Flashes Bring Dominance Back to the M.A.C.C.
12/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Kent State women's basketball team earned its first home win of the season with a 76-53 dismantling of Northern Arizona University at the M.A.C. Center Tuesday night (Dec.18).
The Flashes most convincing win of the season was sparked by its dominant inside game. Junior center Anna Kowalska led both sides with 25 points and 13 rebounds as KSU outscored the Lumberjacks 38-10 in the paint.
"We played better in spots," coach Bob Lindsay said. "We had some better individual performances from some players. Statistically we had a plus rebound margin, which is one of the things we are trying to do."
Forwards Samantha Scull, Chenel Harris and Alisa Brinkman combined for 24 points. As a team Kent State outshot Northern Arizona and pulled down 14 more rebounds.
The Flashes withstood a 10-1 Lumberjack run in the remaining three minutes of the first half to go into locker rooms with a 10-point lead, after leading by as many as 19 points early on.
Kent State responded, opening the second half with an 8-0 run, four points coming from Kowalska. After the 16 minute mark, the Flashes never led by less than 13 points.
The Kent State defense held Northern Arizona to just 28 percent shooting in the second half, and just 35.5 percent overall. The Flashes also forced three NAU shot clock violations.
"Last time I talked a little bit about what I thought this team needed to do to at least try to turn a corner in terms of improvement," Lindsay said.. "Play harder was one of those things, listen better, be a little bit more physically and mentally tough. We were a little better at that today. We haven't turned a corner though, not yet anyways."
Guard Rachel Bennett added a season-high 14 points, 12 of which came from three-pointers. The sophomore shot 4-of-6 from behind the arc, which ties a career-high in treys. Bennett's first three-pointer of the game at 15:43 sparked a 15-3 run by the Flashes in the first half.
"We were having a problem playing hard for 40 minutes," Bennett said. "I think this week in practice we picked it up. Today we went out and gave it everything we had...We had some steals and deflections it was an all-around good game for us. The steals, the deflections, the rebounding that shows how hard the team plays."
As a team, Kent State shot 40 percent from behind the arc. Freshman guard Stephanie Gibson added nine points, a game-high eight assists and six rebounds. Brinkman pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds as KSU set a new season-high with 49 boards.
With just eight players in uniform and Scull getting into early foul trouble, the Flashes called upon freshmen Ellie Shields and Nicole Pribich to each put in career-highs for minutes played.
The only area Kent State struggled with was free throws. The Flashes reached the line 26 times, but hit 14, good for 53 percent. The Lumberjacks only reached the line 10 times, and converted once.
Before dropping its first two home games of the current season, KSU had won 40 of its previous 46 games at the M.A.C. Center.
The Flashes (2-6) travel to Kingston Saturday to face the Rhode Island Rams at noon.
