Kent State University
Youngstown State
Kent State Visits YSU Wednesday for WNIT First Round Matchup
3/15/2022 3:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Kent State women's basketball team returns to action on Wednesday, March 16 with a 2022 Postseason WNIT first round game at Horizon League co-regular season champion Youngstown State. Tip is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Beeghly Center.
Fan Info and Tickets
Advance tickets for Wednesday's game are available on YSUsports.com, over the phone at (330) 941-1978 or at the Stambaugh Stadium Athletics Ticket Office. The ticket office is open 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Beeghly Center Ticket Office and gates will open at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
About the Flashes
The Golden Flashes (18-11) tied for sixth in the Mid-American Conference standings with a 10-10 record but were left out of last week's conference tournament. Kent State locked in defensively in the regular season finale on March 5 to defeat Ohio, 59-50, as sixth-year head coach Todd Starkey earned his 100th win as the Flashes' leader in wire-to-wire fashion. The Bobcats entered as the 24th highest-scoring team in the country and were held 25 points below their season average and shot a season-worst 26.9% from the field. Katie Shumate led the way with 12 points and Casey Santoro added 11. Lindsey Thall became Kent State's all-time leader in three-point field goals early in the first period and added two more triples to bring her career total to 215. Nila Blackford grabbed five boards to move into 10th on the Flashes' career rebounding list (690).
Kent State had a strong non-conference season, defeating a pair of Power 5 opponents while going 8-1. The Flashes have made 236 three-point field goals and need five to tie the program's single-season record set in 2018-19. Nationally, Kent State ranks 28th in three-pointers per game (8.1) and 43rd in three-point field goal percentage (.345).
Junior Katie Shumate (12.1 ppg), senior Lindsey Thall (11.3 ppg), junior Nila Blackford (10.8 ppg) and sophomore Casey Santoro (10.5 ppg) provide the Flashes with a quartet of double-digit scorers. Blackford also grabs a team-best 9.0 rebounds per game and has recorded six double-doubles. Santoro has been one of the MAC's most productive non-starters and adds team-best 3.0 assists per game. Freshman Bridget Dunn (9.4 ppg) has made a team-high 50 three-point fields on the season. Senior Hannah Young (7.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg) has helped the Flashes dominate opponents on the glass.
Scouting Youngstown State
The Penguins (24-6) received an automatic bid as the Horizon League's highest-finishing team in the conference's regular-season standings not selected for the NCAA Tournament. Youngstown State went 18-4 during the conference season but was upset by Oakland in the Horizon League Tournament quarterfinals on March 3. The Penguins have gone 14-3 at home this season and average a conference-bet 8.4 three-pointers per game.
Forward Lilly Ritz earned All-Horizon League First Team honors after ranking third in the conference in scoring (17.0 ppg) and second in rebounding (9.7 rpg). Versatile guard Chelsea Olson (10.7 ppg) was an All-Horizon League Second Team selection after leading the conference in assists (4.7 apg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.96). Guards Megan Callahan (6.8 ppg) and Malia Magestro (10.0 ppg) and forward Paige Shy (8.2 ppg) have all made at least 44 three-pointers.
Kent State in the WNIT
• Kent State is making its sixth appearance in the Postseason WNIT.
• The Golden Flashes are 1-5 in WNIT games.
• Kent State has never hosted a WNIT contest, and this will be its first postseason game played in the state of Ohio.
• Most recently, the Flashes defeated Green Bay, 64-59, in the first round back in 2019 before falling to Butler, 70-52, in the second round.
• Overall, Kent State is 2-10 in postseason play, with the first victory coming over Texas A&M in the first round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament.
Series History
• Kent State is 31-14 all-time series vs. Youngstown State.
• The Golden Flashes are 10-8 all-time in games played in Youngstown.
• Kent State defeated the Penguins, 82-73 in overtime, at the Beeghly Center when the teams last met on Nov. 9, 2019.
• The Flashes are 4-0 vs. YSU under head coach Todd Starkey.
• Starkey earned his 200th career victory in a dominant 62-34 win over the Penguins inside of the M.A.C. Center on Nov. 20, 2018.
Broadcast Info
Richie Juliano and Ron Potesta will call the action on ESPN3, while Tyler Henry will be on the call on the Kent State Radio Network.
Next Up for Kent State
The Golden Flashes will advance to the WNIT second round, which will take place March 19-22, with a win and play the winner of the first round matchup between Toledo and Houston Baptist at a to-be-determined site.
