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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.

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Kent State women's basketball

8-1 but coming off a COVID break, Flashes open MAC season against Toledo on Wednesday

By on Wednesday, December 29, 2021
A powder-blue game: The Flashes will wear new uniforms Wednesday. These players are (from left): sophomore Lexi Jackson, senior Annie Pavlansky, sophomore Casey Santoro and freshman Bridget Dunn. (Photo from team Twitter feed.)

Two questions loom over as the Kent State women’s Mid-American Conference Wednesday opener against Toledo.

  • Will the Flashes’ 8-1 non-league record translate into a successful conference season?
  • What’s is COVID-19 going to do to the rest of the women’s basketball season? Kent State’s Dec. 21 game against Florida State was canceled because of COVID problems for the Flashes.

We start to find out this week. After playing 6-3 Toledo at the M.A.C. Center Wednesday, the Flashes travel to 6-3 Western Michigan on Saturday.

The Toledo game is part of a doubleheader with the KSU men, who play Central Michigan at 4:30 p.m. The women will play a half-hour after that game finishes, probably about 7 p.m. A ticket to the men’s games gives you a free general admission ticket to the women (and most of the women’s seats are general admission).

The game will be streamed on Boxcast through the KSU website. It can be heard on the Kent State Radio Network and live statistics during and after that game can be found on the team website.

Do the Flashes have a MAC championship in them?

Kent has the best record in the conference. Every other team in the MAC has lost at least two more games.

The Flashes have played no cupcake schedule. They beat UCLA (then ranked No. 19 in the country, now 5-3) and Penn State (7-5) by solid margins in the Gulf Coast Showcase over Thanksgiving weekend. They opened the season on the road with an 80-73 win over Northern Kentucky (now 7-3).

Yes, they played two non-Division I teams and routed them by an average of 53 points. They didn’t play their best in their last two Division I games against St. Bonaventure and Duquesne.

But their schedule is rated between second and fourth hardest in the MAC by various services that do that kind of thing.

Kent State has piled up some fancy statistics in its best start to a season in 13 years. The Flashes:

  • Rank third in the country in 3-point shooting percentage (42.0%) and seventh in 3-pointers per game (10.2). The Flashes are 13th nationally in fewest turnovers per game (12.0), 17th in rebounding margin (+10.9) and 30th in scoring average (77.3 points per game.)
  • Were ranked 13th in this week’s College Insider Mid-Major Poll, highest of any MAC team. Buffalo is 18th. Kent State coach Todd Starkey and Ohio coach Bob Bolden are on the 31-member panel that votes in the poll.
  • Sophomore guard Casey Santoro is third in the country in 3-point percentage (54.55%) and 10th in the country with a 3.08 assist-to turnover ratio. Lindsey Thall is 43rd in 3-point percentage at 43.4%). KSU’s Katie Shumate actually averages an even higher percentage of 55.2%, but she hasn’t taken enough shots to qualify for the NCAA rankings.

NCAA statistics.

In the MAC, Kent State is:

  • Second in scoring offense (77.3), first in scoring margin (+17.9) and second in scoring defense (59.4).
  • First in 3-point percentage (42.0, more than 5 points ahead of any other team) and first in 3-pointers per game,
  • Third in field-goal defense (opponents are shooting 28.8%).
  • First in rebounding margin (+10.9, more than five rebounds a game ahead of any other team).
  • First in fewest turnovers per gtame (12.0), second in assist/turnover ratio (1.19).
  • Kent State players rank 1-2-3 in 3-point percentage: Shumate (55.2%), Santoro (54.5%) and Hannah Young (52.4%). Thall is ninth (43.4) and Bridget Dunn 12th (39.4%).
  • Nila Blackford is seventh in rebounding (7.8 a game), Thall is ninth (7.1) and Hannah Young 10th (7.0).
  • Shumate is fifth in field-goal percentage (52.2%) and Santoro fifth in free-throw percentage (85.7%).
  • Santoro leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio (3.1) and is ninth in assists per game (4.1).

MAC statistics.

“We’ve had a solid start,” coach Todd Starkey said. “Now we’re going to have to prove it game-in and game-out. Everybody is 0-0 now. Everybody in the league is solid.”

The Flashes need to focus on consistency, he said.

“There have been games we’ve played very well,” Starkey said. “There have been games we’ve played solid for 30 minutes— and the other 10 minutes hasn’t been the best.”

About Toledo

The Rockets have won six games but haven’t beaten any team with a record better than 4-7. They have played good teams well in their three losses, losing 69-60 to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Dayton (8-3) and 68-63 in overtime to Seton Hall of the Big East. Last week Toledo lost 60-46 to Missouri, the top-ranked mid-major team.

Toledo has the MAC’s best scoring defense (58.4 points per game, a point better than KSU) and best field-goal defense (35.8%).

Guard Quinesha Locket averages 18.6 points per game, sixth in the MAC. Point guard Sophia Wiard leads Toledo in rebounding (6.7 per game) and assists (4.1). She also averages 10.8 points a game.

Game preview from Toledo website.

The COVID conundrum

All 12 MAC teams were supposed to open the conference season Wednesday. Only four will. As of Tuesday night, four of six games had been canceled because of COVID outbreaks. Besides the Toledo-KSU game, the only other game is Central Michigan at Buffalo.

Kent State missed 10 days of practice (and the FSU game) because of a COVID outbreak that started just after the team’s 89-43 win over Clarion on Dec. 11.

Akron had three games non-conference games canceled, Eastern Michigan two and Northern Illinois one.

The Flashes returned to practice on Dec. 26. Starkey wouldn’t say much beyond “we’ll have enough healthy players” to play Toledo.

Starkey said this fall that all team members and coaches were vaccinated, but that was before booster shots and the Omricon variant.

As Kent State learned last year, early postponements in league play can be crippling. The Flashes started 5-0, then lost 25 days to COVID problems on the team. They ended up playing more games than any other MAC team in February to make up some of the missed contests and were pretty worn down by the end of the season.

But as has been the case since the pandemic started, there are more COVID questions than answers. Here are three on my mind:

How bad will this get? 65 Division I games scheduled for this week already had been canceled or postponed by Tuesday afternoon. The CDC reported more COVID infections yesterday than at any time in the pandemic, and a lot of experts are predicting a very bad January because of the Omricon variant.

Will colleges adapt the new CDC recommendation that cuts quarantine time to five days (from 10) for non-symptomatic infections and for people who had had close contact with someone who was infected? Those five days could be the difference between one game being canceled to losing three games. State and local health authorities, plus individual schools and conferences, would have to sign off on that. The recommendations are so new that we won’t know the answer to this question for days.

Will Kent State’s early problems help it in the long run? Previous infection can help build immunity and prevent COVID for a time. Perhaps this season KSU will watch other teams wear themselves out making up postponed games. But teams can be hit by COVID more than once. That happened to KSU last season, but that was pre-vaccination.

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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.

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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

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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.
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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

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

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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