KENT, Ohio - For the second-consecutive game, the Kent State womens basketball team (12-7, 5-3 MAC East) used an aggressive defense and received another outstanding performance by senior Melissa DeGrate (Sr., Amarillo, Texas, South Plains) as the Golden Flashes held on to defeat the defending MAC tournament champion Eastern Michigan Eagles (14-4, 4-3 MAC), 63-60, tonight in front of 2,274 fans at the M.A.C. Center.
The win keeps the Flashes one-half game behind Marshall (5-2 MAC) for first place in the MAC East. The two teams will meet next at 7 p.m. next Wednesday, Feb. 2 in Huntington with first place on the line.
DeGrate led the Flashes, winners in four of their last five, with 24 points and hit a clutch 3-pointer late in the game to help secure the win. She also had four steals and went 8-of-10 from the free throw line.
The senior delivered for the Flashes right when they needed her to the most. With the Flashes leading by one with under a minute to play, Malika Willoughby (Jr.-R, Milwaukee, Wis./Washington) found DeGrate curling off a screen for a open 3-pointer that hit nothing but net to put the Flashed up by four.
The Eagles countered on their next possession when Erika Fords cross-court pass found Ryan Coleman open for a 3-pointer from the wing to cut the lead right back to one, 61-60, with 30 seconds left. Then, after two Lindsay Shearer (Jr., Minerva, Ohio/Minerva) free throws extended Kent States lead back to three, Nikki Knapps 3-point try at the end missed long and into the hands of Mallorie Griffith (So., Lexington, Ohio/Lexington) who finished with a game-high eight rebounds.
It was a great game all-around, head coach Bob Lindsay said. Two good teams playing each other. I think the difference at the end of the game was literally the last possession. We made a couple of key shots and free throws late and that might have been enough to beat Ryan Coleman because she was making shots all over the place.
We had some good contributions (off the bench). Mallorie Griffith comes in, and even though she doesnt score, she gets eight rebounds, gets a lot of the loose balls and tips that kept possession of the ball for us. I think that was key. Kacie Vavrek came off the bench and gave us seven points and Lakia gave us some scoring. Every little bit helped us.
Kent State held Eastern Michigan, who came into the game averaging 70 points per game, to 18 first half points. The Flashes took a 20-18 lead at the half despite DeGrate and Shearer on the bench for most of the half because of foul trouble.
Our game plan was to not get into an up and down game with them, because they are a very good offensive team, Willoughby said. We didnt want to get into a 70 or 80 point game with them. We also wanted to do a better job of taking care of the ball and rebounding.
Kent States defense scored 20 points off 21 EMU turnovers compared to five points for the Eagles off 18 KSU miscues.
We wanted to stop them in transition because theyre a good transition team, DeGrate said. We had to slow them down and make them run their offense. We wanted to make sure we always had our (guards) back on defense to stop their fast breaks.
After scoring a combined 38 points in the first half, both teams stepped it up the second half as Kent State outscored the Eagles, 43-42.
The Golden Flashes went 18-of-28 from the line, but made all six attempts in the final three minutes.
Shearer finished the game with 12 points and five rebounds while Willoughby had 10 points, five assists and three steals. Vavrek finished with seven off the bench.
Lindsay will go for career-win No. 300 Wednesday night at Marshall. Game time is 7 p.m. Lindsay will try to become the first MAC womens basketball head coach and the third MAC coach overall to record 300-career wins.
Game Notes: Lindsay Shearer is now 14 points away from becoming the 18th player in program history to record 1,000 career points ... DeGrates 24 points was one below her career-high and was her fourth 20-point game of the season ... Griffiths eight boards tied a career-high ... DeGrate 8-of-10 performance at the line was her KSU-best ... KSU has won 20 of the last 21 meetings ... KSU is 7-1 at home this season, 5-0 in MAC home games and 11-2 when scoring 60 or more points.
