Final was BG 82, Kent State 65.
KSU announcer Dave Wilson, who obviously has good sources, said Kelly was resting an injured foot and Shumate was just resting. Shumate has been playing all season on a knee that was surgically repaired last summer.
In Record-Courier story today, coach Todd Starkey essentially said rest may be more important than wins at this point. The team has already qualified for the MAC quarterfinals in Cleveland next week.
Flashes played 11 games in February, more than any other MAC team. Twice they played three games in a week. Before that, KSU hadn't played in 25 days because of COVID-19. Because of a bye and COVID problems on other teams, Bowling Green had played three games total in three weeks.
KSU leading scorer Nila Blackford scored only four points against BG, five fewer than she had in any game all season.
Freshman guard Casey Santoro led KSU with 16 points, a career high. She also had five assists and five rebounds. The Flashes' other freshman, 6-4 center Lexi Jackson, also had a career high of 10 points, including two 3-pointers. Hannah Young had 10 points, all in the first half, in her first start of the season. But she left the game in the second half because of severe cramping.
KSU drops to 9-6 and into fifth place in MAC. The Flashes' final regular season game is Saturday at home against 11th-place Akron. They still could finish as high as third place or as low as eighth, depending on Saturday results.
The Zips beat third-place Ohio 71-67 Wednesday in Ohio's first game back after three COVDI cancellations.
Central Michigan moved into second place with an 87-81 double-overtime win at Ball State. CMU started the game with eight players because of COVID protocols. It ended with only the five on the floor. The other three players had fouled out.
Story on the Bowling Green game is on the blog at
https://wbbFlashes.com.