Janae Tyler, who was named to the MAC all-freshman team Wednesday, led Kent State with 15 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots. (Photo by David Dermer for Kent State Athletics.)
Kent State’s strength all season has been its balance.
The ultimate example was Wednesday’s 63-60 victory over Northern Illinois in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament:
- From Janae Tyler, freshman center: 15 points, 5 rebounds in just 18 minutes of play.
- From Bridget Dunn, junior forward: 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.
- From Katie Shumate, fifth-year senior and newly named first-team All-MAC player: 14 points, 8 rebounds.
- From Jenna Batsch, junior forward: 14 points.
The victory advances Kent State to a semifinal matchup with Ball State at about 12:30 p.m. Friday. The game is at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland and will be live streamed on ESPN+.
Kent State lost two games to Ball State during the regular season: 57-46 at Ball State on Jan. 31 and 75-71 in Kent last Wednesday in a game that was decided in the last minute.
Ball State is 28-4 this season and finished second in the MAC behind 17-1 Toledo. Kent State is 19-10.
“Ball State’s really good,” KSU coach Todd Starkey said in the postgame press conference. “But our team knows that we’re capable. Our message to them is going to be: ‘We just have to be better than them for 40 minutes.'”
Shumate put it this way:
“We have to put a full game together. We’ve shown that we can compete with them. We just have to play four quarters and be aggressive and finish better than we did tonight, and we’ll be good.”
Northern Illinois gave Kent State all it could handle Wednesday. The Huskies jumped to a 7-0 lead, and KSU battled back and led 28-27 at half-time. The teams were within six points of each other for the rest of the night, with Kent leading most of the time.
In the third quarter, Tyler scored five points as Kent State pounded the ball inside.
Tyler suffered a concussion in last week’s lost to Ball State and missed the final regular-season game at Toledo Saturday.
“For her to come back after that, as a freshman in this atmosphere, was really big,” Starkey said. “She played with composure, she didn’t get sped up in the post, really took her time and found ways to score.”
Tyler made seven baskets in 10 attempts and blocked three shots.
Dunn played one of her best games of her career in posting her third double-double of the season.
“Bridget’s one of the best defensive rebounders in the league, and we needed that from her,” ” Starkey said . “She had 14 defensive rebounds. That’s 14 potential possessions that the other team does not get. When you’re not shooting the ball well (as Kent did Wednesday), you have to make sure you don’t give up second-chance high-percentage shots. She’s a really big reason why we won.”
KENT STATE’S ALL-MAC PERFORMERS
Katie Shumate, Jenna Batsch and Janae Tyler received Mid-American Conference honors announced Wednesday.
Shumate, a fifth-year guard from Newark, Ohio, was named first-team all-MAC and to the all-conference defensive team. It’s the fourth time in five years Shumate has received postseason honors. This season she led KSU in scoring (15.1 points per game) and rebounding (7.3 per game).
Batsch, a junior forward from Loveland, Ohio, was named to the league’s third team. She averaged 13.4 points a game, which ranked ninth in the conference. Her average was an increase of 10.3 points per game from her sophomore year, the largest year-to-year increase of any MAC player.
Tyler, who is from Holt, Michigan, made the conference all-freshman team. She averaged 9.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per game as Kent State’s first player off the bench. Her 58% field goal percentage is the second highest in the MAC.
The honors are chosen by a ballot of league coaches.
OTHER TOURNAMENT SCORES
No. 1 seed Toledo (26-4) 72, No. 8 Western Michigan (12-18) 61.
No. 2 Ball State (28-4) 77, No. 7 Ohio (11-17) 53.
No. 4 Buffalo (18-12) 70, No. 5 Bowling Green (16-14) 64.