Kent State playing a near-perfect second quarter against the Mid-American Conference’s top team and led Toledo until there was 1:11 seconds left in the game.
But the Rockets forced two turnovers and made four foul shots in the last minute and escaped with a 64-60 win over the Flashes.
The win, Toledo’s 12th in a row, clinches at least a first-place tie for the Rockets. Toledo is 15-4 in the MAC and 24-4 overall. The Rockets play second-place Bowling Green in Toledo Saturday in the last game of the regular season.
Kent State has clinched fourth place in the conference with an 11-6 record (19-8 overall). The Flashes will end their season Saturday with a Senior Day game against Northern Illinois at the M.A.C. Center.
Kent State didn’t make a basket for the first nine minutes of the game and trailed 14-8 after Katie Shumate hit a 3-point shot with 30 second to go in the quarter.
But in the second period, Kent State made 10-of-13 — including 6-of-7 three-pointers. The Flashes led 36-27 at halftime and held that lead until a Toledo press put KSU on its heels in the fourth quarter.
KSU led by eight going into the final quarter. But Toledo closed the score to 54-51 with 3:44 to go, then took the lead on two foul shots by Nan Garcia with 1:11 left. Garcia’s points came after a steal by UT point guard Sophia Wiard, who again stole the ball eight seconds later and made two free throws of her own.
The Flashes never caught up.
The Flashes committed their fifth team foul with 3:44 to go.
“They were certainly the aggressor in the fourth quarter,” coach Todd Starkey said. “They were able to get to the bonus really quickly.
“It changes the way that you’re able to defend when the other team is in the bonus with that much time left. You’re trying not to foul, not to put them at the free throw line.”
Toledo made 13-of-15 free throws in the fourth quarter.
“The free throw situation played right into their hands because the clock stopped, and they could get their press set,” Starkey said. “So it was kind of the perfect storm of what they wanted and against the way we wanted to play.”
Kent State didn’t turn the ball over against the press for the first six minutes of the quarter, but it took the Flashes out of their offense.
“The press really took us out of rhythm,” Starkey said. “We stopped attacking and played way too tentative. We didn’t execute our press offense. We’d get the ball to a guard, then everybody ran down the floor instead of executing passes up the court to try and score. That’s not how we want to do things. We really want to attack the basket.”
That big second quarter
Starkey’s view:
“We obviously missed a ton of shots in the first quarter, but Katie’s 3 at the end of the quarter was big for us. We look up, and we’re only down 14-8. We’re like: ‘Well, we didn’t do anything right, but we’re still right there. Take a deep breath and start playing.’
“We started playing more aggressively in the second quarter. Obviously, we knocked down a bunch of shots, but they were good rhythm shots for us.”
Shumate keeps rolling
Katie Shumate had 19 points and 8 rebounds to lead Kent State. She has led KSU in scoring in eight of her last 10 games and led in rebounding all 10. The Flashes are 7-3 over that time.
“She’s playing great basketball right now,” Starkey said. “If she stays in that mode, we can continue to defend and we get some other players to step up in the tournament, we’re going to be in good shape.”
Shumate also had two assists, made 4-of-4 free throws and blocked two shots.
Casey Santoro was the only other KSU player to score in double figures with 11. Hannah Young had nine points and tied Shumate for the lead in rebounds with eight. Lindsey Thall had eight points and made two 3-pointers.
Winless against the Big 3
Kent State finishes the regular season 0-5 against Toledo, Bowling Green and Ball State, the top three teams in the MAC standings. The Flashes lost their first three games against that group by nine points each, lost at home to BG by six, and lost at Toledo by four. (Kent State played Ball State only once.)
Numbers
- Kent State made 36.2% of its shots, but almost all of that was in the second quarter. The Flashes were 2-for-16 in the first quarter, 3-for-13 in the third and 4-for-12 in the fourth. After making 6-of-7 three-pointers in the second quarter, KSU was 0-for-8 in the second half.
- Toledo made 6-of-13 shots (46%) in the first quarter and 7-of-15 (47%) in the fourth. In the second and third, the Rockets were a combined 8-of-26 (31%).
- Toledo made just 2-of-14 three-pointers, its lowest performance of the season in number and percentage (.143). The Rockets were 0-for-6 in the second half. So neither team made a 3-point basket in the second half.
- Toledo outrebounded the Flashes 40-32. The margin came entirely in the fourth quarter (13-4).
- Kent State’s string of four games with fewer than 10 turnovers came to an end. The Flashes had a still very respectable 12. But Toledo, which also had 12 turnovers, outscored KSU off of them 14-7.
- Kent had nine assists, its lowest total (by five) in six games.
- The Flashes made 15-of-17 free throws while Toledo made 20-of-24.
Next: Senior Day against Northern Illinois
The Flashes host the Huskies at 2 p.m. Saturday on Senior Day at the M.A.C. Center. It will be the last home game for Lindsey Thall, Hannah Young and Annie Pavlansky, all of whom have played five years for the Flashes. It’s also the final game for Abby Ogle, who transferred to Kent last season.
True seniors Katie Shumate and Clare Kelly are eligible to return for a fifth year because of NCAA rules created during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nothing is official yet, but the indications I’ve seen seem to say they’ll be back.
Northern Illinois is 8-9 in the MAC in fifth place and is 16-12 overall. Kent State beat NIU 82-61 in DeKalb on Jan. 25. If the MAC Tournament began today, the two teams would play in the first round.
Northern beat Eastern Michigan 73-63 on Wednesday.
Around the MAC
In a battle between second-place teams, Bowling Green beat Ball State 71-66 in overtime at BG. The game was the first nationally televised regular-season game in MAC history.
Bowling Green is 14-3 in the conference and 25-4 overall. The Falcons play first-place Toledo in Toledo on Saturday and could tie for the championship with a win.