Sophomore forward Lindsey Thall made eight three pointers, a new single game school record, on her way to a 32-point night against Ohio State. 

But it wasn’t enough to win, and Kent State fell to Ohio State 75-65. 

“It feels good,” Thall said about her career night. “But losing feels worse.” 

Thall scored 19 points in the fourth quarter alone and made five of her six attempted three-pointers. 

“I think against a team like this it’s tough when you don’t see the ball go through the net for a lot of shots,” Thall said. “Once you start to see it go through, we gain energy, the crowd gets energy, so that just builds on us. And that let us cut the lead a little bit there at the end.” 

Kent State entered the fourth quarter down 23 points. In the fourth, Kent State made 46.7 percent of its field goals and 60 percent of its three-pointers. 

“We just have to have a better start to all of our games,” senior guard Megan Carter said. “That’s been the common theme, us trying to fight back.” 

Carter was second on the team in scoring, with 13 points.

Ohio State had a ten-point run in the first half and made over 50 percent of its attempted field goals. Kent State made three of its 18 attempted field goals in the first quarter and five of its 14 attempts in the second quarter. 

“If we don’t start two for eight from the free throw line, if we make some more open shots and finish layups, maybe we have a little bit of a different feeling at half,” coach Todd Starkey said. “But at the same time, with all that happening, we still went into the locker room and were like ‘hey, let’s make this a battle in the second half.’ And I don’t think we ever really let it get away from us.” 

The Flashes went two for eight from the free throw line in the first half, before going 17 for 26 in the second half. 

“We just have to play a full game from start to finish,” Thall said. “And we can’t let them get away like that.” 

After having 22 turnovers against Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday, Kent State only had 10 turnovers against Ohio State. 

“Talent for talent, we’re probably a little bit overmatched,” Starkey said. “But I was proud of the way we played. Only 10 turnovers, we took care of the ball. I just hope we use some of that confidence and some things we learned in the first five games moving forward.” 

The game was played in front of 4,272 people, the largest crowd for a women’s basketball game in the M.A.C Center this century.

“I think it’s a phenomenal atmosphere,” Starkey said. “I wish we had this kind of crowd all the time. We could potentially have the best home advantage in the MAC. I hope this showed some people who haven’t normally come to watch us play what we’re made of and what we’re capable of.”

Kent State women’s basketball plays Robert Morris at home on Sunday at 1 p.m.. Kent State has beaten Robert Morris for the last two years, last year winning 54-46 on the road. 

“We got a really tough Robert Morris coming in here on Sunday,” Starkey said. “So we’ve got to have a short term memory and turn around and be ready to go.”

Contact Gina Butkovich at [email protected]