Flashes Stun Eastern Michigan, 70-56, in MAC Semifinals
3/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CLEVELAND, Ohio Its the reason the game is 40 minutes and not just 20. After a dreadful first half, the Kent State University womens basketball team made an improbable comeback from a 16-point halftime deficit to stun Eastern Michigan University, 70-56, in the semifinals of the 2006 Kraft Mid-American Conference Tournament this afternoon (Mar. 10) at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
The dramatic 35-point turnaround- Kent State (21-8) trailed by as many as 18 and led by as many as 17 in the second half- puts Kent State into Saturdays championship game against MAC regular season champion Bowling Green State University in a rematch of the 2005 Kraft MAC Tournament final.
We had a choice at the start of the second half, said head coach Bob Lindsay, the leagues winningest coach (329-169). We werent playing Kent State basketball. We talked in the locker room whether of not we were going to finish the season like that.
Eastern Michigan (22-7) jumped out to early leads of 7-0, 13-5 and 16-7 in the opening minutes as the Golden Flashes struggled to find any rhythm offensively. The Golden Flashes opened the game just four-for-14 from the field and shot just 25.8 percent (8-of-31) for the first half. MAC Player of the Year Lindsay Shearer was just two-of-10 from the floor with six points. The Eagles, meanwhile, hit at a 53.6% clip in the first 20 minutes, getting 13 points from All-MAC guard Ryan Coleman and 10 points from Sarah VanMetre. After taking as big as an 18-point lead, Eastern led by 16, 37-21 at the break.
With the end of their season possibly on the horizon, the Flashes opened the second half like a team possessed. Senior point guard Malika Willoughby, the two-time conferenceDefensive Player of the Year sparked the Flashes with her offense. Penetrating into the lane, Willoughby converted a pair of lay-ups and then kicked the ball out to Sarah Burgess on the wing for a three-pointer that cut the deficit to nine with 14:04 to go. A steal and lay-up by MAC Sixth Man of the Year Lakia Stewart cut the deficit to seven.
A timeout by Eastern Michigan couldnt stop the Flashes momentum. After Willoughby rebounded a Nikki Knapp miss, Burgess fired in a three to make it 43-37 with `12:28 to go. Three minutes later, Shearer hit a jumper and them two free throws to tie the game at 43-43 at the nine-minute mark.
After a three-point play by VanMetre, Willoughby went right back on the attack, driving for another lay-up to make it a one-point game. Following an Easter turnover, Burgess, the Cleveland native playing just her second collegiate game in her hometown, buried a three from the right wing that put Kent State in front for the first time in the contest. With 8:05 left, KSU led 48-46, following a stunning 12 minutes of basketball that saw the Flashes outscore EMU 27-9.
With junior guard Kerrie James putting the clamps on Coleman, Easterns leading scorer, the Flashes turned offensively to their closer, Shearer. She scored 10 of her game-high 24 points in the final seven minutes and took away every second-chance opportunity for Eastern Michigan, finishing with a MAC Tournament single-game record-tying 19 rebounds, including 13 on the defensive end. Stewart added six points down the stretch and the backcourt duo of Burgess and Willoughby also contributed for the Flashes as they outscored Eastern by 30 points, 49-19, in the second half.
Burgess finished with 18 points, hitting four three-pointers for the second straight game, matching her season high. Willoughby added 10 points to go along with four assists and seven steals. Stewart added eight points and seven boards. Behind the duo of Burgess and Stewart, the KSU bench outscored the Eastern reserves 28-0.
Coleman scored 17 to lead the Eagles, but was totally shutdown by James in the second half, scoring just four points on two-of-five shooting and turning the ball over three times. As a team, the Eagles committed 11 turnovers in each half and after their hot-shooting first half, were just eight-of-26 (30.8%) in the second. VanMetre scored 16 and Knapp had 14 and eight boards for the Eagles.
Kerrie James was really the unsung hero today, Lindsay said. Her stats arent going to be anything great (four points, two assists, two steals), but she plays every teams best perimeter player and has great quickness and strength. (Coleman) is a WNBA-caliber player, theres no question about that, and Kerries ability to stay in front of her and not give her an easy basket was a big thing for us during that run.
Shearer, the leagues leading scorer who already owns the MAC Tournament single-game scoring record, finished eight-of-19 from the field, going six-of-nine in the second half. She also went eight-for-eight from the foul line to lead the Flashes. As a team, Kent State was 18-of-19 at the charity stripe. The Flashes shot 57.1% (16-of-28) from the field in the second half.
The Golden Flashes will tip-off with Bowling Green at 1 p.m. on Saturday (Mar. 11) for the right to represent the conference at the NCAA Tournament. The Flashes have appeared in the title game 10 times previously, including last years 81-75 loss to Bowling Green.
Bowling Green defeated Toledo in the days other semifinal, 68-46.
GAME NOTES: The Golden Flashes have won the MAC Tournament three times previously (1998, 2000, 2002) and are 3-7 all-time in the title game... Kent State has won four straight and eight-of-nine... the win was also the 30th all-time in MAC Tournament play for Kent State, including a 28-12 mark under Bob Lindsay... Lindsay Shearer scored 20 points in a game for the ninth straight contest and the 20th time overall this season... the double-double was the 23rd of Shearers career, her fifth this season... Burgess has hit four three-pointers in a game four times this season... Kent State is 15-0 this season when holding an opponent under 60 points.
