Kent State was tied with Mid-American Conference leader Central Michigan 25-25 after the first quarter. Each team was shooting at least 50 percent. 

The rest of the game, the Flashes shot 29 percent, and made one 3-point shot in their 71-58 road loss.

“I thought we allowed missed shots to affect us way too much from a mental standpoint,” coach Todd Starkey said in his Golden Flash Radio postgame interview.

Central Michigan (20-4, 13-0 MAC) held Kent State (14-10, 7-6 MAC) to shooting 20 percent from behind the 3-point arc.

“We were missing a lot of shots,” Starkey said. “We weren’t finishing around the basket, and we allowed that to affect us on the defensive end as well. When you get an opportunity to hold a team like Central Michigan nine points under the season average, you have to be able to be tough enough to keep coming at them and finish plays.”

The Flashes were without starting freshman forward Nila Blackford for the second straight game as she continues to recover from a concussion suffered last Wednesday against Akron in a 60-55 win.

“Having her available changes things a little bit,” Starkey said. “She’s so strong around the basket, [and if she plays] maybe we finish a lot of those closer baskets.”

Kent State allowed Central Michigan to shoot 50 percent from the field, but they forced 16 Chippewa turnovers.

“I felt like overall we played a game without composure and mental toughness,” Starkey said. “Playing against a team like Central Michigan, the margin for error is so small.”

Central Michigan’s freshman guard Molly Davis scored a game high of 26 points.

“We tried to reach way too much,” Starkey said. “She’s a very talented player, and we made her look really good tonight. I thought we were undisciplined on the ball, so we have to be better than that. We were trying to reach for some reason and not make her take tough shots.”

Three Flashes scored in double figures, sophomore guard Asiah Dingle scored 16 points and redshirt senior guard Megan Carter and sophomore forward Lindsey Thall each scored 14 points.

Kent State’s next game is at 1 p.m. Saturday against Miami University (11-14, 4-9 MAC) at home. 

“It’ll be good to get back home and shake this one off pretty quickly,” Starkey said. “[We have to] make sure we don’t make some of these same mistakes again and get back to a good game plan against a tough Miami team.”

Kathryn Rajnicek is a sports reporter. Contact her at [email protected].