Kent State Dealt 69-65 Loss By Eastern Michigan in MAC Tournament Quarterfinals
3/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Kent State women's basketball team (20-9) mounted a furious second-half rally, but fell to Eastern Michigan, 69-65, in the Mid-American Conference Tournament Quarterfinals Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
"The difference in this game was a couple of plays here and there, especially at the end," said Kent State head coach Bob Lindsay. "The 4-5 game is always a tough game, and it was a tough one to lose. We just couldn't get the stops at the end to close them out."
Seniors Jamilah Humes (Saginaw, Mich.), Ellie Shields (Warren, Ohio) and Taisja Jones (Dallas, Texas) led the Golden Flashes with 19, 17 and 15 points, respectively.
Neither team mounted a lead of more than four points during the first 20 minutes of action, but the Eagles broke the game open to a 12-point advantage at the 13:57 mark in the second half.
Four straight layups by Humes cut EMU's lead to three with 7:52 to go. Senior guard Stephanie Gibson (North Canton, Ohio) knocked down a three to put Kent State ahead by one. From there, the two squads traded buckets on nine straight possessions. Jones tied the contest with a successful freethrow with 50 seconds to play to tie the contest at 65-all. A layup by Kristin Thomas with 20 seconds to go gave the Eagles the lead for good, though, as the Flashes were unable to convert a potential game-tying layup with six seconds to play.
"We didn't want this to be our last game, and we didn't want to go out like that," said Humes. "We wanted to put everything out there. We took the lead, but we just couldn't hold on to it."
For the game, the two teams changed leads 15 times and were tied nine times.
Senior Chenel Harris (Mississauga, Ontario) missed a double-double with nine points, including seven in the first five minutes, to go with a team-high seven rebounds.
Kent State's 2011 campaign marked the program's second straight 20-win season. The Golden Flashes await their postseason fate when the NCAA, WNIT and WBI announce their tournament fields Monday, March 14.
