Although the Kent State women’s basketball team (16-7, 7-4 Mid-American Conference) had one of its best offensive performances this season, Central Michigan’s balanced scoring attack was too much to overcome as the Flashes fell 78-72 on the road Saturday.

With 6:25 left in the game, the Flashes held a 10-point lead over the Chippewas (16-7, 8-3 MAC) but could not hold on.

With a team high 27 points, Kent State senior guard Jamilah Humes led the way for the Flashes. Senior forward Chenel Harris chipped in three clutch 3-pointers and finished with 9 points. Both women were on Kent State coach Bob Lindsay’s radar for their performances.

“We didn’t play hard enough for long enough to win the game,” Lindsay said. “(Humes) played great for us. (Humes) and (Harris) did everything we asked of them today.”

The Flashes second leading scorer came from Tamzin Barroilhet with 12 points, a key statistic as the team has been looking for someone off the bench to step up.

As a unit, the team’s bench scored a solid 22 points to aid in the effort, making Saturday’s game a stepping point for a bench that had been struggling over the last few games. They outscored the Chippewas 14 points from the bench.

The Flashes look to be back on track offensively, playing two complete halves of basketball and shooting 41 percent in the first half and an impressive 58 percent in the second (49 percent for the game).

Points in the paint proved to be too much for the Flashes to defend as the Chippewas had 44 points to Kent State’s 26. Leaving a lot of room for improvement, the Flashes allowed Central Michigan to shoot 49 percent from the floor with the large difference being the amount of shots the Chippewas made.

Another effective stat that the Chippewas had over the Flashes was second-chance points. Accumulating 20-second chance opportunity points to the Kent State’s 5, while the Chippewas doubled the Flashes offensive rebounds 14 to 7.

For the entire game, the Flashes just could not keep up with the rebounding of the Chippewas. Despite Ellie Shields’s nine boards, Central Michigan out-rebounded the Flashes 36-to-25.

Sinking 3-pointers at an unusual clip, the Flashes were 8-of-19 (42 percent) from beyond the arch with Harris making 3-of-7. In the first half, the team was an impressive 7-of-8 with the long ball. With good perimeter defense, the Chippewas were held to just 5-of-16 (31 percent) shooting the 3-pointers.

Continuing their hot shooting from the charity stripe, the Flashes were 12-of-15 from the free-throw line with Humes shooting a perfect 7-7.

Finishing their swing of MAC West opponents, the Flashes finished just 2-4 versus the West.

The Flashes will travel to Miami (10-14, 2-9 MAC) to resume MAC East play Thursday at 7 p.m.

Contact Matt Lofgren at [email protected].