Kent State University
5-2,0-0MAC
St. Bonaventure
2-7,0-0Atlantic 10
Golden Flashes Beat Bonnies for Fourth Straight Win
12/4/2022 6:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
KENT, Ohio —Kent State continued its stellar play on the defensive end of the floor and led by as many as 21 points in a 64-49 victory over St. Bonaventure at the M.A.C. Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Golden Flashes (5-2) held the Bonnies to 16-of-53 from the floor for 30.2% and totaled a season-high 10 steals to go with four blocked shots. Graduate student Abby Ogle led the way with three steals in just 13 minutes of action, while freshman Corynne Hauser and senior Katie Shumate added a pair of steals each. Shumate also had two blocks and finished with 15 points while tying for the team lead with six rebounds. Hauser led Kent State in the scoring column with a career-high 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
It was tied 4-4 with 5:51 to play in the first quarter when Ogle and Hauser entered the game and immediately sparked a 6-0 run. After using a shot fake to drive past her defender in the corner, Ogle made a mid-range jumper from the wing. On the other end of the court, she wrestled the ball away from a driver and converted on a fast break. Hauser then received an outlet pass on the ensuing defensive possession after St. Bonaventure missed a shot from the perimeter and went coast-to-coast for a layup, prompting timeout to be called. The Bonnies were able to stay within 15-11 at the end of the period.
The Flashes used a pair of 9-0 runs to outscore the visitors 23-9 in the second period and extended the lead to 18 at halftime.
A three-pointer by graduate student Hannah Young at the 5:46 mark in the third made it 49-28 to give Kent State its largest lead of the day, but St. Bonaventure trimmed it to 16 with less than a minute remaining in the quarter. Hauser converted two shots from the foul line and Ogle intercepted a pass to allow the Flashes to take the final shot. After a foul was called on the Bonnies, Kent State had the ball under its own basket with 1.0 second on the clock. Ogle lobbed the ball over the defense to Shumate, who caught the ball in the middle of the paint and released a turnaround shot just before the buzzer that softly hit the front of the rim and rolled in to make it 57-37.
The Flashes missed their first seven shots in the fourth and had the lead trimmed to 13 at the media timeout. Freshman Dionna Gray drained a three-pointer from the corner to end the drought, and St. Bonaventure was held scoreless until less than 30 seconds remained.
Both teams were perfect at the free throw stripe, with Kent State shooting 14-of-14 and St. Bonaventure going 10-for-10.
Graduate student Lindsey Thall led the way with six assists, matching her career-high, and helped the Flashes record more assists (13) than turnovers (10) for the second time this season.
Kent State visits Duquesne on Wednesday, Dec. 7 in the final road game of the non-conference season.
