Kent State University
6-4
Wright State
7-2
Scoring Drought Too Much to Overcome in Loss to Raiders
12/7/2017 11:31:00 PM | Women's Basketball
KENT, Ohio — Kent State's attempt to rally from a double-digit fourth quarter deficit for the second straight game came up short in a 72-60 setback to Wright State on Thursday night at the M.A.C. Center.
"Wright State is a better basketball team than us," said head coach Todd Starkey. "A lot of times we want to overanalyze things and come up with reasons why you win or lose basketball games. They're just a better team than us. It's a much smaller margin of error for us to beat a team like that. We gave up way too many offensive rebounds and turned the ball over way too many times."
The opening minutes of the contest featured highly-efficient offenses with both teams making eight of their first 10 shots and Wright State leading 22-17 at the first media timeout. The Raiders scored on each of their first nine possessions, four of which ended with a three-point field goal
The Golden Flashes (6-4) scored on eight of their first 10 possessions, which was bookended by layups from senior Jordan Korinek. However, Kent State was unable to make a field goal over its next 15 possessions and shot 0-for-8 with eight turnovers over a span of 8:40 on the game clock. Two free throws by graduate student McKenna Stephens on the opening possession of the second quarter were the only points the Flashes were able to score in that stretch, which ended when junior Alexa Golden beat the shot clock with a long three-point shot.
Wright State (7-2), which is No. 23 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, led 38-28 at halftime and scored the first six points of the third quarter for the largest lead of the game. Kent State cut its deficit in half with a 10-2 run over the final 2:10 of the quarter with three-pointers by Golden and sophomore Ali Poole coming on the final two possessions.
The Flashes carried that momentum into the fourth period and got within 56-50 after senior Naddiyah Cross connected on a mid-range pull-up on its first possession. However, the Raiders responded with six straight points and Kent State never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
Kent State shot a season-best 45.5-percent (5-for-11) from three-point range and went 17-for-21 (.810) at the foul line. However, the Flashes struggled on two-point attempts and shot just over 37 percent (19-for-51) from the floor overall.
Korinek led the way with 22 points and eight rebounds. Golden shot 3-for-4 from the three-point line and converted all four of her free throws for 13 points. Stephens added 10 points and a season-high four assists. Cross registered a season-best eight assists and redshirt junior Tyra James grabbed six rebounds off the bench with five coming at the offensive end.
Wright State was averaging 81.4 points per game entering the night and was held to its third-lowest scoring output of the season. After their hot start from the three-point line, Kent State's defense tightened up and allowed the Raiders to make just two of their final 19 shots from long range.
The Golden Flashes travel to Ann Arbor to take on No. 24/21 Michigan on Saturday in a rematch of last season's WNIT first round matchup. The game will tip at 2 p.m. and air on BTN2Go.
