The first half felt just like the games against Iowa and Minnesota before Christmas, when they were blown out by about 30. KSU shot 18 percent, Michigan 46. Kent had 11 turnovers and the score was 43-22.
The second half was astonishing. Kent State just dominated the third-place team in the Big Ten, a team that probably should have made the NCAA tournament.
They outscored Michigan 38-24. They outrebounded them 22-15 (46-34 for the game). They outscored them 20-10 on second-chance points. They had just four turnovers; Michigan had eight.
Star of the game, perhaps, was 6-4 sophomore Merissa Barber-Smith. She had a career-high eight points and a career-high 13 rebounds, in just 19 minutes. Most of that was against Michigan's 6-5 all-Big Ten center.
Lurken had 19. Her sixth free throw in the first half broke the NCAA record for most free throws made in a season (280).
McKenna Stephens had 11, including seven when Kent State rallied in the third quarter. (Lurken didn't score a point in that rally.) Jordan Korinek had 10.
Kent State finishes the season 19-13. A year ago the Flashes were 6-23.
Michigan is 23-9. The Wolverines will play Wright State in the second round of the WNIT. Wright State, a team KSU beat by 10 points on the road in December, upset MAC regular-season champion Central Michigan 66-64 Thursday.
As always, full story is on the blog at
http://wbbFlashes.com. It includes lots of quotes from Starkey and Lurken.