Kent State women's basketball falls to top-seeded Toledo in MAC tournament semifinals
No. 1 seed Toledo entered the Mid-American Conference women's basketball tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse with a target on its back. Katie Shumate and Kent State took its best shot at hitting the bull's-eye and upsetting the Rockets in the semifinals.
In the end, Toledo hung on for a 68-58 victory over the Golden Flashes, surviving Shumate's 21 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. It was the third time this season Kent State fell to Toledo and the fifth consecutive time overall.
The Rockets, who have won 15 consecutive games, advanced to the MAC championship game at 11 a.m. Saturday.
"I was really proud of our players," Toledo coach Tricia Cullop said. "We knew this was going to be a tough game. Kent State is really skilled and can really shoot the ball."
The game was closer than the final score indicated. Kent State recovered from a slow start and a 10-point first quarter deficit to grab a four-point lead in the third quarter behind the strong play of Shumate outside and Lindsey Thall inside. Thall scored 15 points and added three rebounds and a blocked shot before fouling out.
"I'm really proud of this team," Kent State coach Todd Starkey said. "This group has just been incredible to coach from start to finish this year. ...The ultimate prize for us was to win this tournament and get into the NCAA Tournament, so this hurts."
The Flashes' advantage did not hold as Toledo's Sophia Wiard, Jayda Jansen and Sammi Mikonowicz ensured it would be the Rockets advancing. Wiard and Jansen scored 16 points apiece while Mikonowicz dominated the boards with a double-double of 12 points and 15 rebounds.
The memories of being upset by Ball State as the top seed last year in the MAC semifinals helped Toledo persevere through adversity.
"It feels good to win," Jansen said. "We know what we are here to do. The job is not finished. I feel like motivation from last year definitely boosted us forward. I feel like we were locked in as a team."
Jansen has been a thorn in Kent State's side all season. The 16 points were her second-highest point total this season. Her season high? She scored 19 against Kent State on Feb. 22. The senior has been determined to leave nothing to chance as her career winds down.
"It's my last go-around," Jansen said. "I'm done after this. I got nothing to lose. I have to put it all out there. I want to do it for the team as well. It's now or never."
Toledo won despite MAC Player of the Year Quinesha Lockett being limited to a season-low eight points in 28 minutes. Lockett averaged an even 30 points in the previous two games against the Golden Flashes this season. An illness played a major factor in those final numbers.
"Her stomach was turning today," Cullop said. "God bless our doctors for getting her some medication to calm her stomach down because I was a little worried. After the medication had a chance to kick in after halftime she was fine. ...We don't need Quinesha Lockett to have to score 25 points all the time. She draws a lot of attention. Some nights she is going to have to be the top assist person. Some nights she is going to make everybody else look like All-Americans."
Toledo (27-4) will play the winner of Friday's second semifinal between Bowling Green and Ball State game for the MAC Tournament championship.
"We're 40 minutes away from what we want," Mikonowicz said. "We just need to play our hardest. Our mindset doesn't need to change. We just need to keep playing basketball and keep playing hard."
Kent State (21-10) is hoping its season will continue.
"We don't think we are done yet," Starkey said. "We feel like we have as good a resume as we've had to get a WNIT bid since I've been here. I feel like there is still more basketball ahead of us."
Reach Cliff at cliff.hickman@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @chickmanREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Katie Shumate's big game could not help Kent State upset Toledo
