Miami women’s basketball drops home contest to Kent State

The Miami University women’s basketball team lost at home Wednesday night to the Kent State Golden Flashes 61-52. The Golden Flashes never relinquished the lead in the contest.

It was a poor shooting game for the ’Hawks, as the team shot 25.1% from the field and 27% from 3-point range in the first three quarters.

“Offensively, we just couldn’t get it going,” head coach DeUnna Hendrix said.

The contest started with a 6-0 Golden Flash advantage due to a pair of post shots from senior forward Lindsey Thall and junior forward Nila Blackford. Thall led the way for the Golden Flashes with 18 points.

Miami got its first bucket six minutes into the game via a tough layup from first-year guard Ivy Wolf.

The night was rough, particularly for Wolf. In the team’s previous game against Buffalo, she dropped 22 points on 50% shooting. Last night, she went 3-19 from the field and 0-5 from downtown to record 6 points. Her last two baskets came within the final minute.

After two-straight RedHawk turnovers, the Golden Flashes held a 14-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Miami’s shooting woes did not improve in the second quarter. The squad went scoreless for three and a half minutes, allowing Kent to take a 22-11 lead. When the team finally made a basket, thanks to a triple from sophomore guard Edyn Battle, the Golden Flashes responded on the other end by converting an and-one.

Thall broke the halftime score of 30-18 with an easy layup. Then, midway through the third, she cashed in a triple, followed by teammate senior guard Mariah Modkins to increase their lead to 19.

Down 20 in the fourth, the rim started to show love to the RedHawks, and their intensity rose. Junior guard Peyton Scott did not stop fighting, as she tallied 12 of her 24 points in the final quarter.

Miami closed out the game on a 13-1 run to cut their deficit to single digits. Unfortunately, the energy came too late.

“We’ve struggled with starts,” Hendrix said. “For whatever reason, we just haven’t been able to disrupt or dictate from the start of games.”

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After the game, Hendrix praised the team’s effort on defense, especially on Blackford, who scored 22 points in the last matchups between the two teams on Feb. 7.

“She had way too many deep positions on us the first time around… we just talked a lot about, ‘How do we meet her early? How do we force her out of the areas she wants to be… I thought we did a pretty good job,” Hendrix said.

The ’Hawks fall to 4-13 in the MAC and 8-18 overall. The team looks to carry over their energy from the 4th quarter to the start of their next game on Saturday at home against Bowling Green. The game tips off at 2 p.m.

pepperse@miamioh.edu

@stevenpepper38