Katie Shumate (center) and Abby Ogle (left) celebrate with junior guard Elena Maier during Kent State’s 67-59 victory over Buffalo. (Photo by David Dermer for Kent State Athletics.)
After their 67-59 Senior Day win over Buffalo, KSU’s three seniors and coach Todd Starkey had a lot to say about their time at Kent State.
The win boosts the Flashes’ record to 13-3 in the Mid-American Conference and 18-8 overall. It clinches at least a third seed in the MAC Tournament in two weeks in Cleveland. A higher seed is possible if Kent State can beat second-place Ball State (14-2 MAC, 25-4 overall) and first-place Toledo (15-1, 23-4) in its final two regular-season games next week.
But let’s start with the seniors:
KATIE SHUMATE posted her sixth double-double of the season with 16 points and a career-high-tying 13 rebounds. Her five assists also tied a career-high, and she had three steals and blocked two shots.
“When I got here, I was just a kid,” Shumate said. “I’ve been able to grow up around these people and have the support of the coaching staff and the players I’ve met along the way.
“Outside of basketball, inside of basketball, this is my favorite team by far. It’s been a good year.”
STARKEY: “Katie’s one of the top two or three players I’ve ever coached in my career. The reason why Katie and I get along is because she hates to lose as much as I do, maybe more. What she’s meant to me and to this program is really hard to put into words, but her teammates absolutely love playing with her.”
On Saturday, ABBY OGLE started her first game in her three years at Kent State. She came as a transfer from West Virginia, and her first two years were full of injuries. On Saturday she had four assists and three steals. Starkey says she leads the MAC in steals per minute, a most unofficial statistic. But for the record, she is averaging .13 steals per minute, which would project to 5.3 for a 40-minute game. The MAC leader in assists, Nyla Hampton of Ball State, averages 3.3 in 34 minutes per game, which projects to 4.0 per 40 minutes.
Ogle said her biggest memories are “all the times that we had to spend multiple nights in hotels together and just hanging out in our off days.”
“It’s just been great spending time with everybody and learning who we are,” she said.
STARKEY: “Abby was a junior college all-American. She’s gone through multiple injuries and frustration. This season, for her to be healthy and have the attitude that she’s had has been great. She brings us great energy.”
MIKALA MORRIS was recruited by many schools out of high school, including Kent State, but chose to go to Quinnipiac University, a consistently good mid-major in Connecticut. She scored more than 1,000 points and had more than 900 rebounds for the Bobcats. Morris got two degrees there and transferred to Kent State for her last season.
“I was there for four years and learned they had a certain standard there and certain set of roles,” Morris said. “There was definitely an adjustment period here, and I really had to embrace the change and buy into what I was being taught and coached.”
Morris, like the other two seniors, pointed to the team’s trip to Greece last summer as an extraordinary experience.
“We went there for basketball,” she said. “But it was a time where I got to connect with the girls, get to know them outside of basketball, and really bond with them before the season.”
In a year, Morris said, she has made friends for life.
“Down the road, no matter what, if anyone ever needs me, I’m always a phone call away, and I’m always there as a friend,” she said.
STARKEY: “That adjustment (to starting on a new team) is not easy. Mikala did a good job of wanting to be a part of the group, of wanting to be part of something bigger.
“Mikala had plenty of options, and she chose to come to Kent State. I’m very grateful for the trust she had in us to come here for her last year.”
In Saturday’s Buffalo game, Kent State scored the first six points and led for all but 52 seconds of the game.
Junior forward Bridget Dunn provided a second double-double for the Flashes, scoring 11 points and equaling her career-high with 12 rebounds.
“She’s our best defensive rebounder,” Starkey said. “She doesn’t get enough credit for her defense and her voice. She was able to score in the interior and from the 3-point line today, so now teams have to think twice about how they guard her. I’m really pleased with how she has continued to progress off of an ACL (injury) last year. That’s tough to do.”
Junior Elena Maier had played pretty much only in mop-up time before this season. When Corynne Hauser went down with a knee injury in February, Maier became the team’s backup point guard.
The Flashes needed her for 16 minutes Saturday when starter Dionna Gray got into foul trouble. Maier responded with a career-high six points and two assists.
Maier missed most of her senior year in high school and all of her freshman year at Kent State with knee injuries.
“This the first really her first opportunity getting playing time,” Starkey said. “And it’s not easy to get your first opportunity to get big minutes in late season in big games, and she handled herself well today.”
A note on defense: Kent State held Buffalo’s Chellia Watson, the MAC’s leading scorer, six points below her 22-point-per-game average. Watson made just 4-of-17 shots and didn’t have a basket in the second half.
NEXT: The league leaders
Second-place Ball State visits the M.A.C. Center on Wednesday in Kent’s final home game. The game has an unusual 5 p.m. start to accommodate a national broadcast on ESPNU.
Ball State beat KSU 57-46 on Jan. 31. The teams are the top two scoring teams in the conference and the second- and third-ranked defensive teams.
Kent State finishes its regular season Saturday at first-place Toledo, which has won 11 games in a row.
Then it’s the MAC tournament.
“I think that that’s a perfect situation for us, win or lose,” Shumate said. ” We’re going to be playing against the top teams in the MAC going into the tournament, and I don’t think there’s a better way to prepare us than competing with the best teams in the league.”
Starkey said his hope for the tournament is to win and cut down the nets for Shumate.
“I can’t think of somebody who has battled for that potential outcome more than Katie,” he said. “I think everybody on the team wants that for her.”