Kent State and the University of Toledo were tied for fifth in the league going into Saturday’s game. The top four teams in Mid-American Conference receive a first round bye in the MAC Tournament. 

The Flashes put up 24 points in the first quarter against Toledo with freshman guard Katie Shumate scoring 14 of those 24 points. 

She did not miss a shot until the second quarter.

“I think all together this is one of our best performances as a team right now… we got some things to play for right now,” she said.

Led by a career high from Shumate and a season high from sophomore guard Asiah Dingle, Kent State beat Toledo, 87-68. 

“It was really good to see Katie get going early and set the tone. And then obviously Asiah did some really nice things getting to the basket downhill and transition and we’ve got multiple players like that that are really able to get to the basket,” coach Todd Starkey said.

Despite the Rockets limiting Shumate’s offensive performance in the second half, she went up for a layup, scored her 22nd point of the game and created a new career-high for herself. 

She finished the game with 24 points, two rebounds and six assists. 

Dingle passed her own season high with 22 points. The sophomore guard was second in scoring and finished the game with two rebounds and six assists. Dingle played 28 minutes after coming off the bench.

“I thought we did a really good job of not giving in when they started running actions against us to get the ball inside or to get the ball to the basket. I thought we did a much better job of staying with our game plan from start to finish. And then when they put runs on us, we did a really good job of stopping them other than that one in the second quarter,” Starkey said. 

Lindsey Thall was third in scoring for the Flashes. The sophomore forward put up 13 points against the Rockets with one rebound and two assists. 

Four Flashes put up double-digits Saturday: Shumate, Dingle, sophomore guard Hannah Young and Thall. Young had 12 points and led the team with seven rebounds. 

“This is an opportunity that someone has to step up. So I felt like, ‘why not be me?’ But I wanted to do my part and just stay in my role and be in, within the offense and just let our offense go through and it worked out for us,” Young said. 

Senior guard Megan Carter was limited to just five points, four rebounds and two assists. 

Kent State will take on Central Michigan Wednesday Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. CMU is undefeated in MAC play coming off a 82-75 win against Bowling Green.

“It’s definitely going to be a tough game. But if we continue to take what we did today and put it into these next couple of days preparing for that game, I think we should be just fine,” Young said.

Amanda Levine is the sports editor. Contact her at [email protected].