Cleveland State’s Corey Coleman made a four-foot floater with eight seconds to go, Krista White’s layout attempt at the buzzer went off of the rim and Kent State lost 69-67 in Cleveland. The loss drops the Flashes to 1-7 on the season.

Cici Shannon led KSU with 15 points and 9 rebounds. Jodan Korinek had 13 and Larissa Lurken 12.

The Flashes trailed by 11 points with three minutes to go in the first half, but closed it to five at halftime, then took the lede about five minutes into the second half. They led by as many as eight.

But Cleveland State scored the game’s last nine points, putting intense full-court pressure on Kent in the last two minutes to force four turnovers. Point guard Naddiyah Cross fouled out at with 1:51 to go. Mikell Chinn, Kent’s usually starter at point, missed her second straight game with a concussion.

Korinek, who had her best game of her young career, also fouled out. Shannon, Ridout and Melissa Stubbs all had four fouls.

The Flashes make their first trip to Cleveland since 2009 to take on Cleveland State, a team with a 4-3 record that includes victories over Toledo and East Carolina.

The Vikings return four starters and their top three scorers from last year’s 14-16 team. They’re led by 5-foot-10 senior forward Imani Gordon, a preseason all-Horizon Conference selection. She averages 12.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Their leading scorer is 5-8 senior guard, who is averaging 15.7 points per game and 41 percent in three-point shooting. Three other players average between 9 and 10 points a game.

As a team, Cleveland State makes 37.5 percent of its three-pointer shots and 43.4 percent shooting overall. The Vikings lead the Horizon League in assists with 17.4 per game on an average of 28 field goals a game. They’re averaging only 13 turnovers but force only 15. They’re being outrebounded at about seven a game. Their only three players taller than 5-foot-10. None has played more than 14 minutes a game.

Kent State starting point guard Mikell Chinn, who missed the Flashes’ game at Duquesne last week with a concussion, is “day-to-day” on whether she’ll be back in the line-up, according to coach Danny O’Banion. Chinn leads the MAC in assists with 5.5 a game and last year led Kent State in steals. If she doesn’t start, freshman Naddiyah Cross will. Cross had four points, three assists and six turnovers against Duquesne. Twice this season Cross has had six assists in a game. Krista White, who had never played point guard before filling in at Duquesne, is the back-up.

Sophomore guard White, who has scored 20 points in two straight games, now is KSU’s leading scorer at 11.1 points per game. Larissa Lurken is second with 11.0. None of KSU’s post players, who had been expected to lead the team offensively this season, average more than nine points a game. Forward Montia Johnson leads the team with 8.3 rebounds per game and is fourth in the MAC in offensive rebounds.

Kent State, which is 1-6, is 11th in the MAC in scoring and 10th in scoring defense. It is seventh in field goal percentage and 11th in field goal percentage defense. It’s second to last in three-point baskets per game and last in foul shooting. It’s third in offensive rebounding, fourth in blocked shots and fifth in assists.

The 3:30 p.m. game is the second of a double header. The Cleveland State men play Western Illinois at 1.

Audio starts at 3:20 on Golden Flash iHeart Radio and Akron Fox Sports 1350. Video is on ESPN3, which you can get on the Internet if you have a ESPN on a cable network.

It’s hard to write a blog post after a game like Wednesday’s 86-60 loss at Duquesne..

It was Kent State’s largest margin of defeat in a 1-6 year. Duquesne hit a three-point shot in the first minute, Kent State missed a 15-foot shot and Duquesne scored again. Soon it was 9-1. It was 10 points at halftime, and the Dukes’ lead just kept growing in the second half.

The best thing you can say about the game is that guard Krista White showed her 20-point game against Dartmouth was no fluke. She scored 20 more, 17 in the first half.

The worst thing about the game was that senior starting point guard Mikell Chinn didn’t play because of a concussion she suffered in California. Chinn averages only one point a game, but she does lead the MAC in assists at 5.5 per game. Freshman Naddiyah Cross started instead and played 36 minutes against a Duquesne team dominated by juniors and seniors. Cross had four points, three assists and six turnovers. When she went to the bench for a rest, White seemed to play the point, something she’s never done. It was a game where Kent really could have used Rachel Mendelsohn, the reserve guard who blew out her knee before the season started.

The second worst thing you can say about the game is that 6-4 center Cici Shannon and 6-2 freshman forward Jordan Korinek combined for zero points. Shannon, KSU’s second leading scorer, didn’t even get a shot off in her 10 minutes. At times, coach Danny O’Banion went with a five-guard line-up.

After the game, O’Banion talked on Golden Flash iHeart Radio about her team’s “growing pains driving her nuts,” but her players are in the locker room working hard every day. “You can’t turn freshman into seniors overnight,” she said.

Other notes:

• Duquesne is a good team. It’s now 4-3, with its losses coming to Wisconsin-Green Bay (No. 2 in this week’s Mid Major poll), Princeton (the No. 3 Mid Major) and Syracuse, which is 5-1. The Dukes have won 20 games for six straight years. They beat Kent a little worse — 94-63 — at Kent last season.
• Kent State had 20 turnovers, Duquesne 10. Duquesne had 12 steals, Kent 1.
• After dreadful free-throw shooting in California, the Flashes were 21 of 27. White was 9 of 11.
• Guard Melanie Stubbs had 11 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes, all season highs.
• Freshman guard Madison Ridout made 2 of 3 three-point shots. Leading scorer Larissa Lurken missed all four of hers.
• KSU had nine assists, a season low.

Box score

Duquesne jumped to a 9-1 lead, led by 10 at half time and went on to an 86-60 victory over the Flashes in a Wednesday morning game in Pittsburgh.

It was the largest margin of defeat for Kent State this season, which is now 1-6. Duquesne is 4-3, but two of its losses have come to Wisconsin-Green Bay and Princeton, which are ranked second and third among Mid Majors. The third loss was to Syracuse.

Krista White led Kent with 20 points for the second straight game, with 17 of those points coming in the first half. Melanie Stubbs had 11 points and Larissa Lurken 10. Freshman Naddiyah Cross started at point guard in place of senior tri-captain Mikell Chinn, who suffered a concussion in practice during Kent State’s trip to the Cal Poly Holiday tournament over Thanksgiving. Cross had four points, three assists and four turnovers.

Kent State heads to Duquesne Wednesday for its third mid-weekday game of the season.

The Flashes, who are 1-5, play at 11 a.m. as part of Duquesne’s “Education Day,” which brings kindergartners through eighth graders to campus. The last game I remember like this was back in the Lindsay era — a trip to Michigan State to play in front of several thousand screaming elementary school kids.

Kent is 1-1 in these unusual mid-day games. Its only victory came at home last Tuesday morning against Belmont. It lost its opener on the read at South Dakota State University.

Duquesne is 3-3. It lost its first three games, including losses to the University of Milwaukee at Green Bay (No. 2 in this week’s Mid-Major Rankings) and Princeton (No. 3 in the same rankings). The third loss was to Syracuse.

Since then, the Dukes have won three in a row, including a win at Ball State Sunday.

The Dukes beat Kent State at Kent last year, 94-63.  Raegan Moore scored a career-high 35 points and set a new school record and tied an Atlantic 10 record by recording nine 3-point baskets. Moore has graduated, but Duquesne has a new three-point shooter in 5-8 junior guard April Robinson, who has made an average of three per game and is shooting 47 percent from behind the line. As a team, Duquesne is shooting 41 percent. averaging 6.3 three-point baskets per game.

Robinson leads Duquesne in scoring with 16.8 per game. Deva’Nyar Workman, a 5-10 junior guard, is second in scoring at 12.8 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with 6.7 per game. She has averaged only 24 minutes a game. 6-4 senior center Jose-Ann Johnson averages 10 points.

As a team, Duquesne is averaging 76.5 points and giving up 75. That’s higher in both categories than Kent State, which is averaging 54.2 and giving up 64.3. Kent State’s leading scorer is wing Larissa Lurken, who is averaging 11.2 points per game. Montia Johnson leads the Flashes in rebounding at 8.7. Mikell Chinn’s 5.5 assists per game leads the team and the MAC, as does Cici Shannon’s three blocks per game. Krista white’s 2.7 steals per game is third in the MAC.

Audio broadcast of the game starts at 10:50 on Golden Flashes iHeart Radio and Akron Fox sports 1350. Video is through the Duquesne website. Live stats will be available here.

Dartmouth outscored Kent State 17-2 over the last 11 minutes and beat the Flashes 60-49, Friday, in the Cal Poly Holiday tournament Saturday.

Kent State had taken a 48-43 lead with 11:29 to go but missed all 14 of its shots and four of five free throws for the rest of the game.

Krista White led Kent with a career-high 20 points. Larissa Lurken had 11. Montia Johnson had eight rebounds.

Kent outscored Dartmouth 30-14 in the pain but was out-rebounded 43-36.

The loss drops the Flashes to 1-5 on the year.

A more details post will be up a little later.

Kent State shot badly from the field and foul line and committed 26 turnovers as it lost to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 57-47, in the Cal Poly Holiday tournament Friday.
The Flashes were 20 of 57 (35 percent) from the field, 3 of 15 (20 percent) from three-point distance and 4 of 13 percent (30 percent) from the foul line.
Montia Johnson had a career-high 17 rebounds along with 12 points, but no other Flash scored in double figures.
Larissa Lurken, Kent’s leading scorer, was 2 of 12 shooting , 1 of 10 on three-pointers, and missed all three of her free throws.
Cici Shannon equaled her career best with six blocks.
The Flashes play Dartmouth at 6 p.m. Kent time Saturday.

The Kent State women’s team heads to California over Thanksgiving, but it will be playing an Eastern team and a Southern team.

The Flashes will be part of the Cal Poly/ShareSLO Holiday Tournament. On Friday they’ll take on the University of Texas at Corpus Christi. Saturday they’ll play Dartmouth.

Dartmouth is 2-0 and Texas-Corpus Christi 0-4, But Corpus Christi may have the better team.

The Islanders, who were 18-12 last year, lost four starters including their leading scorer to graduation. But they have four transfers, two of whom were top players on their previous teams.

Junior Shay Weaver holds the single-season record at Marshall for most three three-pointers, leads Corpus Christi with an average of 17.7 points per game. Second in scoring (16.0) and leading in rebounding (12.3) is senior Olivia Fouty, whom Kent saw during her sophomore and junior years at Eastern Michigan. Fouty had more than 500 rebounds over those seasons for the Eagles.

The Islanders aren’t a very big team. Fouty is 6-foot. Tallest starter is 6-1 sophomore 6-1 sophomore forward Camesha Davis. But they have a plus-3.3 rebounding margin per game.

Corpus Christi has lost to UNLV (2-2), 77-65, Houston (2-1), 68-66, and Rice (2-2), 59-54.

Brown won its opener over the New Jersey Insittitue of Technology in overtime, then beat winless Holy Cross 69-53 at home. The Big Green were 5-23 a year ago and are picked to finish sixth in the Ivy League. They return their leading scorer, 6-1 guard-forward Fanni Szabbo, who averaged 13.2 last year and is averaging 26 this year. Also back is their second leading scorer and leading rebounder, 6-foot junior forward Lakin Roland. She’s averaging 16.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in the first two games. Last year she averaged 11 points and 5.9 rebounds.

Audio of both games will be on Golden Flash Radio on iHeartRadio and Akron Fox sports 1350, starting at 5:50 p.m. As I write this Tuesday, I don’t see any word of video. You can check on kentstatesports.com later in the week to see if anything has been announced.

I’m out of town this weekend. I’ll try to listen/watch online, but you can always get results at the Kent State websiteite.

Some extra notes from Kent State’s 58-55 victory Tuesday:

• Freshman Madison Ridout had seven points, including a three-pointer, in 22 minutes. Both were career highs.
• Kent State outscored Belmont 33-21 in the paint but was outrebounded 41-33. The rebounding was after the Flashes outrebounded Northwestern of the Big Ten by 10 last week.
• Belmont made only 11 of 21 free throws. Kent wasn’t much better at 11 of 18.
• Seniors Cici Shannon, Montia Johnson and Mikell Chinn all played more than 34 minutes.
• Four Kent players had at least two fouls in the first half. Johnson had three. No one fouled out, but this team has only nine scholarship players who have significant minutes so far. They’ll have to avoid depth problems.
• Freshman Naddiyah Cross, who had been leading Kent with assists, played just five minutes. She was yanked after a turnover and a foul at a critical time in the second half.
• Freshman forward Jordan Korinek continues to struggle. She went 0 for 5, with two rebounds and four fouls in 16 minutes.
• Through four games, Lurken leads Kent State in scored at 12.8 points per game. The Flashes haven’t had a player average in double figures since 20011-12.

I was traveling most of the day yesterday.I was able to get a quick note up from the turnpike. But when I wrote this one at 11, I saved it as a draft instead of posting it. So here it is, finally.

It was a very big win — one of the top three, maybe even the top one of Danny O’Banion’s tenure as coach.

Consider:

• Just this: It was the first win of the year after several disappointing games — a big blown lead in North Dakota State, a completely blown second half against Youngstown.
• It was game against what should be a quality team. Yes, Belmont is 0-4. But three of those losses have been on the road, two to Vanderbilt and Louisville. It has five starters back. It’s picked to win the Ohio Valley Conference. And it beat Kent State by 24 points last year.
• It was a hard way to win a game. Kent State was up 10 after five minutes of the second half, then down seven with four minutes to go. But the Flashes outscored Belmont 7-0 to close out the game, capped by Montia Johnson’s put-back with five second to go.
• It was a game where Kent State did right the things it has to do right to win games. It shot 48 percent in the second half. It made five three-point shots against Belmont’s zone. Its three seniors — Johnson (11 points, seven rebounds), Cici Shannon (17 points, seven rebounds, two blocks) and Mikell Chinn (10 assists) led the way.
• It was a game where they found a scorer — Larissa Lurken, who had a career-best 20 points. She hit four of five three pointers in the second half. Just as important, she hit four two-pointers in the first half when the Flashes were struggling to score.
• It was a game where Kent State actually had fewer turnovers (12) than Belmont (18).

Some highlights from the team’s post-game press conference:

• O’Banion: “Our players are capable of this kind of production on a consistent basis, and they proved to themselves that they’re tough enough” to do that.”
• Lurken: “At first of game, I wasn’t that hot, but I knew had to keep shooting. One first one went in, I got into a kind of rhythmn. I’ve been working on those shots for a long time now.”
• O’Banion: “I think there’s a difference between a shooter and an assassin, and larissa developing into an assassin. Last year she was a shooter. This year, I look at her, and she wants her number called. That’s an assassin. Larissa’s mindset is completely different. She knows she’s on evey team’s scouting report. She gets extra reps up in the gym and she wants the ball.”

It was the first time O’Banion and her players talked in public about her diagnosis last week of lymphoma. She had her first chemotherapy Monday.

Lurken said simply, “We’re playing this season for her.”

O’Banion said at this point, she “feels great.”

“I hope I’m doing everything our team needs me to do,” she said. “My goal is to never let them down. My goal to manage (herself) and be smart. I’m going to be on the sidelines as often as possible. I’ll probably show up some days when someone advises  me not to. But I won’t put our team at risk. I’ll always be at 100 percent or (assistant coach Geoff Lanier) coach Geoff be on there.”

“This is part of life. I’m grateful God chose me to tell the story about it.”

Box score

Entire post-game press conference (at bottom of story).