What started as a good-looking game for the Kent State women’s basketball team turned dark, as a rough third quarter performance led to a 64-62 loss to Miami (OH) Saturday.
The Flashes entered the third quarter with a five-point lead before being outscored 24-8 in the frame. By the end of the quarter, the team found itself down by 11 points.
“The third quarter did us in,” coach Todd Starkey said. “We got outworked in the third quarter, and I was disappointed that we let that happen at home.”
The Flashes mightily struggled on both sides of the ball in the third. The team shot 3-15 (20%) from the field while Miami went 11-23 (48%).
In the final seven minutes of the quarter, the Flashes scored just three points. In that same span, the RedHawks scored 15 unanswered points.
The Flashes also committed a whopping 10 turnovers during the quarter, as well.
“They were playing a lot more aggressive than we were,” Starkey said. “We let our missed shots and our turnovers affect our defensive intensity.”
Both teams’ defenses were clicking early, but the Flashes’ offense was doing just enough to stay ahead. The RedHawks were held to 9-31 (29%) shooting while the Flashes shot slightly better at 9-25 (36%) in the first half.
The Flashes’ defensive strength wore off in the third quarter, but the team recovered quickly in the fourth, as the team put together its best quarter. The RedHawks were outscored 22-13 while the Flashes held them to 2-10 (20%) shooting from the field.
The Flashes also finally began to penetrate the Miami defense, going 7-11 (64%) from the field.
“We did a really good job of battling back in the fourth,” Starkey said. “We never gave in.”
The Flashes opened the quarter on a 6-0 run before both teams each went back and forth. The team refused to go away with minutes remaining in the fourth.
“We began to get a lot more connected,” sophomore guard Janae Tyler said. “Our communication and togetherness just got better in the beginning of the fourth.”
With five seconds left, sophomore guard Mya Babbitt drilled a three to cut the RedHawks lead to one. After a pair of split free throws, senior forward Bridget Dunn had a chance to win it at the buzzer with a last second heave from deep.
The prayer wasn’t answered, and Miami held on to win.
“I’m really proud of our fight back, but we can’t let it get to that point,” senior guard Jenna Batsch said. “It was just too little too late.”
The defense was the story of the game for both teams. The Flashes did a solid job on that end, holding Miami to shooting splits of 22-64 (34%) from the field and 7-25 (28%) from 3-point distance.
The RedHawks defense also excelled by holding the Flashes to shooting splits of 19-51 (37%) from the field and 7-19 (37%) from beyond the arc.
Miami also generated more turnovers than the Flashes (23 to 17) and limited the team’s ability to score in different ways. The Flashes scored just two fast break points, five bench points and eight second chance points.
The RedHawks did a better job in all three categories.
“Miami did a really good job defensively against us and took us out of our stuff,” Starkey said. “I also thought they played harder than us for segments of the game.”
The best performance for the Flashes came from Tyler, who finished with 18 points on 6-12 shooting. Batsch followed her up with a solid outing of 14 points and five assists.
Miami’s best performances came from backcourt duo graduate guard Maya Chandler and sophomore guard Enjulina Gonzalez. They both finished with 18 points.
With the loss, the Flashes fell to 16-9 with a conference record of 8-4. The team also dropped to fourth place in the Mid-American
Conference.
Miami improves to 15-8 with a conference record of 7-5. The team holds fifth place in the MAC.
Next up for the Flashes is a road matchup against second-place Buffalo Wednesday. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.
“Really tough stretch ahead for us at Buffalo and at Ball State, but just like I told the team in the huddle after the game, nobody’s going to have any sympathy for us,” Starkey said. “We just have to be a little bit more resilient and battle back.”
John Engoglia is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
