Mikala Morris, Kent State’s graduate transfer from Quinnipiac, scored 16 points in KSU’s 77-54 win over Central Michigan. It was her second-highest total of the season. (File photo from Kent State Athletics.)
Mikala Morris’s father, Ben, drove five hours on his birthday to watch his daughter play against Central Michigan.
It was worth it.
Mikala, a graduate student transfer and post player, scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds to help lead the Flashes past Central Michigan 77-54 on the road on Saturday.
Kent State is now 10-2 and still in third place in the Mid-American Conference, a game behind 11-1 Ball State (21-3) and 11-1 Toledo (19-4). The Flashes are 15-7 overall.
Central is 3-9 in the MAC and 5-18 overall.
Morris’s 16 points were her second-highest in a Kent State uniform.
“I came in with the mindset of aggressive attack,” she said in a postgame radio interview. “I felt good, I felt hot all day, and I wanted to perform very well for my dad.”
Unlike many post players, Morris scores as many points on short- and intermediate-range jump shots as she does under the basket.
“Even in high school, she had a nice face-up jump shot, and she makes those just as she does layups,” said coach Todd Starkey, who recruited Morris out of Kenton Ridge High School near Dayton, then again after she played four years at Quinnipiac University. “That puts a lot of pressure on the defense.”
Morris missed two games in January because of an ankle injury.
“She still isn’t 100%,” Starkey said, “but it was really nice to see her back in her true form. If we can get that type of productivity out of her, that’s going to be big for us moving forward.”‘
Morris splits time at the post with freshman Janae Tyler, who in 17 minutes matched Morris’s 12 points and six rebounds+. Tyler is from Holt, Michigan, about an hour from Central Michigan.
“She had a lot of family in the stands,” Starkey said, “and it was nice to see both her and Mikala do well.”
The coach said Tyler has had a “really nice progression through her freshman year.”
“There are always going to be ups and downs, but she’s done a nice job of playing through that and continuing to get better,” Starkey said.
Tyler is fourth on the KSU roster in scoring, averaging 9.1 points in 15 minutes a game.
Grad student guard Abby Ogle scored just two points but made a big contribution to the victory with five assists and four steals.
“She means a lot to us,” Starkey said. “She hadn’t played a lot (before this season) because she’s battled injuries. But her focus coming into this last year has been good. The energy that she provides on the bench and on the court has been really good. She’s turned into one of our best leaders.”
While Ogle was on the floor, Kent State outscored CMU by 23 points, the highest of any KSU player.
Kent State trailed 9-1 and 11-3 before the Flashes ran off 14 straight points in the first quarter. In the second half, Central cut Kent State’s lead to four after first three minutes, but the Flashes quickly pushed the lead back to 13. They outscored the Chippewas 22-7 in the fourth quarter.
“Other than the first three minutes of both halves, we were phenomenal defensively,” Starkey said. “We outrebounded the top team in the league by five on the road, and we only had seven turnovers in the whole game.”
Sophomore Dionna Gray started at point guard for the second game in a row and scored eight points, had three assists and had four rebounds. Gray was backed up by junior Elena Maier, who had two points and one assist. Gray and Maier have had to play substantially more after an apparent season-ending knee injury to Corynne Hauser, who started the first 19 games of the season.
Jenna Batsch led the Flashes with 17 points despite sitting out 20 minutes with foul trouble. Katie Shumate had 12 points and six rebounds.
NEXT: At Ohio at 7 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN+.
The Bobcats led first-place Ball State by as many as 15 points in the first half, but the Cardinals rallied in a big way in the second and won 75-60. Ohio is 4-8 in the MAC and in a three-way tie for eighth place. The top eight teams in the conference make the league tournament in March.
Kent State beat the Bobcats 92-63 in Kent in January.