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

The women opened with an 80-73 win at Northern Kentucky as sophomore point guard Casey Santoro had 19 points, nine in the last three minutes.

The Flashes showed the most depth I've seen in coach Todd Starkey's five (now his sixth) seasons. Nine players played more than 16 minutes. Four scored in double figures. Seven scored at least seven points.

Lindsey Thall was the only player to go more than 30 minutes (she played 37). In previous seasons, KSU sometimes had five people play more than 30.

Thall had a fancy scorebook line: 17 points, three 3-pointers, a team-leading eight rebounds, three blocked shots, three steals and two assists.

Senior guard Hannah Young made her first early season start (she had started a few games in midseason because of injuries). She scored 11 points, had six rebounds and blocked two shots. Nila Blackford, last year's leading scorer, had 10 points, all in the second half.

West Virginia transfer Abby Ogle, a 2020 junior college all-American, had eight points, three steals and three assists. Freshman forward Bridget Dunn had seven points, four rebounds and a steal. Junior Katie Shumate had eight points.

The game was close throughout. KSU led by as many as 10, NKU by as many as eight. Kent led 67-66 when Santoro hit a 3-point shot with 1:08 to go, after which the Flashes pulled away.

KSU shot 50.9% from the field and 50% from 3-point distance. Northern Kentucky made 45% of its shots.

Northern Kentucky is a decent team, picked to finish fourth in the Horizon League. Its best player, a transfer from Louisville, scored 27 points.

Story is on the blog at HTTP://wbbFlashes.com.