Flashes Looking for First 3-0 Start Since 1991
11/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The M.A.C. Center plays host to a women's/men's basketball doubleheader Sunday afternoon (Nov. 23) beginning with the Kent State women (2-0) hosting New Mexico State (1-2) at 2 p.m. The men take on UNC-Wilmington at 4:30 as both KSU teams look to go 3-0.
• Kent State has not gone 3-0 since the 1991-92 season. Last season, the Flashes did not earn their second win until Dec. 18.
• After leading five Flashes in double figures with 19 points against Youngstown State, Anna Kowalska was named Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week on Monday. Wednesday night at Delaware State, she recorded her ninth double-double in just over a year with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
• In just her second game back after a one-year absence, Jamilah Humes scored 19 of her career-high 25 points in the second half against the Hornets. In two games, Humes is 14-of-18 from the fied, averaging 19 points per contest.
• New Mexico State won the only meeting between the two schools last November 72-55 in Las Cruces. Anna Kowalska led the Flashes with 19 points, but the Aggies held KSU to just 29 percent shooting and built an 18-point lead by halftime (35-17).
• Since 1992, Kent State is 160-25 at the M.A.C. Center.
• Veteran head coaches Bob Lindsay and Darin Spence have a combined 741 career victories between them.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Radio & Live Stats: WHLO AM-640 (Ty Linder, play-by-play). Online radio simulcast live stats available on the Kent State website at www.kentstatesports.com.
HORNET SWATTING
Wednesday's 66-56 victory at Delaware State was the Flashes' first true road win against a non-conference opponent since 2005, snapping an 11-game skid in that category.
• The KSU defense held the Hornets to 7-of-31 shooting in the first half, including 1-of-13 from three-point range.
• A three-pointer by freshman guard Jena Stutzman gave the Flashes a 10-8 lead six minutes into the game and KSU never trailed again.
• Anna Kowalska blocked three shots in the first half.
• The Flashes trip to Dover was the first of eight non-conference road games to be played during a 40-day span in seven states (Del., Wash., N.C., Ohio, Vt., Kan. La.). It was also the program's first trip to state of Delaware.
A QUICK LOOK AT NEW MEXICO STATE
The Aggies lost six letterwinners and three starters from a team that finished 23-9 last season. Included in the letterwinners lost are New Mexico State's top three scorers against the Flashes last season. Sophomore guard Madison Spence, daughter of head coach Darin Spence, tallied nine points and four assists against KSU last year.
This season, Spence is averaging 12.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. Classmate Danisha Corbett leads the Aggies with 13.7 points per contest. She has made eight three-pointers in three games, while averaging 4.7 boards per game. Senior center Niki Holt has blocked 10 shots, while Tabytha Wampler has pulled in 19 rebounds.
• Ten Aggies are averaging at least 7.7 minutes per game this season.
• In its first road game of the season, New Mexico State fell to UTEP 54-50 Thursday in El Paso. The Aggies led by three (45-42) with 3:21 to play, before the Miners went on a run. Last season NMSU finished 7-6 on the road.
MAGIC NUMBERS- 76 & 60
In their two victories, the Golden Flashes held both Youngstown State and Delaware State to under 60 points. Since the 2006-07 season, the Golden Flashes are 15-0 when scoring 76 or more points in a game. The Flashes have had similar success with the number 60. Since the 2004-05 season, KSU is 38-1 when holding opponents under 60 points.
UP NEXT
The Golden Flashes will play in their only regular season tournament next weekend at the Husky Classic in Seattle. KSU will take on Clemson in its opening game Friday (Nov. 28), while host Washington takes on Seattle. The championship and consolation games of the four-team tournament will take place Sunday, Nov. 30.
OPENERS
The Golden Flashes won their opening road game for the first time since 2005. KSU is 8-12 in its first away game of the season during the Bob Lindsay era.
• Last Saturday against YSU, KSU improved to 10-10 in season opening games during the Lindsay era. The 10 victories include a pair of wins against Cleveland State, whom the Flashes will renew a rivalry with on Dec. 6. KSU has won six of its last seven home openers.
FIRST GAME FIRSTS
Kent State's 95 points scored against Youngstown State Saturday, was the first time the Flashes reached 90 since March of 2005. Kent State's 37-point margin of victory was also the largest since March of 2005. It was the most points scored by a KSU team since Feb. 14, 2004 against Ball State and the most points scored in a season opener since 1992.
• The Flashes had five players score in double figures for the first time in over a season (Feb. 24, 2007).
• KSU shot over 50 percent from the field for the first time in 13 games and had over 20 assists in a game for the first time since February of 2007.
BENNETT'S LONG-RANGE ACCURACY
Rachel Bennett appears to have picked up where she left off last season from behind the arc, hitting 4-of-9 three-pointers in her first two games. She went 3-for-7 against Youngstown State on her way to an 18-point performance. In an eleven-game span toward the end of last season, Bennett connected on 20-of-40 three-point field goal attempts. She sat out the entire 2006-07 season with an injury and improved as the 2007-08 season progressed. She hit double figures in scoring in five straight games during the month on February, including 21 points against MAC West champion Ball State.
A NEW 3-POINT THREAT Freshman guard Jena Stutzman also sank three triples against the Penguins last Saturday and matched that performance with three more at Delaware State. In her first game at Kent State, Stutzman started at guard and finished with 13 points and a game-high five steals. She hit 56-of-151 shots from behind the arc as a senior at Hiland High School and became the school's career leader in three-pointers made. Stutzman won three state titles at Hiland, becoming the school's all-time scoring leader with 1,643 points.
• Stutzman is the first player to wear #24 since Lindsay Shearer, an All-American and 2006 MAC Player of the Year. NO LONGER THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
The Flashes used all 12 players in their opening game win over Youngstown State and made four substitutions just 2:49 into the game. Ten different players saw the floor for at least 10 minutes against the Penguins and eight Flashes played at least 10 minutes at Delaware State.
• Several of Kent State victories last season - including double-digit wins over Toledo (Jan. 30) and Ball State (Feb. 16) came with just seven players in uniform and only six scholarship players. The Flashes used only seven players in nine different games when either Anna Kowalska or Asheley Harkins was sidelined with an injury. Four of KSU's starters each played over 40 minutes vs. Central Michigan and 38 minutes or more at Northern Illinois in overtime games.
KOWALSKA: PLAYER OF THE WEEK Despite being double and triple teamed against Youngstown State, Anna Kowalska went 7-of-9 from the field and led both sides with 19 points. She added four rebounds, one assist and one blocked shot in just 19 minutes on the floor. The MAC's first weekly award of the season was Kowalska's third in the last two years. STAR-STUDDED SOPHOMORE CLASS
• Last weekend, Gibson dished out 10 assists for the third time in 14 games. Last season, she finished 20th in the nation with 5.5 assists per game. Her 166 helpers were the fifth most in school history. Gibson's 1,146 minutes played (38.2 mpg) were the second most in school history.
• Harris scored 13 points against Youngstown State and led the Flashes with eight boards. Over her last 15 contests, Harris is averaging 14.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Last season, she started in 25 of the team's 30 games and was named MAC East Player of the Week on Feb. 18. She ranked in the MAC's top 20 in both points (10.9) and rebounds (6.2) per game and was named to MAC All-Freshman Team and the All-MAC Honorable Mention Team.
• Shields averaged 12.0 points and 6.4 rebounds over the last 22 games of the 2007-08 season. She played in all 30 games and started 16, highlighted by a 31-point, 10-rebound performance against Toledo on Jan. 30.
HUMES MAKING STRONG RETURN
In her first game back in over a year, Jamilah Humes went 6-for-7 from the field against Youngstown State, finshing with 13 points off the bench. She added three rebounds, four assists and two steals. Wednesday at Delaware State, she went 8-for-11 from the field, 9-for-10 from the line and converted a pair of clutch three-point plays late in the game.
Humes was named to the MAC All-Freshman Team following the 2006-07 campaign. She started 16 games and scored 17 points on three different occasions.
SECOND SEASONS IN A KSU UNIFORM
Along with Humes, Harris, Gibson and Shields, Alisa Brinkman and Anna Kowalska give the Flashes six players who began their second season at the DIvision I level last week. Brinkman and Kowalska each played two seasons of junior college basketball, before tranfering to Kent State last season.
• Brinkman played in all 30 games, recording season-highs of 17 points (at Robert Morris) and 11 rebounds (vs. Northern Arizona). She also went 6-for-6 from the field in a home victory over Akron
• Last season at New Mexico State, Brinkman finished with eight points and six rebounds.
• Kowalska was named MAC East Player of the Week on two occasions (Dec. 24 & Jan. 14) last season and earned all-tournament team honors at the Rocky Mountain Invitational and the Radford Christmas Classic. She blocked four shots in a game on three occasions and made nine or more field goals four times. In her first 16 contest of the year, she averaged 17.8 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, before an injury hampered her for the rest of the season.
• Last season's newcomers accounted for 69 percent of the team's total points and 66 percent of the team's total rebounds.
LONG-AWAITED STREAKS
A win on Sunday would give the Flashes their first three-game winning streak since Feb. 7, 2007. Wins on Sunday and Friday would give Kent State its first 4-0 start in school history.
HARKINS LEADING THE DEFENSE
Often called upon to guard the opposition's top scorer, Asheley Harkins was among the nation's leaders in steals last year. In a 14-game period, Harkins grabbed three or more steals 11 times. In conference games, she averaged 3.38 steals per contest.
• Last Saturday, Harkins had a pair of steals in 18 minutes off the bench and YSU players went just 1-for-3 from the field while being guarded by her.
FLASHES PICKED FOURTH IN EAST
Kent State was selected to finish fourth in the Mid-American Conference East Division according to the MAC's Women's Basketball Preseason Poll released Oct. 30. Four-time defending MAC regular season champion Bowling Green was picked to win both the East Division and the MAC Tournament. Miami, the 2008 tournament winner, was chosen second in the East followed by tournament runner-up Ohio in third. In the West, Ball State was picked to repeat as the Division winner.
STRONG FOR AN ENTIRE SECOND HALF
The Golden Flashes outscored Youngstown State 51-29 during the second half of last weekend's game, highlighted by a 21-1 run between the 10 and five-minute marks. KSU often shined during the first 10 to 12 minutes of the second half last season, but lack of numbers often caught up with the Flashes toward the end of the game.
• Kent State mounted numerous comebacks during the latter half of the regular season. Northern Illinois led KSU by 11 points with 15 minutes to play on Feb. 13 and Central Michigan led the Flashes by 12 points with 14 minutes remaining on Feb. 9. However, Kent State came charging back in both contests to force overtimes, which resulted in lossed. The Flashes also put together impressive second-half runs against Buffalo, Bowling Green, Ball State and Ohio, erasing a 14-point deficit against the Bobcats. Despite a 9-21 mark, the Golden Flashes outscored opponents by nine total points in the second half.
• Wednesday the Flashes outscored Delaware State 41-39 in the second half, giving KSU two second halves of over 40 points.
RULING NORTHEAST OHIO
During the Bob Lindsay era, the Golden Flashes are 50-7 against the other three Division I schools in Northeast Ohio (Akron, Youngstown State, Cleveland State). This season's schedule marked the renewal of old rivalries with Youngstown State and Cleveland State. The Flashes had played the Penguins for 29 straight seasons from 1976 to 2003 and took on the Vikings in 19-of-20 seasons from 1976 to 1994.
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