With 3:49 to go in the fourth quarter during last Saturday’s 87-68 win against Toledo, sophomore forward Lindsey Thall blocked her 100th career shot becoming the third person in Mid-American Conference history to accomplish scoring over 100 3s and blocking 100 shots.

“It means a lot,” Thall said. “It just shows that hard work pays off in those moments and things like that help the team out.”

Thall became the only active sophomore in the country with over 100 3-point shots made and over 100 shots blocked in her career.

“My main focus is just winning games,” Thall said. “So, it was kind of a big surprise when I heard what I had accomplished.”

Thall’s ability to block shots was not something that stood out during the recruitment process.

“Her shot blocking was a little bit unexpected,” coach Todd Starkey said. “I knew she was a good defender, but I think her ability to block shots was something we kind of noticed early on.” 

Thall became one of Kent State’s best position defenders early on in her freshman season as her confidence grew rapidly.

“She was a really good position defender and was able to get her hands on a lot of balls and a lot of shots,” Starkey said. “I think her confidence in that area just grew throughout her freshman year, and now she expects to be good at it.”

She is a versatile player that is not only a threat in the paint, but from behind the 3-point line as well.

“Her 3-point shooting was something that definitely stood out to us,” Starkey said. “With a lot of the things we run, we like a post player who can shoot 3s. That was definitely a big thing for us when we recruited her.”

She accomplished this milestone in just under two seasons whereas the other two MAC athletes, Crystal Bradford (2011-15) from Central Michigan and Liz Honegger (2003-07) from Bowling Green, took all four years to do this.

“Just to see her come in as a freshman with a lot of confidence really stuck out to me, and then for her to grow even more in that confidence,” redshirt senior guard Megan Carter said. “She’s going to be the best player in the MAC in either her junior or senior season without a doubt.”

Thall’s leadership and confidence helped her become more of a threat in the post.

“She’s definitely brought leadership and her ability to extend the floor,” Carter said. “She’s scoring more now in the low post, so teams have to guard her in the low post and beyond the arc with her unlimited range she can really shoot from anywhere.”

Going into Saturday’s contest against Miami, Thall currently sits at 103 career blocks and 118 3-point goals made in 57 games played.

Kathryn Rajnicek is a sports reporter. Contact her at [email protected].