“Nothing pretty about that one,” coach Todd Starkey said, as Kent State’s women’s basketball team defeated Central Michigan in a close 68-63 victory.

“But I was pleased with the way we finished,” Starkey said. “We found a way, we were down at one point 40-35 in the third quarter, we had a spirited timeout and they did a good job of responding. Hannah Young’s rebound put back was huge for us and gave us a spark.”

The Flashes had a total of 24-of-51 from the field and 5-of-19 from beyond the arc.

CMU went 25-of-64 from the field and 4-of-15 from three.

KSU (15-7) is fourth in the Mid-American Conference at 7-4.

Central Michigan (4-19) is tied for last with Ohio at 2-9.

Slow start

Kent State shot 53% from the field and 2-of-6 from 3-point range.

Three different KSU players were on the score column to start the game.

Kent State came out and attacked the paint, scoring eight in the first quarter, even with Central Michigan’s 6’5 center Rochelle Norris.

The Flashes had their worst quarter of the game in the second shooting 40% and 0-for-4 from three. It was the lowest point total of any quarter with 14.

Kent State defensively allowed 18 points in the paint going into halftime.

“We knew they were going to pound it inside on us as teams are trying to do that to us now,” Starkey said. “We got to make sure that on the other end of the court we got to take advantage, which we did.”

Defense made an impact early as both teams combined for 21 turnovers. Central Michigan forced 10 turnovers converting 10 points off the turnovers.

The Flashes forced 11 turnovers scoring six points off the turnovers.

“Central Michigan were pressing and scrambling us and had a lot of deflections. I thought we did a pretty good job of getting to the floor and trying to win those 50/50 balls,” Starkey said. “Central Michigan is the best offensive rebounding team in the league.”

Neither team had a scorer in double figures as KSU led 30-27 at the half.

Stronger half 

Kent State’s most crucial quarter was in the third quarter as the team went on a 14-2 run to end the quarter.

“The game plan didn’t really change much, we just didn’t execute it very well, I thought Central Michigan credit to them did a great job of getting us out of it. Their press gave us some issues we got to get that solved,” Starkey said. “When we execute our press offense I think we get good looks on the other end of the court. I just thought we played tentatively a lot and you can’t do that in conference teams, especially against teams that are fighting for an opportunity to get to Cleveland.”

In the second half KSU went 13-28 shooting from the floor as the Flashes held the lead in the fourth quarter for 9:35 of the 10 minutes.

The Chippewas went 14-30 in the back half of this game, shooting just 1-of-6 from 3pt.

Senior guard Katie Shumate had a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Eight of the rebounds were offensive.

“Definitely a personal gameplan of mine and Hannah Young. Our gameplans are pretty similar. I mean if we’re not crashing, we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” Shumate said. “I think that on any given night either of us can get 10 plus rebounds and that’s our goal and that’s what we’re trying to do, we talk about it before every game.”

Freshman guard Corynne Hauser finished second in scoring with 14 points.

KSU was outscored in the paint by CMU 34-30.

Back at the M.A.C

Kent State stays home as the team takes on Bowling Green.

The last time these two teams went head to head, BGSU came out with a 66-57 victory, outscoring the Flashes 21-10 in the first quarter.

Bowling Green (21-2) is in first place in the MAC at 10-1.

Tip off is on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the M.A.C.C.

Kyle Kuchta is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].