On Wednesday, the women played a good first half and a horrible second half when they beat Western Michigan.
Saturday Buffalo beat them up badly in the first half, then the Flashes outplayed them in the second, still losing 75-66.
I'm not terribly discouraged. I never expected them to beat Buffalo, which has an RPI of 24, the best in the MAC.
And last year, Buffalo beat Kent State three times by an average of 30 points. So we can see progress.
Kent still has to win some games. Wednesday will be a good test. They play at Eastern Michigan, a team with a worse record that KSU beat by seven at home in the first game of the MAC season.
Kent is 5-5 and in seventh in the league, one game behind Toledo and Northern Illinois. Overall they are 12-9. Buffalo is 8-2, tied for second in the MAC and 16-5 overall.
On Saturday the Flashes turned the ball over seven times and gave up six offensive rebounds in the first five minutes. They trailed by 14 at halftime and 20 early in the third quarter.
Then things clicked. They shot under 30 percent on all field goals and three-pointers in the first half; in the second they shot over 50. They pulled within four with about seven minutes to go, but Buffalo superstar Cierra Dillard took over. She finished with 31 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, as close to a triple double as I've seen ill college.
Ali Poole and Megan Carter had 16 for KSU. Alexa Golden had 15.
Full story on the blog at
http://wbbflashes.com.