Kent State (3-15, 0-7 MAC) suffered a 72-62 loss to Miami University (6-12, 2-5 MAC) in a back and forth offensive dual.

“I thought that we hurt ourselves early in the game by having some early fouls,” said Kent State head coach Danielle O’Banion on the Golden Flashes iHeartRadio network. “That combined with us missing layups that were just no-brainer bunnies I thought that came back to hurt us along with our shot selection. We paid for us making some tough decisions in transition.”

The Flashes finished the game shooting 41 percent from the field connecting on 23 of 56 attempts. The RedHawks shot the ball at 40 percent on 22 of 55 from the field.

 “I told the team to keep your heads up because we had a very critical choice that we made today,” said O’Banion. “When a team goes on an 8-0 run late in the second half, in the past, our response has not been appropriate, so we challeneged them after that eight-minute mark.”

Sophomore guard Rachel Mendelsohn finished the game leading the Golden Flashes in scoring with 19, which included three of nine from three-point land.

Senior guard Ashley Evans chipped in with 12 and three rebounds. Amber Dunlap also finished with 11 and three rebounds as well.

The Flashes won the turnover battle by only committing 15. Kent State also forced Miami into 18 turnovers including 14 steals.

The Flashes came out on Saturday at Millett Hall arena playing stifling defense, holding the RedHawks scoreless for the first six minutes of play.

Senior guard Amber Dunlap got herself into early foul trouble and was forced to sit down with two personal fouls in the first half.

 “I thought she made a couple of really bad decisions in terms of picking up those two cheap fouls. That hurt us because she sat more than she played in that first half, but she came back in the second half and finished in double figures,” said O’Banion. “Amber is growing and developing and that is really encouraging for a senior guard.”

The Flashes will look to bounce back and earn their first conference win when they travel to Dekalb, Illinois this Wednesday to take on Northern Illinois. Tip is at 7:00p.m.

Contact Taylor Rosen at [email protected].