The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Great home win vs BGSU for the KSU Women's Basketball. How the tides have changed. Under Kurt Miller BGSU was almost unbeatable for several years.

Kent State hosts Northern Illinois on Saturday, a team that used a fourth-quarter rally to beat KSU in Dekalb, 81-79, on Jan. 3.

Northern is 2-8 in the MAC. The only other team the Huskies have beaten is Buffalo, which leads the East Division. Overall NIU is 10-11.

Kent State is 4-6 and 11-11 on the season.

Game time is 2 p.m. at the MACC.

Preview is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

Kent State's women's basketball team fell behind 19-13 after the first quarter and never could catch up to Northern Illinois. Losing 72-62 at the MACC.

The loss drops the Flashes to 4-7 in the MAC and 11-12 overall. NIU is 3-8 and 11-11, The Huskies are the third team behind the Flashes in the standings that KSU has lost to. That fact is starting to put Kent State's chance for a home game in the MAC Tournament in serious question.


Northern scored heavily on transition baskets in the first half, outscoring the Flashes 11-2 on fast-break baskets in the first 10 minutes and 19-4 for the game.


Kent State tied the game midway in the third quarter and got within four points in the middle of the fourth quarter. But NIU always bounced back with runs of its own.


Megan Carter led Kent State with 19 points. Jordan Korinek had 14 but struggled with foul trouble and played just 27 minutes. Freshman guard Erin Thames, starting her second straight game, scored 13 points — more than she had in all her previous games combined.


Courtney Woods, the MAC's leading scorer, led Northern with 21 points, nine of them in the first quarter and 14 in the first half.

The women have a tough test tonight at Buffalo, the MAC East leaders who are having one of their best seasons in school history.

Bulls are 17-4 and 8-2 in the conference, losing only to league-leader Central Michigan and Northern Illinois. They may have the conference's best newcomer -- 5-9 guard Cierra Dillard, a transfer from Massachusetts. She averages 15.7 points a game.

Buffalo has five seniors that have played major minutes in their careers, including point guard Stephanie Reid, one of the best in the conference.

KSU's Jordan Korinek is second in the conference in scoring but the Flashes have had difficulty finding a consistent second threat and a consistent three-point shooter.

Kent State is 4-7 in the MAC and 11-12 overall.

Full preview on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

Buffalo held Kent State to 21 percent shooting — lowest in at least five years — in an 80-42 rout of the Flashes in Buffalo Wednesday.

It was KSU’s worst loss of the season and second largest margin of defeat in Todd Starkey’s two years as coach in Kent. The worst was a 42-point loss to Baylor, ranked No. 5 in the country at the time last year.

The Bulls ran to a 25-9 first-quarter lead. KSU played them fairly evenly in the second and third quarters but then were blown out 24-10 in the fourth quarter.

Jordan Korinek, the MAC’s second-leading scorer, had 22 points for Kent State. But no other KSU player had more than five.

Kent State made one of 17 three-point shots after making four of 23 Saturday against Northern Illinois.

Buffalo leads the MAC East and is second in the MAC overall with an 10-2 conference record (19-4 overall). Kent State is 4-8 in conference play and 11-13 for the season.

Full story on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

The women play Ohio at 2 p.m. Saturday at the MACC.

Flashes have home games left against Ohio, Miami and Buffalo, teams ahead of them in the MAC East. KSU, which has lost two in a row in disappointing fashion, has to start winning at home to salvage a disappointing conference season.

KSU is 4-8 in the MAC and 11-13 overall. The Flashes were 13-5 last season but haven't found a consistent second scoring threat after Jordan Korinek, who is second in the conference at 22.5 points per game.

Ohio is 6-5 and 12-10. The Bobcats have played one of the MAC's toughest schedule and lost by just two to league-leading Central Michigan at home on Wednesday. Last Saturday they beat Ball State, the league's third best team by fur points, also in Athens.

Full preview is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

Ohio went on an 8-0 run after Kent State had closed Saturday's game to four points and beat the Flashes, 78-65.

KSU led only in the first minutes of the game, but things were between four and nine points for most of the game until Ohio's streak with about five minutes to go.

The defeat drops Kent's record to 4-9 in the Mid-American Conference and 11-14 overall. The Flashes have lost three games in a row and four of their last five. Ohio is 7-5 in the conference and 13-10 overall.

Jordan Korinek led Kent State with 21 points and 11 rebounds. McKenna Stephens had 14 and four assists. Alexa Golden had five steals. 

Four Ohio players scored in double figures, led by Amani Burke with 20 points off the bench. 

Full story on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

The women play Miami at about 4:30 p.m. in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader at the MACC. The men play Akron at 2 p.m.

Miami is having a good year under first-year coach Megan Duffy, a former assistant at Michigan. The Redhawks are 15-9 and 7-6 in the MAC. They're led by 5-3 point guard Lauren Dickerson, who is second in the conference in scoring at 20.8 points per game. Kent State's Jordan Korinek is just behind her at 2.6.

KSU is 4-9 in the MAC, 11-14 overall, and has lost three in a row.

Preview is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

Miami made 9 of 17 three-point shots while Kent State made just one of 13 as the Flashes fell to the Redhawks, 65-59, at the M.A.C. Center Saturday.

Miami also outscored the Flashes 16-8 off turnovers.

Kent State dominated scoring in the paint and in rebounding but saw its record drop to 4-10 in the MAC and 11-15 overall. Miami is 8-6 and 16-9.

Jordan Korinek and Megan Carter each had 17 points for the Flashes. McKenna Stephens had nine points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

Kent State held Miami's Lauren Dickerson, the conferences second-leading scorer to 13 point on four of 13 shooting. But four other Redhawks scored in double figures.

Full story on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

It’s funny how human nature works. This team had 5 miserable seasons and finally turned it around last year. This year they play like their very satisfied with what they accomplished last year. Starkey during the post game interview said his team has a lot of players who think their shooters but none of them practice enough at it to be good shooters. Interesting. There is no doubt that they throw up their share of bricks though. I don’t like when a coach in a post game radio show, usually without thinking about what he is saying, makes critical comments but this team might need a kick in the you know what. It should be better even without Lurken. Poole hurt her knee in the first half and did not return. The way she was walking it didn’t look serious but walking and playing basketball are two different things. We will see.

What is going on with years team? I realize that they lost Lurken, but the entire team returned and added 4 freshmen. Some of Todd Starkey's comments have been interesting in the post game interviews (Some of this depends on personnel, they just don't want it enough, etc.). Last year, KSU had 2 assistants and a DBO, this year they have 3 assistants & a DBO, but for some reason they can't develop these players and get the most out of them.

Remaining regular season: At Ohio, Home vs Akron, Home vs Buffalo, & At Miami of Ohio. Can they win 2 or 3 of those games? Can they make some noise in the MAC Tournament?

Statistics for this year's team: http://www.kentstatesports.com/cumestats...&year=2017

Looks like Sape, Eibel, & Toles redshirted as they didn't play in enough games to burn the redshirt.

I understand that he didn't recruit the majority of the players on the roster currently (only 5 of them), but if he is still talking about personnel next year and the year after, than we have a bigger problem on our hands. He inherited Korinek, Lurken, Stephens, & Cross, so he has to balance the good & bad with what he inherited.

Zenobia Bess, Jordan Korinek, Naddiyah Cross, & McKenna Stephens all graduate/use up their eligibility after this season and they have all played huge minutes this season and last season, so next year will truly be Todd Starkey's team (Lurken graduated last year and these 4 this year).

Next years senior class = Merissa Barber-Smith, Alexa Golden, & Tyra James.

Ali Poole & Megan Carter will be juniors next year.

For those of you who have been at practice and games this year, which of the 5 freshmen looks the most promising? Erin Thames (Guard), Kasey Toles (Guard), Monique Smith (Guard), Margaux Eibel (Guard), & Amanda Sape (Forward)?

Link to KSU Women's Basketball Recruiting Class: http://kentstatesports.com/news/2017/11/...ath=wbball
It looks like a very talented class and with Starkey's comments he expects Lindsey Thall (Forward) to step in and start right away and same with Annie Pavlansky (Wing).

It will be interesting to see how much Starkey/staff can develop the freshmen coming in, the freshmen on campus already, & Carter/Poole/Golden/James returning as the upper classmen.

I’ve seen all the games (no practices) and I’m not too high on any of the new players.
Sape and Eibel have not played any meaningful minutes so I assume they are not better than what we have. Admittedly passing up Korinek and Stevens is not going to happen but Barber-Smith and Bess are not the best backups yet Sape and Eibel were not able to earn even 5 to 10 minutes. I have to assume they don’t show much in practice. Toles played some in non conference (before Carter was eligible) but did not impress. She did not show her 3 point shooting skills and she is slow. She has to improve a ton to get onto the court next year. Monica Smith has earned a few minutes lately and might become a role player. She appears to have some athleticism but has a way to go. Thames has essentially earned some back up point guard minutes and as of now is the best of the crop. She by no means is guaranteed time next year especially if the recruited point guard is as good as advertised. The other odd thing is Tyra James is glued to the bench along with Sape and Eibel. She was a 10 ppg starter two years ago before her injury but can’t get any minutes. I have to assume the knee is still an issue or she just doesn’t fit Starkey’s style. It’s a bit of a mystery to me.

I’ll give Starkey a pass on the recruits since he did not have much time to pull it together. Next years class will be truer test. His game day performance is a bit more troubling however. They start games poorly way too often and always seem to have bad stretches early in the fourth quarter at critical times. He blames it on lack of focus which might be true but I hold him responsible for at least some of that. If you watch his team warm up it’s not very impressive. He is right there is lack of focus but I would think the coaching staff could correct some of that. They do have all their pre game hand shakes perfected though.

As of now I’m still on the fence. I’m worried last year was more Lurken on her own than anything Starkey accomplished. Yes I believe he allowed Lurken to do it (where O’Banion never would) but it’s possible her great season covered up some of his weaknesses which are now being exposed. Hey 11 wins is 4 more than we won during our 5 years in hell. If his team has bottomed out this year and turns it around it will work.

Certainly this season, especially the conference, has been terribly disappointing. I'm sure it's even more disappointing for the players and coaches than for us.

What's happened?

Losing Lurken, of course. She was just one starter, but she was the best player in the MAC last season.

So last year they had two stars. This year they have one. Northern Illinois lost its star guard, too, and is struggling. Akron hasn't been the same since that great forward they had a few years ago graduated. Eastern lost two star guards (and coach) and fell to last place. Some teams can reload -- Central, Toledo and Buffalo -- but it's hard.

But I think the reason last year's team won the East wasn't Lurken. She was scoring 22 points a game when they were a .500 team. They won the conference because Stephens and Korinek and Carter, and to a lesser extent Golden and Barber-Smith, made big jumps in the second half of the conference season, when KSU won eight of its last nine.

I don't think there's anybody on the team who is playing better now than they were playing at the start of conference season.

The competition has been tougher. The MAC has three teams in the top 40 RPI, six in the top 90. No team is below 220. I remember the league have three teams below 300.


The freshman class hasn't shown much. It came together late; none of the players was even second-team all-state in high school.

I thought there was some potential, especially Monique Smith from San Diego. She hasn't got much of a chance and hasn't shown a great deal when she did play. She played post in high school but is 5-10. At post, she's behind Korinek and Stephens. She hasn't figured out the wing. I do suspect she'll start and contribute significantly before she graduates.

I never would have dreamed Thames would get the most playing time of the class -- her statistics were least impressive of the four. But Starkey has been trying to find a point guard since the day he walked in. He has two coming in next year; I'm not sure Thames can beat either of them out.

Toles didn't show me much in preseason. With all the other shooting guards returning and three, maybe four, really good guards coming in, I'm not sure she'll ever be a big contributor. Amanda Sape, the 6-2, 200-plus pound center, had shoulder surgery last summer and didn't really practice until October. I thought they were gong to redshirt her, but she's played about four minutes. Maybe she'll develop. Sometimes bigs do.

On redshirts: There will be none. The only way you can play and get a redshirt is that if you are injured and have played only a limited number of games. Once you've played even a minute, that year's eligibility is counted (barring injury).

On paper, next year's freshman class is really impressive. GoFlashes7 mentions Thall and Pavlansky. They're probably the third and fourth best recruits, and they're good. Pavlansky (from Cortland Lakeview) looks like a good three-point shooter, something we haven't had in years. Thall (from Strongsville) is also supposed to be a very good outsider shooter for a forward. She's about 6-foot but has blocked 13 shots (literally) in a game.

The best two, though, are point guard Asiah Dingle from Massachusetts and guard Hannah Young of Virginia. Both are the best players on two of the best teams in their state. I just saw that Dingle had 29 points in a close tournament game; she had nine steals in a game earlier this season. Young was player of the year in her division as a junior and seems to be playing as well this season. Both average about 19 points a game.

One more recruit is point guard Mariah Modkins of Solon, which is one of the best teams in Ohio. She's very small -- maybe 5 feet -- but supposed to be very quick.

All that sounds great. But I'm not sure even a great freshman class makes a team an instant contender.

And we are losing all of our post scoring. Korinek will be as hard to replace as Lurken was; she'll finish the season as one of the top five scorers in KSU history. Stephens has started almost every game for three years.

Thall is pretty likely to start. If Barber-Smith is back (Starkey said he thought she would be), she'll be strong on defense and rebounding. But 10 points a game would be spectacular from her.

I wouldn't be surprised if Starkey went after a graduate transfer post player. BG did that successfully a couple of years ago. But no guarantees he'll get one.

Returning players? Golden is one of the best defensive players in the MAC. She showed some scoring before Christmas but not much in conference play. Carter can score; her defense and ball-handling is suspect at times. Poole can score and her defense is much improved. Both she and Carter are probably not much behind where Lurken was as a sophomore (but that team was 5-25).

I have no idea what happened to Tyra James. At the beginning of the season, Starkey spoke well of her and she was practicing with the starters.

With the incoming freshmen, that's a lot of guards. We may see a four-guard offense at times next year? Poole, Pavlansky and Young all have decent size. Smith is sort of a guard-forward.

Is Starkey the brilliant coach we though he was last season? Or the coach who hasn't been able to get his team out of a funk for most of the conference season? I continue to think he's a good X's and O's coach. Game plans have generally been good. A year ago he talked about how well the team made mid-game adjustments. That hasn't happened as much this year. Starkey has said in many a postgame interview that he and his staff needed to coach better (and players needed to execute better). But I'd give him an encouraging incomplete for now.

Can they win a couple more games this season? There's enough talent on this team to win almost any night; remember they were ahead of Michigan at halftime. But Ohio, Miami and Buffalo are all top 100 RPI teams. Miami and Ohio are on the road. Buffalo is at Kent but very good. KSU ought to beat Akron in Kent, but they should have beaten Akron at Akron and didn't come close. Tournament is likely to be on the road at some place like Western or Toledo. They did win at Toledo this season in their best conference game.

Even with this awful conference season, we're in a better place than we were a year ago. Next year, maybe .500, maybe better if everything falls into place.

Last year everything did. This year, very little did.

Kent State played its best game in a month but fell at Ohio, 79-78.

The Flashes, down nine points early in the fourth quarter, took a three-point lead with three minutes to go and led by one with 1:13 left. But two foul shots by Taylor Agler gave Ohio the lead 13 seconds later.

Kent State got two shots off in its last possession, but neither went in.

The loss drops KSU to 4-11 in the MAC and 11-16 on the season. Ohio is 9-6 and 15-11.

Jordan Korinek had 26 points for Kent State and didn't miss a shot. She made nine of nine field goals attempts, including her only three-point shot, and seven of seven free throws. She also had nine rebounds.

Tyra James had a season-high 15 points off the bench and Alexa Golden had 14, 12 in the second half. Golden also had 10 rebounds for the first double-double of her career.

Ohio freshman guard Cierra Hooks had 21 points, nine steals and eight assists.

Story at http://wbbflashes.com.

Definitely their best game in awhile. Just couldn’t pull it out. The slow start did not help. Both the men’s and women’s team seem to be unpredictable this year. Never know which team will show up.

The women host Akron at 2 p.m. Saturday at the MACC.

KSU (4-11, 11-16) lost to the Zips 76-60 in January in a low point of a season with too many low points. Akron (2-13, 8-18) and Bowling Green are the only teams behind KSU in the standings. Kent has lost to both.

The Flashes are coming off of their best game in a month -- a tough 79-78 loss at Ohio. Akron lost to Miami on Wednesday, 77-50.

The game is Senior Day for the Flashes, honoring Jordan Korinek, McKenna Stephens, Zenobia Bess and Naddiyah Cross. It's also part of the Wagon Wheel Challenge, in which KSU trails Akron, 4.0-2.0.

The KSU men host Bowling Green at 6 p.m., but it's not officially a doubleheaders. So you would need two tickets.

Full preview is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

McKenna Stephens and Jordan Korinek both had double-doubles to lead Kent State past Akron, 60-55.


The two forwards have played together for four years. Korinek had 16 points and 10 rebounds against Akron; Stephens had 14 points and 11 rebounds.


Korinek is a true senior and the No. 6 scorer in Kent State history. Stephens is a grad student, having gotten her degree in May. She returned because she had a year of eligibility left after transferring from Michigan State. Both players chose Kent State over offers from Akron when they were deciding on colleges.


The Flashes, who lost to Akron 76-60 in January, controlled Saturday's game through three quarters, then held off an Akron rally that made it a two-point game with a minute to go.
Junior guard Alexa Golden made five of six foul shots in the fourth quarter and had 14 points overall.

Full story on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

Women close their home season tonight against 23-4 Buffalo, which is 14th in the latest RPI rankings.

That may be the highest ranking for a MAC team ever in the RPI at this stage of the season. The Bulls probably aren't even the best team in the MAC. Central Michigan is first in the overall standings at 15-1; Buffalo is 14-2. The teams split this season. Buffalo's other loss was in overtime at Northern Illinois. Central is 27th in the RPI.

Both teams have a good shot at making the NCAA tournament. It would be the first time two MAC teams made it in more than 20 years.

The Bulls were picked first in the preseason MAC poll. Kent State was second, but the Flashes have struggled through the conference season, with a win at Toledo being their only victory against a team above them in the standings. Kent State is 5-11 in the conference and 12-16 overall.

Full preview, including a look at what probably is the MAC's best overall season in conference history, is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

(02-28-2018 01:10 PM)cschierh Wrote:  Women close their home season tonight against 23-4 Buffalo, which is 14th in the latest RPI rankings.

That may be the highest ranking for a MAC team ever in the RPI at this stage of the season. The Bulls probably aren't even the best team in the MAC. Central Michigan is first in the overall standings at 15-1; Buffalo is 14-2. The teams split this season. Buffalo's other loss was in overtime at Northern Illinois. Central is 27th in the RPI.

Both teams have a good shot at making the NCAA tournament. It would be the first time two MAC teams made it in more than 20 years.

The Bulls were picked first in the preseason MAC poll. Kent State was second, but the Flashes have struggled through the conference season, with a win at Toledo being their only victory against a team above them in the standings. Kent State is 5-11 in the conference and 12-16 overall.

Full preview, including a look at what probably is the MAC's best overall season in conference history, is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

I’m pretty sure seventh in Conference RPI is our best at least back to 1990. I haven’t followed RPI too closely since neither Kent team has been ranked too high since 2008 or so. If it hasn’t changed too much a 14 and 27 ranking should make it and 36 will be borderline . My rule of thumb is at 36 you should be a 9 seed but since it’s a MAC team add 2 to 3 to that. If there are too many Conference Tournament upsets a 36 won’t be good enough. Looking at Nolan’s Elo ratings the MAC teams drop from 14,27 and 36 to 26,27 and 46. Still a good chance to make two. Unfortunately there are still at least one and probably three head to head games left so everything can change.

I think the last time we had two was Toledo and Kent in 1996 when both were 10 seeds. At least that’s the only one I remember. Regardless how it ends the league is pretty tough this year.

The women lost to Buffalo 81-51 in Jordan Korinek and McKenna Stephens' last games at the MACC.

Between them, they had started 193 games in their four years on campus. Korinek, second in the MAC in scoring, had 14 points and seven rebounds. She moved into fifth place all time for KSU in scoring Wednesday. Stephens had 10 points and four assists.

Kent State kept the game fairly close in the first half against the Bulls, who are 24-4 and 16th in RPI rankings after Wednesday's games. But Buffalo had four steals in the third quarter and pushed the lead to 18 after three minutes of the second half.

The loss locks Kent State (5-12 in the MAC, 12-17 overall) into a 10th seed inn next week's MAC Tournament. The Flashes are likely to play at Toledo or Western Michigan in the first round Monday.

KSU's final regular season game is at Miami Saturday.

Full game story is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.