Kent State women’s basketball team will seek to beat Northern Illinois for the third time this season in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Wednesday.
The game will start a half hour after the end of the game between top-seeded Toledo and No. 8 Buffalo. That is likely to be about 1:30 p.m. The game is on ESPN+ and the Kent State Radio Network. The rest of the MAC’s first- and Friday’s second-round games are also on ESPN+, starting at 10 a.m. The finals are at 11 a.m. Saturday on the CBS Sports Network. Games are at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Flashes are seeking to play in the MAC semifinals for the first time since 2010. They won their first-round game in 2020, but the tournament was canceled by COVID-19 before the semifinals. KSU missed the tournament last season after they tied for sixth in the conference but lost their chance to go to Cleveland on a tie-breaker.
Kent State goes into the game 20-9, their best record entering the tournament since 2011. The Flashes finished fourth in the conference with a 12-6 record. But the Flashes were 0-5 against the top three teams in the league — Toledo, Bowling Green and Ball State.
Kent State beat Northern Illinois twice by an average of 18 points during the regular season. On Jan. 25, the Flashes won in DeKalb 82-61 and last Saturday beat NIU in the M.A.C. Center 73-58.
On Wednesday, the MAC announced its postseason honors in women’s basketball.
Kent State’s Corynne Hauser made the league’s all-freshman team. Katie Shumate made the MAC’s third team and Lindsey Thall was honorable mention. Hauser is the first KSU player to be all-freshmen since Shumate and Nila Blackford in 2019. Shumate was honorable mention in her freshman and sophomore year. Thall was honorable mention in 2020.
Here are all of the MAC postseason honors:
Coach of the Year: Tricia Cullop, Toledo
Player of the Year: Quinesha Lockett, Senior, Guard, Toledo
Defensive Player of the Year: Nyla Hampton, Junior, Guard, Bowling Green
Freshman of the Year: Sydney Harris, Guard/Forward, Central Michigan
Sixth Player of the Year: Janae Poisson, Graduate Student, Guard, Northern Illinois
All-MAC First Team
Quinesha Lockett, Senior, Guard, Toledo
A’Jah Davis, Senior, Forward, Northern Illinois
Anna Clephane, Senior, Guard/Forward, Ball State
Elissa Brett, Senior, Guard, Bowling Green
Reagan Bass, Sophomore, Forward, Akron
All-MAC Second Team
Yaya Felder, Sophomore, Guard, Ohio
Re’Shawna Stone, Graduate Student, Guard, Buffalo
Ally Becki, Sophomore, Guard, Ball State
Chelby Koker, Senior, Guard, Northern Illinois
Allison Day, Senior, Forward, Bowling Green
All-MAC Third Team
Katie Shumate, Senior, Guard, Kent State
Peyton Scott, Senior, Guard, Miami
Ivy Wolf, Sophomore, Guard, Miami
Sophia Wiard, Senior, Guard, Toledo
Sydney Harris, Freshman, Guard/Forward, Central Michigan
All-MAC Honorable Mention
Ce’Nara Skanes, Redshirt Junior, Forward, Eastern Michigan
Thelma Dis Augustsdottir, Graduate Student, Guard/Forward, Ball State
Taylor Williams, Redshirt Junior, Forward, Western Michigan
Lauren Ross, Redshirt Sophomore, Guard, Western Michigan
Lindsey Thall, Graduate Student, Forward, Kent State
MAC All-Freshman Team
Sydney Harris, Guard/Forward, Central Michigan
Corynne Hauser, Guard, Kent State
Bridget Utberg, Guard, Central Michigan
Olivia Smith, Guard, Eastern Michigan
Jaya McClure, Guard, Ohio
MAC All-Defensive Team
Nyla Hampton, Junior, Guard, Bowling Green
Dominique Camp, Senior, Guard, Akron
Khera Goss, Junior, Guard, Toledo
Taylor Williams, Redshirt Junior, Forward, Western Michigan
Elissa Brett, Senior, Guard, Bowling Green