HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Kent State womens basketball team (12-8, 5-4 MAC) fell, 84-78, tonight to the Marshall Thundering Herd (12-7, 6-2 MAC) at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, W.Va. The Flashes made a valiant comeback effort after trailing by as much as 22 points in the second period. Malika Willoughby led the second half charge with a career-high 26 points in the loss.
The Flashes shot a season-high 51 percent from the field, but could not overcome 24 turnovers as the Herd capitalized with 25 points off turnovers.
With her basket at the 1:22 mark in the second half, Lindsay Shearer became the 18th player in program history to record 1,000 career points. She finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Marshall took a 44-32 lead at halftime as the Herd turned 14 first half turnovers by the Flashes into 17 points and outscored the Flashes 24-10 inside. Shepard-Hall led the way with 10 first half points for the Herd who shot 51 percent in the opening half.
Kent State trailed by two, 29-27, with 6:35 left in the first before Marshall went on a 15-3 run to take a 14-point lead. Willoughbys jumper at the halftime buzzer cut MUs lead to 12 at the break.
It appeared Marshall was headed for a potential blowout as Kent State committed eight turnovers in the first nine minutes of the second half as the Herd built a 22 point lead. But the Flashes would not go quietly as a Melissa DeGrate 3-pointer and a Willoughby layup capped a 10-1 scoring run to cut Marshalls lead to 13 with 7:56 to go.
A Sikeetha Shepard-Hall running jumper at the 6:20 mark put Marshall back up by 17 before a DeGrate layup sparked another 12-1 run by the Flashes to cut Marshalls lead to six 1:59 remaining. Kim Griffin then hit a backbreaking 3-pointer out of the left corner to put Marshall back up by nine with 59 seconds left. Willoughbys hot hand at the end kept the Flashes close, but Marshall hit 10-of-12 free throws in the final 1:34 to turn away any last chances for the Flashes.
Willoughby finished the game 9-of-10 from the floor, 7-of-10 from the line and had eight assists and five boards to go with her 26 points.
Shepard Hall led five Marshall players in double-figures with 20 points. Griffin and Teyonka Hodge each had 17 for the Herd.
Game Notes: Lindsay Shearer became the 18th player in program history to record 1,000 career points with her layup at the 1:22 mark ... the 84 points by Marshall were the most given up by KSU this season and the most since Western Michigan scored 87 against the Flashes in the 2003 MAC Tournament ... Willoughby's 9-of-10 (.900) shooting performance was the second-best shooting percentage in KSU single-game history (minimum 10 attempts) - the best was .909 percent (10-of-11) held by Amy Slowikowski on Feb. 2, 1988.
