Kent State University
1-3
Belmont University
0-4
Kent State Out-Battles Belmont for Season's First Victory
11/25/2014 2:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball
KENT, Ohio – With hustle and heart, Kent State (1-3) refused to give up Tuesday afternoon, resulting in a 58-55 win over Belmont (0-4) on home court.
Despite a ten-point lead with 15 minutes left in the game, the Golden Flashes battled back from a seven-point deficit with six minutes to play to take the victory from the Bruins. Larissa Lurken led the charge with three huge three-point shots to get the game within a field goal down the stretch. With nine seconds remaining, CiCi Shannon sunk a foul shot to tie the game. The miss on her second attempt ended up in the hands of Montia Johnson, who hustled to get the offensive rebound and the put back to hand the home team the victory.
In the opening half, the lead switched hands before Kent State took a 23-20 advantage into the locker room at the break. The Golden Flashes started the second half strong, increasing their lead to ten before the Bruins were able to sneak back in and set up the exciting finish.
Kent State was outrebounded 41-33 but only turned the ball over a season-low 12 times, including just five times in the opening half, while its defense forced 18 turnovers that resulted in ten points.
Career numbers were set as Larissa Lurken logged a career-high 20 points on 4-for-5 three-point field goal shooting, also a matching a career high. Mikell Chinn set a career mark with ten assists in the game.
Kent State had a lot of success in the paint with 33 total points, including 17 and 11 from Shannon and Johnson, respectively. They also led the team in rebounds with seven each.
The two teams were relatively even in field goals as Kent State shot 38.2% and Belmont was slightly better at 38.8% in the game.
The Golden Flashes will spend the Thanksgiving break on the West Coast as part of the Cal Poly/ShareSLO Holiday Tournament. They will take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi Friday and Dartmouth College Saturday; both games will start at 6:00p.m. EST.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
