Turnovers and self-inflicted wounds doomed the Kent State women’s basketball team in a 66-57 home loss to Ball State Wednesday. 

The Cardinals are the top-seeded team in the Mid-American Conference, and they showed it against the Flashes. The team fired on all cylinders with strong post play, shooting and defense. 

“We talked the last two days in preparation for this game that our margin for error against the best team in the league is very small,” coach Todd Starkey said. “They proved it tonight.” 

Ball State had some success from the three-point line (8-25) but received most of its offensive production from the paint. The Cardinals scored 38 points in the post despite a good defensive effort from the Flashes. 

Ball State’s size and athleticism was on full display, as some post-scoring possessions looked effortless for them. 

“Ball State did a good job of playing really physically through the paint, and I thought they did a better job of executing than we did offensively,” Starkey said. 

The Flashes’ offense was not nearly as successful as the Cardinals. The team shot 18-60 (30%) compared to the Cardinals’ 27-64 (42%). The Flashes’ poor offense also carried over into points for Ball State. 

The team committed 17 turnovers, many of which came at important points during the Flashes’ scoring runs. These turned into scoring opportunities, as the Cardinals scored 18 points off turnovers and had eight fast break points. 

There were several moments throughout the game where the Flashes seemed overwhelmed by Ball State’s defensive ferocity and made careless mistakes such as rushed passes and shots. 

“We had too many errors, and I really felt like we beat ourselves,” Starkey said. “Good teams put you in that mindset if you allow it to happen and speed you up.” 

These struggles materialized into big leads for the Cardinals. There were several points throughout the game where Ball State led by eight or more points. 

“Basketball is a game of runs, but especially against a team like that, you have to try and limit their runs as much as possible,” senior guard Jenna Batsch said. 

The third quarter is when things truly began to unravel for the Flashes. The team was outscored 18-7, and the Cardinals took its biggest lead of the game of 15 points. 

The Flashes shot 3-17 (18%) for the quarter. In the final six minutes, the team scored just two points. 

“We kind of fell asleep at the wheel for a little bit,” Starkey said.

Despite the large deficit, the Flashes refused to quit. The offense reignited to put the Flashes within striking distance. 

Senior forward Bridget Dunn rattled in a pair of threes, Batsch joined her with a triple of her own and sophomore forward Janae Tyler got a layup to fall to bring the score within three (53-50). 

Outside of two free throws, the Cardinals were held scoreless for the first four minutes of the quarter. 

“A big thing for us is to just take it one point at a time,” Dunn said. “We focus on getting a score, stop, score and then just keep that going.” 

Yet it was too little too late; Ball State would regain composure and pull away during the final stretch. 

“The only positive thing is the fact that we made the number of mistakes we did, and we still had an opportunity to win,” Starkey said. “We uncharacteristically beat ourselves in a few pockets of the game, and if we clean those things up, we’re in a good spot. So there is optimism to it.” 

The most notable performance from the Flashes came from Dunn, as she recorded a double-double with 15 rebounds and 13 points on 5-13 (38%). 

“She knows what she’s supposed to do, but really good players know what everybody else is supposed to do as well,” Starkey said. “That’s one of the things that she does. [I’m] just really proud of her progress and her leadership with this team.” 

Tyler also had a big impact with 11 points (5-7 from the field) and six rebounds. She also provided great defensive effort against some of Ball State’s bigs. 

“She missed eight of our first nine games, and it takes a while to get into game rhythm and game shape,” Starkey said. “Janae keeps getting better and back to where she finished at the end of last season.”

Sophomore guard Mya Babbitt was also a factor by scoring 13 points (3-12 from the field) and grabbing seven rebounds. She also added four assists.  

Ball State also had several notable performances. Senior guard Lachelle Austin headlines the list with 17 points on 7-14 shooting. 

Senior forward Alex Richard had a strong impact on both ends of the floor. She had 16 points on 7-12 shooting. She also had seven rebounds, four blocks and one steal. 

Senior guard Ally Becki rounds out the performances with a near double-double. She had 10 points (5-11 shooting), nine rebounds and six assists. 

The loss drops the Flashes to 10-7 overall and 3-2 in conference play, putting the team in a tie for third in the conference. Ball State improves to 13-4 and remains undefeated in conference play. 

The Flashes will look to bounce back at home against Western Michigan Saturday. Tip off is at 1 p.m. 

Starkey stressed not squandering winning opportunities and to always look to continue improving.

“The season is also a whole process for us to go through,” Starkey said. “Our goal is to be playing our best basketball at the end of February and early March when the games matter most.” 

John Engoglia is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].