The Kent State women’s basketball team lost the last two games before the start of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Wednesday, the Flashes (18-10) defeated Northern Illinois 63-60, advancing to the semifinals for the second year in a row.
Junior forward Bridget Dunn recorded a double-double with a career-high 15 rebounds and 14 points. She knocked down four three-point field goals throughout the game.
“Bridget’s been our best defensive rebounder all year,” Starkey said. “Probably one of the best defensive rebounders in the league, and we needed that from her. So I’m really proud of her.”
Redshirt senior guard Katie Shumate and junior forward Jenna Batsch each added 14 points.
“Game plans against Katie have been really to crowd her and that type of thing, and she handled that well,” Starkey said.
This was freshman forward Janae Tylers’s MAC Tournament debut.
She scored 15 on 7-of-10 shooting and tied her career-high with three blocked shots in 18 minutes.
“It was her first game back, and for her to be able to come in and do that gives us all more confidence in her,” Shumate said. “We were just trying to get her the ball on her spots and let her go to work because she was really under control and poised.”
The Flashes trailed 7-0 more than two minutes into the game before knocking down six of their next nine shots to take the lead.
The Huskies (15-15) responded with a basket to go ahead 16-15 at the end of the first quarter.
The Flashes put together a 7-0 run after falling behind by one with 7:56 remaining in the third quarter for their largest lead of the night.
Dunn made a big three-pointer and scored after grabbing a missed free throw to help take a 47-43 lead into the fourth.
In the midst of a scoring drought of more than two minutes and the lead down to one, Dunn made another three-pointer from the top of the arc to make it 59-55 with 2 minutes to play.
Kent State recorded back-to-back defensive stops, and Batsch converted a layup to lead by six with a minute to play.
Next up, Kent State will battle the No. 2 seed Ball State in the MAC Tournament semifinal at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, March 15.
KSU matched up with BSU twice this season, losing both games. On Jan. 31, the Cardinals won 57-46, and on March 6, Ball State won 75-71.
“Ball State’s a really good team, but at the same time, I think our team knows that we’re capable of winning,” Starkey said. “Our message to them is going to be we just have to be better than them for 40 minutes.
“You have to be playing your best basketball and find a way to finish.”
Emily Lowen is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected]
