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.