Kent State University
6-5
University of Iowa
9-4
Kent State Loses on the Road at Iowa
12/20/2016 8:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Kent State (6-5) fell to Iowa (9-4) 83-48 Tuesday night despite a strong start to the game.
The Hawkeyes missed their first two attempts of the night while the Flashes made three of their first four, with the help of an offensive rebound, to lead early. Naddiyah Cross hit a three after McKenna Stephens grabbed her own shot's rebound to make it a 9-0 game, forcing an Iowa timeout.
Iowa went on a 13-0 run in the final minutes of the opening quarter to take a slim 17-13 lead at the end of the first.
The Kent State drought was stopped when Stephens connected on a layup in the second quarter. Another sizeable Hawkeye run was ended by a three from Lurken, but the Flashes struggled shooting in the second, making less than 20 percent of their shots while the Hawkeyes made 12 of their 18 attempts in the ten-minute span. That led to a 44-21 Iowa lead at the half.
Ali Poole and Larissa Lurken strung together eight points in a row in the third to cut into the deficit. They made back-to-back threes before Lurken grabbed Poole's rebound on another attempt from deep and put it back in. Lurken followed that by driving to the basket, getting fouled and making both her shots from the charity stripe. The duo accounted for 13 of the team's 19 points in the third quarter as Kent State cut into the deficit to trail 57-40 with one quarter remaining.
The final quarter mirrored the second as Iowa was able to add to its lead and take the 83-48 victory.
Kent State shot just 24.7 percent in the game while Iowa hit nearly half its shots. The Hawkeyes scored 42 points in the paint while the battle of the board was won by a closer margin, 50 to 48.
Lurken finished with a team-high 20 points while Jordan Korinek finished with 11 and Poole with ten. McKenna led the team with ten rebounds while adding in a block and a steal. Lurken had nine rebounds.
The Golden Flashes will play their final non-conference game on Thursday at Minnesota. The game will begin at 7 p.m. CST, 8 p.m. EST.
