in in the second half.”

For the game, Kent State held Youngstown forward Lilly Ritz to 14 points and five rebounds. Ritz, a first-team all-Horizon League player, had averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds. Before she transferred from Wheeling, she had led Division II in rebounding and was second in scoring. Thall and freshman Bridget Dunn guarded Ritz for most of the game.

Surprise scoring from Jenna Batsch

Freshman Jenna Batsch, a 6-foot guard from Loveland, Ohio, had never scored more than three points against a Division I team and had played more 10 minutes only once. She played 20 minutes Wednesday, scored 11 points and made 4-of-5 shots.

Starkey said part of the reason Batsch played more was because her height matched up well with Youngstown State’s guards. And, Starkey said, “She was playing well, so we left her out there.”

Batsch, the coach said, had been practicing well and was starting to see more playing time at the end of the regular season.

“I don’t think the coaching staff or our players were surprised by what she did because they see her do a lot of that stuff in practice.,” Starkey said. “It was nice to see it pay off for her in the biggest game of the year.”

Batsch said that through most of the season, she had played “kind of hesitantly.”

“Tonight I just kind of went out with no fear,” she said. “Credit my teammates. They got me the looks, and they’re the reason I played well today.”

Scoring with balance

Katie Shumate scored 11 of her 13 points in the first half, when Kent State was struggling offensively.

“Katie kept us in the game in the first half in a lot of ways,” Starkey said. “We really needed that. 

“The whole team concept here is you get different players stepping up at different parts of the game. Jenna hits a big 3. Clare Kelly hits the kick-out 3 from Casey Santoro. Mariah Modkins hits a really big 3 in the second half.”

Nine Flashes scored. Modkins had nine points and Santoro and Dunn seven each.

Pitch and catch with Kelly and Batsch

2:36 4Q | Kent State 64, YSU 52

Clare Kelly finds Jenna Batsch deep for any easy layin.#GoFlashes ⚡ pic.twitter.com/IVRGDTe0Vz

— Kent State Women’s Basketball (@KentStWBB) March 16, 2022

Kent State scored four late-game points on baseball-like passes from Kelly to Batsch. KSU had taken the ball under its basket after a Youngstown score and faced a YSU press. Kelly threw the ball three-quarters of the way down the court, where Batsch had raced behind the defense.

“When they got in the press, Clare looked at me and said, ‘Jenna, go long,'” Batsch said. “So I listened.”

Starkey said the baskets “sealed the game for us.”

“Jenna has a long stride and can really run,” he said. “Clare has a good arm and is a good passer.”

A second WNIT win

After winning only one postseason tournament game in the first 37 years of KSU women’s basketball, the Flashes have now posted two WNIT wins in four years. In 2019, they won at Green Bay 54-49. KSU’s only other postseason win came in 1996, when it beat Texas A&M 72-68 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Running the numbers

• KSU’s .482 shooting percentage was its best since Feb. 16. Previous Youngstown State opponents had averaged 37.9%.
• Kent State made eight 3-point baskets to give them record 244 for the season.
• Kent State outrebounded YSU 35-21, its fourth-largest margin of the season against a Division I team. Nila Blackford and Dunn led KSU with six rebounds each. Thall had five.
• Santoro and Kelly each had five assists. Dunn had three steals.
• The win was the Flashes’ fifth straight against YSU, all since Starkey arrived in 2016. KSU leads the all-time series against the Penguins 32-14.

Box score

While eight Mid-American Conference teams battled for the league tournament championship last week, Kent State’s women practiced at the M.A.C. Center, hoping they would get another chance to play.

The Flashes will get that chance Wednesday at Youngstown State in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. KSU will play the Penguins at 5:30 pm. The game is on ESPN3 and the Golden Flash Radio Network.

The game is at YSU’s Beeghly Center, about a 45-minute drive from Kent. Tickets are $15 for reserved seats and $10 for general admission. You can buy them on YSUsports.com on over the phone at (330) 941-1978. On game day, the Beeghly ticket office will open at 4:30 p.m. If you’re using a GPS, the Beeghly street address is 224 W. Spring St., Youngstown 44555. Here’s parking and other information.

After Kent State beat Ohio in the last game of the regular season on March 5, the Flashes finished in a four-way tie for sixth place in the MAC. But KSU missed the conference tournament due to the league’s complicated tiebreaker rules.

The Flashes received a bid to the WNIT Sunday. Their 18-11 record, boosted by an 8-1 non-conference record, was the fourth-best in the MAC.

“We were crunching the numbers, and it looked like we had a good possibility of getting in,” coach Todd Starkey said in a phone interview on Monday. “So we practiced four times in the last week, took yesterday off, and we were back in the gym today.”

The coach said his team would be ready.

“They seemed to be really excited,” Starkey said. “It’s another opportunity to keep playing.

“Depending on which team shows up, I think we have a great opportunity of making a run in the postseason. We’ve obviously been inconsistent, but when we’re on and playing well, we’re good.”

Kent State started the season 8-1, including wins over UCLA and Penn State. It then lost six of its first eight conference games, won six in a row, and went 2-4 after Feb. 19.

In Youngstown State, the Flashes face a team that is finishing one of the best seasons in school history. The Penguins went 24-6 and tied for first in the Horizon League. They were upset by Oakland 63-52 in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.

“They’re a good team,” Starkey said. “They’ve got really good shooters. They’ve got Lily Ritz, a transfer post player who is a very good player, averaging about 17 points and 10 rebounds. They’ve got Chelsea Olson, an all-conference player in her fifth year. They’ve added transfers from Marshall and from Robert Morris. So it’s an experienced team with a balanced attack. We’ll have to play really well to beat them.”

The matchup

Kent State is 18-11 and tied for sixth in the MAC with a 10-10 record. The Flashes were 6-6 in road games, went 5-5 over their last 10 games and had a NET ranking of 102. (The NET is a ranking system used by the NCAA. Key factors are a team’s record, its strength of schedule and offensive and defensive rankings based on points per possession. Road wins and victories over higher-ranked teams are emphasized.)

Youngstown State‘s record is 24-6. It tied for first in the Horizon League with IUPUI at 18-4. The Penguins had a 7-3 record over their last 10 games, a home record of 14-3 and an NET ranking of 142.

Common opponents: Northern Kentucky, Penn State, Eastern Michigan and Akron. Kent State beat every team but Akron, which it lost to twice. YSU beat every team except Penn State.

Series history: Kent State leads 31-14, including a 10-8 record in Youngstown. The teams last played in 2019, when KSU beat the Penguins 82-73 in overtime. The Flashes have won four games in a row, all under Starkey. Before he arrived, YSU had won two straight.

KEY TEAM STATISTICS

• Points per game: Kent State 68.7, Youngstown State 65.6.
• Opponents’ points per game: Kent State 61.3, YSU 56.9.
• Field-goal percentage: Kent State 41.0, YSU 40.3.
• Opponents field-goal percentage: Kent State 38.9, YSU 37.6.
• 3-point percentage: Kent State 34.5, YSU 31.9.
• 3-point baskets per game: Kent State 8.1, YSU 8.4.
• Opponents 3-point percentage: Kent State 30.9, YSU 29.1.
• Rebounding margin: Kent State +5.8, YSU +4.1.
• Turnover margin: Kent State -0.9, YSU +4.1.

PROBABLE KENT STATE STARTERS

• 5-11 junior guard Katie Shumate: 12.1 points per game, .428 shooting percentage, .358 3-point percentage.
• 6-2 senior forward Lindsey Thall: 11.3 points, .423 shooting percentage, .392 3-point percentage, 5.3 rebounds per game.
• 6-2 forward Nila Blackford: 10.8 points, .467 shooting percentage, 9.0 rebounds.
• 5-10 senior guard Hannah Young: 7.0 points, .475 shooting percentage, .490 3-point percentage, 5.8 rebounds.
• 5-1 senior guard Mariah Modkins: 3.0 points, 1.4 assists.

KEY KSU RESERVES

• 5-4 sophomore guard Casey Santoro: 10.5 points per game, .374 shooting percentage, .388 3-point percentage, 3.0 assists.
• 6-3 freshman Bridget Dunn: 9.4 points per game, .464 shooting percentage, .385 3-point percentage, 3.8 rebounds.
• 5-8 junior guard Clare Kelly: 4.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.0 steals.

PROBABLE YOUNGSTOWN STARTERS

• 6-1 senior forward Lilly Ritz: 17.0 points, .578 shooting percentage, 9.7 rebounds.
• 5-10 redshirt senior guard Chelsea Olson: 11.2 points, .403 shooting percentage, .392 3-point percentage, 4.6 assists, 6.1 rebounds.
• 5-10 junior forward Paige Shy: 8.2 points, .335 shooting percentage, .323 3-point percentage, 4.5 rebounds.
• 5-8 senior guard Megan Callahan: 6.8 points, .315 shooting percentage, .319 3-point percentage.
• 5-5 junior guard Mady Aulbach: 4.0 points, .314 shooting percentage, 2.6 assists.

KEY YOUNGSTOWN RESERVES

• 5-9 sophomore guard Malia Magestro: 10.0 points per game, .356 shooting percentage, .371 3-point percentage.
• 5-10 redshirt sophomore guard Lexi Wagner: 3.9 points per game, .365 shooting percentage, .377 3-point percentage.

The Kent State women’s basketball team will open the Women’s National Invitation Tournament at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Youngstown State.

The game will be the first of a doubleheader at YSU. The Penguin men will play Murray State in The Basketball Classic, another postseason tournament, at 8 p.m.

Reserved tickets are $15, and general admission tickets are $10. The game is at YSU’s Beeghly Center. Here’s link to information on how to get there, parking and facility regulations.

Youngstown State tied for first in the Horizon League with a 24-6 overall record. Kent State (18-11) tied for sixth in the Mid-American Conference with a 10-10 record, but the Flashes missed the league tournament on tiebreakers.

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Kent State women practiced last week, hoping to get a chance to play again in the WNIT. Game preview with quotes for KSU coach Todd Starkey.

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It will be Kent State’s fifth appearance in the WNIT and its sixth game. In 2019, the Flashes beat Green Bay 64-59 for its first-ever WNIT win, then lost to Butler in the second round.

Youngstown State will be playing its fifth WNIT game. The Penguins are 1-3 in tournament appearances.

Kent State and YSU have played each other 45 times but haven’t met since 2019. The Flashes lead in the series 31-14, are 10-8 at YSU, and won there 82-73 in overtime in November 2019. Kent State has won its last four games against the Penguins, all coming since Todd Starkey became the KSU coach in 2016.

Youngstown State’s 2021-22 season was one of the best in school history. Its 24 wins are tied for the second-most in school history and its conference co-championship was YSU’s first since 1999. The Penguins were ranked 24th in the most recent Mid-Major Top 25 and have a WNET rating of 146. The WNET is the NCAA’s statistical ranking system, which takes into account a team’s record, its schedule strength and its offense and defense (based on points per possession). Kent State’s WNET rating is 102, fueled heavily by its 8-1 non-conference record.

Youngstown State is led by 6-1 senior forward Lilly Ritz, who was a first-team all-Horizon pick after averaging 17.0 points and 9.7 rebounds a game. She was a transfer from Wheeling, where she led Division II in rebounding for two years and ranked second in the country in scoring her junior year. Redshirt senior guard Chelsea Olson was a second-team all-Horizon selection, averaging 11.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.

The winner of the Kent-YSU game will play the winner of Friday’s WNIT game between Houston Baptist and MAC regular-season champion Toledo. That game is at Toledo, which is likely to host the second-round game if it wins.

FULL WNIT BRACKET

KENT STATE TEAM WEBSITE, including links to roster, schedule, statistics and more.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE WEBSITE, including links.

The Kent State women’s basketball season will continue.

The Women’s National Invitational Tournament announced Sunday that the Flashes would be part of its 64-team field. Pairings and game time and location will be announced Monday afternoon.

The WNIT is for teams that won their conferences’ regular-season championship but didn’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament, along with about 30 at-large teams.

Kent State is one of five MAC teams invited to the tournament. The others are regular-season champion Toledo (26-5); Akron (17-11), which finished third in the league; Ball State (20-12), which finished fourth and lost to Buffalo in the MAC Tournament finals; and Ohio (15-14), which finished eighth in the league.

The Flashes finished the season 18-11 and 10-10 in the MAC, tied for sixth place. League tiebreaker rules pushed KSU out of the eight-team MAC Tournament.

This week’s game will be the sixth WNIT game KSU history. The Flashes won their first WNIT game two years ago at Green Bay 64-59, then lost to Butler in the second round 70-52. The WNIT win over Green Bay was the second postseason win in Kent State history. In 1996, the Flashes beat Texas A&M 72-68 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

All WNIT games are played on campus sites. A team can bid to host a home game (the WNIT charges thousands of dollars). Other factors for receiving home games are teams’ records and typical home attendance.

The tournament has seeding, after a fashion. Early-round games are scheduled in the same geographical area, and within those areas, higher-ranked teams play lower-ranked ones in the first round.

Kent State’s closest possible first-round opponent is Youngstown State (24-6), which finished second in the Horizon League but was upset in the first round of the league tournament. The next closest is Bucknell (23-9), which lost to American University 65-54 in the finals of the Patriot League Tournament. Bucknell is in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, about 260 miles from Kent.

Next comes Purdue (16-14), which finished seventh in the Big Ten and lost in the first round of its conference tournament. It’s about 340 miles away. After that, we’re looking at teams 400 or more miles away: Drexel (26-5, in Philadelphia), Seton Hall (19-12, in southern New Jersey), Virginia Commonwealth (15-11, in Richmond), Fordham (18-10, in New York City), and Liberty (27-4, in Lynchburg, Virginia).

At 571 miles, Green Bay was by far the longest way Kent State has traveled for a first-round WNIT game. In 2017, the Flashes played at the University of Michigan, an easy three-hour drive.

WNIT website.

Kent State team website.

The first day of the women’s Mid-American Conference Tournament was generally predictable.

In three of the games, the higher seed won by 13 points or more. In the fourth, No. 5 seed Ball State came from behind to beat No. 4 Northern Illinois.

Top-seeded Toledo (26-4, 19-1 MAC regular season) 80, No. 8 Ohio (15-14, 9-10) 67. Ohio stayed close for the first three quarters and trailed 58-53, but Toledo pulled away in the fourth quarter. Toledo guards Sophia Wiard and Quinesha Locket each had 19 points. Ohio’s Cece Hooks, who scored more points in her career than any other MAC player, finished with 22 points.

No. 2 Buffalo 63 (23-8, 16-4) 63, No. 7 Western Michigan (16-14, 10-10) 49. The Buffalo defense smothered WMU, allowing only nine points in the second quarter and six in the third, and forcing 18 turnovers. Buffalo guard Dyaisha Fair led all scorers with 19 points.

No. 3 Akron (17-10, 13-7) trailed No. 6 Bowling Green (15-15, 10-10) 23-20 after the first quarter but dominated the rest of the game and won 81-67. Akron’s Jordyn Dawson, the MAC player of the year, had 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and six steals.

No. 5 Ball State (19-11, 11-8) trailed No. 4 Northern Illinois (14-15, 11-9) by 13 points four minutes into the third quarter but came back to win 60-54. BSU held Northern to 20 points in the second half. Four Ball State players scored in double figures, led by freshman guard Ally Becki with 15.

On Friday, Toledo will play Ball State at 10 a.m. and Buffalo will play Akron at about 12:30 p.m. Both games are on ESPN+.

For the first time in seven years, Kent State was shut out of postseason Mid-American Conference awards.

Here’s the list, announced by the MAC office Monday. Awards are voted on by league coaches. Thoughts on Kent State’s non-selections are below that.

Player of the year

• Jordyn Dawson, Akron redshirt senior forward. She was second in the league in scoring at 22.4 points per game and finished in the top five in the MAC in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.

Coach of the year

• Tricia Cullop, Toledo. Her team was picked to finish eighth in the MAC but went 19-1 in the MAC and 25-4 overall.

Freshman of the year

• Georgia Woolley, Buffalo guard. She averaged averaging 14.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.

Sixth player of the year

• Hannah Noveroske, Toledo junior center.

Co-defensive players of the year

• Jordyn Dawson, Akron, redshirt senior forward.
• Cierra Hooks, Ohio senior guard.

All-MAC First Team

• Jordyn Dawson, Akron redshirt senior forward.
• Dyaisha Fair, Buffalo junior guard.
• A’Jah Davis, Northern Illinois junior forward.
• Cierra Hooks, Ohio senior guard.
• Quinesha Lockett, Toledo junior wing.

All-MAC Second Team

• Summer Hemphill, Buffalo graduate student forward.
• Molly Davis, Central Michigan junior guard.
• Areanna Combs, Eastern Michigan redshirt senior guard.
• Peyton Scott, Miami junior guard.
• Sophia Wiard, Toledo junior guard.

All-MAC third team

• Ally Becki, Ball State freshman guard.
• Kadie Hempfling, Bowling Green senior forward.
• Georgia Woolley, Buffalo freshman guard.
• Erica Johnson, Ohio redshirt junior guard.
• Lauren Ross, Western Michigan redshirt freshman guard.

All-MAC honorable mention 

• Reagan Bass, Akron freshman forward.
• Thelma Dis Agustsdottir, Ball State senior guard.
• Chelby Koker, Northern Illinois junior guard.
• Janae Poisson, Northern Illinois redshirt senior guard.
• Gabby Burris, Ohio senior forward.

All-Defensive Team

• Jordyn Dawson, Akron redshirt senior forward.
• Nyla Hampton, Bowling Green sophomore guard.
• Summer Hemphill, Buffalo grad student forward.
• Cierra Hooks, Ohio senior guard.
• Khera Goss, Toledo sophomore guard.

All-Freshman Team (6 Players due to ties)

• Reagan Bass, Akron forward.
• Ally Becki, Ball State guard.
• Amy Velasco, Bowling Green guard.
• Georgia Woolley, Buffalo guard.
• Jessica Cook, Toledo forward.
• Lauren Ross, Western Michigan guard.

What happened to Kent State?

Kent State was 10-10 in the MAC and 18-11 overall. That’s not great but hardly awful. So how did no one from the Flashes win anything?

The Flashes had no real star player this season. Its leading scorer was junior guard Katie Shumate, who averaged 12.1 points per game. Four other KSU players averaged between 11.3 and 9.4 points.

In MAC statistical rankings, here’s the best Kent State did:

Rebounding: Junior forward Nila Blackford sixth at 9.0 per game.

Shooting percentage: Blackfod fifth at .467^.

Three-point percentage: Lindsey Thall sixth at 39.2%, sophomore Casey Santoro seventh at 38.8% and freshman Bridget Dunn eighth at 38.5%.

Assist/turnover ration: Santoro fourth at 1.8 assists to every turnover.

Thall had made the all-defensive team the last two seasons, and I thought she might have a shot at the all-defensive team again. But her blocked shot total was down this season. Dunn was clearly one of the top seven or eight freshmen in the conference, but her stats were a little below the ones who made the team. I think she’ll be all-MAC before she graduates.

Blackford averaged five pointer and 1.5 rebounds less than she did when she made second-team all-MAC last season. Shumate was 19th in the MAC in scoring. Santoro averaged 10 points as sixth player, but Toledo’s Noveroske had a bigger impact on a championship team.

The last time KSU had no player honored was 2014, which was the third straight year under former coach Danny O’Bannion where no Kent player got an award.

 

Seldom have preseason polls been as wrong as they were for Mid-American Conference women this season.

Toledo and Akon vastly outperformed their predictions. Ohio, Bowling Green, Kent State, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan ended well below their predicted spot.

Here’s how coaches picked the league before the season started in November and the regular season results.

1. Ohio – 132 points. Finished eighth at 9-10, 15-13 overall.
2. Bowling Green – 124 points. Finished seventh at 10-10, 15-14.
3. Buffalo – 123 points. Finished second at 16-4, 22-8).
4. Kent State – 102 points. Finished ninth at 10-10, 18-11.
5. Eastern Michigan – 83 points. Finished 10th at 4-16, 7-20.
6. Central Michigan – 80 points. Finished last at 2-18, 4-25.
7. Northern Illinois – 79 points. Finished fifth at 11-0, 14-14.
8. Toledo – 67 points. Finished first at 19-1, 25-4).
9. Ball State – 65 points. Finished fourth at 11-8, 18-11.
10. Western Michigan – 31 points. Finished sixth at 10-10, 16-13.
11. Miami – 27 points. Finished 11th at 4-16, 8-21. 
12. Akron – 23 points. Finished third at 13-7, 16-10.

Detailed standings