Kent State Flashes Past St. Francis 85-52
12/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Kent, Ohio - With the injured-player count up to three, seven Golden Flashes rose to the occasion, giving Kent State (4-5) a convincing 85-52 victory over St. Francis (Pa.) Thursday night (Dec. 21) at the M.A.C. Center. Tiffany LaFleur (Scarborough, Ontario) shattered her career scoring high with 19 points and Mallorie Griffith (Lexington, Ohio/Lexington) smashed her career-high in rebounds with 17. LaFleur, Griffith and La'kia Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa.) all posted double-doubles on the same night, helping Kent State dominate on the inside.
"I've been tough on them and they responded well," said Head Coach Bob Lindsay. "This was a good effort for the number of players that we have. I tried to concentrate on getting contributions from everybody and I think that we got that tonight."
In the first meeting between the two schools, the Golden Flashes stormed out to a 17-2 lead that included 11 points on six Red Flash turnovers. LaFleur connected on her first three field goal attempts during the run. St. Francis responded with seven straight points of their own cutting the lead to single digits (17-9) for only a brief moment. KSU finished the half on a 23-11 spurt as sophomore guard Asheley Harkins (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill) added an exclamation point with a layup in the final seconds.
Leading 40-22 at intermission, Kent State kept up its pace in the second half opening with an 11-3 run, which was capped off by a three-pointer from Harkins on the right wing. The Flashes continued to pound on the inside and extended its lead to 30 points (70-40) at the 8:44 mark.
"I told the team the stories of teams that we've had here in the past with only six or seven people," said Lindsay. "One of those teams won a MAC championship and another won five games in a row with six players. I told them why they won... HEART."
LaFleur made her first five field goal attempts of the game finishing 9-of-13 from the floor. Her 19 points topped a previous career-high of 12. Six of LaFleur's 11 rebounds came on the offensive end. "We had a lot offensive rebounds," said Lindsay. "It's been one of our strengths."
For the second straight game, Griffith set a career-high in rebounds after pulling down 12 boards at Vermont on Tuesday. She also added 10 points and four steals. "Mallorie is starting because she plays harder than anyone else we have," said Lindsay. "You can see that with the way she rebounded tonight."
The sharp shooting Stewart went 8-of-11 from the field and 6-of-7 in the opening half. She finished with 16 points, 13 boards and five assists in her 10th career double-double. The last time even two KSU players notched double-doubles in the same game was one year ago to the day (Dec. 21, 2005).
The Flashes, who never trailed throughout the game, committed a season-low nine turnovers and just three in the first half.
Harkins matched her career-high of 15 points, going 6-of-11 from the field. Freshman Jamilah Humes (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill) added 10 points giving KSU five players in double figures.
The Red Flash (3-8) dropped its fifth straight and fell to 0-7 on the road. St.Francis was led by Lindsay Stuckey with 12 points. The Red Flash shot just 34 percent from the field and were outscored in the paint by 42 points (54-12).
Three of the Golden Flashes' four victories on the year have been by 30 or more points. KSU improved to 2-0 at the M.A.C. Center and has won 22 of its last 23 home games.
The Golden Flashes will take a full week off from competition before heading to San Antonio, Texas for the Wells Fargo New Year's Classic Dec. 29-30. KSU will take on Kentucky in the opening game (Dec. 29) before facing host Texas-San Antonio on Dec. 30.
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