Kent State University
20-9,12-6MAC
Northern Illinois
16-13,8-10MAC
Kent State Earns 20th Win on Senior Day
3/4/2023 7:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball
KENT, Ohio — The Kent State women's basketball team defeated Northern Illinois, 73-58, on Saturday afternoon and will enter the Mid-American Conference Tournament with 20 wins for the first time since 2011.
The Golden Flashes (20-9, 12-6 MAC) knocked down 13 three-point field goals on Senior Day to give Clare Kelly, Annie Pavlansky, Lindsey Thall and Hannah Young a victory in their final game at the M.A.C. Center
Casey Santoro scored a season-high 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting and added seven rebounds and four assists. Katie Shumate also grabbed seven boards and finished with 17 points.
Kent State scored the first six points of the game on three-pointers by Thall and Pavlansky, but the Huskies answered with eight in a row to take the lead. The Flashes countered with a 10-0 run and led 20-13 at the end of the first quarter.
Corynne Hauser opened the second period with a basket to increase the lead to nine, but a scoring drought of more than five minutes followed as NIU drew even at 22-22. The Flashes made three of their final five shots of the quarter to take a 30-26 lead at halftime.
Kent State closed the third period with a 12-3 run over the final 3:19 to build the lead to 14. It started with three-pointers by Thall and Santoro. Following a Huskies triple, Santoro answered with her own three-pointer and Kelly drained a shot from long range as time expired in the quarter.
NIU cut the deficit to seven with 7:17 remaining, but Kelly and Shumate pushed the lead back to 13 with back-to-back three-point shots. The Huskies got within nine points with 4:33 to play, but Kent State thwarted a comeback effort with a 12-6 run to close it out.
The Flashes finished with seven turnovers and have committed single-digit giveaways in five of the past six contests.
Kent State and Northern Illinois will meet again on Wednesday, March 8 in a Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinal contest at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
