Kent State women’s basketball team lost their third straight game to Minnesota 85-73.  The Flashes suffered a slow start in the first game of Tuesday night’s double-header, allowing the Golden Gophers to go on a 24-7 run to open the first quarter.

After the positive opening from Minnesota, the Flashes would answer back to make the game interesting.  In the mid-second quarter Kent State ran on a 12-2 run to close the gap, with the flashes ending the first half only trailing by one with a score of 42-41.

The Flashes held Gopher star senior guard Rachel Banham to only five points in the first half.

Much like the late first half push, the Flashes would go on to own the third quarter. Grabbing their first lead of the game, the Flashes eventually pushed that lead to eight points and would remain in the lead until the end of the third period.

Kent State began the fourth quarter leading with the score at 56-54. Unlike the mid-game dominance the Flashes exerted, the fourth quarter would be a disappointment. Failing to close the game the Flashes allowed Minnesota to regain control of the game. Minnesota played very tough in the closing minutes of the game.

The Flashes weren’t as successful in the second half at defending Banham, as she would go on to score 19-points in the second half and finish the game with 24 points.

Minnesota shot the ball positively the whole night, as they would close the game with a 50 percent field-goal percentage. The Flashes only shot 35.6 percent on the night from the field and they shot only 11.1 percent from three-point range.

Freshman guard Tyra James shooting woes from the previous game followed her into Tuesday nights match up as well, finishing the night with six points going 3-14 from the field.

Sophomore forward Jordan Korinek, would finish the evening with 22 –points, seven rebounds and a steal. Four of the seven rebounds came at the offensive end, Korinek also shot well from the charity stripe going 8-9 on the night.

Kent State will look for win number two of the season Saturday afternoon against Malone University. Tip off is at 2 p.m. in the MAC Center.

Contact Ty Sugick at [email protected].