Poor shooting and rebounding led the Kent State women’s basketball team to lose the season opener against James Madison 67-56 Monday night. 

The Flashes were unable to find an offensive rhythm for most of the night, and by the time the team did in the third quarter, it was too late. As a team, the Flashes shot 17-54 (31.5%) from the field and 0-19 from three-point range.

“[James Madison] is a much improved defensive team from last year, and I thought their hedging threw us off without having natural ball handlers,” coach Todd Starkey said. “That cold of a shooting night at home to start the season – maybe it was because our rhythm was thrown off a little bit and everyone was sped up – but you’d think we’d knock down a few of those.”  

Rebounding and defensive intensity were other issues for the Flashes throughout the game. The team was outrebounded 45-37 with a 19-10 disparity on the offensive glass. 

James Madison also had several good shooting looks throughout the game because the Flashes failed to adequately fight through screens. 

“I would’ve liked to see us play a little bit more physical, more aggressive,” Starkey said. “They did a really good job of taking us out of our stuff, and we didn’t respond to that the way I would like to.” 

James Madison jumped out to its biggest lead of the game with 9:04 left in the third quarter, when it went up by 12 points. From there, the Flashes began to slowly chip away at the lead cutting it down to four points midway through the third quarter, but the team couldn’t take advantage when in striking distance.  

“It was a four-point game for a long time, and we had probably three or four possessions where we had really good looks, and in two of them we had turnovers,” Starkey said. “You can’t come up empty on those four possessions. You have to cut it to a one possession game and then it changes the dynamic a little bit.” 

Despite not being able to complete the comeback, Starkey was proud of the way his team clawed back. He added the team will “never be satisfied with losing.” 

“I don’t care who it’s against and for whatever reason, but we won’t get comfortable with [losing],” Starkey said. “I’m happy to see this team is willing to step up and compete when things get tough.” 

Senior guard Jenna Batsch had a rough outing in the opener as she scored eight points on 3-11 shooting, and she was also responsible for six turnovers. Batsch is entering a new role as the Flashes’ point guard this season, and the transition has taken her time to adjust to. 

“I have to do better at getting the team into offense because their pressure took us out of a lot of things,” Batsch said. “I rushed into sets, so I have to do better with slowing down, getting everyone set and then getting our action set.”

Batsch also credited the James Madison defense for her offensive woes. She said their game plan threw her off, and their players were physical and aggressive on defense. 

“We didn’t get many foul calls on handchecks or anything like that, but you just have to be able to play through that and not expect fouls,” Batsch said. 

A rare bright spot for the Flashes was sophomore center Riley Rismiller, who was a force inside the paint all night. James Madison had trouble guarding her throughout the game as she drew 10 fouls, shooting 15 free throws en route to a 20-point performance. 

“Staying aggressive and trying to get to the line is always a great opportunity,” Rismiller said. “It’s a great start to the season, but I’m not putting any expectations on myself. I’m just letting the game come to me every game and playing off my teammates.” 

James Madison had several players with notable performances against the Flashes. Senior guards Roshala Scott and Jamia Hazell led the way with 19 and 15 points, respectively. Junior guard Peyton McDaniel finished with a poor shooting performance but stepped up in other ways, recording 10 rebounds and seven steals. 

James Madison improves to 1-0 on the young season and will take on Loyola Maryland (0-1) next. For the Flashes, the team drops to 0-1 and will look to bounce back against Walsh (0-0) Thursday at the M.A.C. Center. 

“We have a great staff that already has that matchup broken down, and we are looking forward to that opportunity to get back out on the court in front of our fans,” Starkey said. “That’s certainly not a game we’re looking past; we’re looking at this as an opportunity for us to get better.” 

John Engoglia is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].