The Kent State women’s basketball team took game one of the quarterfinals against Northern Illinois 75-68 in the Mid-American Conference tournament.

Big performances by senior guard Katie Shumate (20), graduate student forward Lindsey Thall (16) and senior guard Clare Kelly (16) moved KSU on to game two Friday.

Kent State started strong, finishing the first quarter with a score of 22-10. Shumate led the team with nine points followed by Kelly with six as that was the story all game.

Kent State had the lead over 90% of the time despite senior forward A’Jah Davis scoring 26 points for NIU to keep them in the game.

As a team KSU shot 41% from the field and 42% from deep. Kent State had 20 points off the bench while having five points off of turnovers. KSU only turned the ball over six times.

Northern Illinois shot 41% from the field as well while going 6-of-17 from three.

KSU looks ahead to take on a tough Toledo who swept the Flashes this year.

Tip off is at 10 a.m. Friday back at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

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