The game wasn’t perfect, Kent State women’s basketball coach Todd Starkey said. But it was awfully good.
The Flashes routed Northern Kentucky, a team that went 21-8 last season and is picked to finish fourth in the Horizon League, 77-54 at the M.A.C. Center on Sunday. Both teams are now 1-1 in the young season.
The Flashes scored the first 14 points of the game and were never threatened. They led 44-20 by halftime and never let NKU within 20 points in the second half.
“I was really pleased with our effort,” Starkey said. “We got out to a great start and executed our game plan offensively really well.”
Despite shutting out Northern Kentucky for almost five minutes, Starkey said there were flaws in the KSU defense.
“We closed out on shooters with our hands down a few times, gave up some open looks,” he said. “It could have been different if they would have knocked down a couple of those early 3s.”
But after the first-quarter timeout, Starkey said he thought the team’s defense was “really effective and consistent.”
“It wasn’t like there was a specific gimmicky thing that we did,” he said, “because we didn’t really change a whole lot of the main things. We just did what we do better.”
Sophomore forward Bridget Dunn described the defense this way:
“It’s a team game,” she said. “You can’t leave anyone on an island. The five of us have to play together. So we have to be in our gaps and help each other. If somebody’s beat, we have her back, and we have to rotate, cover openings and then box out and rebound, finish the play.”
A key to the defense was stopping NKU guard Lindsey Duval, who scored 36 points and made 17-of-27 free throws in a triple-overtime win over Lipscomb on Thursday. Against Kent State, she had 12 points and never got to the foul line.
Senior Clare Kelly guarded Duval much of the time.
“Claire did a phenomenal job on Duval,” Starkey said. “he really listened to scouting report, and she had a really good feel for what (Duval’s) tendencies were. She drew one foul straight from film. It was something that Duval has a tendency to do, and Clare was waiting on it .”
Kent State’s scoring was about as balanced as it could be. Senior Katie Shumate had 13 points, Kelly 12, freshman Corynne Hauser 11 and sophomore Casey Santoro 10 and graduate student Lindsey Thall eight.
All 14 players on the roster got into the game, with 11 of them scoring and 10 playing more than 10 minutes. Freshmen Dionna Gray and Tatiana Thomas saw their first collegiate action. Redshirt freshman Elena Maier got on the court for the time since she suffered a knee injury during her junior year in high school.
Running the numbers
- Kent State made 50.9% of its shots and 35.3% of its 3-point attempts. Northern Kentucky made 33.2% and 22.2% of its 3-pointers.
- Dunn had nine rebounds to lead the Flashes’ 40-32 margin on the boards.
- KSU outscored NKU 40-18 in the points, the second-straight game with a big advantage in this category. Kent’s bench had 34 points to Northern Kentucky’s 19.
Next: A very tough road trip
Kent State plays two Power 5 teams in its first away games. On Thursday, the Flashes will plan Arkansas (2-0) at 6 p.m. Kent time. The Razorbacks were 18-14 last season and were predicted to finish fourth in the SEC this season. Their two wins this year came over regional Arkansas schools and were by an average of 30 points. Arkansas will play Tulsa (2-0) on Monday.
On Sunday, the Flashes will travel to Okahoma State for a 3 p.m. game. Oklahoma State is 2-0 with 30-point wins over Texas Rio Grande Valley and Northwestern State. The Cowgirls will play Oral Roberts on Monday and Missouri State on Thursday before they meet the Flashes. Oklahoma State was 9-20 last season and is predicted to finish ninth in the Big 12 this season.