For three quarters, things went as hoped as the Kent State women’s basketball team sought an upset victory against Florida State of the Atlantic Coast Conference
The Flashes led 62-51 with 2:04 to go in the third quarter. Then KSU didn’t manage a point for the next seven-and-a-half minutes. It made only 3-of-21 shots in the fourth quarter, finally losing to the Seminoles 80-71.
It was the season opener for Kent State. Florida State is now 2-0.
“At the end of the day, we really needed shots to fall,” coach Todd Starkey said. “We had some good looks and weren’t able to finish.
“We make shots, we win today. It’s really as simple as that.”
The Flashes outplayed Florida State through three quarters, shooting 44% to FSU’s 41%. Kent State was shooting 41% from 3-point distance; Florida State was making 25%.
But in the fourth quarter, the Flashes were 0-for-9 on 3-pointers and 3-for-24 shooting overall. Florida State was only 4-for-11 in the last period but was helped to a 21-9 advantage by 11 free throws.
“After that big run we had, I think we just were playing a little bit not to lose instead of just playing hard and keeping the momentum,” said grad student forward Lindsey Thall, who led KSU with 19 points. “If we would have just stayed aggressive and kept pushing it, maybe we could have stretched out more. I think we just got a little bit stagnant.”
Kent State missed a major opportunity when star FSU freshman Ta’Niya Latson fouled out with 4:30 to go. At that point, Latson had scored 34 points; no one else on the Florida State team had scored more than six.
Hannah Young made the two ensuing free throws, and the score was 66-64. But senior guard Sara Bejedi and grad student Taylor O’Brien combined for 11 of FSU’s last 14 points.
The teams played within four points of each other for the first half, with Florida State holding a 39-38 lead. The biggest thing holding Kent State back was 10 turnovers, which led to an astounding 22-1 margin in points off turnovers. In the second half, the Flashes had only six turnovers and outscored FSU 10-5 off of them.
“We talked about how we need to care of the ball better, slow down and just be patient,” said senior guard Clare kelly, who had five points, two assists and two steals.
“That was the only reason they were up on us,” Starkey said.
The coach said the team can learn a great deal from the loss.
“We know we can play with anybody,” he said. “Every game that we play, we can say, ‘You played the way you did against Florida State, then you can play that way all the time.
“This team knows that they’re capable of doing special things. If this team can stay consistent and make shots, we win.”
Notes
- Florida State had five physical players taller than 6-1 and outrebounded the Flashes 50-40. KSU did outrebound the Seminoles 22-21 in the first half.
- Young led the Flashes with eight rebounds. Shumate had seven and Bridget Dunn six. Young also had nine points.
- The Seminoles blocked seven shots to KSU’s one.
- Kent State outscored FSU 40-30 in the paint, but Florida State had 20 fast-break points to the Flashes’ five.
- Florida State had scored 112 points in its first game and more than 115 in two exhibitions.
- The KSU starting lineup was the same as in its exhibition last week: grad students Thall and Young, seniors Kelly and Shumate, and junior Casey Santoro, who had 11 points.
- Freshman Corynne Hauser played 22 minutes, about half of it at point guard. She had four assists, two steals and seven points but went 2-of-11 from the field.
- Dunn and grad student guard Abby Ogle also played more than 10 minutes.
- Attendance was 2,209, more than 700 fans higher than any game last season.
Next: Northern Kentucky on Sunday afternoon
The Flashes host Northern Kentucky at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Norse beat Lipscomb 101-95 in three overtimes on Thursday. Grad student Lindsey Duvall, a 5-8 guard, scored 36 points, had 17 rebounds and made 17-of-27 free throws.
Northern Kentucky was 21-8 overall and finished fourth in the Horizon League last season. Kent State beat the Norse 80-73 on the road in last season’s opener.