The Kent State women’s basketball team dominated in a 26-point blowout against Western Michigan.

Kent State picked up its eighth home win of the season, winning 64-38.

“You hold the conference opponent to 38 points, you have be doing something right,” said coach Todd Starkey. Western Michigan’s 38 points is the fewest points scored in a game by a Mid-American Conference team this season.

The  Flashes were losing for just 31 seconds of the entire game.

Kent improved to 13-6 overall and 5-3 in conference play. The Flashes are fifth in the MAC.

Western Michigan fell to 9-10 overall and 4-4 in the MAC and are sixth in the conference.

Senior guard Hannah Young made a three pointer to take the lead at the 8:09 mark in the first quarter and never lost the lead.

The Flashes’ offense was off to a hot start, shooting 80% from three and 46% from the field.

KSU had no problem protecting the ball, finishing the first quarter with only three turnovers.

Kent State went on an 11-point run in the first quarter. The team had 12 points off turnovers and led 22-12 at the end of the first quarter.

“We weren’t really pleased with the way we were starting games,” Starkey said, “…playing more aggressive, more confident with things. And I think we start to see evidence of that coming out a little bit.”

The Flashes remained in the lead in the second quarter, despite going 4-for-16 from the field and 1-for-8 from 3-point range.

The Broncos shot 25% from the field in the second quarter, heading into the locker room trailing 34-20.

Kent State’s scoring and defensive performance continued coming out of the half. KSU only allowed five points in the third quarter.

“As well as they typically shoot, they didn’t shoot the ball well today,” said Starkey when asked what the plan was coming out of halftime. “We knew that they were still within reach so we wanted to make sure that we weren’t coming out of halftime, practicing any bad habits.”

Western Michigan has been averaging 66.4 points per game so far this year.

WMU shot just 15% from the field in the third quarter. KSU shot just 33.3% from the field and 22.2% from three.

Kent State led 51-24 at the end of the third quarter.

Both teams scored 13 points in the fourth quarter.

Kent State shot 60% from the field and 50% from three in the fourth quarter. Western Michigan shot 35.7% from the field and 16.6% from three in the fourth quarter.

The team’s leading scorer, senior forward Lindsey Thall, was tied for the team’s leading scorer with 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and two blocks.

“Today we knew that they were going to come out in their zone,” Thall said. “”We just did a really good job of getting the ball into the middle of the floor and then passing out from that and finishing plays.”

Senior guard Clare Kelly also had 12 points with five assists, a rebound and a steal.

Freshman guard Tatiana Thomas added eight points to the mix, tying her season best.

“I was just thinking that I have to prove myself to coach,” Thomas said. “Bridget sadly was hurt at the moment so I was just doing the best I can.”

Next Stop: Akron

The Flashes travel to the school down the road at 7 p.m. Wednesday to take on Akron (13-5, 4-3 MAC).

Akron picked up a victory against Buffalo on Saturday. The Zips lost the two previous matchups before Buffalo.

The Zips are currently in fourth place in the MAC.

Lucas Baker is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].