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.
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.