Kent State women's basketball handles taller Eastern Michigan with ease, snaps 2-game skid

With four players close in height to their Friday opponent, the Kent State women’s basketball team defeated Eastern Michigan ― a squad with six players at least 6-feet tall.

Coach Todd Starkey said it “goes back to the way” freshman Corynne Hauser, a 5-7 point guard, started the game.

“When you have a playmaker like Corynne, people have to pay more attention ― it opens other people up, and she was able to find them as well,” Starkey said. “Corynne got us into a great rhythm offensively. They had to make some adjustments and really pay more attention to her, which really led to our balance in scoring.”

The Flashes ended a two-game losing streak, their longest of the season, with a 79-66 win over the Eagles on Wednesday. KSU is tied for fifth place in the Mid-American Conference at 3-2 and is 11-5 overall.

Hauser totaled 17 points and six assists, leading the Flashes in both categories for the third consecutive game. By the end of the first quarter, she had scored seven points.

A freshman, Hauser said she has gotten more comfortable as the season progressed.

“I’m not nervous before the games,” Hauser said. “I started to adjust more to the tempo.”

Also scoring in double figures for Kent State were Clare Kelly with 14, Katie Shumate with 11 and Hannah Young with 10.

Eastern Michigan’s 6-2 senior center, Irekpitan Ozzy-Momodu, led all players with 22 points. Six-foot redshirt junior forward Ce’Nara Skanes, who has led her team in scoring in five games this season, was held to seven points.

The Eagles scored 48 points in the paint to KSU’s 26.

“A few teams in our league have that kind of size,” Starkey said. “They’re really big, and it’s an emphasis for them. I was pleased with the way we defended Skanes, though.”

By the end of the first quarter, Kent State outscored Eastern Michigan 24-13. Hauser and Shumate led the team in points.

At the half, after a 3-pointer from Hauser at the buzzer, the Flashes were up 38-29.

Kent State maintained the lead for the rest of the game, with the team’s largest lead (68-49) coming in the fourth quarter.

“We had a really good two days of practice, and we focused on being more connected for this game,” said Kelly, a senior. “And I think that’s what we did. We were more connected on both sides of the floor.”

The Flashes shot 51.9% from the field (28-of-54), 45.8% from behind the arc (11-of-24) and 85.7% from the free throw line (12-of-14)..

Eastern Michigan shot 18.8% from behind the arc (3-for-16) and was out-rebounded by the Flashes, 29-28.

“We have a term with our guards with rebounding, they have to 'join the party,’” Starkey said. “We had to gang rebound ― all five had to be involved to out-rebound that team.”

The Flashes play at Bowling Green at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Falcons are tied for second in the conference with Akron and Toledo at 3-1. They have the best overall record in the MAC at 14-2.

Senior guard Elissa Brett leads Bowling Green in scoring with 209 points. Her team has five players who have scored over 150 points so far this season.

Kent State has two.

Starkey said his team needs to make sure “that we don’t beat ourselves.”

“We’re getting ready to go play, arguably, the hottest team in the league,” Starkey said. “They just play with so much pace and tempo, and they’re going to press us for 40 minutes and try to speed us up. We have to be able to make that adjustment. We just have to continue to be a better version of us.”

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent State women's basketball defeats Eastern Michigan