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

Kent State somehow has reversed the team's offensive and defensive stats in the last five games.

When Kent State went 3-2 to start the MAC season, the team ranked third in points per game and last in field goal defense.

Now they're 5-5 and lead the MAC in field goal defense and are last in points per game.

I have no idea why. The second-five teams don't have hugely better defenses or a much better record.

It is pretty clear the Flashes' played excellent defense last week against Bowling Green and Ohio, two good offensive teams. But their scoring has dropped 12 points a game from the first five games to to the second. The numbers:

GAMES 1-5: Kent State averaged 72.6 points per game. Opponents averaged 69.8.

GAMES 6-10: Kent State averaged 58.2. Opponents averaged 60.8.

Theories welcome.

--

Four MAC teams won on the road Saturday, which shook up the "golf" standings.
-- Central Michigan went 11-0 by breaking Miami's three-game winning streak.
-- Toledo beat Buffalo 78-62 in Buffalo. Bulls have lost three straight.
-- Eastern Michigan came from behind to beat Western Michigan 83-79.
-- Northern Illinois tied Bowling Green at the buzzer, then won 92-87 in overtime.

Ball State held Akron to two field goals in the fourth quarter to win at home 60-52. Kent State plays at Akron Wednesday.


THE "GOLF" STANDINGS

They give a team -1 for a road win (a “birdie”) and adds a point for a home loss (a “bogey.” A home win or road loss gets zero (“par”).

-6
-- Central Michigan (11-0, 18-4)

-2
-- Ohio (8-3, 15-7)

-1
-- Ball State (7-3, 15-7)
-- Toledo (6-4, 11-10)
-- Eastern Michigan (6-5, 11-11)

Even
-- Kent State (5-5, 12-9)

+1
-- Buffalo (4-6, 13-8)
-- Western Michigan (4-6, 11-10)
-- Northern Illinois (3-7, 7-14)

+2
-- Miami (4-7, 11-12)
-- Akron (3-7, 10-11)

+4
-- Bowling Green (1-9, 8-14).

More details on the KSU stats, the standings and the report card on KSU's 63-57 loss at Ohio is on the blog at http://wbbFlashes.com.

The women will play at Akron at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Nine of the Zips' 10 MAC games have been decided by eight points or less, but Akron is 3-7. They came within five points of first-place Central Michigan in their opener in January and lost 60-52 at third-place Ball State Saturday.

Overall Akron is 10-11 overall.

Kent State is in sixth place in the MAC at 5-5 but just a game out of fourth, which would give it a first-round bye at the league tournament. Flashes are 12-9 overall.

Akron starts three seniors and two juniors, giving it the most experienced starting lineup in the MAC. Zips are led by senior forward Haliegh Reinoehl, who is second in the league with 9.2 rebounds per game and averages 15.9 points. Jordyn Dawson, a 5-11 transfer from Wabash Valley College, averages 13.2 points and leads the Zips in assists and steals.

Game is worth a half point in the Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge. Kent currently leads 3-2.5. Akron has won the competition the last four years, all by 7.5-6.5 scores.

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

The women outscored Akron 7-2 in the last two minutes to pull out a 60-55 win.

Key plays at the end were an offensive rebound by Hannah Young, who passed it to Lindsey Thall, who must have been six feet beyond the 3-point line. Thall drained it.

Kent State pressed on the inbounds pass. Nila Blackford stole the ball and passed it to Asiah Dingle, who drove the basket for a traditional three-point play.

Dingle had 20 points and four steals in 20 minutes, coming off the bench for the third straight game. She had three assists and made six of seven shots. In the third quarter, she made a nice pass to Blackford for an inside basket. She stole the ball on Ohio's next possession and drove three-quarters of the court for a basket. Then she stole the inbounds pass and made another layup.

Those six points in 35 seconds turned the game. Akron had led by seven.

Katie Shumate had 12 points and seven rebounds for KSU. Nila Blackford had 10 points and nine rebounds. Blackford hit her head hard on the floor coming down after she fought for a rebound in the last 30 seconds. Starkey said he hadn't talked to the trainers, but it's the kind of hit that can put players in concussion protocol.

Thall blocked five shots.

Kent State plays Toledo at the M.A.C.C. Saturday. The teams are tied for fifth in the conference, a game out of fourth.

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

https://nypost.com/2020/02/13/high-schoo...ing-melee/

Terrible look from one of our future Flashes!

(02-13-2020 05:06 PM)ksu315 Wrote:  https://nypost.com/2020/02/13/high-schoo...ing-melee/

Terrible look from one of our future Flashes!

KSU does not need that type of player. Rescind any scholarship offer. Maybe she should hook-up with Duke. They seem to tolerate that kind of crap.

#GoFlashes

Here's all I know about the Santoro incident from a blog posted tonight. I didn't post until there was news about her discipline. She was suspended for a game, which her team lost, costing it an undefeated season. She also apologized on Twitter Wednesday. Link to clip is at end.

Sorry about the length, but...

Casey Santoro, Kent State’s star recruit from Bellevue High School, made national news in a bad way this week.

A short video clip that went viral showed Santoro pulling the hair of a Norwalk High School player as the players were running upcourt after Santoro made a 3-point basket. The Norwalk player fell to the ground. Officials didn’t call a foul; it was unclear whether they saw the incident.

Some people on Twitter and commentary websites castigated Santoro and, sometimes, Kent State, where she has signed a letter of intent to receive a basketball scholarship next year.

Bellevue officials suspended Santoro for Tuesday’s game against Shelby, which is Bellevue’s top rival in the Division II Ashland District. Santoro’s absence helped cost her team its undefeated record. Shelby won 56-43. The two teams could meet again in the district finals. Both teams are 20-1.

Bellevue coach Korey Santoro, who is Casey’s father, said told the Sandusky Register that Casey would play in Thursday’s final regular season game against Sandusky.

Casey Santoro issued an apology Wednesday on her team’s Twitter feed:

“I would like to publicly apologize to Norwalk’s Olivia Ward, and all basketball fans in the area for this past weekend’s unfortunate incident. My intentions were never to hurt anyone.

“I know it’s brought a lot of negative attention to our area and the game I love. I will learn from this and become a better person because of it.”

Ward suffered a concussion and won’t play the rest of the season.

Santoro is averaging 25 points a game and recently scored the 2,000th point of her high school career. She has twice been district player of the year and twice been first-team all-state in Division II.

I’ve followed Casey online since she verbally committed to Kent State last February. I’ve never read anything negative about her before. An KSU assistant once described her to me as “tough as nails.” It was a compliment.

After the incident, Casey’s teammates tweeted about her as a great teammate and a good person. Ward’s friends and teammates last Norwalk tweeted the same things about her.

I’ve been sick and haven’t had a chance to ask Kent State coach Todd Starkey about the incident. On Twitter, he “liked” her apology.

Here's link to the clip.
https://twitter.com/livward11/status/122...flashes%2F

The family of a Norwalk High player involved in a hair-pulling incident says they accept the apology of Kent State recruit Casey Santoro.

Santoro apologized for the incident on her team's Twitter feed.

The Norwalk player's father posted on Facebook that the two families would meet soon. He criticized "hateful, threatening comments" directed at Santoro and asked people to "please stop." He said his family "did not want to see Casey's life and future ruined over this."

A video of the play went viral and was was retweeted hundreds, if not thousands, of times. It was written about by TMZ, the New York Post and the Washington Post, among others, and reported by local newspapers as well as Cleveland and Toledo television stations. Some people on Twitter and commentary websites castigated Santoro and, sometimes, Kent State, where she has signed a letter of intent to play next year. She and her family have received threats.

The father, Jason Ward quoted his daughter Olivia as saying, "‘Dad, I know how hard I have worked to get where I am at and set myself up for the future. I know that Casey has worked just as hard, and I don’t want to see her to lose everything over this."

Olivia Ward is done for the season with a concussion. She will attend Division II Tiffin next year on a volleyball scholarship. There's an updated post on the blog at https://wordpress.com/view/wbbflashes.com. The Santoro report is in the middle of a multi-topic post.

The women have a big game against Toledo Saturday at the M.A.C.C.

The teams are tied for fifth at 6-5 in the conference, a half game behind Eastern Michigan. he top four teams in the league get a first-round bye in the conference tournament next month.

Kent State lost at Toledo 69-60 last month. If they lose again, Toledo will get the higher seed if the teams tie at the end of the season. If Kent wins, the teams will go to a secondary tie-breaker, which can get complicated and won't be clear until the end of the season.

Saturday's game is the second of a doubleheader with the KSU men, who play Ohio at 1 p.m. The women's came will start about a half hour after the men finish, probably about 3:30. The game is Kent's Play4Kay game, honoring cancer survivors and raising money for research into women's cancers.

One ticket gets you in both games.

In the first game between the teams, Kent State led 31-28 at halftime, but Toledo controlled the second half. The Rockets outscored KSU from the foul line 26-6 in that game. It was the first of four games that have seen Kent State struggle to draw and make free throws.

Earlier in the season, KSU led the MAC in free throw percentage. In their last four games, they've shot only 43 free throws and made only 24. That's 56%.

Toledo has balanced scoring led by guards Nakiah Black (13.6 points in MAC play) and Mariella Santucci (12.7 points). Santucci has averaged 20 points over Toledo's last four games, including a career high 31 against Miami. Santucci also is third in the conference in assists.

KSU point guard Asiah Dingle didn't play in the first meeting because of a two-game suspension. Since she's been back, she's averaged 14 points and made 64% of her shots.

Forward Nila Blackford, KSU's leading scorer (13.4) and rebounder (7.7), is questionable for Saturday's game. She hit her head on the court in Wednesday's game against Akron in a battle for a rebound. She lay on the floor for more than a minute before being helped off.

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

The women played perhaps their best game of the season in routing Toledo 87-68.

It was the most points the Flashes have scored this year against a Division I team. (They scored 92 against Hiram.)

The win moves Kent State into fourth place in the MAC. If they can hold it, they would get a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament next month.

Kent State scored all those points without leading scorer Nila Blackford, who is in concussion protocol after a fall in the Akron game.

But four players still scored in double figures. Katie Shumate had a career-high 24 points. She didn't miss any of her seven shots in the first quarter. Asiah Dingle had 22, 18 in the second half. She made her second 3-pointer of the season and had six assists (and only one turnover).

Lindsey Thall had 13 and became the third player in MAC history to make 100 three-pointers and block 100 shots.

Sophomore Hannah Young started in place of Blackford and led the team with seven rebounds and scored 12 points.

Kent State had a season-low six turnovers and outscored Toledo 30-4 (!) off of turnovers.

Story is on the blog at http://wbbFlashes.com. It includes quotes from Starkey, Shumate and Young and video of all four double-figure scorers.

Women's golf standings find Kent State tied with Eastern for fourth. (Flashes lead in regular standings.)

The MAC wrap-up:

Around the MAC

Akron, Ohio, Ball State and Western Michigan all won on the road.

Akron beat Eastern 64-53 in Ypsilanti.
Ohio won at Miami 86-70.
Western Michigan won at Northern Illinois 68-65.

Central Michigan went to 12-0 in the MAC with a 72-65 win over last-place Bowling Green at home. Central is 18-1 since an 0-3 start.

Ball State sent Buffalo to its fifth straight defeat, something that hasn't happened since 2016. Buffalo had been picked third in preseason coaches' poll.

THE "GOLF" STANDINGS

They give a team -1 for a road win (a “birdie”) and adds a point for a home loss (a “bogey.” A home win or road loss gets zero (“par”).

-6
-- Central Michigan (12-0, 19-4)

-2
-- Ball State (9-3, 17-7)
-- Ohio (9-3, 16-7)

-1
-- Kent State (7-5, 14-9)
-- Eastern Michigan (7-6, 12-12)

Even

-- Toledo (6-6, 11-12)
-- Western Michigan (6-6, 13-10)

+2
-- Buffalo (4-8, 13-10)
-- Akron (4-8, 11-12)
-- Northern Illinois (3-8, 7-15)

+3
-- Miami (4-9, 11-14)


+5
-- Bowling Green (1-11, 8-16).

More details the standings and Kent State's excellent report card on its 87-68 win over Toledo is on the blog at http://wbbFlashes.com.

Watching the Kent St - CMU game and I had a thought. I wonder if Kent will EVER be one of the better shooting teams. They miss or get blocked on so many easy shots it gets depressing. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember.

Flashes did make 50% of their shots in the first quarter.

They made 29% the rest of the way and lost to first-place Central Michigan 71-58. After first quarter, KSU was one of 15 from 3-point distance.

The loss puts them in a fourth-place tie in the MAC with Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. Eastern hold the tie-breaker over Kent and Western; KSU has the tie-breaker over Western. But there are five games to go in conference season.

Central Michigan is 13-0, 20-3 overall and has won 20 of 21 games. Kent State is 7-6 and 14-10.

Asiah Dingle led KSU with 16 points. She's averaging 60% on her field goals over the last five games. Lindsey Thall and Megan Carter each had 14. Nila Blackford, Kent's leading scorer and rebounder, missed her second straight game with a concussion.

Score was 25-25 after first quarter. Central led by eight at half and by double digits most of the second half.

Central made 50% of its shots for the game, 60% in first half. But 71 points were still nine below their average.

Flashes return home Saturday for Senior Day against Miami.

Game story is on the blog at http://wbbFlashes.com.

Akron was the only team to win on the road Wednesday and gain “golf” points.

Kent State and Eastern Michigan are tied in race for the fourth and final bye in the regular standings. In regular standings, Western Michigabn joins them. Toledo is a game behind, Akron two games. There are five games to go in the regular season.

A nice graphic on where the conference races standings is at https://twitter.com/MACSports/status/123...556125184.

Akron beat Buffalo 69-63, sending the Bulls to their sixth straight defeat. The last time Buffalo lost six in a row was 2012-13. A 7-1 run toward the end of the third quarter gave Buffalo a brief lead, but Akron finished the quarter with seven straight points, then outscored the Bulls 20-17 in the fourth quarter.

Western Michigan led by as many as 17 points in beating Bowling Green 69-55. Breanna Mobley had 23 points and 13 rebounds for her 16th double-double of the season.

Ball State ran its home MAC record to 7-0 with a 97-89 win over Northern Illinois. Oshlynn Brown had 28 points and 13 rebounds for the Cardinals, who had five players score in double figures.

Ohio went on a 28-1 run over 12 minutes in the third and fourth quarter and beat Toledo 86-58. OU’s Erica Johnson, the MAC’s leading scorer in conference games, had 31 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and four steals.

BEST GAMES THIS SATURDAY: Ball State at Eastern Michigan. Western Michigan at Toledo.

THE "GOLF" STANDINGS

They give a team -1 for a road win (a “birdie”) and adds a point for a home loss (a “bogey.” A home win or road loss gets zero (“par”).

-6
-- Central Michigan (13-0, 20-4)

-3
-- Ball State (10-3, 18-7)
-- Ohio (10-3, 17-7)

-1
-- Kent State (7-6, 14-10)
-- Eastern Michigan (7-6, 12-12)

Even

-- Western Michigan (7-6, 14-10)
-- Toledo (6-7, 11-13)

+1
-- Akron (5-8, 12-12)

+2
-- Northern Illinois (3-9, 7-16)

+3
-- Buffalo (4-9, 13-11)
-- Miami (4-9, 11-14)

+5
-- Bowling Green (1-12, 8-17).

More detail and Kent State's report card on the Central Michigan game (not good) is on the blog at http://wbbFlashes.

Beat Miami today 80-75. Should have been easier than it was. The good news was we took 46 foul shots (Miami had 23). The bad news is we only made 28 including only 9/19 in the fourth quarter (at one point we missed 8 in a row). We pulled it out though. Shumate, Carter and Thall all had nice scoring games.

Megan Carter had the first double-double of her career on her Senior Day and was defending Miami's all-MAC guard, Lauren Dickerson, when she missed two 3-pointers at the end.

Dickerson still gave Flashes lots of trouble. She scored 29, including 12 in the fourth quarter. It did take her 33 shots to make 11 baskets.

Carter had 21 points points and 10 rebounds. She's 5-7.

Lindsey Thall had 20 points, 17 of them in the paint or foul shots from plays in the paint. She's much better known as a 3-point shooter but has had to play more inside with Nila Blackford out with a concussion.

Blackford dressed for the game and went through pregame drills but didn't play.

Senior Ali Poole, just three weeks after ACL surgery, did play. Starkey started her and fellow seniors Carter and Sidney Brinlee.

In an obviously prearranged sequence between the coaches, Brinlee jumped the opening tip against Dickerson, who is 5-3. Brinlee tapped it to Carter, who dribbled in front of the Kent bench and handed the ball to Poole, who handed it to coach Todd Starkey out of bounds.

Shumate had 18 points and Asiah Dingle 12. Hannah Young had a career-high nine rebounds.

Kent State is 8-6 in the MAC and still tied for fourth with Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan. Flashes are 15-10 overall.

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

The weekend MAC roundup:

Central Michigan beat Northern Illinois 70-66 on the road to clinch at least a share of the MAC regular season championship.

Second-place Ohio and Ball State both lost on the road and remain tied. Kent State, Western Michigan are still tied for fourth, the final position that gets a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament next month. Four games remain in the regular season.

Central won its eighth conference game by fewer than eight points to stay undefeated in the conference. Kyra Bussell had 25 for Central; Courtney Woods had 21 for Northern.

Akron won its biggest game of the season, coming from behind to beat Ohio 79-76 in Akron. Jordyn Dawson had 20 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for Akron, which plays at Kent State Wednesday. Cierra Hooks had a school-record 41 points for Ohio.

Eastern Michigan beat Ball State 61-58, icing the game with two last-minute steals. Areanna Combs had 15 points and nine rebounds for Eastern. Freshman guard Sydney Freeman led Ball State with 14 points.

Buffalo broke its six-game losing streak, its longest since 2012-13, with a 62-56 win at last-place Bowling Green. Dyaisha Fair had 21 points for Buffalo. Madisen Parker had 14 for BG.

Western Michigan won its fourth straight game by beating Toledo 70-58 in Toledo. It was Western’s first victory in Toledo in six years. Sophomore guard Jordan Walker had 21 points and five steals for Western.

BEST GAMES THIS SATURDAY: Western Michigan at Central Michigan. Toledo at Ball State. Akron at Kent State.

THE "GOLF" STANDINGS

They give a team -1 for a road win (a “birdie”) and adds a point for a home loss (a “bogey.” A home win or road loss gets zero (“par”).

-7
-- Central Michigan (14-0, 21-4)

-3
-- Ball State (10-4, 18-8)
-- Ohio (10-4, 17-8)

-1
-- Kent State (8-6, 15-10)
-- Western Michigan (8-6, 15-10)
-- Eastern Michigan (8-6, 13-12)

+1
-- Akron (6-8, 13-12)
-- Toledo (6-8, 11-14)

+2
-- Buffalo (5-9, 14-11)

+3
-- Miami (4-10, 11-14)
-- Northern Illinois (3-10, 7-17)

+6
-- Bowling Green (1-13, 8-18).

Regular MAC standings are at
http://www.espn.com/womens-college-baske...onference.

MAC statistics are at
https://getsomemaction.com/stats.aspx?pa...year=2019.

Flashes play game No. 2 with Akron at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the M.A.C. Center.

Kent State beat the Zips 60-55 in Akron two weeks ago, needing some good defense and a clutch 3-point shot by Lindsey Thall in the last minute.

Since then, Akron has won three in a row, including a 79-76 upset of Ohio in Akron Saturday and road wins at Eastern Michigan and Buffalo. Zips are playing their best basketball of the season.

Big difference in this Wednesday's game will be the presence of Akron's Jordyn Dawson, the junior college transfer who is the Zips' second leading scorer and rebounder. She had 20 points and 14 rebounds against Ohio. Dawson didn't play in first game — "coach's decision," which usually means a suspension.

It's still unclear whether Nila Blackford, Kent State's leading scorer and rebounder, will play. She has been in concussion protocol since hitting her head hard on the floor in the last minute of the first Akron game. She was in uniform and went through pregame drills with the team Saturday but didn't play. My guess is that she'll play Wednesday.

Kent and Akron are close statistically in almost every category. Biggest difference is that Kent is 3-3 in MAC games decided by five points or fewer. Akron is 1-5.

Kent is tied for fourth in MAC with Eastern and Western Michigan at 8-6 and is 15-10 overall. Akron is 6-8 and 13-12 overall.

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

Nice 68-50 win against Akron tonight. Dingle led the team with 18. Blackford had 15 rebounds. We have to figure out how to get her offense going. She was 2-12, blocked 4 times and banged a couple off the bottom of the rim. She still needs to adjust to the speed of the college game. When she does look out. She gets a lot of shots inside. Josh Cribbs and family attended tonight. I believe 90% of the crowd wanted a picture with him. He and his wife were very accommodating. Much more than I could ever be.

Flashes held Akron to four points and one-of-14 shooting in the fourth quarter in one of their best defensive games of the year. Zips shot only 30% overall.

Blackford's 15 rebounds is the most by any KSU player this season. Her offensive timing clearly isn't back, and she does seem to get blocked a lot. Earlier in the season, though, she was in the top five in the MAC in shooting percentage.

Win leaves Kent State alone in fourth place in the league. That's the last spot that gets a bye to the quarterfinals in Cleveland. And suddenly Flashes have shot at third place. Ohio lost its second straight, this one by 14 points at last-place Bowling Green. KSU is one game behind the Bobcats with three to play. Ohio plays at Kent next Wednesday.

Lindsey Thall had 11 points for Kent, and Megan Carter had 10, seven rebounds, four steals and two assists. Dingle was eight of 12 from the field; she's shooting over 60% over team's last seven games.

Game story is on the blog at http//wbbFlashes.com.

By the way the women are taking the best of men’s basketball and incorporating it into their game. A Kent fan was verbally abusing some of the Akron players after the game and I thought an Akron assistant coach was going to go after him. Hopefully next year we will see our first brawl.