Kent State women’s basketball team defeated Ball State 65-50 in the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference tournament Friday.
This was the second lowest scoring game of the season for the Cardinals.
With the win, the Flashes end their 17-year drought of appearing in the championship game — KSU and Buffalo are tied for third with three championships all-time.
Junior forward Bridget Dunn and freshman forward Janae Tyler led all players with 16 points. Redshirt senior guard Katie Shumate added 12 points, and junior forward Jenna Batsch totaled 10 points.
Shumate led all players with 14 rebounds, and Dunn recorded her second consecutive double-double, grabbing 13 rebounds.
The Cardinals jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead. However, they were held scoreless over the final seven minutes of the quarter as the Flashes connected on two shots from deep, leading to a 12-0 run.
After shooting 6-of-18 during the opening quarter, KSU connected on 8-of-14 of its shots during the second quarter, including three shots from deep.
Kent State led 33-24 at halftime. During the first 20 minutes, the Flashes outrebounded Ball State 27-10 and recorded 10 second chance points — BSU had zero.
During the third quarter, Tyler scored a game-high seven points as the Flashes outscored the Cardinals 18-4 inside the paint, taking a 52-39 lead into the final quarter.
After going on an 11-6 scoring run, BSU cut the deficit to 58-50. However, the KSU defense held Ball State scoreless for the final 4 minutes and 35 seconds.
As a team, KSU shot 45% from the field and was 5-of-10 from deep. Kent State outscored BSU 44-16 inside the paint and won the rebound battle 50-17.
Ball State shot 32% from the field while going 8-of-30 from three.
The Flashes will now play Buffalo in the MAC Championship, looking to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
KSU defeated the Bulls in both regular-season matchups this season by an average score of eight points. The Flashes are seeking their first tournament championship since 2002, the longest active streak for all MAC teams.
Tipoff is Saturday at 11 a.m. at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Jacob Shondel is sports editor. Contact him at [email protected].
