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

Another close loss for the women.

They fell 70-64 at Ohio when they went without a basket for five minutes in the fourth quarter.

All five KSU games in the MAC have been decided by less than 10 points. KSU has lost four of them.

Flashes are 9-5 overall and 1-4 and tied for 10th in MAC. Ohio is 7-4 and 1-1.

Ohio had 15 steals, most against Kent since the 2017-18 season and outscored KSU 19-9 off turnovers.

Rebounding was 43-43, the first time Flashes have failed to outrebound their opponent for the first time this season. OU outrebounded Kent State 12-5 in the fourth quarter.

Katie Shumate led KSU with 18 points. Freshman Bridget Dunn tied a career-high of 15 points for the second-straight game and had a career-high eight rebounds. Hannah Young had 10 points and 10 rebounds, her third double-double of the season (and her career).

Full story is on the blog at HTTP:wbbFlashes.com.

Note: Coach Todd Starkey's mother died on Tuesday, and he left after the game for Indiana, where she had lived.

I have to admit. Some of the players I thought were really good are not.
They are solid but not exceptional. No one player can carry the team like Zerman, Studer Lurken or Sherry (and some others) could. The other thing I’ve noticed under Starkey. What you have as a freshman is about the same as what you have as a senior. Some O’Banion players got a lot better under Starkey but his own recruits don’t seem to. The sample size is still pretty small so that might change but it’s worth watching.

Kent State comes home to the M.A.C. Center to play Eastern Michigan at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Flashes are 1-4 in the Mid-American Conference and 9-5 overall. All five of their league games have been decided by fewer than 10 points. KSU lost at Ohio 70-64 on Wednesday after leading going into the fourth quarter.

Eastern Michigan is 1-2 in the conference and 4-6 overall. The Eagles have had three MAC games postponed by COVID-19.

The game will be streamed on ESPN3 and on the Golden Flashes Radio Network. Live statistics are available on the KSU website.

EMU’s Areanna Combs, a 5-10 redshirt senior wing, ranks in the top 15 in the MAC in six categories: scoring (10th at 17.2), shooting percentage (12th at 41.1%), foul shooting (11th at 78.5%), assists (16th at 3.9) and steals (fourth at 2.7).

Eastern’s Ce’Nara Skanes, a 6-foot redshirt sophomore, ranks first in the MAC in shooting percentage (54.3%) and seventh in rebounding (8.5 per game). Daniel Rainey, a 5-10 senior guard, is fourth in the MAC in 3-point baskets per game (3.2) and fifth in 3-point shooting percentage (45.1%).

Kent State’s top scorers are 5-11 junior guard Katie Shumate, who averages 13.0 points a game, and 5-4 sophomore guard Casey Santoro, who averages 12.8). Senior forward Lindsey Thall averages 13.1, but she has missed four straight games as she recovers from COVID. It’s unclear whether she’ll be able to play Saturday.

The game is a “We Back Pat” contest in honor of legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summit, whose career and life were cut short by Alzheimer’s disease. It’s of special meaning to the Flashes and coach Todd Starkey, whose mother died this week after suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Basketball is the dumbest game ever invented. It makes no sense has no rhyme or reason and anybody playing or watching it should be arrested. The women played their best game in a month beating EMU 83-58. I am now taking up cricket.

(01-15-2022 03:09 PM)burden Wrote:  Basketball is the dumbest game ever invented. It makes no sense has no rhyme or reason and anybody playing or watching it should be arrested. The women played their best game in a month beating EMU 83-58. I am now taking up cricket.

It's just as Fats Waller said, "One never knows, do one?" You never know how any game, in any sport, will play out.

In its 83-58 win over Eastern Michigan, KSU scored more points than it had against any Division I team this season.

It made 51.9% of its shots, its most of the season and 13 percentage points better than in any of its previous five MAC games.

Eastern scored only 18 points in the second half and shot 17.8%.

The Flashes are now 10-5 on the season. Their 2-4 MAC record puts them in eighth place in the league. Eastern Michigan is 4-7 and 1-3 in the conference.

Lindsey Thall returned to the KSU lineup after missing four games with COVID-19. She played only 16 minutes but had 12 points. It's clear the Flashes are a better team when she's playing.

Freshman Bridget Dunn, who had started when Thall was out, led KSU with a career-high 19 points. She leads the team in scoring in MAC games at 13.7 points per game.

Nila Blackford had 15 points and 12 rebounds, her fourth double-double of the season. She made 7-of-8 free throws, notable because she was shooting 47% from the line going into the game.

Casey Santoro had 15 points, and Clare Kelly had 9 and four steals, the most for any KSU player this season.

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

The women play at Buffalo at 5 p.m. Monday, an unusual time and day for a game postponed by COVID-19 from Jan. 8.

The game is on ESPN3.

Buffalo is 3-0 in the MAC and 9-4 overall but has had three straight games postponed by COVID on its team. A lot of the game will depend on how rusty and healthy the Bulls are.

Kent (2-4 MAC, 10-5) will be playing its third game in six days. The Flashes played their best of the MAC season in an 83-58 rout of Eastern Michigan on Saturday. Before that, KSU struggled to score and shoot well against conference teams, though the Flashes have allowed the third-fewest points in the league.

Buffalo ran up big scoring numbers in its three MAC wins — 92-75 over Central Michigan, 88-83 at Miami and 82-66 at Bowling Green.

Buffalo has the country’s fourth-leading scorer in junior guard Dyaisha Fair, who averages 23.6 points a game. She scored 40 against Bowling Green.

Fifth-year forward Summer Hemphill, who missed the better part of three seasons with a knee injury, is at full strength and is averaging 16.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.

Kent State has five players who average at least 9.4 points per game and a sixth who averages 7.8. The Flashes have outrebounded their opponents in every game this season except one, which was a 43-43 tie.

More preview is on the blog at HTTP://wbbFlashes.com.

(01-13-2022 10:06 AM)burden Wrote:  I have to admit. Some of the players I thought were really good are not.
They are solid but not exceptional. No one player can carry the team like Zerman, Studer Lurken or Sherry (and some others) could. The other thing I’ve noticed under Starkey. What you have as a freshman is about the same as what you have as a senior. Some O’Banion players got a lot better under Starkey but his own recruits don’t seem to. The sample size is still pretty small so that might change but it’s worth watching.

A lot of this may be overtaken by events, and I haven't figured this team out, either. But on the "non-improvement":
-- Thall is a much more multidimensional player than she was as an underclassman.
-- Blackford improved significantly between her freshman and sophomore year (though she's regressed this season).
-- Young is playing her best as a senior.
-- Santoro is enormously improved over last season.
-- Shumate is the most obvious example of your point, but she was hurt all last season and is playing hurt again. Her leg is completely wrapped every game. But she does not play consistently as well as her ability. Never really has.
-- We're getting as much out of Modkins as we could expect from a player her size, which is pretty limited.

The strength of this team is that any of those players can score 15 points any game, which, in theory, ought to mean the team is hard to shut down. The beginning of MAC play certainly proved that wrong.

Once again MAC schedulers have done Kent wrong

Guess they have to let rest of MAC catch up. No games after today
until 1/26

Last I sawm the NIU game was Jan. 26 — a week from Wednesday.

Did something change this morning? I don’t find anything on KSU website.

Otherwise, Flashes have 12 days off, essentially to let the rest of league catch up with games. Flashes, Central Michigan and Toledo are only teams to play six games. Buffalo, Ohio, Western Michigan and BG have played three, Miami only two.

Heck, with this weather, we may not get our women out of Buffalo until spring.

Kent cancelled in-person classes tomorrow. Wow.

(01-17-2022 08:47 AM)cschierh Wrote:  Last I sawm the NIU game was Jan. 26 — a week from Wednesday.

Did something change this morning? I don’t find anything on KSU website.

Otherwise, Flashes have 12 days off, essentially to let the rest of league catch up with games. Flashes, Central Michigan and Toledo are only teams to play six games. Buffalo, Ohio, Western Michigan and BG have played three, Miami only two.

My goof. Thanks for correction. Much better for all.
Go Flashes.

Leading 60-53 with 4 minutes to go and then got outscored 12-2 losing 65-62. Had trouble getting good shots down the stretch and the ones they got were all missed. Lost Hannah Young to an ankle injury early in the game which didn’t help any. MAC record is now 2-5. Not looking good.

Flashes have lost to MAC's first, second, third, fourth and fifth place teams by an average of 5 points. All games were decided in the fourth quarter, three in the last minute.

Those teams have a combined 18-4 MAC record. KSU's next five games are against teams with a combined record of 4-13.

The team is now off for nine days while the rest of the league makes up games postponed by COVID. Kent, Central Michigan and Toledo are only teams to have played a full six games so far.

Most of the rest of the league will play five games in next 11 days.

Against Buffalo, Flashes missed their last seven shots of the game, including two open 3-pointers and three contested layups.

A turnover on an in-bound pass with 1:05 to go led to the go-ahead basket for Buffalo.

Bridget Dunn led KSU for the third game in a row with 13 points. Lindsey Thall, Nila Blackford and Casey Santoro each had 11. Blackford also had nine rebounds but only played 21 minutes because of foul trouble.

Starkey said Young "was hurting" after game but had no update on how serious the injury was. Young spent the last two-and-a-half quarters of the game with her leg propped up and an ice pack on her ankle.

Kent State is 10-6 on the season and 2-5 in MAC. Buffalo is 10-4 and 4-0.

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

i've watched a few games this year including last night and what this team appears to be lacking is an athletic wing/guard that can shoot or create their own shot. I like santoro's game alot but she's more of a point that can shoot. Young and Shumate are servicable but not overly athletic to create their own shots.

Kelly and modkins avg 35 min/game together and their shooting %'s are very poor. Way too much court time for that lack of production.

(01-18-2022 03:34 PM)ksu315 Wrote:  i've watched a few games this year including last night and what this team appears to be lacking is an athletic wing/guard that can shoot or create their own shot. I like santoro's game alot but she's more of a point that can shoot. Young and Shumate are servicable but not overly athletic to create their own shots.

Kelly and modkins avg 35 min/game together and their shooting %'s are very poor. Way too much court time for that lack of production.

I think your spot on. With the exception of Thall we are just serviceable.
A couple of other points. I thought Shumate would become the create your own shot player but it never happened. Her leg has been a problem for a year and a half. Obviously not her fault but time is running out. Also if we have lost to the five best teams in the Conference does that mean sixth is the best we can do? I’m beginning to believe so. I know COVID played a role in this but most if not all teams have been affected. By rights Buffalo had to be bothered yesterday yet somehow they played their best defense down the stretch.

I haven't had a chance to add my 2 cents worth to the pretty negative thread on the women's team.

I mentioned 10 days ago that KSU had lost to the first, second, third, fourth and fifth place teams in the league. And appropriately, Burden asked:

Does that mean we're sixth?

Right now, maybe lower than that. We're in 10th place, though the 5th- through 10th-place teams are pretty closely bunched.

It is pretty clear that Kent State has played the toughest conference schedule so far.

And it's just as clear Kent State hasn't played very well in the MAC.

Does that mean its players are just "serviceable"?

In the MAC season so far, yes.

But there are good players on this team:
-- Blackford is having a poor year (for her). But she is third in the MAC in rebounding and was second-team all-MAC last season.
-- Shumate has been all-MAC honorable mention two years in a row, despite being hurt.
-- Santoro is the second-highest scoring sophomore in the league.
-- Dunn has become a solid candidate for the all-freshman team.
-- Young is one of the best rebounding guards in the league.

Every starter -- except, actually, Thall -- was first-team all-state in high school and recruited by multiple teams. Every starter has led KSU in scoring or rebounding in a game.

Thall is a good player, but I'm not sure she's the best player on the team. In four seasons, she's never averaged more than 13 points or 7 rebounds a game.

I'm not sure who the best player on the team is. On any night, it could be one of six people.

That could be a strength of the team.

But in MAC play, only Dunn has played above mediocrity on offense.

If that doesn't change, we sure are a sixth- to 10th-place team.

KSU's next seven MAC opponents have a combined record of 15-36. None has a winning record.

If the Flashes don't win five of those, they're a sixth-place team at best. They might not even make the league tournament.

But let's play a few more games before making sweeping conclusions.

The blog this week has updated MAC standings and a little bit of commentary on each team. That's at wbbFlashes.com.

I'm also posting a separate preview of Wednesday's game against NIU, which strangely is at noon on ESPN+.

After a nine-day layoff because of COVID-19 rescheduling, the Kent State women return to the court Wednesday at Northern Illinois.

The game has an unusual 11 a.m. (noon Kent time) start and will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Kent State is 2-5 in the Mid-American Conference, with all losses coming by less than 10 points and three of them coming by fewer than five points. The Flashes are 10-6 overall.

After their 65-62 loss at Buffalo on Jan. 15, they were one of only three MAC teams to have played a full schedule over the first four weeks. The rest of the teams have spent the last nine days making up games postponed because of COVID.

NIU is 3-4 in the MAC and 4-9 overall. The Huskies played three games in five days between last Wednesday and Monday, winning two of them.

Northern Illinois guard Chelby Koker, a 5-6 junior, is averaging 18.1 points a game (sixth in the MAC) and leads the league (and is eighth in the country) in free-throw percentage at .921.

NIU junior forward A’Jah Davis leads the MAC in rebounding at 11.9 a game and in field-goal percentage at .516.

Kent and NIU rank first and second in the league in rebounding margin. Kent State has outrebounded every team it has played this season except for a 43-43 tie against Ohio.

In MAC play, Kent State’s leading scorer is freshman forward Bridget Dunn, who averages 13.6 points per game. In all games, the team’s leading scorer is senior Lindsey Thall at 12.8 points per game. Dunn started four games in place of Thall when the senior was recovering from COVID earlier this month.

A little longer preview is on the blog at HTTP://wbbFlashes.com.

(01-25-2022 06:23 PM)cschierh Wrote:  I haven't had a chance to add my 2 cents worth to the pretty negative thread on the women's team.

I mentioned 10 days ago that KSU had lost to the first, second, third, fourth and fifth place teams in the league. And appropriately, Burden asked:

Does that mean we're sixth?

Right now, maybe lower than that. We're in 10th place, though the 5th- through 10th-place teams are pretty closely bunched.

It is pretty clear that Kent State has played the toughest conference schedule so far.

And it's just as clear Kent State hasn't played very well in the MAC.

Does that mean its players are just "serviceable"?

In the MAC season so far, yes.

But there are good players on this team:
-- Blackford is having a poor year (for her). But she is third in the MAC in rebounding and was second-team all-MAC last season.
-- Shumate has been all-MAC honorable mention two years in a row, despite being hurt.
-- Santoro is the second-highest scoring sophomore in the league.
-- Dunn has become a solid candidate for the all-freshman team.
-- Young is one of the best rebounding guards in the league.

Every starter -- except, actually, Thall -- was first-team all-state in high school and recruited by multiple teams. Every starter has led KSU in scoring or rebounding in a game.

Thall is a good player, but I'm not sure she's the best player on the team. In four seasons, she's never averaged more than 13 points or 7 rebounds a game.

I'm not sure who the best player on the team is. On any night, it could be one of six people.

That could be a strength of the team.

But in MAC play, only Dunn has played above mediocrity on offense.

If that doesn't change, we sure are a sixth- to 10th-place team.

KSU's next seven MAC opponents have a combined record of 15-36. None has a winning record.

If the Flashes don't win five of those, they're a sixth-place team at best. They might not even make the league tournament.

But let's play a few more games before making sweeping conclusions.

The blog this week has updated MAC standings and a little bit of commentary on each team. That's at wbbFlashes.com.

I'm also posting a separate preview of Wednesday's game against NIU, which strangely is at noon on ESPN+.

Hey. What good are sweeping conclusions after they play 15 games or so. When you do it earlier is causes some discussion. Even if they do go 5-2 in the next 7 that only puts them at 7-7. Not what I was hoping for from a 8-1 non-conference team. That means at best we will be a team hoping to get hot in Cleveland.