The Kent State women’s basketball team lost a tough game Saturday at Ball State, falling to the Cardinals, 69-65, in overtime.

Suffering their first loss in Mid-American Conference play, the Flashes (14-4, 5-1 MAC) had their opportunities in this match up. Out worked on the boards by the Cardinals (8-11, 3-3 MAC), the Flashes lost the battle for rebounds 51-42.

Another stat that the Flashes let slip away was their free throw shooting that the team had a dismal 11-18 day at the line to Ball State’s 23-27.

“We did not play well enough to win this game,” Kent State coach Bob Lindsay said. “We missed free throws, we missed easy shots and we gave up too many second chances. We played poorly.”

The Flashes were led in scoring by senior forward Taisja Jones with 21 points and senior guard Jamilah Humes with 18 points as the team shot just 35.7 percent from the floor.

Emily Maggert lead the way in scoring for the Cardinals with 19 as two of her teammates were in double figures as well.

As always the post defense was a strong spot for the Flashes, only letting up 20 points in the paint all game. What really hurt the Flashes was the perimeter shooting by the Cardinals that sank 8-20 from beyond the arch.

With little time left on the clock and down 4 points, Jones would be the hero the Flashes needed hitting a pair of layups with the second one landing with 2.3 second left to tie the game at 58-58 to send the game to overtime.

Once in overtime, the Flashes fell again quickly and for good this time. At one point, the Cardinals lead by 8 points in the extra period, but the Flashes showed resiliency to pull within four.

Northern Illinois is next on the schedule for the Flashes on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center.

Contact Matt Lofgren at [email protected]