tball team gave up 27 points off 29 turnovers Wednesday night en route to a 61-53 loss to conference-rival Buffalo.

“Turnovers were the deciding factor, quite honestly,” Kent State head coach Danielle O’Banion said. “Even with Buffalo going 15 of 17 from the line, I don’t know if that was as much of an issue as us just forfeiting possessions. That is what was frustrating about our performance tonight. Even though we were very resilient, I thought the turnovers were the difference in this basketball game.”

The Flashes (5-19, 2-11 MAC) rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit and managed to take the lead with three minutes left to play, but they squandered the lead shortly after.

O’Banion said that it really showed the growth of this team for them to be able to stick around, and even have a chance at defeating Buffalo in the second half.

“What was disappointing is that we out-played Buffalo for the most part in the second half, but we gave away far too many possessions,” O’Banion said.

The Bulls (15-9, 8-5 MAC) seemed to really want to push the basketball in transition in the first half, and outscored the Flashes in transition, 16-0.

“They were killing us in fast break points at the half, but we held them to only four in the second half,” O’Banion said. So our players did make that adjustment and made them work for more of their points.”

Freshman guard Larissa Lurken led the Flashes in scoring with 14 on four of six from behind the three-point line.

“I have been getting a lot of shots up in the gym, and just getting up those extra shots in the gym has been helping tremendously, and it’s showing in the games,” Lurken said.

The Bulls noticed her performance and made an adjustment  not to allow Lurken to get an open look late in the game.

“I think Buffalo realized that I had been shooting well, so they were coming out on me a lot more. I didn’t get to touch the ball as much as I did in the first half, but if I did, they were right up on me. Whether it was a shot fake or pull up, nothing was really there for me.”

Montia Johnson finished with 10 points and six rebounds. CiCi Shannon added 11 points and five rebounds as well.

The Flashes will play next against Miami at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the M.A.C. Center.

Contact Taylor Rosen at [email protected].