Jenna Batsch had a career-high 20 points, including 12 critical points in the third quarter. (File photo from Kent State Athletics.)
After scoring just three points in the first half, Jenna Batsch had 12 in the third quarter and a career-high 20 for the game to lead Kent State past Eastern Michigan 66-57 Wednesday at the M.A.C. Center.
The win gives Kent State a 7-1 Mid-American Conference record (12-5 overall) and keeps them in a tie for second place in the league. Eastern is 2-5 in the conference and 5-12 overall.
“I think a lot of times when I have a good second half, I’m just frustrated with my first half,” Batsch said. “I think I play better when I’m angry, honestly. I just come out and be aggressive and focus.”
Batsch scored KSU’s final 10 points in the third quarter to give the Flashes a 45-43 going into the final period.
“She’s a big spark for us,” point guard Corynne Hauser said. “We want to get a stop and come back and watch Jenna get another bucket. Every time she’s able to go on a run by herself, it really gets the whole team going.”
The Flashes outscored Eastern Michigan 21-14 in the fourth quarter and took the lead for good after a 3-point basket by Hauser with 6:28 to go.
“I thought we executed really well in the fourth quarter,” coach Todd Starkey said. “But somehow we have to get to a point where we’re playing four solid quarters instead of allowing one or two quarters to affect us in a negative way.”
For the second game in a row, 6-3 forward Bridget Dunn had a big impact on the game without scoring a lot of points. Dunn had 11 rebounds and her defense helped hold a big, strong EMU front line in check.
Hauser and Katie Shumate each had 13 points for the Flashes, and Mikala Morris had 10.
Numbers:
- Kent State had a season-low six turnovers. EMU had 14, which Kent turned into 14 points.
- Eastern outrebounded the Flashes 43-38.
- KSU made 24-of-61 shots for 39.3%; Eastern was 23-of-61 for 37.7%.
NEXT: Bowling Green and Ball State, two of the MAC’s best. The Flashes play at BG at 4 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+. Bowling Green is 4-3 in the league and 10-7 overall. The Falcons have struggled somewhat since Lexi Fleming, their leading scorer, went down with a knee injury before Christmas. BG lost at Buffalo (also 4-3, 10-7) 82-72 on Wednesday.
Ball State, whom the Flashes play next Wednesday, leads the MAC at 7-0, is 16-2 overall and has won 11 straight games. Its losses came to No. 14 Notre Dame and No. 17 Connecticut.
MAC standings
Standings are from WarrenNolan.com, an analytics site. NET is the statistical measure the NCAA uses to help rank teams and determine seeds for tournaments. It includes things like strength of schedule, scoring margin, points per possession on offense and defense, and the quality of wins and losses, based on the opponent and whether a game was home or away.