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

The women play Toledo tonight in the last of the four quarterfinal games. Game should start between 7:30 and 8. (It depends on the length of the earlier games.)

The two teams are the hottest in the MAC. Toledo has won five in a row, including road victories against the No. 2 seed Ball State and No. 4 seed Northern Illinois. For the season, the Rockets are 22-8.

Kent State has won seven in a row and won the MAC East outright for its first division title in 12 years. Kent State is 19-11 and has won more games than the last three years combined.

The Flashes beat Toledo 70-60 in Kent Jan. 24. Since then, Kent is 9-2, Toledo 10-2. Toledo has back starting guard Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott, who missed the first Kent game with a concussion. Toledo is a deep, athletic team that starts four guards. Three of them were all-conference (one second team and two third team). The fourth was on the all-freshman team.

Since the first Toledo game, Kent State has gotten a great deal more scoring from players other than Larissa Lurken and Jordan Korinek, who were both named to all-MAC teams Tuesday. (Lurken was conference player of the year.) Since Jan. 24, McKenna Stephens has scored in double figures in seven of 11 games. Megan Carter has scored 10 or more four times. In the last four games, Alexa Golden is 7 of 13 in three-point shooting.

In the first game, no Kent player besides Lurken and Korinek scored more than 5 points.

To me, the key to the game is Kent State's defense. When the Flashes held MAC opponents under 70 points, they were 11-0.

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