Humes’ 25, tight defense paces Flashes

The Kent State women’s basketball team has a goal to hold teams to less than 60 points a game this season.

So far, so good.

Led by sophomore guard Jamilah Humes, the Flashes (2-0) beat Delaware State 66-56 last night in Dover, Del. Kent State held Youngstown State to 58 points in its first game of the season last weekend.

“So far we’ve been able to accomplish that goal,” Humes said. “Hopefully we can keep that up.”

The Flashes had to hold off a late comeback attempt by the Lady Hornets to earn the win. Delaware State tied the game at 43 after being behind by as many as eight points.

“We made some big plays at the end of the game to break it open,” Kent State coach Bob Lindsay said. “The best part of the game for us really was the last five minutes or so of the game. I didn’t think we did particularly well throughout most of the game.”

Kent State saw its chance to move ahead at that point, Humes said.

“It was great actually because we had (senior center Anna Kowalska) running the floor,” she said. “Everybody knew that (Delaware State) was getting tired, and that was our opportunity to push the ball up the floor because they really couldn’t keep up.”

Humes scored a career-high 25 points, including 19 in the second half, to go along with four steals and three assists. Despite being double- and tripled-teamed for much of the game, Kowalska still found the basket for 18 points.

“If (Kowalska) had made all of her layups, she probably would have had 30,” Lindsay said. “She did score. She had an and-one at the end of the game on a fast break. She made some big hoops for us.

“Humes made some big hoops in the second half. I put (junior guard Rachel Bennett) at point, and she made some big passes for layups at the end. So a lot of big plays.”

Delaware State scored twice at the beginning of the game to take an early 4-0 lead. Although Kent State went into the locker room at half with a 25-17 lead, Humes said the first half wasn’t good for the Flashes.

“The first half we really didn’t play that well,” she said. “I just knew in the second half collectively as a team we had to come out and be aggressive, really just put some pressure on the ball and rebound. Rebounding was the key to this game. I knew if we were aggressive on the offensive end, then it would help on the defensive end.”

Kent State’s 2-3 zone defense frustrated Lady Hornet shooters both inside and outside the perimeter. Delaware State shot 32 percent in the field and made only five of its 25 3-point attempts.

“Our defense was OK,” Lindsay said. “I wouldn’t put our defense (last night) as being great. I think we did what we had to do to win.”

Next, the Flashes host New Mexico State at the M.A.C. Center at 2 p.m on Sunday.

Contact sports reporter Josh Johnston at [email protected].