Kent State University
4-2,0-0MAC
Coppin State
3-5,0-0MEAC
Women’s Basketball Crushes Coppin State in Home Opener
11/29/2023 10:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball
KENT, Ohio — Kent State opened the home schedule with a dominant 77-40 victory over Coppin State Wednesday evening at the M.A.C. Center.
The Golden Flashes (4-2) led by as many as 42 points and made more than 50% of field goal attempts over the final three periods. Graduate student Mikala Morris was the leading scorer for the second game in a row and finished with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Redshirt senior Katie Shumate displayed her versatility with 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots. Junior Bridget Dunn added nine points and eight rebounds, while junior Jenna Batsch, redshirt sophomore Kaley Perkins and freshman Janae Tyler scored eight points apiece.
"We got off to a slow start and were kind of struggling to find our rhythm, but after that I thought we did a really good job of turning it around in the second quarter," head coach Todd Starkey said. "We made some adjustments and third and fourth quarter really played well. Pleased to get this win and we have to turn around and go to Florida State this weekend and see if we can continue to improve and knock down our shots."
After a slow offensive start by both teams, Kent State scored the final seven points in the first quarter to lead 11-4.
Coppin State made four of its next seven shots to stay within five points midway through the second period. The Flashes held their guest to one more basket during the final five minutes and closed with a 12-3 run to lead 30-16 at halftime.
Kent State kept the Eagles without a field goal for the first seven minutes of the third quarter while extending the lead to 29 points. Although the visitors got two of their next three shots to fall, the Flashes shot 11-of-16 in the period and stretched the lead to 56-23 entering the final 10 minutes.
Sophomore Tatiana Thomas converted an old school three-point play with 4:46 remaining to give Kent State its largest lead of the night, 72-30. Coppin State then scored 10 points in the final three minutes to avoid setting a new scoring low this season.
Kent State will go for its third win in a row on Sunday in a game at No. 15 Florida State.
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