Flashes head to Illinois to battle Huskies

Senior guard Ashley Evans dribbles down the court during a game against Toledo Sunday Feb. 9, 2014. Kent State lost 55-83.

Kent State will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., and play Western Michigan on Saturday afternoon.

 The Flashes fell behind early on in their contest last Saturday at the M.A.C. Center, losing to Toledo 83-55. Flashes redshirt-junior center CiCi Shannon finished with a career-high 19 points on six of nine shooting from the field.

“I feel like I need to get more shots instead of kicking the ball out to the perimeter so much, and I believe that really helped my offensive production the other night,” Shannon said.

The Flashes (4-18, 1-10 MAC) finished the game with three double-digit scorers. Ashley Evans finished with 16 on five of nine shooting, and Amber Dunlap added 12 on 50 percent shooting from the field.

Western Michigan (9-13, 5-6 MAC) is coming off a 79-66 loss at Akron Saturday afternoon. Junior forward Marquisha Harris had a 23-point performance and shot eight of 16 from the field.

“Western Michigan is going to be a tough opponent this Saturday. They have two tough interior players who are the leading scorers on the team,” Kent State assistant coach Geoff Lanier said.

“We’re really focused on this Western Michigan game, and what we have to do to get a win,” Lanier said. “I think you’ll see whoever wins the points in the paint battle will probably come out winning this basketball game.”

The Flashes and Broncos have struggled in conference play. Kent State is in pursuit of its second conference win of the season.

Western Michigan has lost four of their last five conference games, which all started with a 113-87 loss at home to Central Michigan. Both teams will be trying to break losing streaks Saturday in Michigan. The game starts at 2 p.m.

Contact Taylor Rosen at [email protected].