Kent State women’s basketball

All good seasons end…but Kent State’s women go out with fight against Notre Dame in 81-67 loss

Katie Shumate (14) had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Kent State against No. 9 Notre Dame. It was the second time this season that Shumate had a double-double against a Top 10 team; she had 22 points and 11 rebounds against No. 8 LSU in November. (Photo by David Dermer for Kent State Athletics.)

Call it the blowout that wasn’t.

No. 15 seed Kent State trailed No. 2 seed Notre Dame 49-30 at halftime in Saturday’s NCAA Tournament. At that point, it looked as if Notre Dame could pick the final score.

But the Flashes outscored the Fighting Irish 37-32 in the second half and ended their season with their heads held high. The final score was 81-67.

Kent State finishes its season at 21-11, the same record as last year. KSU also won 21 in 2006, 2005 and 2001. The last time KSU won more games was in 2000. This year’s team was also the first to win a MAC Tournament since 2002.

Notre Dame is 27-6 and will play No. 7 seed Mississippi on Monday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

“Our goal down the stretch was to let everyone know — win or lose in this game — that Kent State was here and that we compete and we play together,” coach Todd Starkey said in the postgame press conference. “The way we played early, it was looking like it was doing to be a 35- or 40-point blowout. We wanted to have something to say about that.

“Notre Dame is the type of team that can make runs on you real quick — and we didn’t let ’em do it. I think it just speaks to what this group is about. They’re about each other, and they fought. They fought for us as coaches. They fought for each other more than that.”

Shumate the competitor

Redshirt senior guard Katie Shumate, playing the last game of her five-year career, put it simply:

“Everyone knew that we didn’t want to go out by giving up.”

Shumate put up 20 points and 11 rebounds for her eighth double-double and eighth 20-point game of the season.

“Katie is one of the best competitors I’ve ever coached,” Starkey said. “She and I continued to get along for five years because she hates to lose as much as I do. Her teammates all love her, and that’s the most important thing, having the type of relationships that these players have formed this year.”

Tyler the coachable

Freshman Janae Tyler, playing against older players 2 and 5 inches taller than she is, put up a career-high of 18 points against a Division I team. She made 8-of-11 shots.

“The thing about Janae that’s unique is her composure,” Starkey said. “She’s one of the more coachable student-athletes I’ve ever had. She really tries to go out and do what you ask her to do. She wants to get better.”

The Kent State rally

When the Flashes took the momentum in the third quarter, they did simple things: shoot better and play better defense.

“I thought the shots that we got in the first half were good shots,” Starkey said. “They just didn’t go down. So at halftime, the message was to keep shooting good shots. Don’t change what’s gotten us here and keep being who you are.”

On defense, Starkey told the team to be more rigid.

“We’ve gotta get more resilient and tougher, and we’ve gotta talk better in screening action,” the coach said. “Just come out and show people what you’re made of.” 

The Notre Dame scorers

Kent State held Hannah Hidalgo, the national’s third-leading scorer, to 14 points (though she had 11 assists and six steals). Junior guard Sonia Citron led the Irish with a career-high 29 points.

Lessons

“I think the biggest thing we learned is that it was possible, that you’re capable,” Starkey said. “We have a lot of good underclassmen coming back, and they’re capable of this. You get a taste of this, you want more of it.”

Memories

“They’ve had the best time this past week and a half,” Sstrkey said, “just enjoying the tournament, winning a championship, confetti falling on their heads. Then coming to Notre Dame — all the hype around it. They’ll look back and have a lot of incredible memories.”

Going out with pride

“I’m not upset at all about the way we went out,” Shumate said. “We won our MAC championship, and I think especially playing here, it was really fun. It was a great environment.

“And, you know, every time I get to play with these girls, it was great. So it’s a good way to go out.”

Box score

NCAA BOUND! Flashes beat Buffalo 78-60 to advance to the national championship tournament

Championship team, championship trophy: Coach Todd Starkey celebrates with his team after a 78-60 win over Buffalo. (Photo by David Dermer for Kent State Athletics.)

Every preseason, Kent State coaches and players will tell you their goal: Win the MId-American Conference title and go to the NCAA championship.

After eight years under coach Todd Starkey, it’s finally happened.

The Flashes used an overwhelming second half to beat Buffalo on Saturday in the MAC Tournament championship game 78-60.

They’ll play Friday or Saturday against an opponent to be announced on ESPN at 8 p.m. Sunday. The playing site will be announced then, too. It’s Kent State’s fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. They’ve won one game — against Texas A&M in 1996.

“Winning is hard,” Starkey said in the postgame press conference. “And championships are even harder. Even if you have a good team, you’re not guaranteed that.

“This group from the beginning had a belief that they could get to this point. We played a really tough non-conference schedule — the places we went on the road, not everybody’s willing to do that.

“I wanted to put them in those settings so that if we were able to get in these types of moments, the moment wasn’t too big for them.”

Kent State made its own big moment in the third quarter against Buffalo.

A calm halftime talk

The Flashes trailed 34-30 at halftime after a buzzer-beating 3-point shot by Chellia Watson, the MAC’s leading scorer.

But the locker room was calm, Starkey and players said.

“We looked at each other,” redshirt senior Katie Shumate said, “and we said, ‘We believe in each other and we’re not losing this game.’

And then we went out and, and we took care of business.”

Starkey said the player the look on players’ faces was, “Like, okay coach, give us what we need to know. We’ll make the adjustments.”

And he told them:

“Let’s get back to playing the type of basketball that got us here, playing through the paint, getting the ball inside out. Take 3s that are there. Don’t pass up good shots, but let’s play through the paint.”

And then, he said, “Players have to execute and they have to make plays and they did over and over and again.”

A 29-point quarter

The Flashes outscored Buffalo 29-13, including an 11-point run midway through the quarter.

Shumate, later named MVP of the tournament, had eight points in the quarter. Point guard Dionna Gray, who came into the game shooting less than 25% from 3-point distance, made three 3-pointers in the quarter.

“I wasn’t proud of my first half,” Gray said. “I knew if we needed to win this game,, I needed to step up and do my part as well.

“We’ve talked all season about doing this for our seniors, and I looked at Katie and knew I needed to do it.”

Starkey: “She stepped up today and hit big shots when we needed her.”

Gray scored 14 points, made 4-of-6 three-point shots and had four assists and two steals.

Kent State outscored Buffalo 28-26 in the second half.

The scorers

Shumate, as she’s done 14 times this season, led KSU in scoring with 21 points.

Jenna Batsch joined Gray with 14 points, and Mikala Morris had 11.

Bridget Dunn had 11 rebounds. In the games of the tournament, she averaged 13 rebounds a game. She joined Shumate on the all-tournament team.

Box score

Convincing 65-50 over No. 2 Ball State sends KSU into tournament finals

Flashes celebrate their upset win over Ball State in the MAC Tournament. It’s the first time KSU will be playing in the tournament finals since 2006. (Photo by David Dermer for Kent State Athletics.)

In his pregame interview on Golden Flashes Radio, coach Todd Starkey said the team needed to do four things to upset Ball State in the Mid-American Conference semifinals on Saturday:

  • Rebound well, and score off offensive rebounds.
  • Play with minimal lapses for all 40 minutes.
  • Keep Ball State, the highest-scoring team in the conference, to under 70 points.
  • Play to send Katie Shumate, the fifth-year star of the team, to the MAC finals.

  • The result: Check, check, check and check.

The Flashes won 65-50 and advance to play Buffalo in the MAC Tournament finals at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. Tickets will be available at the door, and the game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.

Buffalo upset No. 1 seed Toledo 77-74 in overtime in the other semifinal game Saturday. The Bulls led most of the second half, let Toledo close at the end but pulled it out on the end. Chellia Watson, who led the MAC in scoring this season, had 30 points for the Bulls.

Kent State, now 20-10, beat Buffalo twice in the regular season, 73-64 in Buffalo on Jan. 3 and 67-58 in Kent on March 2. Buffalo’s record is 19-12.

“Tomorrow’s all that matters,” Starkey said. “The first two games don’t really matter other than what we can learn from it. They’ve got one of the leading scorers in the country in Cellia Watson, and they’re trying to get the same thing we are. So we’ve got to create our own luck. We have to be solid defensively all the way.”

Rebounding dominaton

Against Ball State, KSU never gave the Cardinals a chance in rebounding. The Flashes outrebounded BSU 50-29. They had 17 offensive rebounds to Ball State’s six. They scored 21 second-chance points. Ball State? Just two.

“We call their three posts the three-headed monster,” Starkey said. “We knew we needed to match their physicality and send a message early that we weren’t backing down.”

Redshirt senior guard Katie Shumate said offensive rebounds fire up the whole team.

“It obviously tears them down, but it restores so much energy in us that we lost by missing a shot,” she said.

40 minutes

It was Kent State’s most complete games of the year. After Ball State led 5-2, the Flashes scored 12 straight points and outscored the Cardinals in every quarter.

“It’s been one of our messages: When we get to March, when we get to the conference tournament, we want to put our best 40 minutes together,” Starkey said. “That’s playing out right before our eyes. We just have to do it one more time.” 

Defense and more defense

Kent State held Ball State to its second-lowest post total of the year and 22 points below its league-leading average of 72.

“Defensively, we were just so solid from start to finish,” Starkey said. “We had a couple of mistakes, but I loved how Ball State would hit a big 3 and we’d come down, get it inside and score at the basket. That just takes the wind out of the sails of a team that feels like they’ve made a move, and you’ve canceled it out.”

40 minutes

It was Kent State’s most complete games of the year. After Ball State led 5-2, the Flashes scored 12 straight points and outscored the Cardinals in every quarter.

“It’s been one of our messages: When we get to March, when we get to the conference tournament, we want to put our best 40 minutes together,” Starkey said. “That’s playing out right before our eyes. We just have to do it one more time.” 

Playing for Katie

Starkey has coached multiple players who never got to play in the tournament finals, let alone the NCAA tournament. The whole team wants to get there for Shumate, a five-year veteran who’s now the fifth-highest scorer in Kent State history.

“That kid has as much heart, as much toughness, as any player I’ve ever coached,” Starkey said. “And why is she such a good rebounder? She grew up in a house where they played basketball. Her brother J.T. played at Toledo, her younger sister Emma at Ohio State. Can you imagine some of the driveway battles that they’ve had?

“So she’s used to battling. That’s what we’ve been watching for five years. I want it so bad for her, and I know she’s going to give us everything she has left.”

The core players

Shumate had 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Bridget Dunn had her second-straight double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds along with two assists and two steals.

Freshman post Janae Tyler led the team in scoring for the second straight game with 16 points in 22 minutes.

Jenna Batsch was the fourth Flash in double figures with 10 points. She also had five assists.

Post Mikala Morris had four points and six rebounds, and three assists, including two nifty inside passes to Dunn for layups in the third quarter.

And Starkey made it a point to single out guard Dionna Gray, who took over as starting point guard when Corynne Hauser was lost to a knee injury 10 games ago.

“She got chased around like crazy today, and she handled herself with so much composure,” Starkey said. “She made a few mistakes and went right back and did the next right thing, something we talk about a lot.”

Box score

Kent State edges Northern Illinois 63-60 to move into Friday’s semifinal against Ball State

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.”

Box score

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.

First-place Toledo sends Kent State into MAC Tournament with 83-61 loss

For the first 10 minutes of Kent State’s game at Toledo Saturday, the Flashes looked as if they could challenge the first-place Rockets. They were making more than half of their shots and led 23-16.

But for the last 45 minutes, Toledo looked like the team that has won 13 straight games, three straight conference championships and is the favorite to win the Mid-American Tournament next week.

Toledo’s 83-61 victory sends it into Wednesday’s quarterfinals with a 25-4 record (17-1 in the MAC.) The Rockets are the top seed in the tournament.

Kent State is the No. 3 seed, a position guaranteed even before Saturday. No matter whether the Flashes won or lost, they would have been the third seed. The Flashes end their regular season with an 18-10 record, 13-5 in the conference.

KSU will meet Northern Illinois in the quarterfinals sometime after 7 p.m. Wednesday. (Quarterfinals start at 11 a.m., then continue throughout the day, with each game starting a half hour after the previous one ends.)

The Flashes beat NIU 73-48 in Kent on Jan. 14 in the only meeting between the two teams in the regular season. Northern is 15-15 and 8-10 in the MAC. The Huskies came from behind in the fourth quarter on Saturday to edge Western Michigan 66-64.

After the first quarter in Toledo, the Rockets outscored KSU 67-38.

“We knew it was going to be a tough task on their Senior Night,” Kent coach Todd Starkey said. “They were playing for an outright championship. We were playing to stay in third place.”

And, he said, “If they play like they did in the second half today, nobody will beat them” in the tournament. 

Toledo’s win kept it a game ahead of second-place Ball State, which won 71-50 at fourth-place Buffalo on Saturday.

In the first quarter Saturday, Kent State played as well as it has all season. The Flashes made 9-of-16 shots and 4-of-5 three-point attempts while holding Toledo to 5-of-14 shooting.

But after that, it was all Toledo. The Rockets outscored Kent State 17-9 in the second quarter and 50-29 in the second half.

Grad student transfer Mikala Morris led KSU in scoring with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, equaling her highest point total of the year.

“We’re going to need that same Mikala in the tournament, too, if we’re gonna make a run at this thing,” Starkey said. “We need everybody to be at their best and everybody to show up for all three games at the same time.”

Point guard Dionna Gray had 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Katie Shumate, KSU’s leading scorer, had eight points in the first quarter, two in the second and none in the second half.

Box score

Kent State rally isn’t quite enough as Flashes fall to 2nd-place Ball State 75-71

Katie Shumate had 16 points and nine rebounds, just missing her seventh double-double of the season. She also had three assists and a blocked shot. (Photo by David Dermer for Kent State Athletics.)

A Kent State comeback fell just short in a 75-71 loss to Ball State Wednesday, but the teams may well meet again next week in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

With one game to go in the regular season, the Flashes (13-4 MAC, 18-9 overall) are locked into third place and the No. 3 seed in the tournament. They play at first-place Toledo (15-1, 24-4) on Saturday. If they beat the Rockets, it could throw Toledo into a tie with Ball State for first place and leave the top seed to a tie-breaker.

If Toledo wins, it has the top seed, and No. 2 Ball State and No. 3 Kent State could meet in next Friday’s tournament semifinals. Both teams, of course, would have to win their first-round game. Right now, KSU’s opponent would be Ohio (8-9, 11-17), but that could change based on Saturday’s results.

Ball State (15-2, 26-4) travels to fourth-place Buffalo.

Kent State fell behind by 12 points on Wednesday when Ball State scored the first eight points of the second half. But the Flashes came back to within a basket in the final minute.

“It could have gotten away from us,” coach Todd Starkey said. “But this team fought all the way to the end against a really good Ball State team. They’re 26-4 for a reason. The margin for error in a game like this is pretty minimal.”

“This is great preparation for us for going to Toledo this weekend and for the conference tournament, where things really get real and matter the most.”

Ball State led by nine points with 4:54 to go. Kent State’s rally was sparked by reserve forward Tatiana Thomas, who scored all seven of her points in the last half of the fourth quarter.

Thomas had a chance to pull KSU to within one with 3:22 to go when she was called for an offensive foul in what Starkey called a “pivotal play.” Her shot had gone in, and had the call gone the other way, she would have had a chance for a 3-point play.

Thomas pulled Kent State to 73-71 when she put back an offensive rebound with 11 seconds left, but the Flashes were forced to foul and Ball State made both free throws.

Kent State had 15 offensive rebounds but only 17 second-chance points.

“We really need to convert at a higher rate,” Starkey said.

Kent State took 12 more shots than BSU. For the game, KSU shot 37.5%; Ball State 46.7%.

Kent State’s top scorers — guard Katie Shumate and forward Jenna Batsch — went 10-for-37 shooting. Both players had been making more than 42% of their shots.

There was a great deal of bumping and pushing against both.

“Their game plan was to play us physical,” Starkey said. “It worked to their benefit.”

Shumate said the game and Saturday’s game at Toledo were “great practice” for the tournament.

“We’ve got to be able to play through contact, be strong and try to force our will on people — be the aggressor,” Shumate said.

It was Shumate’s last game in the M.A.C. Center.

“She has literally left parts of her body out there on the court over the last five years,” Starkey said. “She’s had multiple surgeries, and hours upon hours in the training room getting her body back put back together.

“The level of toughness that she has had is second to none.”

Box score

 

 

After 67-59 Senior Day victory, seniors and Starkey share love for their years at Kent State

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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.”

Box score

76-64 win over EMU sends Kent State into final three games against MAC’s best teams

Point guard Dionna Gray had a season-high 12 points and a career-high nine rebounds in Kent State’s 76-64 win over Eastern Michigan. (File photo by David Dermer for Kent State Athletics.)

When point guard Corynne Hauser was recovering from a knee injury last summer, sophomore Dionna Gray worked with the Kent State starters every day.

Now, with Hauser apparently out for the season with another knee injury, Gray is guiding the team on the floor in the regular season’s final weeks.

Gray and her teammates used a fast start and a strong third quarter to beat Eastern Michigan on Wednesday and run their record to 12-3 in the Mid-American Conference and 17-8 overall.

Eastern Michigan is 2-13 and in last place in the MAC. Overall, the Eagles are 5-20.

The Flashes have clinched a tie for third in the MAC but have to face the other top teams in the league in their final three teams. It starts with fourth-place Buffalo, which is three games behind KSU at 9-6, on Saturday at the M.A.C. Center. Then comes a home game against second-place Ball State (13-2 MAC, 24-4 overall) next Wednesday. The Flashes finish their regular season on Saturday, March 9, at first place Toledo (14-1, 22-4).

Then all those teams and the next best four will meet in the MAC Tournament in Cleveland March 13-16.

Gray, Katie Shumate (23 points) and Jenna Batsch (21 points) were the stars of Wednesday’s win.

“Dionna got valuable minutes with the starters last summer,” Starkey said, “and that was great preparation for what she’s doing now. She’s a different type of player than Corynne, but she’s a very good player.”

Gray was Gatorade West Virginia Player of the Year in 2022. Since entering the KSU starting lineup five games ago, she has averaged 4.8 assists a game. If she held that average for a full season, she would be tied for second in the MAC in assists.

“It’s not like Dionna’s a new player to the team,” Starkey said. “She was playing 12 to 15 minutes a game for us.”

Now she is playing closer to 35 minute every game.

“She’s our fastest player with the ball in the open court, so she really helps our transition game go,” Starkey said. “She can get downhill and score, and you have to guard her the 3-point line because she’s a very capable shooter.

“Defensively she’s solid all the way around. And she doesn’t let teams bully her because of her size (5-foot-4). To have nine rebounds against one of the top rebounding teams in the league shows you what her effort looks like.”

Shumate put up her usual big numbers with 23 points, nine rebounds and three steals. But she provided the biggest concern after the game. Shumate collided with an EMU player with about two minutes to play, lay on the floor for several minutes, then struggled to put weight on her ankle as she was helped off the floor. Trainers worked on her ankle for more minutes on the sideline.

Starkey said she will be evaluated Thursday after the team returned to Kent and didn’t know how badly she was hurt.

“She went down pretty hard,” Starkey said. “But for now, I’m going to remain optimistic.”

Batsch made 7-of-16 shots and 6-of-7 free throws. She had four assists and two steals.

“When she plays within herself, she’s a really tough player to defend,” Starkey said.

Kent State jumped to an 18-4 lead but managed only nine points in the second quarter as Eastern rallied to make the score 30-28 at halftime.

But Kent State shot 61% in the third quarter and outscored EMU 31-19. Eastern closed within four in the fourth quarter, but KSU went on a 13-1 run to put the game out of reach.

“I don’t like how up and down we played tonight,” Starkey said. “I love the way we started. Then we started changing the way we played for some reason and weren’t executing. We really struggled in the second quarter. When you give teams hope, they pick up their intensity.

“I thought we played great basketball in the third quarter — scored 31 points, got stuff into paint and really played within ourselves.”

NEXT: Buffalo at 1 p.m. Saturday at the M.A.C. Center and on ESPN+.

Starkey calls it the “toughest finish in the conference” — No. 4 Buffalo, No. 2 Ball State and No. 1 Toledo. Buffalo won at fifth-place Bowling Green 70-55 on Tuesday, Ball State routed Akron 75-41 and Toledo defeated Northern Illinois 74-61 in DeKalb.

Numbers:

  • Kent State made 27-of-56 shots for 48.2%. Eastern Michigan was 35-for-54 for 39%.
  • The Flashes outrebounded EMU 38-34.
  • Each team had 16 turnovers. Eastern scored 23 points off of them, KSU 20.

Box score

Janae Tyler’s ‘comfort,’ good shooting, good defense lead Flashes past Akron 73-51

Janae Tyler scored 16 points, equaling her career high against Division I teams, and made 7-of-10 shots. (Photo by David Dermer for Kent State Athletics.)

Freshman forward Janae Tyler says she’s grown more confident as her first year progresses.

The word coach Todd Starkey uses is “comfortable.”

Whatever term you use, the 6-foot forward is heading toward the end of an excellent first year of college basketball.

Tyler helped lead Kent State to a 73-51 victory over Akron Saturday, pushing the Flashes’ Mid-American Conference record to 11-3 and overall record to 16-8. KSU remains in third place in MAC, two games behind Toledo. The Rockets (13-1 MAC, 21-4 overall) pounded second-place Ball State (12-2, 23-4) 70-48 on Saturday.

Akron is 4-10 and in 10th place in the conference and is 9-16 overall.

“I knew coming in I would have a lot to adjust to from high school to college basketball,” Tyler said, “but I’m definitely a lot more confident offensively and defensively.”

Tyler scored 16 points in KSU’s win over Akron, equaling her season-high against a Division I team. (She had 22 against Division II Lake Erie College.) She is fourth in scoring among the Flashes at 9.2 points per game, though she is averaging only about 15 minutes per game. Her 3.8 rebounding average also places her fourth.

“I think she’s understanding the college game better,” Starkey said. “Her level of comfort with game plans and scouts and knowing her teammates has just continued to grow. That’s what you’re seeing now.”

Senior guard Katie Shumate said Tyler and graduate student transfer Mikala Morris have changed the team’s identity

“It’s valuable to have someone of her size, aggressiveness and overall IQ for the game,” Shumate said. “She’s able to guard and play in the post, something we haven’t had in the past. I feel the difference every game.”

Tyler made seven of her 10 shots, leading the Flashes to a 53.1% shooting percentage, their highest of the season against a Division I school.

“Our execution was excellent,” Starkey said. “If you 50-50-90 game like we did today (shooting percentages from the floor, 3-point distance and the free-throw line), you’re gonna win a lot of basketball games.”

Kent’s defense was also outstanding, the coach said.

“To hold them to 21 points in the second half was phenomenal,” Starkey said.

Tyler helped the defense hold Reagan Bass, the MAC’s leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, to eight points and six rebounds. That’s about half of her average totals.

“It’s definitely very exciting to match up with someone like that,” Tyler said. “I think it just boosts my confidence and how much of a difference I can be.”

The game was Kent State’s first since it lost 79-77 at Ohio on Wednesday. It was KSU’s first defeat by a team with a below-.500 record this season.

“It was just letting it hurt a little bit,” Shumate said, “then working on that moving forward and understanding that we don’t want to feel that way again.”

Shumate led Kent State with 18 points, and Jenna Batsch had 12. Bridget Dunn led with seven rebounds as the Flashes outrebounded Akron 36-25. Point guard Dionna Gray had seven points, five assists and three steals.

Attendance was announced at 2,080, highest of the season in the M.A.C. Center.

“We felt the energy,” Starkey said. “When we went on runs, the crowd was responding, and that’s great for our players. It does give them juice.”

NEXT: At Eastern Michigan on Wednesday. The game is on ESPN+.

The Flashes travel to EMU, a team they beat 66-57 in Kent in January. Eastern is in last place in the MAC at 2-12 and is 6-19 overall. The Eagles scored only 16 points in the first half against Miami Saturday and lost 48-37.

Box score

KSU falls to Ohio 79-77 as last-minute rally can’t overcome struggling defense

Katie Shumate scored 22 points in the first half and 27 for the game, both equaling career-highs. She had 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season and made four 3-point baskets. (File photo from KSU Athletics.)

Kent State went into its game with Ohio University allowing just 62 points a game in MId-American Conference play.

Ohio scored 79 points and held on through a nail-biting final minute of play to beat the Flashes 79-77 on Wednesday night in Athens

“Our defensive side of the ball really let us down,” coach Todd Starkey said. “You can’t give up 79 points in conference play. We scored 77 and expect to win games like that because of our defense.”

Kent is still in third place in the Mid-American Conference with a 10-3 record (15-8 in all games.) The Flashes are three games ahead of Buffalo and Bowling Green, which are tied for fourth. But KSU falls two games behind 11-1 Ball State and 11-1 Toledo, who are tied for first.

Ohio is 5-8 in the MAC and alone in eighth place, the last spot in the standings that makes the conference tournament. The Bobcats are 8-16 overall. Both teams have five games to play before the tournament in Cleveland next month.

In Wednesday’s second half, Ohio took only 22 shots but made 14 of them (64%). The Flashes took 15 more shots but made only 13 total. That’s 37% for the half and only 29% in the third quarter.

Kent State led 42-41 at halftime, but Ohio outscored the Flashes 34-27 in the first 15 minutes of the second half to take a 75-65 lead.

Starkey said the Flashes were struggling against Ohio’s 1-on-1 drives to the basket.

“They were spreading us out, getting downhill and scoring at the basket or scoring on a kick-out 3,” Starkey said.

Then the Flashes tried to play zone to cut off the drives, and the Bobcats made four 3-pointers in the third quarter.

Then KSU tried a smaller lineup.

“We tried to match up with them on the perimeter and that didn’t help us either,” Starkey said. “You try certain things when a team is in rhythm like that. It either throws them off or it doesn’t.”

It didn’t until the last four minutes of the game, when KSU came back to tie the score at 77 with 19 seconds left on a 3-point basket by Bridget Dunn.

The last 19 seconds saw Ohio hit two foul shots to take the lead back. Then Jenna Batsch hit a short running jump shot that would have tied the game with six seconds to go, but she was called for an offensive foul.

“That’s a huge call that didn’t go in our favor,” Starkey said. “I thought Jenna had a really good shot there.”

The Flashes forced a turnover with four seconds left, but Batsch’s 12-foot jump shot at the buzzer missed.

Katie Shumate scored 22 points in the first half, more than half of KSU’s points and equaling the best single-half output of her career. She finished with 27 points, equaling her career-high.

“She gave us everything she had,” Starkey said. “In the second half, they were really focused on her. They took away all the driving lanes and double-teamed her on post catches.”

Batsch had 15 points, 13 in the second half, and Dunn scored 13, with 10 coming in the second half.

Dionna Gray, starting her third straight game at point guard after an apparent season-ending injury to Corynne Hauser, had eight assists and only one turnover.

Ohio’s Jaya McClure had 26 points. She was injured and didn’t play when KSU pounded the Bobcats 92-63 in January.

NEXT: Akron at home on Saturday.

The Flashes will host the Zips, a team they beat 69-60 last month, at 1 p.m. Saturday at the M.A.C. Center. The game is also on ESPN+.

Akron lost to Bowling Green at home 74-68 on Wednesday. The Zips are 4-9 in the conference and 9-15 overall.

Box score

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