Kent State University
Buffalo
Women’s Basketball Hosts Buffalo Wednesday in Home Finale
2/27/2018 6:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Game Notes   Video    Audio    Live Stats
Kent State will play its final home game of the season on Wednesday night against Mid-American Conference East Division champion Buffalo. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. from the M.A.C. Center.
The Golden Flashes avenged a loss to rival Akron earlier in the season with a 60-55 wire-to-wire victory on Senior Day inside of the M.A.C. Center on Saturday afternoon. The four-member senior class delivered in a big way, totaling 33 points, 28 rebounds and eight assists. The Flashes got double-doubles from both Jordan Korinek and McKenna Stephens. Korinek scored a game-high 16 points to go with 10 rebounds and two blocks. Stephens posted 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Kent State forced the Zips into their worst shooting night of the conference season (20-for-63) and held a 44-34 rebounding advantage. Alexa Golden added 14 points off the bench.
Kent State has found success when it has been able to get to the free throw line. The Flashes are No. 10 in the country in free throws made (432) and No. 20 in free throw attempts (580) for a 74.5 percentage that is second in the conference. Kent State's +5.6 rebounding margin is second in the MAC with 11 games in which it has outrebounded its opponent by double-digits.
Senior Jordan Korinek is the MAC's third-leading scorer (20.5 ppg) and adds 7.1 rpg. The All-MAC forward ranks third nationally in free throws made (179) and ninth in free throws attempted (211). Graduate student McKenna Stephens (9.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg) provides a versatile frontcourt presence as Kent State's leading rebounder and second on the team in three-pointers (30).Â
The starting backcourt of senior Naddiyah Cross (4.9 ppg, 3.6 apg,) and junior Alexa Golden (7.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg) are putting up career-bests in every major statistical category while playing more minutes than any other backcourt tandem in the conference. Golden has made 74 free throws after combining to make only 37 in her first two seasons. Sophomore Ali Poole (7.9 ppg) leads the Flashes with 31 three-pointers in her first season as a starter.
Redshirt sophomore Megan Carter (10.6 ppg) has provided an offensive boost since returning to action at the start of the conference season. Carter has set a new career-high scoring mark three times this season.
Record Book Watch
Seniors Naddiyah Cross and Jordan Korinek both broke into the top-10 in program history in statistical categories during Kent State's 62-55 victory at Toledo on Jan. 24.
Cross ranks eighth in the record book with 387 assists and is three assists away from tying Jennifer Grandstaff (1985-88) for seventh.
Korinek passed both Mary Bukovac (1986-89) and Carrie Templin (1995-98) with 30 points in the contest against the Rockets. The Akron, Ohio native is now tied with Dawn Zerman (1997-00) for sixth on the all-time scoring list with 1,727 points and is just one point away from cracking the top-5.
Korinek added 11 rebounds against Toledo to pass Margie Zezulewicz (1976-79) for 10th in program history and bring her career total to 659. She has since increased her total to 730 to move ahead of Marvetta Froe (1987-90) and Ann Forbes (1989-92) and needs eight rebounds to tie Carrie Templin (1995-98) for seventh.
Scouting Buffalo
Buffalo (23-4, 14-2 MAC) has won seven consecutive games and has already clinched the first MAC East Division title in program history. During the current winning streak, the Bulls have outscored their opposition by an average of 17.0 points per game. Buffalo is No. 11 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 and enters Wednesday at No. 13 in the RPI. Buffalo received two votes in this week's Associated Press Top-25 Poll and seven votes in the USA Today/WBCA Top 25 Poll. All four of the Bulls' losses this season have come in true road games.
As a team, Buffalo averages 77.0 points per game while allowing 65.4 points per game. The Bulls are among the top 25 teams in the country in rebounds per game (43.8), assists per game (18.5), turnovers forced per game (20.6), steals per game (13.7) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.276), while leading the conference in blocks per game (5.0) and field goal percentage defense (.370).
Guard Cierra Dillard is Buffalo's top scorer at 14.7 points per game. Dillard, a transfer from UMass, ranks second in the MAC in steals per game (2.7), sixth in assists per game (5.3) and ninth in three-pointers per game (2.13). Point guard Stephanie Reid is (11.4 ppg) leads the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.74) and is second in assists per game (7.3) and fourth in steals per game (2.5). Center Cassie Oursler (13.9 ppg) is the Bulls' top interior scorer and is second in the MAC with 2.0 blocks per game. Forward Summer Hemphill (10.8 ppg) averages a team-best 7.6 rebounds per game to go with 1.6 blocks per game.
Series History
• Kent State is 25-14 all-time vs. Buffalo.
• The Golden Flashes are 15-5 all-time when hosting Buffalo at the M.A.C. Center, but snapped a four-game losing streak with an 80-71 victory in last year's season finale to clinch an outright MAC East Division crown.
• The victory snapped a 10-game overall losing streak in the series.
• Kent State won the first 19 meetings between the schools, beginning with an 86-77 victory on Jan. 13, 1999.
FLASHback to Last Meeting
• Kent State has its worst shooting performance of the season, shooting just 13-for-62 from the floor in an 80-42 loss to Buffalo inside of Alumni Arena on Feb. 7, 2018.
• The Golden Flashes fell behind 25-9 after the first period but responded with a strong second, which the Bulls won narrowly, 16-14.
• Kent State shot 5-for-35 after halftime, however, and was outscored 39-19 in the second half.
• The Flashes' 14 turnovers were the fewest this season by a UB opponent at the time.
• Jordan Korinek led all players with 22 points and Alexa Golden had a team-high 10 rebounds.
• The Bulls held a 51-39 rebounding advantage.
• Cassie Oursler led way with 19 points and 14 rebounds off the bench.
• Hann Hall (12), Summer Hemphill (12) and Cierra Dillard (10) also scored in double-figures for the Bulls.
TV / Radio
Dave Wilson and Brad Hamilton are on the call on ESPN3 and Jacob Pavilack brings fans the action on the Golden Flashes iHeartRadio channel.
Next Up For Kent State                     Â
The Golden Flashes conclude the regular season at Miami on Saturday, March 3 at 1 p.m.
