Coach Todd Starkey called it a “lackluster” first quarter, and the Flashes trailed Eastern Michigan on the road 22-13.

In the end-of-quarter huddle, he challenged his team “to be the aggressor.”

The Flashes responded with as good a second quarter as they’ve played this season. Senior Katie Shumate responded with some of her best basketball in her four-year career.

Shumate scored KSU’s first 11 points of the quarter, making five-straight shots. Her personal four-minute run tied the game 24-24, and Kent State never trailed again on its way to a 75-66 victory.

The win was Kent State’s fourth straight and eighth in its last 10 games. With a week left in the regular season, the Flashes are in fourth place in the Mid-American Conference with an 11-5 record. They are four games ahead of Akron and Northern Illinois, who are tied for fifth.

KSU is two games behind Bowling Green and Ball State, who are tied for second. BG was upset by Buffalo at home 84-66 Saturday. Toledo took sole possession of first place with a 72-70 victory at Ball State.

Kent State and Toledo play Wednesday night in Toledo.

Kent State’s overall record is 19-8. That ties for the most victories in the regular season in Starkey’s seven seasons in Kent. The Flashes won 20 in 2018-19, but that included a victory in the WNIT.

Kent State has at least three games left.

KSU outscored Eastern 24-6 in the second quarter and didn’t allow a field goal until 1:54 before halftime.

“Defensively, we were really good collectively,” Starkey said. “And Katie was just kind of feeling it. She was going out and making plays for herself, and we were running some stuff for her as well.”

After halftime, the coach said, “We were able to play a solid game the rest of the way.”

Shumate’s marvelous month

Shumate’s game ended the best month of her career. She had 23 points, equaling her best output of the season. She had nine rebounds for the sixth time in February and now ranks 10th in the MAC in rebounding at 6.5 a game.

Against Eastern, she made 9-of-13 shots, hit 3-of-4 three-point attempts, had three assists and a blocked shot, and drew six fouls from EMU players.

“For the past month, she’s been one of the best players in the league,” Starkey said. “It’s determination — ‘I know my team needs me.’ That’s a mental decision, and it’s not easy. She’s playing with a lot of confidence and consistency, and I think it’s raised the level of everybody’s play.

“Katie is somebody who’s battled through some nagging injuries for the last few years, and she’s about as healthy as she’s been since her freshman year.”

Shumate had off-season knee surgery after her freshman season. At one point, it looks as if she wouldn’t play at all her sophomore year. But she ended up starting 17 of 19 games and averaged 12.2 points a game.

Shumate has been a model of consistency — and inconsistency — in her four seasons. She averaged 12.3 points her first season and made the MAC all-freshman team. She averaged 12.2 the next season and 12.1 the year after that. This season she’s averaged 11.6.

But game-to-game can be a different story. She averaged 6.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in the first eight games of the MAC season. Since then, she’s averaged 16.2 points and 8.8 rebounds.

In the fourth, it was Young

Graduate student Hannah Young scored 10 of her 17 points in the fourth quarter. Her total was her second highest of the season.

Young has started every game the last two seasons and this year averages 26.8 minutes a game, fourth on the team. She scores 8.6 points a game and explodes every four or five games. She had 20 against Miami on Jan. 11, 16 against Akron on Feb. 1, 12 against Akron on Feb. 18 and 17 Saturday.

“Hannah really had a nice game,” Starkey said. “In the first half, she was forcing a few drives. We told her we wanted to use her to space the floor, and she made the adjustment and played in rhythm for the rest of the way.”

Young made 3-of-4 three-point shots against EMU. She leads the MAC in 3-point percentage (.444 overall and .489 in MAC play).

Taking back the paint

Eastern starts two players taller than 6-2. A third, Ce’Nara Skanes, is 6-foot and ranks third in the MAC in rebounding.

In their first game with Kent State, the Eagles outscored KSU 48-26 in the paint. (KSU still won 79-66.) In Saturday’s game, the Flashes won in the paint 32-28.

“It was a point of emphasis,” Starkey said. “This team has done a really good job of trying to do what we ask them on defense. Give a lot of credit to our assistant coaches. They’ve put really good scouts together down the stretch. And we did a really good job throughout 40 minutes of play against one of the better front courts in the conference.”

The turnover tale

Kent State committed nine turnovers and had fewer than 10 for the fourth game in a row. For perspective, 10 of the 11 other MAC teams had at least 11 on Saturday.

“Our ball control’s been really good, ” Starkey said, “and that’s something that we’re going to need moving into our last two regular-season games and then on into the conference tournament. It’s a really good sign for us.” 

Numbers

• Kent State played nine people, one of its lowest totals of the year. All scored. Lindsey Thall had nine points, Clare Kelly eight and Jenna Batsch five.
• The Flashes made 50.6% of their shots, their fifth-highest percentage of the season against Division I teams. Eastern shot 51.2%, the highest of the year against Kent State. EMU’s made 6-of-10 three-pointers, the highest percentage of the season against Kent. But the 10 attempts were the second-fewest by an opponent this season.
• KSU had 16 assists, tied for fourth highest of the season. They’ve had five-straight games with 13 or more. Freshman Corynne Hauser led Kent with five and leads the team for the season with a 3.5 average, which is 10th in the MAC.
• Eastern outrebounded the Flashes 28-23. No Kent State player but Shumate had more than three.
• Guard Olivia Smith led the Eagles in scoring with 20 points, making 6-of-7 shots.

Box score

Next: At first-place Toledo on Wednesday

The Flashes haven’t yet beaten any of the three teams ahead of them in the standings. They get their last chance Wednesday against first-place Toledo (14-2 MAC, 23-4 overall). The Rockets beat Kent 77-68 in Kent on Jan. 14.

“It’s going to be a tall task to win on the road at Toledo,” Starkey said. “Both of us are coming into this game as improved teams and have the opportunity to do some big things.”

The Flashes end the regular season at home at 2 p.m. Saturday against Northern Illinois.

MAC scores

MAC standings

After Ohio had scored the last six points of the second quarter Wednesday and cut Kent State’s lead to 35-30, coach Todd Starkey had a message for his team at halftime

“Hey, you’re better than that,” he told them.

Then the Flashes scored the first nine points of the third quarter and added a 13-0 run late in the quarter.

Kent State went on to an 82-56 victory, their fourth Mid-American Conference win by more than 20 points.

The victory clinches fourth place and a fourth seed in the MAC Tournament, which starts March 8 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. There’s a distant mathematical chance the Flashes could move up to third seed, but with three games to play, they trail Toledo, Ball State and Bowling Green (all 13-2) by three games.

Kent State is 10-5 in the conference and 18-8 overall. The Flashes have won four of their last five games. Ohio is 4-11 and tied for last place in the MAC. The Bobcats are 6-20 overall and headed toward their worst record since 1999.

That halftime talk

How stern was Starkey?

“Medium,” point guard Casey Santoro said. (Starkey later said he didn’t think it was even that harsh.)

“This is a veteran crew,” the coach said. “I don’t have to yell at them to get them to do the right thing at this point of the year. There has been so much coaching, so many practices, that at this point it comes down to the players and how they want their season to end. So far they’re responded.”

Kent State made 58.6% of its shots and 45.5% of its 3-pointers in the second half. Reserves played more than half the fourth quarter and scored 13 of the team’s 22 points. Every KSU player in uniform got in the game.

Shumate stays hot

Katie Shumate led the team with 16 points and nine rebounds. Over her last eight games, she has averaged 14 points and 8.8 rebounds.

“Katie’s been on a tear, just playing really good basketball, playing with great energy, getting tough rebounds and finishing in the paint.,” Starkey said. “The way that she has consistently been bringing that type of effort has really raised the level of our whole team.”

Shumate led four Flashes in double figures. Santoro had 14, Thall 13 and Corynne Hauser 10. Five other player had at least four points, led by seven each from Jenna Batsch and Tatiana Thomas.

Turnovers trend down

Kent State committed nine turnovers, four coming in the fourth quarter when the game was long decided. It was the third straight game the Flashes had committed fewer than 10. I can’t remember that happening in the 30+ years I’ve been following the team. It hasn’t in Starkey’s seven-year tenure.

“We’ve made a big emphasis on it during practice and it carries over into games,” Santoro said.

Sometimes in practice, she said, a turnover means extra running.

“That’s a big thing,” Santoro said. “You don’t want to run extra.”

Shumate, who has led the team in turnovers at times because she is so aggressive with the ball, said she has tried to adjust her mindset.

“For me, it’s been slowing the game down a little bit in my head,” she said. “I try to stay calm and see on the floor.”

Starkey said coaches really haven’t put more emphasis on curtailing turnovers.

“It’s like like we’re putting a note on the board before the game saying, ‘If you get single-digit turnovers, we’ll take you to Handel’s,'” he said with a laugh. “That’s just that’s the way you play good basketball — limit your turnovers and empty possessions. We had 16 more field-goal attempts tonight, and that’s because we’re taking care of the ball. And we have good guards — players who can handle the basketball.”

Kent State scored 21 points off of Ohio’s 18 turnovers. OU had six points off turnovers.

Numbers

• Ohio’s Yaya Felder, the MAC’s leading scorer, hit her average of 24 points. But after scoring 10 in the first quarter, she had only two in the second and two in the third. She made 8-of-21 shots. “24 points on 21 shots,” Starkey said. “We’ll take that all day.” KSU also forced Felder into seven turnovers.
• Kent State outrebounded Ohio 32-31 and had 12 offensive rebounds, which led to 13 second-chance points.
• Shumate drew eight fouls from Ohio players.
• Santoro, Hauser, Shumate and Thomas each had two steals. KSU totaled 10, its third highest in MAC play.

Next: Saturday at Eastern Michigan

The Flashes play at 1 p.m. Saturday at Eastern MIchigan, which is 5-9 (13-12 overall) and in a four-way fight for fifth place in the MAC. Whoever finishes fifth will play KSU in the first round of the tournament. Eastern was supposed to host Buffalo Wednesday, but the game was postponed to Thursday because of bad traveling conditions. That means just a day of rest for the Eagles before they play Kent State.

Box score

MAC scores

MAC standings

Kent State’s 87-46 drubbing of Akron Saturday was filled with super statistics, but coach Todd Starkey chose this to highlight in a Tweet:

This graphic means more to our players than most!!! #IYKYK #LetsGoFlashes https://t.co/kJOlnsvkl9

— Todd Starkey (@ToddStarkey33) February 18, 2023

The win guarantees the Flashes a spot in the Mid-American Conference Tournament next month. A year ago, Kent State missed the tournament on a tiebreaker among four teams that shared sixth place. The top eight teams make the tournament.

Missing the tournament left “a bitter taste,” Starkey said in his postgame press conference.

On Saturday, Kent State did just about everything a fan, player or coach could want:

• Its 41-point margin was Kent State’s biggest over Akron since a 95-47 win in 1998. It was its biggest margin over a Division I team since an 88-36 win against Vermont in 2011.
• It was the most points KSU had scored against a Division I team this season and the second-most allowed by Akron. The Zips had ranked third in the conference in scoring defense.
• Kent State’s .537 shooting percentage was its second-highest of the season.
• The Flashes, who have been outscored in the paint by nine of 14 MAC opponents, beat Akron inside 42-12. Akron is a much taller team and outscored KSU 26-22 in the paint in their first game on Feb. 1.
• In points off turnovers, Kent State outscored the Zips 23-0. KSU committed only seven turnovers, its second-straight game under 10 turnovers. The Flashes committed only four against Buffalo on Wednesday.
• KSU had a season-high (against D1 opposition) 20 assists by eight players.

Kent State remains in fourth place in the MAC with a 9-5 record (17-8 overall). Akron drops to 6-8 in the conference and 15-10 overall. The Zips are tied with Northern Illinois for fifth. NIU beat first-place Ball State 84-77 Saturday in one of the bigger upsets of the MAC season. Ball State, Bowling Green and Toledo are now tied for first at 11-2.

“I’d say it was the most complete game of the conference season, for sure,” Starkey said. “We’ve been kind of looking for this type of game — a defensive effort together with a really good offensive game. And it’s great to get it on a rivalry Saturday.” 

Winning with assists

Good passing was the key to Kent State’s offensive explosion against Akron, which primarily plays a zone defense.

“The best way to beat the zone is with ball movement and off-ball movement,” freshman guard Corynne Hauser said. “So we had cutters going and out, moved the ball quickly and got it to the open person.”

“We were just keeping that constant movement in and out of the paint,” said senior guard Katie Shumate. “It was hard for them to adjust and be in the right spots. So we were seeing holes in the middle, then finding our people for their shots.”

KSU’s assists set the tone for the offense.

“When you’re getting assists, you’re really playing with your teammates,” Hauser said. “You’ve got each others’ back. You’re not worried about getting touches. You’re not afraid to move the ball because you know it’s coming right back to you. 

Starkey’s analysis:

“When shots are coming from a direct assist from your teammates, it creates a connection and boosts the whole group.”

Assists, the coach pointed out, only come when a team is making baskets — and the Flashes were making everything early in the game.

A sizzling start

Kent State made 12-of-16 shots in the first quarter, including 3-of-3 three-point attempts, as it raced to a 28-10 lead. Shumate was 5-of-6 at halftime, Husdr was 4-of-5 and freshman Tatiana Thomas was 3-of-4.

“When you see a lot of people on the team on the floor knocking down 3s, you just have confidence that the next one going in,” Shumate said.

Shumate’s surge

Shumate finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds — her second double-double in four games. She has stepped up her game after sophomore forward Bridget Dunn was lost for the season with a knee injury against Northern Illinois on Jan. 25.

Since then, Shumate, who is 5-foor-11 with long arms, has averaged 8.7 rebounds a game.

“Coach Sharkey got me focused just going for every rebound — offenses and defensive — and trying my best to get our team the ball back,” Shumate said. “I think it’s all just playing hard.” 

Shumate has also averaged 15 points a game over the last six games.

Her recent statistics are “first-team all-conference numbers,” Starkey said.

The view from Akron

Coach Melissa Jackson in her postgame interview:

“If (Kent State) can shoot the ball like that, they can beat anyone. We’ve been really successful in zone, but this is probably the one team that I don’t want to play a lot of zone against because of their shooting. They space the floor and are really different from any other team in our league.

“When you have Thall and Kelly and Santoro shooting NBA 3s, they’re hard to guard. When they’re so hot, you’re closing out hard — and then they’re capable drivers as well.

“Shumate’s a hell of a player and can get to the rim. I thought Thomas came in and gave them some good minutes and we all know how good Hauser is. She’s got my vote for freshman of the year.” 

Notes

• Kent State had edged Akron 57-55 in Akron 17 days ago and now leads in the Wagon Wheel Challenge 4-1.5. Schools get a point each for winning in each of 14 sports. If the teams play twice — as in basketball — they get a half point for each win.
• Freshman Tatiana Thomas had career highs in points with eight and blocked shots with three. She also had seven rebounds.
• Graduate student Hannah Young had 12 points and hit 2-of-3 three-pointers. For her career, she has made 42.1% of her 3-point shots. That is second in KSU history to Kate Miller, who made 43.5% in her single season of 2001-02.
• Junior Casey Santoro had 11 points, four assists and two steals.
• Twelve players got in the game for Kent State; 10 scored. No one played fewer than four minutes or more than 28.

Next: Wedneday at home against Ohio

The Flashes play Ohio at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the M.A.C. Center. Ohio is tied for last in the conference with Buffalo and Central Michigan at 4-10. The Bobcats, 6-19 overall, beat Central 83-75 on Saturday. In the first meeting between Kent State and Ohio on Jan. 7, the Flashes won 60-44 in Athens.

Box score

MAC standings

Kent State trailed Buffalo for 34 of the first 35 minutes of Wednesday’s game, but a zone defense at the end of the game helped the Flashes win their first game since 2011 on the Bulls’ home court.

KSU’s 72-69 win keeps the Flashes’ solid grip on fourth place in the Mid-American Conference with five games left in the regular season. A win over Akron at the M.A.C. Center on Saturday would clinch a spot in the MAC Tournament for the Flashes.

Kent State is 8-5 in the MAC and 16-8 on the season. Buffalo is 4-9 in the league and 9-13 overall.

The Flashes went to the zone defense after Buffalo guard Re’Shawna Stone had scored 33 of the Bulls’ 66 points, mostly on drives to the basket.

“They were carving us up in man coverage,” KSU coach Todd Starkey said. “The zone slowed them down and took them out of their offensive rhythm. We got three or four straight possessions where we stopped them, and we did a good job on the defensive glass down the stretch.”

Buffalo didn’t score from the time Kent State tied the game at 66 with 4:05 to go until Stone hit a 3-point basket with 54 seconds left. Meanwhile, the Flashes were scoring on their last four possessions:

1. 66-66: Lindsey Thall scored on a reverse layup four feet from the basketball
2. 68-66: Katie Shumate stole the ball and passed forward to Jenna Batsch for a fastbreak layup.
3. 69-66: After two offensive rebounds by Hannah Young, Shumate sinks one of two free throws.
4. 71- 66: Casey Santoro makes a layup off of an out-of-bounds play.

After Stone hits her 3 to make it 71-69, Corynne Hauser makes a free throw, and Stone’s last-second 3-pointer missed badly.

Batsch, Santoro, Shumate and Thall were difference-makers.

BATSCH, who had averaged 2.5 points and 10.8 minutes before the game, played 24 minutes — including key time at the end of the game — and scored 13 points.

“Because of her length, she’s one of our better zone defenders, ” Starkey said. “She did a really good job of contesting shots, and her 13 points was big off the bench for us.”

Batsch made her first three shots and had eight points in the first half, when Kent State was struggling to score.

SANTORO’s team-leading 16 points were her most of the season. She was 6-of-11 from the field, 2-of-4 from 3-point distance, and had four rebounds, two assists and a steal.

“She had a couple of big, big shots — including those back-to-back 3s,” Starkey said.

SHUMATE led Kent State with nine rebounds and had three assists, a steal and a blocked shot. She has averaged 8.2 rebounds over eight games since sophomore forward Bridget Dunn went down with a knee injury Jan. 25. Dunn, a 6-3 forward, had been KSU’s leading rebounder.

“I challenged Katie,” Starkey said. “I said, ‘Bridget’s out. We need someone to fill that gap.’ Katie’s answered the bell. She’s really turned the corner on that and really helped us out.”

Shumate also scored 11 points.

THALL, Kent State’s leading scorer, had two points in the first half and was 0-for-3 from 3-point distance, where she does much of her scoring. In the second half, KSU used her at much closer range. In the third quarter, Thall made 4-of-5 shots from within 10 feet. She finished the game with 15 points, three assists and a blocked shot.

“With Bridget out, we try to protect Lindsey,” ‘Starkey said. “When we got to the third quarter tonight and she wasn’t in foul trouble, we wanted to emphasize playing through her. When we do that, we get better shot selection.”

STONE’S 36

Buffalo’s Stone, a 5-6 guard, is a transfer from Division II Glenville State. She was Division II player of the year last season. Her numbers Wednesday were a sight: She made 13-of-20 shots, 3-of-5 three-pointers, and had five rebounds and three assists. She drew nine fouls on Kent State players. She was, Starkey said, “a one-woman wrecking crew.” Her 36 points tie for the second-highest in the MAC this season. (Highest is 40 by Ohio’s Yaya Felder.)

A LONG DROUGHT IN BUFFALO

The game was the first time Starkey had won a game in Buffalo in his seven years as coach. The last time Kent State had won there was on Jan. 8, 2011, when Bob Lindsay led the team. Since then, the Bulls have won 25-of-30 games (home and away). Many of those games were when Felicia Legette-Jack was Buffalo’s coach. She left last summer to become head coach at Syracuse, her alma mater, where she is 16-10. Legette-Jack took five Buffalo players with her, and only one of her players remains at Buffalo.

Kent State is 32-23 all-time against the Bulls and won the first 19 games of the series, which started in 1999.

NUMBERS

• At halftime, Buffalo had outrebounded Kent State 22-16 and outscored the Flashes 28-16 in the paint. KSU more than reversed that in the second half and finished with a 37-36 edge on the boards and a 42-40 margin in the paint.
• Kent State had four — yes, just four — turnovers. That’s the lowest I can remember in the 32 years I’ve followed the team. Starkey said it was a point of emphasis after Buffalo scored 16 points off of KSU turnovers in Kent’s 64-63 win over the Bulls in January.
• Kent State’s bench, led by Batsch, senior Clare Kelly and freshman Tatiana Thomas, outscored Buffalo’s reserves 26-4. Only seven Buffalo players got in the game, and one played only five minutes. Four played more than 35 minutes.
• Kelly’s 3-pointer in the first quarter was the 100th of her career.

Box score

UPSET ALERT

Bowling Green dropped out of a first-place tie in the MAC when it lost to Northern Illinois 85-81 at home.

The Falcons and Toledo are now tied for second at 11-2, a game behind 12-1 Ball State.

MAC scores

MAC standings

NEXT: A WAGON WHEEL CHALLENGE SATURDAY

The Flashes host Akron at 2 p.m. Saturday. Akron is in fifth in the MAC at 6-7 and is 15-9 overall. The Zips outscored Eastern Michigan 16-4 in the fourth quarter to win 72-70 Wednesday in Akron.

Kent State beat Akron 57-55 in Akron on Feb. 1.

Bowling Green, Ball State and Toledo have dominated Mid-American Conference women’s basketball this season.

Kent State sits alone in fourth place but hasn’t been able to beat the top of the league.

The Flashes came their closest Saturday but lost to first-place Bowling Green 75-69 at the M.A.C. Center.

KSU had lost to the Falcons by nine in BG (11-1, 22-2 overall ), lost by nine at co-leader Ball State (11-1, 21-4) and lost by nine to third-place Toledo (10-2, 19-4).

The Flashes are 7-1 against the rest of the league and 15-8 overall. They’re two games ahead of fifth-place Western Michigan and Akron.

“We’ve played with the best teams in the league,” coach Todd Starkey said. “We want to beat the best teams in the league. It takes a little bit more. We’re right there. We still haven’t played our best basketball yet. We have an opportunity, but the window’s closing. The time is now for us to flip that switch and get to that next gear I know we still have.”

Everything is aimed at the MAC Tournament, which starts March 8.

“If we continue to keep our heads right and play our best basketball in Cleveland, we can beat Bowling Green, we can beat Ball State, we can beat anybody in the league,” Starkey said. “I thought our team played well enough to win today. We just had to put a few more possessions together on the offensive end.”

The Flashes and Bowling Green were never separated by more than eight points, though BG led for 35 minutes. Kent State had a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter, trailed by six at halftime and got within three in the third quarter and two in the fourth. A 3-point basket by Casey Santoro cut the lead to 72-69 with 36 seconds left, but then BG hit four-straight free throws.

“It was super frustrating because it only takes a couple plays to get past them,” said graduate student Lindsey Thall, who led the team with 15 points. “We were within two and three points multiple times, and we couldn’t capitalize on any of their mistakes. So we just have to learn from that and go play better next time.”

Kent State scored only 11 points in the fourth quarter, making 3-of-11 shots and 1-of-5 three-point attempts.

“We were finding pretty good looks,” said freshman Corynne Hauser, who had 13 points and seven assists in the game. “We just weren’t knocking down our shots. And the defense they were playing kept us out of the paint, so we were relying on 3s to get us into the game.”

Both teams shot very well in the first half. Bowling Green, led by Alissa Brett’s 5-of-5 shooting from 3-point range, made 7 of 13 three-pointers (53.6%) and 16-of 28 overall from the field (57.1%). Kent State was 44.8% from the field and 28.6% on 3-pointers.

But in the second half, BG was 0-for-6 on 3-pointers and 32.1% overall. KSU shot 50% in the third quarter but 27.3% in the fourth.

Numbers

• Casey Santoro had three 3-pointers and scored 11 points for the Flashes.
• Bowling Green, which ranks second in the country in turnover margin, scored 18 points off 19 KSU turnovers. Kent scored 11 off of nine BG turnovers.
• Kent State outrebounded the Falcons 36-30. Katie Shumate led KSU with eight rebounds, the third-straight game she has led the Flashes. The Flashes had 11 offensive rebounds and outscored BG 11-2 on second-chance points.
• The Falcons outscored Kent State in the paint 36-26.
• Brett led BG in scoring with 20 points but had only three in the second half. Alison Day scored 17 and Nyla Hampton 15 for the Falcons.

Box score

The view from BG

“It was a great basketball game. Kent State’s a really good team,” Bowling Green coach Robin Fralick was quoted on the BG website. “It was a very back-and-forth game, and I thought we did a great job of getting timely stops and timely scores.”

“We showed some grit today. Defensively, we were able to withstand some stretches when we were not scoring. And then, later in the fourth quarter, we were able to come up with some really timely baskets.”

Next: Wednesday at Buffalo

The Flashes play at Buffalo at 7 pm. Wednesday. The game will be on ESPN+ or ESPN3. Buffalo (4-8 MAC, 9-12 overall) lost to last-place Central Michigan 72-71 at home on Saturday. Kent State beat the Bulls 64-63 in Kent in its MAC opener on Jan. 4.

MAC standings

	MAC W-L	Pct.	MAC Home	MAC Away	All  games
BGSU	11-1	.917	7-0	4-1	22-2
Ball St	11-1	.917	6-0	5-1	20-4
Toledo	10-2	.833	5-0	5-2	19-4
Kent St	7-5	.583	4-2	3-3	15-8
Akron	5-7	.417	3-3	2-4	14-9
WMU	5-7	.417	3-2	2-5	10-13
EMU	5-7	.417	3-3	2-4	13-11
Buffalo	4-8	.333	2-3	2-3	9-12
NIU	4-8	.333	3-3	1-5	12-11
Miami	4-8	.333	3-4	1-4	9-16
CMU	3-9	.250	3-4	0-5	5-18
Ohio	3-9	.250	1-5	2-4	5-18

Saturday MAC scores

• Bowling Green 75, Kent State 69 at Kent.
• Ball State 61, Akron 56 at Akron.
• Central Michigan 72, Buffalo 71 at Central.
• Ohio 72, Northern Illinois 71 at Ohio.
• Toledo 71, Miami 586 at Miami.
• Eastern Michigan 68, Western Michigan 58 at Eastern.

It wasn’t Kent State’s best game of the season by far, but senior guard Katie Shumate’s double-double led the Flashes past Central Michigan 68-63 Wednesday at the M.A.C. Center.

Shumate had 20 points and a career-high 12 rebounds for KSU. Against Ball State on Saturday, she had 22 points and nine rebounds. It was the second time in her career that she had scored 20 points back-to-back.

The victory puts Kent State in firm control of fourth place in the Mid-American Conference. The Flashes are 7-4, two games ahead of Akron and Western Michigan. KSU trails third-place Toledo (9-2) by two games. Ball State and Bowling Green tied for first with 10-1 records. Kent State plays Bowling Green at 2 p.m. Saturday at the M.A.C. Center and on ESPN3.

Central Michigan is 2-9 in the MAC (4-18 overall) and tied for last place with Ohio.

“I thought our grit at the end was really good, and we started executing our offense a little bit down the stretch,” coach Todd Starkey said. “Katie played really well down the stretch.”

Shumate had 12 points and drew five fouls in the fourth quarter. She scored Kent State’s final 11 points. For the game, she made 6-of-8 shots and 7-of-8 free throws, had two assists and blocked two shots. Her 12 rebounds were second-most by a Kent player this season. First was Shumate’s 13 against Ohio. 

Kent State led 30-27 at halftime after a first half that saw neither team lead by more than six points.

Central Michigan started the second half with a 13-2 run and led 50-42 with 5:45 to go in the third quarter. But Kent State finished the quarter on a 17-4 run of its own.

At a timeout in the middle of the third quarter, things “got a little heated in the huddle,” Starkey said in his postgame radio interview with Tyler Henry.

“I looked them in the eye and had a few choice words to say to them,” he said. “I really challenged their level of toughness because we were kind of sleepwalking there. And the team responded.”

Corynne Hauser had 14 points for the Flashes. Hannah Young had eight, including two key putbacks. One came at the buzzer in the third quarter to cap KSU’s comeback. The other came in the fourth quarter when Central had cut KSU’s lead to three. Young also had five rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.

Clare Kelly also had eight points for the Flashes and Lindsey Thall seven, along with three blocked shots.

Numbers

• Kent State made 47.1% of its shots, six points above its average, but just 26.3% of its 3-points. Central Michigan shot 38.5% from the field and 26.7% from 3-point distance.
• Central outrebounded KSU 43-29 and had 21 offensive rebounds. The Chippewas scored 15 second-chance points to Kent’s six.
• CMU’s Rochelle Norris, the MAC’s tallest player at 6-5, had 16 points, 12 rebounds and blocked two shots. Sydney Harris, the league’s top-scoring freshman, had 19 points, two above her average.
• Kent State struggled against Central’s full-court press, especially in the third quarter, and committed 17 turnovers for the game. The Chippewas had 18 turnovers of their own. Central outscored Kent on points off turnovers 18-16.

Box score

Statistically, Ball State has the best offensive in the Mid-American Conference.

Statistically, Kent State has the best defense.

Offense won Saturday as Ball State beat the Flashes 80-71 for its seventh victory in a row. The Cardinals are tied for first place in the MAC with Bowling Green at 9-1 and is undefeated at home in 12 games this season. BSU is 19-4 overall.

Kent State is in fourth place in the MAC at 6-4 and is 14-7 overall. Saturday’s loss ended the Flashes’ three-game winning streak.

“They’re a really good team, and defensively we weren’t nearly as good as we needed to be,” coach Todd Starkey said. “They shot 51% from the floor for the game. You’re not going to beat the best team in the league on their home court when they shoot that field goal percentage.”

Ball State averages 80 points and 50% shooting a game in MAC play. Kent State gives up 63.4 points; its opponents make an average of 41.4% of their shots.

The Cardinals made 66.7% of their first-quarter shots on way to a 29-20 lead.

“We lost the first quarter by nine, we lost the game by nine,” Starkey said. “So felt like we outplayed them for three quarters. But we just got down early against the best in the league.”

Between the first quarter and the end, there were scoring runs aplenty between the two teams. Kent State cut the margin to three in the second quarter, then Ball State went up nine before Casey Santoro made it 43-36 with a shot in the last seconds of the half.

In the third quarter, the Cardinals pushed the lead to 16 before Kent State rolled off 11-straight points in two-and-a-half minutes. Four of those points came on consecutive free throws by Hannah Young. She was shooting consecutive technical fouls after BSU’s Alex Richard was called for taunting after a defensive play, then called for another technical for protesting the taunting call.

Kent State got it within three points early in the fourth quarter, then BSU pushed its lead out to 11 before Kent State rallied to make it 74-69 with 49 seconds to play.

“We had three different opportunities to pull within one possession and a couple of opportunities to actually tie the game,” Starkey said. “We had a good look at a 3, executed some nice things, but just couldn’t quite make up the difference.”

Kent State was badly beaten inside, where Ball State outscored it 44-28 in the paint and made 68% of its 2-point shots. Much of that came when forward Lindsey Thall got into foul trouble. Thall, who is KSU’s leading scorer at 11 points a game, played only 10 minutes in the first half and 24 minutes in the game. She scored two points and got off only four shots.

Freshman Tatiana Thomas, playing in Thall’s absence, picked up four fouls in six minutes and didn’t get a rebound.

“It was really tough for us, as thin as we are in the post,: Starkey said. “Once we’re in foul trouble, they pounded it in there.”

Thall is the only true forward left on the KSU active roster. Sophomore Bridget Dunn, who had been leading Kent State in rebounding before she hurt her knee against Northern Illinois two weeks ago, is out for the season, Starkey said. (On Monday, Starkey asked that we correct this to say Dunn was “probably out of the season.”)

Saturday senior guard Katie Shumate picked up some of the slack inside with 22 points and nine rebounds. Her total was the most points she had scored since the fourth game of the season. In MAC play, Shumate had scored in double figures only twice (11 points both times).

Shumate was Kent State’s leading scorer last season, second-leading scorer the year before, and third-leading her freshman year. She averaged about 12 points a game all three years. Every year she has had games in which she scored more than 20 points in a game and games in which she scored fewer than five.

“Katie kind of played on a mission today, and we need that to continue,” Starkey said.

Junior point guard Casey Santoro also played an aggressive game, with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, four assists and two steals. His point total was five higher than her previous best this season. Freshman guard Corynne Hauser came on strong in the second half, scoring eight of her 10 points.

Numbers

• Kent State made 41% of its shots, almost exactly its season average.
• Neither team shot well from 3-point distance. Ball State’s percentage was 26.1%, and Kent State’s 28%.
• Ball State outrebounded the Flashes 38-29. In MAC play, KSU has been outrebounded in seven of its 10 games.
• Five Ball State players scored in double figures, led by Madelyn Bischoff’s 20.

Box score

Next: A two-game homestand

The Flashes host Central Michigan (2-8 MAC, 4-17 overall) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The game will be on one of the ESPN networks, but it hasn’t been posted yet. Central lost to Eastern Michigan 68-54 at Central on Saturday.

Next Saturday Kent State will play the other first-place team, Bowling Green, at 2 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center. KSU lost at Bowling Green (9-1, 20-2) 66-57 on Jan. 21 at BG.

MAC standings

	MAC W-L	Pct.	MAC Home	MAC Away	All  games
BGSU	9-1	.900	6-0	3-1	20-2
Ball St	9-1	.900	6-0	3-1	18-4
Toledo	8-2	.800	5-0	3-2	17-4
Kent St	6-4	.600	3-1	3-3	14-7
Akron	5-5	.500	3-2	2-3	14-7
WMU	5-5	.500	3-2	2-3	10-11
Buffalo	4-6	.400	2-3	2-3	9-10
EMU	4-6	.400	2-3	2-3	12-9
NIU	3-7	.300	2-3	1-4	11-10
Miami	3-7	.300	2-3	1-4	8-15
CMU	2-8	.200	2-3	0-5	4-17
Ohio	2-8	.200	0-4	2-4	4-17

Saturday MAC scores

• Ball State 80, Kent State 71 at Ball State.
• Western Michigan 76, Akron 71 at Akron.
• Eastern Michigan 68, Central Michigan 54 at Central.
• Bowling Green 88, Miami 59 at BG.
• Toledo 66, Ohio 55 at Toledo.
• Northern Illinois 72, Buffalo 62 at Buffalo.

A key part of Kent State’s defensive mantra is “Defend without fouling.”

That and crucial points from Corynne Hauser and Katie Shumate in the last minute gave the Flashes a 55-53 victory at Akron Wednesday. Kent State is now in sole possession of fourth place in the Mid-American Conference at 6-3 and is 14-6 overall. Akron is in fifth place at 5-4 and 14-6 overall.

Hauser hit a 12-foot pull-up jump shot with eight seconds to go to give KSU a 55-50 lead. After the Zips made a 3-point basket, Shumate sank two free throws with seven seconds left. Akron made an irrelevant basket as time expired.

Akron came into the game averaging almost seven more points a game from free throws than its MAC opponents, leading the league. But on Wednesday Kent State outscored the Zips 19-12 at the foul line.

“We work on a lot of defensive strategies in practice — all the fundamental stuff,” said grad student Hannah Young, who led the Flashes with 16 points and six rebounds. “After repetition and repetition, it just translates into the game. So when you’re out here, you don’t really have to think too much about it.”

It was Kent State’s third-straight victory and fifth-straight strong defensive game. The Flashes lead the MAC in scoring defense. Only one MAC team has scored more than 70 points against the Flashes.

“Defensively we did a great job,” coach Todd Starkey said. “Our game plan was to really try and attack them, make them defend without fouling.”

Two Akron starters fouled out early in the fourth quarter.

Kent’s defense also earned the Flashes a 17-7 margin in points off turnovers. KSU turned the ball over only nine times, a season-low. Akron had 18 turnovers.

Hauser’s basket with 13 seconds left wasn’t exactly a set play.

“Earlier, I had been trying to get to the rim, and it wasn’t really working,” Hauser said. “My pull-up is my bread and butter, so I just went to that when I saw it was open.”

The key to the play, Starkey said, was getting the right match-up.

“We got the switch that we wanted,” the coach said. “So Corynne was going against Rachel Martindale (who is 5-8) instead of Lane Ferrell (who is 6-2).”

It was Hauser’s second game-winning shot of the season. In November, she hit a layup with five seconds left in KSU’s win over Oklahoma State.

Starkey said that Young, the night’s leading scorer with 16 points, is playing the best basketball of her five-year career.

“She’s a player that’s worked her tail off for every year she’s been here,” Starkey said. “She’s got progressively better, and she’s having her most consistent year. Tonight she knocked down some huge 3s and got some big rebounds for us.”

Shumate had 11 points and three steals for the Flashes. Hauser and grad student Lindsey Thall each had nine points, and freshman Tatiana Thomas had eight.

Running the numbers

• The Flashes outscored Akron 19-7 in the third quarter to take a double-digit lead. Akron outscored KSU 25-14 in its comeback attempt in the fourth quarter.
• Kent State missed 20 layups in 30 attempts. Akron was 14-of-28 on layups.
• The Zips outrebounded Kent State 43-30, the Flashes’ biggest deficit of the season. Akron has five players taller than 6 foot. With 6-3 sophomore Bridget Dunn out with an injury, Kent State has two.
• KSU made 17-of-55 shots for 30.9% and hit 4-of-14 three-pointers (28.6%). The four 3-pointers tied for KSU’s lowest total of the season. Because of the game, the Flashes dropped to second in the league in 3-point shots made per game (8.1).
• Akron hit 19-of-50 shots for 38% and was 5-for-17 on 3-pointers (29.4%). The Zips shot 53.4% (8-of-15) in the fourth quarter.

Box score

Next: At first-place Ball State Saturday

In an unusual 11 a.m. league game, the Flashes play at Ball State on Saturday on ESPN3. The Cardinals are 8-1 in the MAC (18-4 overall) and tied with Bowling Green for first place. Ball State beat Northern Illinois 76-68 on Wednesday in Muncie.

The game will be Kent’s fourth on the road in its last five games.

MAC standings

Wednesday MAC scores