Preview: Women’s basketball takes on Northern Illinois in MAC tournament

Kent State Golden Flashes tip off against Northern Illinois University on March 4, 2023.

Kyle Kuchta, Reporter
March 8, 2023

The Kent State women’s basketball team will play No. 5 seed Northern Illinois in the Mid-American Conference tournament quarterfinals Wednesday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Tip off will be 1:30 p.m. It is the second time in five days the Flashes take on the Huskies — KSU has already swept NIU twice this season.

In the teams’ latest contest, KSU put up 13 3-pointers, shooting 46% from the field. In the tournament historically, Kent State is 1-1 vs Northern Illinois in the quarterfinals.

Kent State has advanced to the MAC tournament semifinals 18 times and has won the MAC tournament title in 1999, 2000 and 2002.

KSU appeared in the championship game from 1996-2002. In those seven years, KSU had a 18-4 record in the tournament.

Under coach Todd Starkey, Kent State has appeared in the quarterfinals in six of his seven seasons.

Corynne Hauser shoots a two-point shot in the game against Central Michigan on Feb. 8, 2023. (Yasmeen Matthews)

This season, the Flashes finished 20-9 in the regular season and the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament at 12-6. This is the first time in 12 years KSU has won 20 regular-season games.

Out of the seven other teams participating in the tournament, KSU has swept four during the regular season: Northern Illinois, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, and Akron.

Toledo and Bowling Green are the teams only teams to have swept Kent State this season.

KSU leads the conference in scoring defense with 61.5 ppg. When its opponents score under 70 points, the Flashes are 19-1 and are 5-0 when their opponent shoots less than 30% from the floor.

KSU’s bench has put up 23.6 points per game this season.

Kent State senior Katie Shumate dribbles in toward the net during the wagon wheel game against Akron Feb. 18, 2023. (Matthew Brown)

As announced Tuesday, senior guard Katie Shumate made the All-MAC Third Team, averaging a team-best 12 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.

Graduate student guard Lindsey Thall earned All-MAC Honorable Mention — she is the only player in MAC history to total at least 1500 points, 200 made three’s and 200 blocks.

Freshman guard Corynne Hauser, who is third on her team in scoring with 277 points on the year, made the All-MAC Freshman Team.

Kyle Kuchta is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].