Box Score

Entering Wednesday night’s game featuring Kent State and Miami, both teams were on losing streaks and desperately seeking a win.

The Flashes (3-19, 1-10 Mid-American Conference) started out hot, scoring the first six points of the ball game. The team kept the momentum going and had its largest lead of the night, 13-6, at the 15:10 mark in the contest.

However, the lead would not last long. The RedHawks stormed back and tied things up at 15 apiece, right before taking a 17-15 lead with 9:35 remaining in the first half.  

The RedHawks came into the game winless in conference play (0-10) and had a ten-game losing streak. They used a strong 15-9 run to close out the first half and owned a six-point advantage at halftime, 30-24.

For the Flashes, they were never able to recover from the deficit, and dropped the game 69-53.

“You have to give credit to Miami. They played with good pace all game,” coach Danielle O’Banion said. “I thought that early in the first half, we took some outside shots that we did not need to take. We settled for them.” 

So far this season, it has been a tale of two halves for the Flashes, and Wednesday night was no different. The RedHawks continued their late first-half success in the second, as they shot 62 percent from the field.  

The Flashes, who had plenty of good looks, could not get their shots to fall, as they shot 40 percent in the half.  

Kent State tried pressing the ball full-court to force Miami to make mistakes, but every time the RedHawks would break the press, they had an easy two-on-one fast break opportunity for an easy lay-in.

“When you’re in a deficit, you want to do your best to scramble a team, and I thought they did a good job of managing the scramble,” O’Banion said. “It wasn’t just a one person attack, which makes it difficult to contain.” 

Both teams came into the game ranked in the conference’s bottom three for turnovers per game, as the Flashes commit just over 19 per game. They had 13 Wednesday.

The RedHawks threw different defenses at the Flashes, which caught them off guard.  Kent State faced a 1-3-1 zone, 2-3 zone and full and half court traps all game long. The RedHawks came up with three steals and scored 12 points off of Kent State turnovers.

“They did a good job of playing with good pace.  Defensively, they played multiple defenses that were all focused on making sure our post players never got comfortable,” O’Banion said.

Despite the loss, the Flashes did see good play from their bench.  Senior forward Montia Johnson gave the team a spark off the bench by scoring eight points and grabbing three rebounds.  

“We’re excited for Montia to be back,” O’Banion said.  “She gives us more toughness on the glass, and she finishes well in the paint.”

Sophomore guard Larissa Lurken paced the team with 15 points, with all of them being three-pointers, and freshman guard Jordan Korinek added in eight points of her own.

The Flashes will be back in action again this weekend when they host Northern Illinois on Saturday at the M.A.C. Center for the Play for Kay Game. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.

Contact Quentin Smith at [email protected].