Flashes Earn Convincing Road Victory at UNC-Wilmington
12/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Kent State (5-1) jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 69-54 win over UNC-Wilmington (4-2) Thursday night (Dec. 4) at Trask Coliseum. Anna Kowalska led the Golden Flashes with 22 points with a season-high 10 field goals.
"We did a good job defensively," Head Coach Bob Lindsay said. "We took away some of the strengths of their offense and really limted the shots of their top scorers."
Coming into the night, the Seahawks were thought to be the defensive power, allowing just 51 points per game with no team scoring more than 57 points in their first five contests. However, the Flashes came out firing, with their up-tempo offfense and took a 37-25 lead into halftime. KSU nailed each of its first four three-point attempts, including two from Jena Stutzman, who finished with 11 points.
The other early three-pointers came from Rachel Bennett and Chenel Harris. Bennett had a strong all-around night with 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists, while Harris led both sides with 10 rebounds.
"We turned the ball over 23 times, but when we got shots, we knocked down a decent amount of them." Lindsay said. "And we shot the ball pretty well from three."
A second half 6-0 run put the Flashes up by as many as 17 (49-32) with 13 minutes to play before the Seahawks battled back. UNC Wilmington put on a full court press for most of the half and took the lead down to six (58-52) after the Flashes went over five minutes without a field goal.
With her team up six, Kowalska earned her only trip to line with 4:19 remaining and sank both free throws. Jamilah Humes buried a jumper on the next possesssion to bring the lead back to double digits. Humes finished with nine points, all in the second half. Kowalska went 10-of-16 from the field, totaling five rebounds, three blocks and four steals.
"Anna did a good job finishing tonight," Lindsay said. "And she made a couple of big hoops for us late in the second half."
KSU went 7-of-15 from behind the arc led by Stutzman who was 3-for-5. Brittany Blackwell, who led the Seahawks with 17 points per game, was held to just 2-of-7 shooting from the field. The Seahawks only lead of the game came after the opening bucket.
After seven tries and five different opponents, The Golden Flashes earned their first victory against the Colonial Athletic Association.
The Golden Flashes return to Ohio for their fourth game away from home in an eight-day span against Cleveland State Saturday (Dec. 6) at the Wolstein Center. Tipoff with the Vikings has been moved to 3 p.m.
