In the Kent State women’s basketball team’s loss to Duquesne Wednesday, the Flashes scored 44 points in the first half – then almost halved their scoring in the second half.  

KSU lost to the Dukes 73-67. 

“Our execution offensively down the stretch wasn’t what it needed to be,” coach Todd Starkey said. “They just out-played us for a good portion of the game.”

Kent State shot just 8-for-34 and 4-for-13 in the first half. 

The Flashes have dropped to 5-3. They were on a four-game winning streak. 

Duquesne improved to 7-2. 

Hot first half

Duquesne was hot from behind the arc, shooting 4-for-5 in the first quarter. 

The team didn’t miss from the 3-point line until 2:55 left in the quarter. The Dukes had a 21-18 lead by the end of the first quarter and shot 8-for-15 from the field. 

“I don’t think we got off to a very good start defensively,” Starkey said. “It was one of our poorer defensive efforts of the season, we gave up way too many points.” 

The Flashes went 4-for-7 from behind the arc and shot 6-for-14 in the first quarter. 

Kent State’s offense gave the team a 44-39 lead by halftime, shooting 6-for-12 from behind the arc. The program shot 16-for-31 from the field. 

Graduate student guard Hannah Young had almost perfect shooting, scoring 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting and 4-of-5 from three. 

Duquesne kept up with KSU, shooting 7-for-16 and 2-for-5 from three. Junior Amaya Hamilton and sophomore guard Tess Myers each had 10 points at the half. 

Cold second half

The Dukes shot 6-for-9 in the third quarter, going 2-for-2 from three-point range to tie the game 58-58. 

KSU shot 5-for-19 from the field and 3-for-8 from deep in the third quarter. The Flashes could not improve in the fourth quarter. 

Kent State shot 3-for-15 and 1-for-5 from three in the final quarter. The Dukes shot 5-for-14 and 1-of-4 from 3-point range. 

“We had opportunities in the second, but we just really struggled to score,” Starkey said. “We only shot seven free throws in the entire game and it was a physical game, so it was a lot of things.”

The Flashes scored just nine points in the fourth quarter. This was their second-lowest scoring quarter this season. 

The Duke’s shot 48.1% from the field, their best field goal percentage of the night, and 56.3% from behind the arc, their best of the game. 

“They did a good job of executing their stuff, and we did a good job of letting them do it,” Starkey said. “They were in a pretty good rhythm offensively, and I don’t think we showed as much resistance as we had recently.”

Kent State had its highest three-point shooting percentage of the season in the fourth quarter, shooting 43.8 percent. 

Myers led the team with 23 points, two rebounds, three assists and one block. Hamilton finished with a double-double. She scored 22 points, 12 rebounds, two steals, one assist and a block. 

Duquesne had success down low with 34 points in the paint, while KSU had just 18. Kent State had a season-high 16 assists in the game. 

Kent State junior guard Casey Santoro led the team in scoring for the first time this season with 13 points, seven assists, three rebounds and a block. Young did not score at all in the second half. 

Freshman guard Corynne Hauser earned her first collegiate start. Hauser had seven points, five rebounds, four assists and one steal. She has played in every game this season and averages 7.9 points per game. 

“I think she had some good looks,” Starkey said. “In the first half of the game I thought she did a good job of getting some shots in rhythm.”

Kent State plays Hiram (4-3) Sunday at 2 p.m. in the M.A.C. Center. 

Sophomore center Brooke Hickman leads the team in scoring with 100 points, averaging 16.7 points per game. Senior guard Katie Shumate and graduate student forward Lindsey Thall lead Kent State in scoring with 94 points – an average of 11.8 points per game. 

“It wasn’t our best game, so it is going to happen,” Starkey said. “We have to regroup and get better from it.”

Jacob Hansen is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].