Happiness is four guards scoring: (From left) senior Katie Shumate (15 points), junior Jenna Batsch (10), freshman Mya Babbitt (six in a career-high 17 minutes) and Corynne Hauser (15 points).
It was far from a good shooting night for the Kent State women, but the Flashes used strong offensive rebounding and a big fourth quarter to beat Xavier 64-57 on Tuesday night.
KSU is now 2-1 after three road games. Xavier is 0-5.
“We found a way to win on the road against the Big East opponent,” “And we had a terrible shooting night — 34% from the floor, 22% from 3 and 61% from the free-throw line.
“We made some nice adjustments in the fourth quarter and finally came alive for 10 minutes.”
A key moment came in the huddle between the third and fourth quarters, when Kent trailed 46-43.
“We implored them to make sure that we’re crashing the glass,” Starkey said.
The Flashes had seven offensive rebounds in the first half but scored only three points off of them.
“It doesn’t matter if you get the offensive rebound if it doesn’t turn into something for you. So we really wanted to make sure that we were getting not rebounds, but second-chance points.”
Kent State had 18 points in the second half off of 13 offensive rebounds. For the game, Katie Shumate and Jenna Batsch had four each. Bridget Dunn had 10 rebounds, nine defensive, for the Flashes.
In the fourth quarter, KSU held Xavier to 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting.
“We changed the way we were guarding ball screens,” Starkey said. “We went one possession of zone, then we went to a different way to defend screens. It seemed to throw them off a little bit, and it seemed to give us some energy.”
Four guards dominated Kent State’s scoring:
KATIE SHUMATE, after scoring only one point in the first half, finished with 15. She added six rebounds, blocked three shots and had an assist and a steal.
CORYNNE HAUSER had a season-high 15 points with five assists and three steals.
JENNA BATSCH had her third straight game in double figures with 10 points.
MYA BABBITT, a freshman from Papillion, Nebraska, played 17 minutes after only playing two in her first games. She hit two 3-pointers after making two other 3s in the last two minutes of KSU’s game against LSU last week.
“She went in today because we couldn’t shoot the ball,” Starkey said. “And she’s a great shooter. If you’re not shooting the ball well, you give good shooters an opportunity.”
The Flashes saw a familiar face on the other side in forward Nila Blackford, a two-time all-MAC performer for the Flashes from 2019 to 2022. She transferred to Xavier before the beginning of last season. Tuesday she scored 19 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked three shots.
“It might have been her best game at Xavier,” Starkey said.
NEXT: Off to Florida
The Flashes leave Wednesday for the Daytona Beach Classic. They’ll play Chattanooga (2-1) on Friday and Missouri (4-1) on Saturday.
They will finally play their first home game next Wednesday against Coppin State (3-3).