Kent State University
10-5,4-1MAC
Toledo
12-3,5-0MAC
Women’s Hoops Drops First MAC Contest to Toledo
1/17/2024 10:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball
KENT, Ohio — Kent State lost to Toledo in a battle between Mid-American Conference women's basketball heavyweights Wednesday evening at the M.A.C. Center, 87-76.
The Golden Flashes (10-5, 4-1 MAC) were led by redshirt senior Katie Shumate, who scored a season-high 26 points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds. Junior Jenna Batsch added 17 points and had a career-high three blocked shots.
Kent State came out strong with Shumate sinking a three-pointer on the opening possession and graduate student Mikala Morris following with a jump shot for a 5-0 lead. Shumate added another three-ball a few minutes later for a 10-5 lead, but Toledo scored the next eight and led 16-12 at the end of the first quarter.
Although the Flashes struggled to get shots from the floor to fall in the second quarter, they were able draw fouls and converted 10 of 12 free throw attempts to stay close and entered the locker room at halftime trailing 35-29.
Toledo made 12 of its first 15 shots in the third quarter and opened the fourth with a three-pointer to make it 65-46, but Kent State continued to battle and started to make shots. Batsch scored 10 points as part of a 15-5 run that brought the Flashes within single digits with 4:42 to play. That was as close as they could get despite shooting 12-of-18 and scoring 30 points in the fourth quarter.
Kent State will play three of the next four games on the road, beginning Saturday against rival Akron at 2 p.m.
Be sure to follow Kent State Women's Basketball on X, Instagram and Facebook for news and updates about the team.
