Tag Archives: Katie Shumate
Kent State women's basketball

Flashes and Katie Shumate find their shooting touch at KSU beats Central Michigan 68-57

By on Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Guard Katie Shumate equaled her season-high of 21 points to lead the Flashes. She made 7-of-11 shots. (KSU Athletic Communication Department photo by Gabby Kingston.)

Kent State has shot better than its Mid-American Conference opponents only three times this season.

The Flashes have won all those three games.

KSU made 45.8% of its field-goal attempts Wednesday as it beat Central Michigan 68-57 at the M.A.C. Center. The Flashes are 3-6 and in ninth place in the MAC; the win moved them a game closer to eighth and the final spot in the MAC Tournament next month. KSU is 11-7 overall.

Central Michigan, which has won either the MAC regular-season championship or the MAC Tournament for the last six years, is 2-9 (4-16 overall) and in last place in the league.

It was the first time Kent State has beaten CMU in 10 years and is coach Todd Starkey’s first over the Chippewas in his six years in Kent. Starkey now has beaten every other MAC team at least once.

Shumate the scorer

Junior guard Katie Shumate, who didn’t score at all in KSU’s 61-55 loss at Northern Illinois last week, made 7-of-11 shots and led the Flashes with 21 points. That equaled her season-high.

“I can’t say enough about how Katie played today,” Starkey said in his postgame press conference. “W really challenged her this week, and she absolutely responded.” 

During the week after the NIU loss, Shumate said, “I just had to clear my mind and realize it was about focus.”

“I think it was easy for me and my team to lose focus when things weren’t going great,” she said. “So we got to practice and put our heads down and put in some work.”

Starkey said Shumate had been playing hurt since Christmas and KSU’s time off — the Flashes played only one game in the last 18 days — may have helped.

“She’s been playing on a bum leg,” the coach said. “It caused her some pain and, especially early in the conference play, affected her shot and affected her defensively. Hopefully we can continue to stay ahead of that. When she’s focused and determined, she’s one of the better players in the league.”

Shumate made the MAC all-freshman team and was honorable mention all-MAC her freshman and sophomore years.

The team’s shooting touch

 KSU’s 46% shooting was, in MAC play, second only to a 52% performance in an 83-58 win over Eastern Michigan. It came mostly on 2-point shots. The Flashes 31.3% on 3-pointers, while better than they’ve been shooting in the MAC, was still far below the 42% they shot in non-conference play.

“We ran some different actions that were focused on getting the ball inside,” Starkey said. “We’ve been playing well recently when we’ve been playing through (forward Nila Blackford). 30 points in the paint were big for us.”

Blackford had 15 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double in her last four games (she had 11 points and nine rebounds in the fourth game). Blackford has averaged 16.3 points and 11.8 rebounds in that time, which is better than when she led the team in scoring and rebounding last season.

“When Katie and Nila are both working and stuffing the stat sheet like that, we’re really tough team to beat,” Starkey said.

Success on defense

Central’s Michigan’s 57 points were the fourth time the Flashes have held a MAC opponent below 60.

“We talk about that all the time,” Starkey said. “If they communicate and stay connected, we’re a really good defensive team.”

Central Michigan had 21 turnovers, the most by a Division I opponent against Kent State all season. The Flashes scored 25 points off of turnovers, a MAC-season best. CMU point guard Molly Davis, a preseason all-MAC selection, had nine turnovers.

“We did a good job of crowding her and, and forcing her into some tight spaces where she had to kind of fumble the ball,” Starkey said.

The player of 1,000 points

Lindsey Thall was honored before the game for becoming a 1,000-point scorer, something she achieved against Penn State in the Gulf Coast Showcase in November. Thall scored 11 points Wednesday and now has 1,085, which ranks 21st in KSU history.

Running the numbers 

  • The Flashes were outrebounded for the first time this season, 31-30. “We weren’t missing as many shots, so maybe that’s a reason why we didn’t have more rebounds,” Starkey said with a smile.
  • Kent State had 14 assists on 22 baskets, equaling a high in MAC play. Thall and Clare Kelly had four assists; Blackford had three.
  • Kelly also had four steals to lead KSU’s total of 12. That’s Kent’s most against a Division I team. Blackford, Thall and freshman Bridget Dunn each had two steals.
  • KSU blocked four shots, its most in MAC play. Dunn blocked two.
  • Central Michigan made 41% of its shots but only four of its 16 three-pointers.
  • Kent State never trailed after early in the second quarter. Central led for only 55 seconds of the game.

Box score

Next: Saturday at Eastern Michigan

The Flashes play the Eagles, whom they beat by 25 points in Kent, for a 2 p.m. game. Eastern lost to second-place Buffalo 69-62 at home on Wednesday and is in 11th place at 2-8 (5-12 overall).

Other MAC scores

  • Toledo (10-1 MAC, 16-4 overall) 74, Miami (2-7, 6-12) 64 in Toledo.
  • Western Michigan (6-3, 12-6) 57, Akron (6-4, 9-7) 53 in Akron.
  • Ball State (6-4, 13-7) 84, Ohio (5-4, 11-7) 74 at Ohio.
  • Bowling Green (5-4, 10-8) 64, Northern Illinois (5-6, 8-11) at NIU.

MAC standings.

Continue Reading
0
Kent State women's basketball

KSU’s 4th-quarter rally can’t overcome slow start, 19 turnovers as Flashes fall to Buffalo in MAC quarterfinals

By on Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Buffalo’s Dayaisha Fair shoots over Kent State’s Lindsey Thall. Fair, the seventh leading scorer in Division I, had 30 points and six steals. (Photo from Buffalo website.)

It took three quarters for the Kent State women’s basketball team to get its offense scoring. But by then, it was too late.

The Flashes scored the game’s first basket, then missed three straight shots and committed three turnovers. Suddenly Buffalo led 12-2.

It didn’t get much closer until the fourth quarter, when the Flashes cut the lead to three twice. But Buffalo answered both times.

The 73-66 loss in the Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals ends Kent State’s season with an 11-9 record. Buffalo (15-8) advances to face regular-season champion Bowling Green Friday in the semifinals.

In the first quarter, coach Todd Starkey said, it seems as if the Flashes “were trying to feel our way into the game.”

“Against the team like Buffalo, you can’t do that,” he said. “You have come out of the gate a hundred miles an hour — just like them.” 

Sophomore forward Nila Blackford said the team lost its focus early on.

“We put ourselves in a really difficult position, especially against a team like Buffalo,” she said. “They got us scrambling, and we lost our composure. When you have so many live-ball turnovers, it’s going to lead to layup after layup. It’s hard to come back from that.”

For the game, Kent State committed 19 turnovers. Buffalo scored 24 points from them. Buffalo had just nine turnovers, which led to only five KSU points.

The fourth-quarter comeback

Trailing by 12 going into the quarter, Mariah Modkins hit a layup, then fed Katie Shumate for a 3-point basket a minute later. The lead was down to seven, and Hannah Young hit a short jump shot to make it 56-53 with 4:35 to go.

Buffalo then made two free throws. A minute later, Dayaisha Fair, Buffalo’s star 5-5 guard, missed a layup but got her own rebound in heavy traffic. She passed the ball out to Jessika Schiffer, who hit a 3-point basket to push the lead back to 61-53.

Kent State had one last-minute push in it. With 1:06 to go, Modkins passed to Lindsey Thall, who hit a long 3-pointer. Twelve seconds later, Modkins hit her own 3, then hit another 20 seconds later. All three shots came from well behind the NBA 3-point line at Rocket Mortgage Arena, and the score was 69-66.

That was as far as Kent State could go. Buffalo made four free throws (and missed three more) in the last 22 seconds to clinch the win.

“We couldn’t quite get over the hump,” Starkey said. “We fought so hard, and we needed some good fortune down the stretch. We didn’t get it on a few key plays in the last couple minutes. But I’m really proud of our team for not giving in.”

For three quarters, shooting woes for the Flashes

Kent State made 10 of its 19 shots (52.6%) in the fourth quarter. But before then, KSU shot only 31.6%.

“We really struggled to shoot the ball for the last eight or nine games,” Starkey said. “I just think everything this season just wore them down, and it really showed in our field goal percentage.

“If we just shoot the ball better, we’re winning a lot of those games. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to put the ball in the basket.“

Buffalo’s shooting was the reverse of Kent’s. The Bulls made 57.1% of their shots ion the first half but 33.3% of their shots in the second.

Big games for Young and Blackford

Young, who has started three straight games in place of injured guard Clare Kelly, had a career-high 15 points to lead the Flashes. She made 3-of-5 three-point shots, had five rebounds and drew two offensive fouls on Fair.

“She is making a ton of effort plays,” Starkey said. “And we always talk about scoring as kind of a by-product of playing really hard. We were really struggling to score, and she was able to hit some key shots. It really kept us in the game.”

Blackford had a career-high 18 rebounds. That ties for the ninth most in KSU history and fourth most in the MAC this season.

“I can’t say enough about Nila,” Starkey said. “To get 18 rebounds against this team was phenomenal.”

Buffalo leads the MAC and ranks 15th in the nation in rebounding. Blackford had 10 offensive rebounds — the same number as the entire Buffalo team, which leads the MAC on the offensive boards.

Blackford also had 12 points for her 12th double-double of the season. That’s second in the conference to 13 for Ball State’s Oshlynn Brown, a senior who has been first-team all-MAC for two years.

A much more than Fair performance

Fair is Division I’s seventh-leading scorer, averaging 24.1 points a game. She had 30 against Kent State, making 8-of-19 field goals, 3-of-4 three-pointers and 11-of-14 free throws. She had six steals and four assists. (She’s among MAC leaders in those categories, too.)

Kent’s walking wounded

KSU starting guard Clare Kelly, who missed the last two games because of a foot injury, and 6-4 freshman reserve center Lexi Jackson, fighting a high ankle sprain, both played. Kelly had no points in 16 minutes. Jackson had a basket and three rebounds in nine minutes. Both were “weren’t even close to 100%,” Starkey said.

Wait ’til next year

Kent State returns all starters and 11 of its top 12 players.

“We’re excited about the future,” Starkey said. “We built the program around these two recruiting classes, who are coming through as juniors and sophomores. They’ve been really big so far, and we expect even bigger things in the future.”

Blackford said she was “super optimistic.“

“We have learned a lot about ourselves and our team this year,” she said. “I think some of the adversity we have gone through is only going to make us better in the future.“

Box score

The rest of the tournament

All four top seeds won.

No. 1 seed BOWLING GREEN trailed No. 8 Eastern Michigan by 10 at halftime but held the Eagles to 16 points in the second half and won 63-47. BG’s Lexi Fleming, the conference player of the year, left the game with a shoulder injury in the second half and scored only four points. Kenzie Lewis, another freshman guard, led the Falcons with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

No. 2 CENTRAL MICHIGAN broke a close game open with an 12-1 run in the second quarter and beat No. 7 Northern Illinois 83-69. Sophomore guard Molly Davis had 24 points and senior guard Micaela Kelly had 23 for CMU. Both had been named first-team all-MAC Tuesday.

No. 3 OHIO edged No. 6 Ball State 61-59. Cece Hooks, the MAC player of the year, had 21 points, and Erica Johnson had 19. Both players suffered severe cramps in the last minute. Johnson had to leave the game; Hooks fought through pain as Ball State had to foul four times in the last 15 seconds to try (and never succeed) to force Ohio to shoot fouls shots.

Bowling Green and Buffalo will play in the semifinals at 10 a.m. Friday. Ohio and Central Michigan will play a half-hour after that game ends, probably about 12:30. Both games are on ESPN+. Finals are at 11 a.m. Saturday on the CBS Sports Network.

The view from Buffalo

Coach Felisha Legette-Jack in her postgame press conference

“What a great team win. Our story is not about Kent State or whoever else we’re playing, but it’s about how good we can be if we rely on each other, see each other, trust each other and play for each other. Today we did that, and we beat a pretty good team.“

Notes

  • Three other Kent State players scored in double figures. Thall had 13 points and Modkins and Shumate 12. No one besides Blackford and Young had more than four rebounds.
  • The game was the fourth straight year Kent State and Buffalo have met in the quarterfinals. Buffalo has won three times. The better seed has won each season.
  • In the regular season, Buffalo beat No. 1 seed Bowling Green, its opponent Friday, twice.

Continue Reading
0
Kent State women's basketball

Blackford is all-MAC 2nd team, Thall all-defensive team, and Thall and Shumate honorable mention

By on Tuesday, March 9, 2021

From left: Sophomore Nila Blackford, junior Lindsey Thall, sophomore Katie Shumate.

Kent State sophomore forward Nila Blackford was named to the all-Mid-American Conference second team Tuesday.

Junior forward Lindsey Thall made the league’s all-defensive team for the second year in a row.

Thall and sophomore guard Katie Shumate were honorable mention all-MAC.

The selections were made by league coaches.

Flashes prepare to play Buffalo in quarterfinals for fourth straight season.

Blackford was one of three players in the league to average a double-double. She averaged 15.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, both numbers leading the Flashes. Blackford also led Kent State in field-goal percentage (48.7%) and steals (1.3 per game).

The other two MAC players with double-doubles were first-team member Oshlynn Brown of Ball State and third-team member Ce’Nara Skanes of Eastern Michigan.

Blackford is the first KSU player to average a double-double since Tracy Lynn in 1990-91. Only Blackford, Lynn (a 1994 grad), Marvetta Froe (1990), Mary Bukovac (1989) and Margie Zezulewicz (1979) have averaged double-doubles in the 45-year history of scholarship basketball at Kent State.

A graduate of Dupont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky, Blackford made the MAC’s all-freshman team last season. She was one of 16 finalists for Kentucky Miss Basketball her senior year.

Blackford’s mother, Nell, played for the University of Louisville women’s basketball team, and her father, William, was a member of the Cardinals’ football team.

Thall made the all-defensive team for the second year in a row and has led the conference in blocked shots for all three of her years in college. This season she averaged 1.5 blocks a game, along with 10.9 points and a career-best 5.3 rebounds.

With at least another season to go, Thall is second all-time for Kent State in 3-point shots made with 165 and third in blocked shots with 145. She went to Strongsville High School, where her mother, Dawn, is the girls basketball head coach.

Despite summer knee surgery that threatened her playing at all this season, Shumate was MAC honorable mention for the second year in a row. After seeing limited action in the Flashes’ first two games, she averaged 30.6 minutes for the rest of the season. Coach Todd Starkey said after last Saturday’s Akron game that Shumate had never been 100% healthy all season.

Shumate is second on the team in scoring with an average of 12.2 points per game, which ranks 23rd in the MAC. She is fourth in the MAC in free-throw percentage at 84.5% and 10th in 3-point shooting at 37.7%.

Shumate went to Newark High School, where her father, J.R., is the long-time girls basketball coach.

Full list of all-conference honors:

Player of the Year 
Senior guard Cece Hooks, Ohio.

Coach of the Year
Robyn Fralick, Bowling Green.

Freshman of the Year
Guard Lexi Fleming, Bowling Green.

Sixth Player of the Year
Junior guard Janae Poisson, NIU, Northern Illinois.

Defensive Player of the Year
Senior guard Cece Hooks, Ohio.

All-MAC First Team
Senior forward Oshlynn Brown, Ball State.
Sophomore guard Dyaisha Fair, Buffalo.
Senior guard Micaela Kelly, Central Michigan.  
Sophomore guard Molly Davis, Central Michigan.
Senior guard Cece Hooks, Ohio.

All-MAC Second Team
Freshman guard Lexi Fleming, Bowling Green.
Senior guard Areanna Combs, Eastern Michigan.
Sophomore forwarrd Nila Blackford, Kent State.
Sophomore guard Peyton Scott, Miami.
Sophomore guard Chelby Koker, Northern Illinois.

All-MAC Third Team
Senior forward Jordyn Dawson, Akron.
Junior guard Kadie Hempfling, Bowling Green.
Sophomore guard Ce’Nara Skanes, Eastern Michigan.Forward
Junior forward Erica Johnson, Ohio.
Sophomore guard/forward Quinesha Lockett, Toledo.

All-MAC Honorable Mention (6 Players due to ties)
Sophomore guard Sydney Freeman, Ball State.
Sophomore guard Katie Shumate, Kent State.
Junior forward Lindsey Thall, Kent State.
Senior forward Gabby Burris, Ohio.
Senior forward Reilly Jacobson, Western Michigan.
Freshman forward Taylor Williams, Western Michigan.

All-Defensive Team (6 Players due to ties)
Freshman guard Nyla Hampton, Bowling Green.
Sophomore guard Dyaisha Fair, Buffalo.
Senior guard Micaela Kelly, Central Michigan.
Senior guard Areanna Combs, Eastern Michigan.
Junior forward Lindsey Thall, Kent State.
Senior guard Cece Hooks, Ohio.

All-Freshman Team
Guard Lexi Fleming, Bowling Green.
Guard Nyla Hampton, Bowling Green.
Guard Cheyenne McEvans, Buffalo.
Guard Madi Mace, Ohio.
Forward Taylor Williams, Western Michigan.

Full MAC press release on postseason honors

Continue Reading
0
Kent State women's basketball

Hot 3-point shooting, late rebounding send Kent State to 73-66 win over Duquesne

By on Monday, December 21, 2020

Nila Blackford takes at for two of her 18 points. With nine rebounds, she just missed her third-straight double-double. (Photo of team Twitter feed.)

In the first half, it was great 3-point shooting.

In the last quarter, it was strong rebounding.

In the end, the Kent State women won their third game in a row, beating Duquesne 73-66.

Kent State is 3-2 going into a 12-day break for Christmas. The Flashes return with a MAC game at Eastern Michigan on Jan. 2. Duquesne is 2-3.

Lindsey Thall and the 3-point barrage

Lindsey Thall has been one of the best 3-point shooters in the MAC since she walked onto campus two years ago. But going into Monday’s game, she had made only 5-of-19 attempts this season.

In one game, she doubled that total. Thall made her first four 3-point attempts and finished 5 of 6. Most of her shots were three feet behind the 3-point arc.

“It’s always better when they go in,” Thall said. “I’m been struggling a little bit, but I’m just trying to get points for our team. The thought you want to have is, ‘The next one’s going in.‘”

Thall also had seven rebounds and four blocked shots. She has led the league in blocks for two years and leads it again so far at 2.0 per game.

Katie Shumate joined Thall in the 3-point binge with three 3-pointers in three attempts. Mariah Modkins made two and Hannah Young and Nila Blackford one apiece.

The Flashes made 9 of their 14 3-point attempts in the first half and 12 of their 22 attempts for the game. That’s 55%, the second-best performance in the MAC this season. The best was Kent State’s 57% against Ohio 12 days ago, when the Flashes made a school-record 16 3-pointers.

“We were moving the ball pretty well around the perimeter,” Thall said. “When you do that, you make them have some late rotations, then you make the extra pass, and you can connect (on the shots).”

The Flashes had assists on their first four 3-pointers.

“Our ball movement was phenomenal,” coach Todd Starkey said.

Duquesne’s fourth-quarter rally

For the second-straight game, Kent State had a big lead in the second half and almost lost it.

KSU led 57-45 going into the fourth quarter, but Duquesne started the period with 10 straight points. The Flashes responded with seven in a row of their own, but Duquesne closed it to two again with 2:06 to go.

“We’ve got to get some things solved as far as why we’re really playing well against teams and then they turn around and make a run on us,” Starkey said.

Kent State’s counter-rally

The Flashes’ game-ending push started with rebounding.

For three quarters, Duquesne had outrebounded KSU 25-20. The Flashes had only two offensive rebounds.

But the fourth-quarter backboards — especially at the end of the fourth quarter — belonged to Kent State.

The Flashes outrebounded Duquesne 13-5 over the last 10 minutes. They had eight offensive rebounds; the Dukes had zero.

After Duquesne had pulled closed to 64-62, the Dukes never got another rebound. Kent State got five over the last two minutes, with three key ones coming in the last 1:03.

With Kent State leading by one, Blackford grabbed the rebound off a missed 3-point attempt in heavy traffic. She put it back up, scored and was fouled.

She missed the free throw, but Clare Kelly grabbed the rebound. Then after the Flashes missed another 3-pointer, Shumate got that rebound and scored.

The sequence took 40 seconds off the clock and gave Kent State a seven-point lead with 23 seconds to go.

That rebounding “won it for us at the end — just toughness rebounds in the scrum,” Starkey said.

Earlier, however, Starkey said he had to challenge the team.

“They got an earful from me a couple of times,” he said. “I was not pleased with the way we are out in the third quarter and acted like we were just going to walk away with a win. Then later on, they were just out hustling us on certain things. That can’t be a theme going forward.”

Blackford is big again

Blackford led Kent State in scoring with 18 points and just missed her third straight double-double with nine rebounds.

“When she’s focused and determined like that, she’s a handful,” Starkey said.

Thall said Blackford is central to the team.

“We expect her to be like this,” she said. “Every game she’s been doing a great job of just staying with it, getting extra rebounds. That’s helping with a bunch of her points.”

17 points for Shumate

Shumate scored 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Her three 3-pointers brought her 3-point percentage to 57%, fifth in the MAC.

Starkey said she’s not fully back from off-season knee surgery.

“There’s a game fitness and strength that you have to develop,” the coach said. “You can’t simulate it in the weight room or in practice. It just comes from logging minutes on the court against other teams.”

But, Starkey said, “It’s kind of a scary thing when you say she’s not playing at 100%, and she’s still putting 17 on a good Duquesne team.”

Modkins gives the assists

Point guard Mariah Modkins had five assists and one turnover. Her assist-turnover ratio of 2.2-to-1 is third in the MAC. Her 4.0 assist-per-game average is tied for seventh in the conference. And her 45% 3-point average is 10th in the MAC.

Box score

Notes

  • Kent State’s overall shooting percentage of 45.3 was its best of the season. Duquesne’s was 44.4.
  • The Flashes scored 20 points off 13 Duquesne turnovers, all in the first half. The Dukes didn’t have a second-half turnover. Duquesne scored 12 off of 15 KSU turnovers.
  • Duquesne forward Laia Sole showed strong moves in the post and led the Dukes with 23 points. Amanda Kalin had 15 for Duquesne; she had scored 32 against Toledo on Friday.
  • Duquesne made the game’s first basket. 90 seconds later, Blackford hit a 3-pointer — her second of the season — and Kent State led for the last 38 minutes and 20 seconds.
  • The victory is Kent State’s second straight over Duquesne, a program that has averaged 22 wins over the last seven years. Last season KSU beat the Dukes 77-75 in its season opener on a shot at the buzzer. Duquesne still leads in the series 5-4.

Replay on ESPN+ (subscription required)

https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/f7969245-ffb8-41d0-9fa9-e0cdc9076d2fhttps://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/f7969245-ffb8-41d0-9fa9-e0cdc9076d2f

Other MAC scores

Monday

  • Central Michigan (4-2) 73, Loyola (2-2) 64 at Loyola.
  • Toledo (5-1) 64, North Dakota (0-6) 49 at Toledo.
  • Western Virginia (6-2) 88, Ohio (3-2) 79 at West Virginia
  • Eastern Michigan (4-3) 65, Tarleton (3-6) 59 at Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic.

Sunday

  • Ball State (3-3) 67, Akron (3-2) 60 at Akron.
  • No. 25 Gonzaga (4-2) 77, Eastern Michigan 68 at Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic.
  • Michigan State (6-0) 82, Northern Illinois (2-5) 70 at Michigan State.

Friday

  • Buffalo (4-2) 71, St. Bonaventure (1-2) 52 at Buffalo.
  • Bowling Green (5-1) 76, Morehead State (1-5) 61 at Morehead State.
  • Evansville (3-1) 66, Miami (1-4) 60 at Evansville.
Continue Reading
0
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.
Continue Reading
0
Kent State women's basketball

Just 17 months after graduation, Alexa Golden is a KSU assistant coach

By on Sunday, October 11, 2020
Alexa Golden and coach Todd Starkey after she checked out in her final game as a player at the MAC Tournament in 2019. (Photo by Austin Mariasy.)

In 2016, Alexa Golden made Kent State’s starting lineup as a freshman. When she graduated in 2019 as an all-MAC defensive player four years later, she had two degrees.

Now she is one of the youngest assistant coaches in the country.

Golden, who is just 23, officially got the job this week, barely a year after she became a graduate assistant and 10 months after she became the team’s director of basketball operations.

She had been doing the duties of an assistant since Morgan Toles left the Flashes in June for an assistant coaching job at Florida State, her alma mater. But promotions have been slow and complicated in Kent State’s COVID-hiring freeze.

“There aren’t many assistants so young,” coach Todd Starkey said in an interview this week. “It happens on a rare occasion, but it’s certainly not the standard.”

“She was always a coach on the floor for us when she was a player,” Starkey said in an earlier interview. “She’s an exceptional person. She’s earned everything she’s gotten, and it’s more about the job that somebody can do than the amount of experience they have.

“Lex has done an exceptional job at everything she’s done from player to GA to DOBO to assistant.”

Golden, who went to high school outside Pittsburgh, started 107 games for the Flashes over four years. She’s the only player in KSU women’s history to graduate with more than 500 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists 200 steals and 100 3-point baskets. Her senior year she was 19th in the country in steals.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in December of her junior year and a master’s in sports and recreation management in May 2019. She was a three-time Academic All-MAC selection.

Starkey has said one of the reasons he has always liked Golden in all of her roles is that “she hates to lose as much as I do.”

She is Kent State’s first new assistant since Mike McKee was hired at the start of Starkey’s second year. The KSU staff has been remarkably stable under Starkey, one of the reasons for the team’s 71-57 record and two MAC East titles in the coach’s four years.

Toles joined Starkey’s staff a month after he was hired.

“She meant a ton to our program,” Starkey said. “She was a phenomenal player development coach, a really good recruiter…and just part of our family. She’s missed, but we’ve also celebrated this great opportunity with her.”

Toles, who started at point guard at both Auburn and Florida State in college, had worked with KSU’s point guards. Associate head coach Fran Recchia will move into that role. Golden will work with wings, which was her position for the Flashes.

KSU also has added graduate assistant Dasia Logan, who graduated from St. Bonaventure in May. Logan started 38 games as a guard in two years for the Bonnies (she transferred from the College of Charleston). She played Kent State twice in those two years, scoring 18 points against the Flashes in 2018. (KSU won both games.)

Starkey said he hoped to hire a director of operations, which is sort of a hybrid administrative assistant/assistant coach, this fall. But that would depend on the state of Kent State’s hiring. The university is in a semi-hiring freeze, with each position having to be justified at several levels.

All about new transfer Bexley Wallace, a 6-3 post player who spent two years at Penn State, and 2021 recruit Lexy Linton, a 5-9 New Jersey guard. NCAA transfer rules require Wallace to sit out this season.

Shumate sidelined with knee injury

Sophomore wing Katie Shumate, Kent State’s second-leading scorer and rebounder last season, is out indefinitely after having knee surgery this summer.

“It was kind of a chronic thing she had played through,” Starkey said. “She played with a knee sleeve most of last year, and it was an irritant. So she went in to get that checked out and needed to have some stuff cleaned up.”

Will Shumate play at all this season?

“We don’t know,” Starkey said. “It’s a decision we’ve put on hold to see a couple of things — how her rehab continues and how the season starts to play out.”

Shumate, who made the MAC all-freshman team last season, is the third starting guard lost from last season’s lineup. Senior Megan Carter graduated and sophomore Asiah Dingle transferred to Stony Brook. Dingle led the team in scoring last season at 13.3 points a game, and Carter led the Flashes two years ago at 15.8. Shumate averaged 12.2 points last season.

Shumate’s logical replacement is junior Hannah Young, a four-time all-state selection in Virginia. She averaged 28 minutes over the Flashes’ last 10 games, averaging 6.4 points and 4.5 rebounds. She had 12 points against Toledo and Bowling Green and 11 against Ohio and had nine rebounds against Miami and eight against Northern Illinois. For most of her time at Kent, she played behind Golden, Carter and Shumate.

Sophomore guard Clare Kelly also likely will see an increased role while Shumate is out of action. Kelly averaged 2.5 points and 1.4 rebounds as a freshman and saw increased playing time in the second half of the conference season. She never did find the range that made her one of the state’s top 3-point shooters in high school.

The team posted this video of workouts and practices this week.

Schedule is still a work in progress

Starkey told the Record-Courier early last week that four of five non-conference games were “pretty much set.”

“Scheduling has been difficult, just like everything else these days,” he said.

“At this point, we are scheduled to have non-conference games,” Starkey said in his interview with wbbFlashes. “But to say anything is with a grain of salt. And that could change in any 24-hours news cycle.“

The earliest teams can play is No. 25, the day before Thanksgiving.

Kent State is scheduled to open conference play at Toledo on Wednesday, Dec. 30.

Dingle gets waiver to play this season

Dingle, who announced her transfer to Stony Brook, in April, has received a waiver from the NCAA to be immediately eligible to play. (Without the waiver, she would have to sit out a season.)

Dingle had applied for a hardship waiver. Part of her reason for transferring was to be closer to her father in Boston, who has had several strokes.

Continue Reading
1