Kent State routs Ball State, advances to MAC women’s basketball championship game
CLEVELAND — The last time the Kent State women’s basketball team played in the NCAA Tournament, most of its current players were not yet born.
The Golden Flashes are one game away from ending that streak.
Holding Ball State to its second-lowest scoring game of the season, Kent State advanced to the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship game with a 65-50 victory over the Cardinals in the semifinals Friday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
“We have 40 more minutes to play, and we have a big goal in front of us,” Kent State coach Todd Starkey said. “I know our team is going to give everything that we have in that 40 minutes tomorrow to try and get our ultimate goal of the NCAA Tournament.”
With an automatic berth in the NCAAs on the line, the Flashes will take on Buffalo at 11 a.m. Saturday for the MAC title. The Bulls advanced by beating Toledo 77-74 in overtime in Friday's first semifinal.
The Flashes won both of the teams' regular-season games by an average of eight points.
Kent State (20-10), which hasn't won a MAC tournament title since 2002 —the last year it played in the NCAA Tournament — or even reached a MAC title game since 2006, lost twice to the Cardinals during the regular season. The Flashes reversed that Friday with strong defense and a dominant 50-23 rebounding advantage.
The Flashes grabbed 17 offensive rebounds that resulted in 21 second-chance points.
Junior forward Bridget Dunn led the way with a game-high 16 points to go with 13 rebounds, and senior guard Katie Shumate added 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for her seventh double-double.
“When we're crashing the boards, it not only tears them down but, for us, it just restores so much energy in us that we lost by missing a shot,” Shumate said.
Freshman forward Janae Tyler chipped in 16 points, and junior forward Jenna Batsch had 10 for Kent State.
After not appearing in the MAC Tournament in previous seasons, Dunn has totaled 30 points and 28 rebounds in the 2024 tournament so far.
“The energy all the way through the bench and the fans it keeps our energy high,” she said. “Sometimes we struggle with talking through all of that and playing defensive; it's a great environment.”
After the Cardinals jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead, the Flashes held them scoreless over the final seven minutes of the quarter and went on a 12-0 run for a 14-5 lead. Kent State never led by less than four points again. It was 33-24 at halftime and 52-39 at the end of three quarters.
“They [Ball State] really like to come out swinging and they want to try and bury you early,” Starkey said. “They make you try and play catch up, and they're very hard to play when they have a lead.
“So we talked about how we wanted to make sure that right out of the gate that we were here and we meant business.”
After Ball State cut its deficit to 58-50 in the fourth quarter, KSU outscored the Cardinals 7-0 over the game's final 4:35.
“All that matters is what's in front of you, and they took that to heart,” Starkey said. “They wanted to play a full 40 minutes. It's been one of our messages that when we get to March, and we get to the conference tournament, we want to put our best 40 minutes together, and that's playing out right before eyes.
“I thought our interior passing and our cutting off the ball was as good as I've seen in my eight years at Kent State. We did a great job of really finding the open player and scoring high-percentage shots.
"I loved how they would hit a big 3, and we'd come down and score at the basket — that just takes the wind out of a team's sails when they feel like they've made a move, and you've canceled it out.”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent State women's basketball defeats Ball State in MAC semifinals
