Kent State coach Danielle O’Banion believed her team needed a change to stop its recent losing streak.

Unfortunately Kent State (2-14, 0-3 Mid-American Conference) dropped their third straight game, 69-54, to the visiting Buffalo Bulls (5-11, 3-0 MAC) Wednesday night in the M.A.C. Center despite O’Banion inserting a freshman into the starting lineup.

Freshman guard Rachel Mendelsohn was granted her first career start for the Flashes and did not disappoint the 279 fans in attendance with 10 points, six rebounds and two assist.

“I kept a good tempo and my teammates kept pushing me to keep attacking so that’s what I did,” Mendelsohn said.

O’Banion said the reason for the change was to counter Buffalo’s rebounding and interior game. She felt it gave the Flashes an opportunity to move players into better positions to protect the paint. Despite the effort, Buffalo out-rebounded the Flashes 44-42.

“We identified the right goals, we just couldn’t achieve them,” O’Banion said.

It was a game of runs as Buffalo outscored the Flashes 25-10 in the last eight minutes of the first half to take a 37-24 lead into halftime.

Kent State came out of the half with energy and poise, going on a 12-7 run. But the deficit from the first half was too much for the Flashes to overcome.

“We recommitted to pressuring the basketball and came out and took better shots,” O’Banion said.

The Flashes also had additional help from senior guards Trisha Krewson – 14 points, three rebounds – and Tamzin Barroilhet – 12 points, seven rebounds.

Buffalo’s bench was a key factor in the game scoring 40 of their 69 points.

The Flashes will try to rebound from the loss when they take on Ball State at noon Saturday at Worthen Arena on Saturday. The game can be viewed live on SportsTime Ohio.

Contact Kevin Battaglia at [email protected].