Kent State University
Toledo
Women’s Basketball Returns to the Road Wednesday at Toledo
1/24/2018 12:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Game Notes   Video    Audio    Live Stats
Kent State plays at Toledo Wednesday night at 7 p.m. inside of Savage Arena, where the Rockets are a perfect 9-0 at home this year and in the midst of a 15-game home winning streak.
The Golden Flashes (9-10, 2-5 MAC) have dropped three straight games and are just 1-5 since the calendar changed to 2018. The lone victory was against Eastern Michigan, 76-69, inside of the M.A.C. Center on Jan. 10. Kent State's first three losses during the stretch were by just 11 points combined, but the Flashes have lost by 10 and 21 points in their last two games, respectively.
Following its best offensive performance of the season at Central Michigan on Jan. 13, Kent State has put together its two worst of the conference season in losses to Bowling Green (60-50) last Wednesday and Ball State (79-58) on Saturday. The Flashes recorded their two lowest-scoring games in conference play and had their two worst shooting performances from the floor and beyond the three-point arc.
The Flashes were able to cut a 19-point halftime deficit down to 12 in the opening minutes of the third period but could not get any closer in the loss to Ball State. Jordan Korinek scored a game-high 18 points in just 24 minutes for a nice bounce-back game following her worst offensive performance of the season at Bowling Green on Wednesday and McKenna Stephens. Ali Poole played one of her most complete floor games in a Kent State uniform with 11 points, six rebounds and a career-high five assists.
The Flashes have found success when they have been able to get to the free throw line. Kent State is No. 19 in the country in free throws made (297) and No. 33 in free throw attempts (402) for a 73.9 percentage that is third in the conference. Kent State's +5.3 rebounding margin is second in the MAC with seven games in which it has outrebounded its opponent by double-digits.
Senior Jordan Korinek is the conference's third-leading scorer (19.5 ppg) and adds 6.2 rebounds per game. The All-MAC forward ranks seventh nationally in free throws made (114) and 14th in free throw attempts (139). Graduate student McKenna Stephens (10.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg) provides a versatile frontcourt presence as Kent State's leading rebounder and second on the team in three-pointers (22).
The starting backcourt of senior Naddiyah Cross (6.3 ppg, 4.2 apg,) and junior Alexa Golden (7.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg) are putting up career-bests in every major statistical category while playing more minutes than any other backcourt tandem in the conference. Cross enters the game with 364 career assists and in need of just one to break into Kent State's top 10 all-time. Golden has already made 51 free throws after combining to make only 37 in her first two seasons.
Redshirt sophomore Megan Carter (13.4 ppg) has provided an offensive boost since returning to the lineup at the start of the conference season. Carter has set a new career-high scoring mark in three of the seven game she has played this season.
Record Book Watch
Seniors Naddiyah Cross and Jordan Korinek are both close to breaking into the top-10 in program history in a couple of statistical categories.
Cross enters Wednesday nightwith 364 assists and needs just one assist to move into a tie for 10th with Carrie Nance (1997-01). She is six assists away from tying Darlene Wolfe (1978-81) for ninth.
Korinek, who scored her 1,500th career point last Wednesday at Bowling Green, enters with 1,523 points. She needs three points to break into the top-10 and is 15 points from tying Mary Bukovac (1986-89) for ninth. Korinek has 648 rebounds and needs five rebounds to tie Margie Zezulewicz (1976-79) for 10th.
Scouting Toledo
Toledo (13-6, 4-3 MAC) is in the midst of a 15-game home winning streak, which is the sixth-longest home unbeaten stretch in school history. In nine home games this season, the Rockets have won by an average of 10.3 points per game.
As a team, Toledo is seventh in the MAC in scoring (66.7 ppg) and fourth in scoring defense (64.8 ppg), while ranking 37th in the country in assists per game (16.8). The three-point line is not a big part of the Rockets' offense, as they are 10th in the conference in both three-point field goals per game (5.4) and three-point field goal percentage (.289).
Center Kaayla McIntyre is Toledo's top scorer (15.2 ppg) and rebounder (8.0 rpg) while ranking ninth in the nation in field goal percentage (.630). All-MAC guards Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott (11.5 ppg) and Mikaela Boyd (11.1 ppg) also score in double-figures. Bravo-Harriott has made a team-high 38 three-pointers and Boyd averages a team-best 4.2 assists per game while pulling down 7.8 rebounds per game.
Series History
• Kent State is 29-41 all-time vs. Toledo.
• The Golden Flashes snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Rockets with 70-60 win last season (Jan. 21).
• Kent State has lost five straight in Toledo by an average of 13.4 ppg .
• The Flashes' last road victory in the series came on Jan. 27, 2007 (82-66).
• The teams split the season series a year ago with Toledo earning a 67-63 win in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals.
• For the two games, Kent State shot just better than 43-percent from the field compared to Toledo's) 39-percent. The Flashes made 41 free throws while the Rockets attempted just 32.
• Larissa Lurken led Kent State with 23.5 ppg and Jordan Korinek added 18.0 rpg to go with a team-high 6.0 ppg.
• Megan Carter contributed 9.5 ppg off the bench for the Flashes.
 • Janice Monakana paced Toledo with 17.0 ppg and added 6.0 rpg. Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott scored 14 points in just one game.
FLASHback to Last Meeting
• Third-seeded Kent State dropped a back-and-forth MAC Tournament quarterfinal contest to No. 6 Toledo on M arch 8, 2017 at Quicken Loans Arena.
• The Golden Flashes had two chances to tie the game in its closing seconds, but were unable to connect on a pair of three-point attempts.
• Toledo scored the final seven points of the first period to lead 22-16. Kaayla McIntyre scored on the Rockets' first two possessions of the second quarter to go ahead by 10.
• Kent State went on a 16-4 run to take a 32-30 lead with 3:49 to play in the half, but Toledo closed the quarter strong with a 9-3 run to lead 39-35 at halftime.
• The Flashes used a 19-7 run to take a 56-50 lead into the final 10 minutes.
• Kent State scored just seven points in the final period and converted on just three of 13 shots. The nation's top team in free throws made, the Flashes were unable to get to the charity stripe over the final 12:41 of the contest after shooting 16-for-19 prior to that point.
• Larissa Lurken poured in a game-high 25 points for Kent State and set a new program record for points in a season.
• Megan Carter finished with a career-high (at the time) 15 points off the bench and Jordan Korinek chipped in 13 points for the Flashes.
• Janice Monakana scored 15 points to lead Toledo and Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott added 14 points.
TV / Radio
Dave Wilson will have the call on the Golden Flashes iHeartRadio channel and 640 WHLO and Mason Lowry and Rhett Boyd will call the game on ESPN3.
Next Up For Kent State
The Golden Flashes play at rival Akron on Saturday at 2 p.m.
