Kent State women’s basketball

Kent State women's basketball

Blackford’s birthday double-double leads Flashes past Toledo and into 1st place

By on Sunday, December 13, 2020

Kent State’s Nila Blackford had 21 points and 15 rebounds, her second-straight double-double. (File photo by Scott Galvin from KSU team website.)

It was Nila Blackford’s birthday. And wow, did she celebrate.

Blackford had 21 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Kent State women to a 61-57 victory at Toledo Sunday. The win moves Kent State into early-season first place in the Mid-American Conference at 2-0. Overall the Flashes are 2-2. Toledo is 3-1 and 1-1 in the MAC.

Blackford’s double-double was her second in two games. She had 12 points and 13 rebounds in KSU’s 84-80 win over Ohio Friday.

“She was being herself — playing with energy and effort,” coach Todd Starkey said from the team bus on the way home. “A lot of the rebounds she got were just toughness rebounds. They were in traffic; she had to really get gritty in there and pull them out.

“We’ve been talking about how she’s really got to just treat every shot like a miss and pursue the basketball.“

Blackford’s 9.5 rebounding average now leads the MAC.

Kent State built an 18-point lead with 37 seconds to go in the third quarter. But the Flashes had to hold on to beat the Rockets, who hit a 3-point basket at the end of the third quarter, then outscored KSU 14-2 to start the fourth quarter.

“We fell asleep some down the stretch,” Starkey said on ESPN+ after the game.

“We made some boneheaded plays,” the coach said in his interview. “We also missed three wide-open 3s and missed three layups. If we make a couple of those, it’s a different situation.”

The Flashes had some big runs of their own earlier. They started the second quarter 12-0 and the third quarter 12-1.

“The two key numbers in that aren’t 12 points,” Starkey said. “It’s the zero and the one. You have to continue to get stops on defense. That’s really what fueled us when we were playing well — we really were making things difficult on them to score the ball.” 

Toledo’s 57 points were the fewest Kent State has allowed this year and well below their defensive average last season. Toledo has a solid offensive; it had averaged 76 points in its first three games.

The Flashes held Toledo sophomore Sofia Wiard, who had tied a school record with 42 points against Northern Illinois last week, to 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting. She was 16 of 25 against NIU.

Modkins keeps on scoring and leading

Point guard Mariah Modkins had her third straight game in double figures with 10 points. She has three assists and three steals and disrupted the Toledo offense all afternoon.

Modkins is listed generously at 5-foot-1, but she attacks and defends much taller players.

“She’s out there trying to prove people wrong,” Starkey said. “People have underestimated her her whole life, and that’s one of the reasons why I love her as player — she’s out there playing with a little bit of a chip on her shoulder.

“She’s been making a lot of tough gritty plays and has embraced her leadership role on the team.”

Modkins averages 10.5 points a game, not far from the averages of Asiah Dingle and Megan Carter, who players in the backcourt the last two years. Carter graduated and Dingle transferred to Stony Brook.

Modkins is seventh in the MAC in 3-point percentage (50%), eighth in assists per game (3.5), sixth in assist-turnover ratio (1.8 to 1) and 16th in steals per game (1.5).

Santoro is ahead of the curve

Freshman Casey Santoro played her second good game in a row, scoring nine points.

“She’s a tough, aggressive, smart player,” Starkey said. “She makes some natural freshman mistakes, but she understands the game and is ahead of the curve.”

Flashes big on the boards

Kent State’s rebounding was dominant against a smaller Toledo team. Kent outrebounded the Rockets 48-28 with 15 offensive rebounds and 13 second-chance points. Toledo had two offensive rebounds and no points on second chances. After Blackford’s 15 rebounds, Lindsey Thall had seven, Linsey Marchese six, and Santoro and Hannah Young four.

The end game

Toledo made 56% of its shots in the fourth quarter and got within three points twice, the last with 17 seconds to go.

But free throws by Blackford and Modkins and a strong defensive rebound by Blackford preserved the victory.

First place

The Flashes have the MAC’s only 2-0 conference record. Buffalo, Bowling Green and Central Michigan are 1-0 and have another league game before Christmas. Teams will then restart the conference season after New Year’s.

Four days ago Kent State was 0-2 after a disappointing loss at 1-4 Saint Francis.

Before that, the Flashes had lost 10 days of practice to COVID-19, then lost their opener 103-47 at No. 19 Ohio State.

Box score

Notes

  • After making a school-record with 16 3-point baskets on Friday, Kent State made only four of its 20 3-point attempts. Ohio was also 4 of 20.
  • Lindsey Thall had a career-high six assists to go with seven points and seven rebounds. “She is doing a good job of letting the game come to her and did what she needed to help us win,” Starkey said.
  • The last KSU player to score at least 20 points and have 15 rebounds was Anna Kowalska, who had 27 and 16 in 2007. Kowalska is now head coach at West Virginia Tech, an NAIA school in Beckley.
  • The Flashes had 19 turnovers for the second straight game; Toledo scored 14 points off of them. KSU scored 13 points from the Rockets’ 13 turnovers.
  • The NCAA decided last week to allow all transfers to be eligible this season. (Usually they have to sit out a year.) But days before the decision, Kent State’s Bexley Wallace was injured in practice. Starkey said she is out for the season. Wallace is a 6-3 junior transfer from Penn State.
  • Sophomore guard Katie Shumate’s father, JR, was at the game with her brother JT, a junior on the Toledo men’s team. JR Shumate was the coach of Katie’s Newark High School team.

Next Sunday vs. Duquesne

The Flashes have this week off for final exams and are schedule to play Duquesne at the M.A.C. Center at 2 p.m. Sunday. Duquesne is 2-1 and plays at Toledo Friday.

Starkey said it probably would be the team’s last game in 2020 unless an opponent “comes up that makes sense for us.” Without another game, the Flashes will have played just three non-conference opponents. A number of other games were canceled because of COVID-19.

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Kent State women's basketball

Coming off big win, Flashes travel to Toledo for 2 p.m. Sunday game

By on Saturday, December 12, 2020

Casey Santoro had 14 points and three 3-pointers against Ohio in the third game of her freshman season. (KSU photo by Bob Christy.)

The Kent State women play their second MAC game in three days when they visit Toledo for a 2 p.m. Sunday game.

The game will be streamed on ESPN+, which costs $5.99 a month. Click on the link and it will send you to a page where you can sign up. Most women’s away games are on ESPN+, as well as many men’s games and many other MAC basketball contests. An audio stream starts at 1:45 p.m. on the Kent State Radio Network.

The Flashes (1-2 on the season) are coming off a big — and somewhat unexpected — 84-80 win over Ohio Saturday at the M.A.C. Center. The Bobcats (now 2-1) had been ranked fifth in the latest Mid-Major Top 25 poll.

Toledo is coming off a big victory of its own, beating Northern Illinois 82-79 at Northern behind a 42-point game by sophomore guard Sofia Wiard. The Rockets are 3-0.

The Rockets start three sophomores and two freshmen. Wiard, who averaged only 3.8 points a game last season, is third in the MAC scoring at 23.7 points a game. Fellow sophomore Quinesha Locket averages 18 points a game and 5-10 freshman forward Sammi Mikonowicz averages 10 points and 9.3 rebounds.

Story on how Kent State beat Ohio Saturday.

Six Kent State players scored in double figures in the win over Ohio, and the Flashes set a school record with 16 3-point baskets. The game was a major step forward from KSU’s opening loss at Ohio State and road loss to Saint Francis last week.

“We just need consistency moving forward,” coach Todd Starkey said after the OU game. “I think (the Ohio victory) proves who we’re capable of being. But you have to do that every single game.

So, he asked, “Are you a one-hit wonder?”

“Or what’s going to happen when you don’t have good shooting nights like that. So we have to continue to get better defensively. We have to continue to work on our rotation and our connectedness on the court.”

Through three games, Nila Blackford leads the Flashes in scoring at 11.3 points a game and in rebounding at 7.7. Lindsey Thall averages 11.0 and Mariah Modkins 10.7.

Modkins has stepped up her play in a major way when since she took over as KSU’s primary point guard this season. (She split the job with Asiah Dingle last season.) She leads the Flashes in 3-point shooting percentage (54.5) and in assists (3.7).

The undefeateds

Toledo and two other MAC teams are unbeaten in the early season. They’re all surprises. Toledo (3-0) was picked seventh in the conference coaches’ preseason poll. Akron (3-0) was picked 10th, and Bowling Green (4-0) was picked 11th.

The top teams in the preseason poll were Central Michigan (2-1), Ohio (2-1) Ball State (1-3) and Buffalo (2-2).

Kent State was picked sixth.

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Kent State women's basketball

0-2 Flashes come home to face 2-0 Ohio on Saturday

By on Thursday, December 10, 2020

Nila Blackford shares the Kent State lead in scoring average with Lindsey Thall at 11 points a game. (Photo from KSU website.)

Kent State finally gets to play its home opener Friday.

The Flashes will take on Ohio at 2 p.m. in a game postponed from last Saturday. No reason was given by the Mid-American Conference, but it likely was COVID-19 related.

COVID protocols won’t allow fans at the game, but it will be live streamed through the Kent State website. Audio on the game is available on Tune-In Radio, with David Wilson announcing.

Kent State is 0-2 after its 67-64 loss at Saint Francis Wednesday. Here’s link to game story.

Ohio is 2-0 but has been idle since it beat Notre Dame 86-85 on Nov. 27. It earlier beat Liberty, which was picked to finish second in the Atlantic Sun Conference but is 2-3 so far.

Friday’s game is also the MAC opener for both teams. Conference play usually begins after New Year’s, but the league went to a 20-game schedule this season and shuffled its schedule to give more flexibility if games are postponed because of COVID.

Ohio, KSU coach Todd Starkey has said, “may be the best team in the conference.”

OU was picked second in the league to Central Michigan. But CMU lost by 18 to Power 5 opponent Michigan.

The Bobcats have two of the best guards in the MAC, if not in the country. Cece Hooks (25 points per game) and Erica Johnson (27.5) average more points than any two players on the same team in Division I. Both were preseason all-MAC selections and first-team all-MAC last season.

Ohio is ranked fifth in this week’s Mid-Major Top 25 and got six votes in the latest AP poll.

For the second straight game, Kent State will have a significant size advantage with a front line of 6-4 Linsey Marchese, 6-2 Lindsay Thall and 6-2 Nila Blackford. But the Flashes were outrebounded 43-30 by a smaller Saint Francis team.

Notes

  • Through two games, Blackford and Thall lead Kent State in scoring with 11.0 averages. Guard Mariah Modkins averaged 8.5. Thall leads in rebounding at 6.0 per game, with Blackford and Clare Kelly at 5.0.
  • Ohio and Kent State tied for the MAC East title last season. The teams split their two games, with Ohio winning 63-57 in Athens and the Flashes winning 81-77 in Kent. Ohio and Kent were supposed to play in the conference tournament semifinals when the pandemic ended last season.
  • The last five games between the teams have been decided by six points or fewer.
  • Live statistics during the game are available on the KSU website.

Sunday at Toledo

Kent State plays its second conference game at 2 p.m. Sunday at Toledo. The Rockets are 3-0 with wins over Oakland and Detroit Mercy. They edged Northern Illinois 82-79 at home Thursday night.

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Kent State women's basketball

Flashes fade in last 7 minutes and fall at Saint Francis 67-64

By on Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Lindsey Thall led Kent State with 17 points and 7 rebounds. (Photo from KSU website.)

No team led by more than six points in Kent State’s 67-64 loss at Saint Francis Wednesday, but it still was a game of short scoring runs.

The last one belonged to Saint Francis, which outscored the Flashes 12-4 over the last seven minutes to win its first game of the season. The Red Flash are 1-4 with two losses coming to Big Ten teams. Kent State is 0-2.

Saint Francis had outscored KSU 6-1 in the last minute of the third quarter to take a 53-48 lead.

Then the Flashes scored 12 points on their first five possessions of the fourth quarter to take a 60-55 lead with 7:14 to go. But Kent made only one of its last 12 shots.

Junior forward Lindsey Thall led Kent State with 17 points and 7 rebounds. Sophomore forward Nila Blackford had 13 points.

Kent State, a taller team than Saint Francis, was outrebounded 43-30.

“At the end of the day, we probably got what we deserved,” KSU coach Todd Starkey said in a phone interview from the team bus on the way home. “We got outrebounded by a team we shouldn’t have. We had defensive lapses down the stretch in the fourth quarter.

“We definitely come away from this feeling like we let one slip away from us. We had our opportunities to win.”

Part of the problem, the coach said, is game experience.

“We have to get some of that game edge back,” Starkey said. “You don’t just flip a switch. This was their fifth game. For us, I don’t really count the Ohio State game because we were kind of in a fog there. We really didn’t learn much about ourselves in that game.”

Kent State lost its opener to OSU 103-47 last week, the second-worst defeat in school history.

Starkey said the short scoring runs from both teams could have been a function of the early season.

“There’s an ebb and flow in most games,” he said. “I think the more game experience that this group gets together, it has the opportunity to stop some of those runs or continue some of the ones that we had.“

Late in the game, Starkey said, the Flashes didn’t execute.

“There definitely were some defensive lapses,” he said. “We struggled offensively. We didn’t finish plays. We failed ourselves in some key possessions in toughness and focus. We have to get those things fixed before we do anything else.”

The rebounding was also a matter of desire, the coach said.

“They were a bit tougher than we were,” Starkey said. “You could tell they’ve been in these games before, and we just haven’t had experience with it in a long time. We were kind of slow to react to some stuff. We’re still getting our legs under us, and on the fitness side of things, we’re not quite where we need to be. I think that will come as we just play games.”

Saint Francis’s top rebounders were two 5-11 players and one who was 5-10. Kent State’s starting front line is 6-4. 6-2 and 6-2.

“We’ve got to get better rebounding from Linsey Marchese and Nila Blackford,” Starkey said. “There was only eight rebounds between those two combined. That’s a glaring statistic.

“They’ll fix that. They’ll get better. No question about it.”

Box score

Two point guards a once

Several times in the second half, point guards Mariah Modkins and Casey Santoro were on the court together.

“They’re both good players,” Starkey said. “They give us ball control, and both can really shoot it.

“Some people think it’s a liability to have two players that small out there, but in certain lineups against certain teams, we can use that.”

Santoro, a 5-4 freshman, had her first college 3-pointer and three rebounds. Modkins, a junior who is generously listed at 5-1, scored nine points, had four rebounds, four assists, and two steals. “She gave us a lot of toughness and leadership when we were struggling,” Starkey said.

A big player from long range

Marchese, a 6-4 transfer from Indiana, made the first 3-point basket of her college career, a clean shot from behind the men’s line in the first quarter. She took two other shots from behind the arc in the game, though one was a desperation throw from the corner at the final buzzer. Marchese never took a 3-pointer in her two years with the Hoosiers.

Other video highlights

Notes

  • For the second straight game, Kent State took more shots than its opponent but still lost. The Flashes were 23 of 60 shooting for 38.3%. Saint Francis was 21 of 52 for 40.4%. KSU was 9 of 25 from 3-point distance, 2 of 13 in the second half. Saint Francis made 7 of its 15 3-point shots.
  • The margin of victory came at the foul line, where the Red Flash were 18 of 22 and Kent State 11 of 16. Both teams had 19 fouls.
  • The Flashes scored 15 points off of 15 Saint Francis turnovers; the Red Flash scored five off of 13 KSU turnovers.
  • KSU junior Annie Pavlansky, whom Starkey called one of the most improved players on the team, played 22 minutes after playing 21 against Ohio State. She scored seven points on 3-of-4 shooting. Her 43 minutes in two games are only nine fewer than she played all last season.
  • Senior Monique Smith saw her first action of the season, grabbing an offensive rebound and blocking a shot in four minutes.

Home and MAC opener vs. Ohio Friday

Kent State plays Ohio at 2 p.m. Friday in its first home game of the season. No fans are allowed at the game because of COVID-19 protocols, but the game will be streamed for free on the Kent State website. The game was scheduled for last Saturday but was postponed, apparently for COVID-19 reasons. Ohio is 2-0 and beat Notre Dame 86-85 in Athens.

Other MAC scores

  • Central Michigan (1-1) 82, Western Michigan (1-1) 71 at Central.
  • Purdue (2-1) 82, Buffalo (2-2) 70 at Purdue.
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Kent State women's basketball

This week’s instant game: Flashes at Saint Francis (Pa.) Wednesday

By on Monday, December 7, 2020

Sophomore forward Nila Blackford, who led KSU with nine points against Ohio State, in action against Buffalo last season. (Photo by David Dermer.)

The Kent State women have added a Wednesday game at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania.

In this season of COVID-19, games are canceled on a day’s notice when virus problems break out on a team. And they’re added days before a game as coaches try to fill their schedules.

Kent State’s home game last Saturday against Ohio was postponed. Saint Francis had a game scheduled for Tuesday (Dec. 7) canceled.

Kent State’s game at Ohio State last week was scheduled on five day’s notice after both teams had a game canceled the previous weekend.

Saint Francis is 0-4, losing lopsided games to Michigan State (77-44) and Penn State (87-54) and close games to mid-majors Duquesne (69-67) and La Salle (76-68). Saint Francis, traditionally one of the best teams in the Northeast Conference, was 11-19 last season and tied for fourth in the league.

The game is at 5 p.m. and will be streamed on NEC Front Row. Audio will be Kent State’s Tune-In Radio channel, with the pregame show starting at 4:45. Like many college games so far this season, fans won’t be allowed at the game because of the pandemic.

Kent State opened the 2020-21 season last week with a 103-57 loss at No. 19 Ohio State.

Saint Francis’s nickname is the Red Flash. So the game will be the Golden Flashes versus the Red Flash.

The Red Flash are in some ways an ideal opponent for Kent State at this point. Saint Francis is a solid mid-major program, but nowhere near the level of Ohio State.

It should give the Flashes a competitive game under their belt before they open MAC play. KSU also will have had another week of practice. Against Ohio State, the Flashes had had just three full practices after a 10-day “pause” because of COVID issues on the team.

The Flashes return four starters from a team that went 19-12 last year and won the MAC East title: junior forward Lindsey Thall (11.7-point average last season) and junior point guard Mariah Modkins (3.0), and sophomore guard Katie Shumate (12.3) and sophomore forward Nila Blackford (12.4 points and 8.0 rebounds in 2019-20). Against Ohio State, Blackford led KSU with nine points, and Modkins had eight.

Joining the returning starters in the lineup is 6-4 Indiana transfer Linsey Marchese, who had six points and five rebounds against OSU.

Saint Francis has a 6-4 post player of its own in sophomore Katie Dettwiller, who is averaging 4 points, 3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. She’s from Portsmouth, Ohio, near the West Virginia border.

No other starter is taller than 5-11. For Kent State, Thall and Blackford are 6-2; Shumate is 5-11.

The Red Flash’s leading scorer is 5-8 senior guard Karson Swogger, who is averaging 14.3 points a game. Their second-leading scorer is 5-7 guard Lili Benson at 9.0. Kaitlyn Maxwell, a 5-7 freshman averaging 3.5 points a game, scored 2,125 points in high school. (Kent State freshman Casey Santoro scored 2,156, the most ever for a KSU recruit.)

Kent State and Saint Francis have played three times. St. Francis won in 2012 and 2010; Kent State won in 2006.

Saint Francis and Robert Morris dominated the NEC over the last 25 years, with Saint Francis winning 12 league championships during that time. Kent State played hard-fought games with Robert Morris over the last four years, winning last year 82-81 on a steal and a basket at the buzzer. Robert Morris left the NEC for the Horizon League this season.

Saint Francis is located not far from Altoona, about 80 miles east of Pittsburgh.

  • Preview from Kent State website, including links to roster, schedule, statistics and more.
  • Preview from Saint Francis website.
  • Live statistics will be available during the game on the St. Francis website.
  • Kent State’s game against Ohio has been rescheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at the M.A.C. Center, the MAC announced Tuesday. On Sunday, KSU is scheduled to play at Toledo at 2 p.m. Both games are on ESPN+; no fans will be allowed at either.
  • The Flashes were originally scheduled to play No. 24 DePaul at the M.A.C.C. on Thursday. That game was canceled so DePaul could play Louisville in the Jimmy V Classic in Connecticut. The nationally televised game raises money for the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Jimmy Valvano, a broadcaster and coach, died of cancer in 1993. DePaul lost to No. 2 Louisville 116-75.

Kent State’s second-worst loss ever

I dug around in the Kent State record book this week. It seems that the 56-point loss to Ohio State was the second-worst in team history. In 1976 — the second year of varsity play for KSU, the Flashes lost to Pittsburgh 98-38. Here’s link to OSU game story if you’re a glutton for punishment.

MAC scores

Dec. 8

  • Miami (1-1) 67, Valparaiso (2-2) 49 at Miami. Valparaiso has lost to two MAC teams (the other was 70-60 to Bowling Green 70-60 in its opener). But it has beaten two Big Ten teams — Illinois (62-59) and Purdue (52-47).

Dec. 6

  • Bowling Green (3-0) 64, Milwaukee (3-1) 62 at BG.
  • Buffalo (2-1) 87, Canisius (0-1) 45 at Canisius.
  • Akron (3-0) 77, Dayton (1-1) 74 at Dayton.
  • Eastern Michigan (3-1) 63, Southeast Missouri State (1-2) 49 at Southeast Missouri.

Dec. 5

  • Toledo (2-0) 75, Detroit Mercy (0-4) 65 at Toledo.
  • Northern Illinois (2-1) 79, Western Illinois (0-2) 67 at Northern.
  • Ball State (1-3) 58, Western Kentucky (0-2) 54 at Western Kentucky.
  • Western Michigan (1-0) 80, Illinois-Chicago (1-2) 76 at Western.

Dec. 4

  • Northern Illinois (1-1) 82, Eastern Illinois (1-2) 72 at Eastern.
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Kent State women's basketball

Kent State-Ohio game postponed

By on Friday, December 4, 2020

Saturday’s game between Kent State and Ohio University has been postponed, the Mid-American Conference announced.

The MAC said the game would be rescheduled.

And that’s all we know. The MAC didn’t say why, though it’s almost certainly COVID-19 related. But we know don’t where the problem is.

The only thing online anywhere from Kent State is a retweet of the MAC announcement. OU quoted the MAC announcement on its team website.

Kent State had played at Ohio State on Wednesday, when it lost 103-47. The Flashes had practiced three times after a 10-day “pause” because of COVID issues on the team.

Ohio played last Friday, when it beat Notre Dame 86-85 in Athens. The Bobcats hadn’t reported any COVID problems to this point.

The Ohio-Buffalo football game, scheduled for Saturday in Athens, was canceled for COVID reasons on Friday while the Buffalo team was on the bus ready to leave. The coronavirus issues were on Ohio’s end.

Ohio State was picked second in the MAC and is 2-0 on the season. Kent State was picked sixth and is 0-1 so far.

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Kent State women's basketball

Flashes play 2-0 Ohio Saturday in early MAC opener

By on Friday, December 4, 2020
Mariah Modkins controls the ball in Kent State’s 81-77 win over Ohio at the M.A.C. Center last March. The win clinched tie for the MAC East title for the Flashes. (Photo by Savannah Monk of KentWired.)

SATURDAY’S KENT STATE-OHIO GAME HAS BEEN POSTPONED. SEE THIS LATER POST

In their week of Ohio competition, the Kent State women Saturday take on Ohio University, which has two very good wins in its first games.

The Flashes are coming off of a 103-47 loss to No. 19 Ohio State on Wednesday in their first game of the season.

Saturday they’ll host the Bobcats, who got votes of their own in the polls after beating then-No. 22 Notre Dame 86-85 in Athens last Friday. OU had opened with another home win, 76-72 over Liberty, a team picked second in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The game is at 2 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center, but no fans are allowed because of COVID-19 protocols. The game will be streamed on the Kent State website, starting at 1:55 p.m.

The game is one of the earliest Mid-American Conference games in KSU history. In recent years, league play hasn’t started until January, but the MAC moved two games for each team before Christmas to allow scheduling flexibility in a season of COVID.

Ohio was picked second in the MAC this season. Its two wins are the most impressive in the league in the early season. Central Michigan, the conference favorite, lost its opener to Michigan by 18 points. (Michigan beat Notre Dame 76-66 Wednesday.)

Two all-MAC players lead the Bobcats. Senior guard Cece Hooks was the first 2020-21 MAC player of the week after scoring 50 points and getting 15 rebounds in OU’s first games. She scored 33 against Notre Dame. Hooks is also returning two-time MAC defensive player of the year.

Junior guard-forward Erica Johnson had 55 points last week, scoring 31 against Liberty and 24 against Notre Dame.

“They’re two of the more dynamic scorers in the conference, if not the country,” KSU coach Todd Starkey said. “Either one of them could be conference player of the year.”

The Bobcats play a very different style of play than Ohio State.

Ohio University traditionally scores a lot of points (second in the MAC in scoring so far), shoots a lot of 3-point baskets (55 in their first two games) and forces a lot of turnovers (18 against Notre Dame).

No Ohio starter stands taller than 5-11, and that sets up the most interesting matchup on Saturday.

Kent State starts 6-4 Indiana transfer Linsey Marchese, 6-2 Nila Blackford and 6-2 Lindsay Thall. None of them put up fancy numbers at Ohio State, but the Buckeyes were every bit as tall and more athletic.

Starkey said the Ohio State game, played with just three days of practice after a 10-day “pause” because of COVID, is the “kind of a game where you almost throw away the tape and start over.“

“We’ll be a better basketball team moving forward,” he said. “There’s no question in my mind.”

Likely starting lineups

KENT STATE

  • Point guard Mariah Modkins, a 5-1 junior from Solon. She had eight points and two 3-point baskets against Ohio State.
  • Guard Katie Shumate, a 5-11 sophomore from Newark. She’s coming off off-season knee surgery and played only 15 minutes in Columbus. She was second on the team in rebounding, blocked shots and steals and third in scoring average and assists last season. She was all-MAC honorable mention and made the MAC all-freshman team.
  • Forward Lindsey Thall, a 6-2 junior from Strongsville. She led the MAC in blocked shots the last two years and made the all-MAC defensive team. She is also one of the best 3-point shooters in Kent history, already ranking fifth in the record book after two seasons.
  • Forward Nila Blackford, a 6-2 sophomore from Louisville, Kentucky. She led the team in rebounding and was second in scoring last season, making the MAC all-freshman team.
  • Center Linsey Marchese, a 6-4 Georgia native and transfer from Indiana. She was a top 100 recruit in high school when she was recruited by Starkey, then an assistant coach at Indiana. Marchese had six points and five rebounds against Ohio State.

OHIO

  • Guard Cece Hooks, a 5-8 senior from Dayton. Averaged 25 points and 7.5 rebounds in OU’s first two games. All-MAC first two and MAC defensive player of the year the last two seasons.
  • Guard Erica Johnson, a 5-11 redshirt junior from Mansfield. Averaged 27.5 points and 7 rebounds in first two games. All-MAC first team last season, MAC freshman of the year in 2018-19.
  • Guard Caitlyn Knoll, a 5-10 redshirt junior from Bridgeport. Averages 4 points a game (4.4 last season).
  • Forward Gabby Burris, a 5-11 senior from Baltimore, Ohio. Averages 9.5 points and 6 rebounds. Averaged 10.4 points through first three seasons.
  • Forward Edecia Beck, a 5-9 junior from Grand Rapids, Mich. Averages 4.5 points and 2.5 rebounds. (3.3 points last season.)

This assumes players are healthy and available, never a guarantee this season.

Notes

  • Game will also be streamed on Kent State’s Tune-In Radio channel.
  • Live game statistics will be on the KSU website.

The view from Ohio State

OSU coach Kevin McGuff after the Kent State game:

“We obviously started with really good defensive energy. We were playing really well on that end of the floor, Kent State wasn’t shooting well, and so that led to a perfect storm.” (OSU led 26-0 during the first quarter.)

 “With Covid-19, teams are just at different levels right now. I don’t know if the score would be what it was today a month from now.” 

MAC scores catchup

Dec. 3

  • Bowling Green (2-0) 63, Northern Kentucky (0-3) 49 at Northern Kentucky. Freshman guard Lexi Fleming is averaging 17.5 points a game for BG.
  • VCU (2-2) 61, Buffalo (1-1) 55 at VCU. Buffalo’s Dyaisha Fair, last year’s MAC freshman of the year, is averaging 28 points a game.

Dec. 2

  • Eastern Michigan (2-1) 77, Ball State (0-3) 58 at Ball State. Eastern’s Aereanna Combs is averaging 21 points a game and Ce’Nara Skanes 20.3. had 20. Ball State was without all-MAC forward Oshlynn Brown for the third straight game.

Dec. 1

  • Akron (2-0) 70, Northern Kentucky (0-3) 60 at Akron. Jordyn Dawson averages 18 points a game for the Zips.

Nov. 30

  • Buffalo 80, James Madison 64 at James Madison
  • IUPUI 73, Ball State 49 at Ball State.

Nov. 29

  • Notre Dame 88, Miami (0-1) 68 at Notre Dame.
  • Illinois-Chicago 66, Eastern Michigan 62 at Eastern.
  • Toledo (1-0) 71, Oakland 69 at Toledo.
  • Bowling Green 70, Valparaiso 60 at BG.
  • Akron 95, Bluefield State 61 at Akron.
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Kent State women's basketball

A very rough opener against a very good team: Flashes fall 103-47 at Ohio State

By on Wednesday, December 2, 2020
This season tipoff in an empty gym at Ohio State. (Photo from OSU athletics.)

If we look hard enough, we can find a few good things in Kent State’s 103-47 loss at No. 19 Ohio State Saturday.

  1. The Flashes got to play at all. In this season of COVID-19, that’s an accomplishment. KSU’s scheduled opener last Sunday was canceled because of COVID problems on the team.
  2. The second half was better than the first. The Flashes had 36 points and made 39% of their shots. In the first half, they made only four baskets, shot 11% and scored 14 points.
  3. KSU rebounded pretty well. They had 41, including 18 offensive rebounds. Ohio State had 44, and just six offensive rebounds.

But the score definitely reflects the game. It was the first time since 2009 that Kent State has given up 100 points. The 56-point margin was the largest in coach Todd Starkey’s five years in Kent.

The Flashes were down 26-0 before freshman Casey Santoro made a foul shot with 1:18 to go in the first quarter. KSU had missed its first 15 shots before Nila Blackford made a layup with 10 seconds to go in the quarter.

The Buckeyes led 31-4 after the quarter and 52-14 at halftime.

No doubt Ohio State is really good. The Buckeyes have five starters back from a team that went 21-12 and tied for fifth in the Big Ten. They’re one of five Big Ten teams ranked in the Top 25.

OSU was playing its second game of the season, coming off an 82-47 win Sunday over Duquesne, a good mid-major. The Buckeyes hadn’t missed a practice because of COVID.

Kent State had had just three practices since they came off a 10-day “pause” because of COVID issues.

“Coming out of quarantine, we just weren’t ready for this game,” Starkey said in a phone interview after the game. “I can second-guess playing it. But the kids just wanted to play, and that was the only game we had available to take.

“We just scheduled the game five days ago, and we weren’t even practicing then.”

And Ohio State, Starkey said, “is better than us.”

“Based on what I’ve seen so far,” he said, “I think they’re going to be a Top 10 team and battle it out for the Big Ten championship.”

The Buckeyes shot 70% in the first quarter and 64% for the game. They made seven of their 14 3-point shots. All-Big Ten forward Dorka Juhasz had 16 points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes. “A future WNBA player,” Starkey said.

Ohio State played very good defense, but Kent State also just missed shots. The Flashes made 7 of 29 layups, 3 of 17 3-point shots and 12 of 22 free throws.

“We got some decent looks early,” Starkey said. “If a few of those go in, it probably feels a little different. But I don’t necessarily think there’s going to be a significantly different outcome.

“We kind of gave in mentally at the beginning because nothing was going our way. I thought that at times, we did some much better things in the second half.”

The Flashes scored more points in the third quarter (16) than they did in the whole first half, and they made seven of their 14 shots in the fourth quarter.

“I thought in the second half we played with a lot more fight and a lot more poise,” Starkey said. 

Blackford led the Flashes with nine points. Mariah Modkins had eight, including two 3-pointers.

Sophomore guard Clare Kelly led KSU with seven rebounds (“a spark off the bench,” Starkey said.) Blackford, Lindsey Thall, Indiana transfer Linsey Marchese and Annie Pavlansky all had five rebounds.

Starkey thought the rebounding statistics were somewhat misleading. “When they shoot 60%, there aren’t a lot of offensive rebounds for them to get,” he said.

Still Kent State’s rebounding percentage (the number of rebounds divided by the number of missed shots) was 48.2%, Ohio State’s was 51.8%. Against Duquesne, which shot the 22% from the field as Kent, the Buckeyes’ rebounding percentage was 74%.

 Box score

Shumate in starting lineup

Sophomore Katie Shumate, who had practiced sparingly after off-season knee surgery, was a bit of a surprise starter. At one point, it was unclear whether she would play at all this year.

She had four points and two rebounds in 15 minutes.

“She’s not 100% and a bit of a work in progress,” Starkey said. “She’s going to have to continue to gain muscle endurance and strength.”

Shumate was second on the team last season in points, rebounds, blocks and steals and third in assists. She made the MAC all-freshman team and was honorable mention all-conference.

Notes

  • The full starting lineup was Shumate, Modkins, Blackford, Marchese and Thall.
  • Thall, who scored 32 points and hit a KSU-record eight 3-pointers against Ohio State last season, was 1 for 10 with one 3-point basket and two free throws.
  • Kent State took more shots (68) than Ohio State (66).
  • The Flashes had 14 turnovers, generally a good number. But Ohio State had three.
  • KSU had five assists on 16 baskets. Ohio State had 23 on 39.
  • Kent State’s two freshmen each played about 16 minutes. Center Lexi Jackson had two points and three rebounds. Santoro had one point, two rebounds and zero turnovers. Marchese, playing in her first KSU game, scored six points.
  • Eleven Flashes played at least 11 minutes, and no one played more than 26. Every player who made the trip got in the game.
  • Pavlansky played 21 minutes, more than double her previous high against a Division I team. Her five rebounds were three fewer than she had all last season. She scored three points and had an assist.
  • Kent State is now 0-8 all-time against Ohio State. Against current Big Ten teams, the Flashes are 9-38.
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Kent State women's basketball

Asiah Dingle loses her father

By on Tuesday, December 1, 2020

One of the reasons Dingle transferred to Stony Brook on Long Island was to be closer to her family home in Boston. Her father, Maurice, had had several strokes. 

Dingle led Stoney Brook with 22 points in its 62-58 season-opening loss to Fordham Wednesday.

And after the game, she learned that her father had died.

Dingle chose to remain with her teammates through the Thanksgiving weekend and played Sunday against No. 23 Syracuse. She scored 11 points in a 50-39 loss.

Afterwards, Stony Brook coach Caroline McCombs drove Dingle to Boston to be with her family.

“For Asiah to be able to stay here and play was something she wanted to do,” McCombs said on the Stony Brook team website. “She knows her team and coaches love her and were here for her. This is going to be something that doesn’t ever go away. She was as locked in and focused as anyone was, or could be, at this time.”

Monday Dingle was named American East player of the week.

There is a GoFundMe page for Asiah’s family.

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Kent State women's basketball

Suddenly, Flashes are opening Wednesday at Ohio State

By on Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Lindsey Thall takes aim at the basket against Ohio State last season. She scored 32 points in KSU’s75-65 loss.

As fast as games can disappear in this COVID-19 basketball season, a new one can appear.

Kent State announced Monday morning that it would play its first game of the year 48 hours later.

So the Flashes will open their 2020-21 season at noon Wednesday against Ohio State in Columbus. The game will be on BTN+, the Big Ten’s paid streaming service. Here’s link to broadcast. Details on how to sign up are in the “Notes” section below.

“We are excited about finally playing,” Kent State coach Todd Starkey told Allen Moff of the Record-Courier. “I’m not sure what we’ll look like on only three days of practice. Ohio State is a very talented team. I think they have a chance to win the Big Ten this year.”

Junior point guard Mariah Modkins put it like this in an interview: “We’re just excited to touch the ball, honestly, and get up and down the floor.”

Modkins said the fall on campus has been tough, but the key has been “just being able to go with the flow.“

“Everything is up in the air,” she said. “You never know from day to day, honestly from hour to hour. So just being ready to do whatever is one of the most important things.”

Modkins the team’s pause in practice because of COVID “kind of sucked.“

“We were so close,” she said (just 10 days before their first game after having been able to practice all fall). “We’re ready to go now. Everybody’s excited.”

It will be the second game between KSU and Ohio State in two years and the second in 39 years. The Buckeyes beat the Flashes 75-65 at the M.A.C. Center last season before the biggest women’s crowd (4,272) in Kent State history. Before then, the teams hadn’t met since 1981.

Like Kent State, OSU had its first game — against Akron — canceled last week because of COVID-related issues (on the Zips team). The Flashes had their first game — at Northern Kentucky — canceled after COVID issues in Kent.

The Buckeyes played their first game Sunday, beating Duquesne 82-47. The Flashes are scheduled to play Duquesne of the Atlantic 10 on Dec. 21.

Ohio State started the season ranked 20th in the country and moved up to 19th with the Duquesne win. The Buckeyes have five starters back from last season’s team, which went 21-12 and tied for fifth in the Big Ten.

Top starter is 6-4 senior forward Dorka Juhasz, an all-Big Ten selection last season. She averaged 13.2 points and 9.4 rebounds last season and made 40 three-point shots last season. She had 10 points and 12 rebounds in 23 minutes against Duquesne.

Guard Jacy Sheldon led the Buckeyes in that game with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Guard Braxtin Miller had 16 points, including two of OSU’s three 3-point baskets.

Ohio State outrebounded Duquesne 52-37 even though the Dukes have a 6-4 center and two other 6-2 starters.

Duquesne coach Dan Burt after the game said his team had been able to have only six or seven full practices all fall while Ohio State hadn’t had any kind of shutdown. “It was like lions waiting for their meat, and unfortunately today we were that meat,” he told pittsburghsportsnow.com.

Kent State also likely will start a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 front line. The 6-4 center is Linsey Marchese, a transfer from Indiana who will be playing her first game for KSU. She would have played against Ohio State two years ago.

Kent’s 6-2 forwards are junior Lindsey Thall, who set a school record by making eight 3-point baskets against Ohio State last season, and Nila Blackford, an all-MAC freshman team member last season who led the Flashes in rebounding.

Kent State will look different at guard, where starter Megan Carter graduated, leading scorer Asiah Dingle transferred, and second-leading scorer Katie Shumate is injured.

Kent State’s pregame media notes list Marchese, Thall, Blackford, Modkins and Hannah Young as probable starters.

Modkins started 13 games at point guard last season; Young started four and guard. Also expect sophomore guard Clare Kelly and sophomore wing Annie Pavlansky, along with 5-4 freshman guard Casey Santoro and 6-4 freshman center Lexi Jackson, to see considerable action.

That’s if everyone is healthy, and this year, that’s never guaranteed for any team.

Notes

• The game will at the Covelli Center, the new 3,700-seat home of Ohio State’s volleyball, gymnastics, wrestling and fencing teams. No fans will be allowed; Columbus and Franklin County are under the state’s highest “purple” COVID rating.

• Best price to watch the game on BTN+ is to buy a $7.95 monthly pass for Ohio State games only. It will be renewed automatically every month, so cancel after the game if you don’t want to watch more Buckeye sports. You can buy a season pass for OSU events for $79.95. You’ll get Ohio State men’s and women’s basketball games that aren’t shown on the Big Ten Network, plus sports like gymnastics, baseball and softball. You can also subscribe to get all sports from all Big Ten Schools or all of the Big Ten’s games in a single sport like women’s basketball.

Other key links

KSU’s home opener is Saturday vs. Ohio U.

Kent State’s second game, assuming no COVID problems, will be Saturday against Ohio University at the M.A.C. Center. Tipoff is at 2 p.m., but no fans will be allowed. Game will be streamed on the KSU website.

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