WBB Falls At Home To Kent State

Wednesday, February 9

Mount Pleasant, MI

7 p.m.

Central Michigan University

4-18,2-11MAC

Kent State

14-7,6-6MAC

Kent St.

Central Mich.

Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22

2/9/2022 10:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Katherine Schultz, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Kent State utilized an 11-0 run to close the third quarter on Wednesday in delivering Central Michigan a 78-67 Mid-American Conference women's basketball loss in McGuirk Arena.

CMU fell to 4-18, 2-11 MAC. Kent State improved to 13-7, 6-7.

The Chippewas are scheduled to play at Miami (Ohio) (7-14, 3-9) on Saturday, Feb. 12 (1 p.m.). CMU defeated the RedHawks, 70-59 on Jan. 29 in McGuirk Arena. Miami fell to MAC-leading Toledo, 86-63, at home on Wednesday.

Kent State hit 51.8 percent from the floor and held CMU to 39.3 percent. The Chippewas were outscored, 38-24, in the paint and the Golden Flashes scored 25 points off of 17 CMU turnovers.

Freshman Hanna Knoll landed five from 3-point range to lead CMU with a career-high 20 points. Jahari Smith finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Karrington Gordon tied her career-high with 11 points and grabbed five rebounds. Lisa Tesson finished with 10 points.

The Chippewas dressed just seven players for the game. Six played 26 or more minutes. Knoll logged 39.

"Our freshmen really stepped up today in multiple ways," CMU assistant coach Courtney Shelton said. "We had three freshmen in double figures; I think that's promising. That's showing their progression and their hard work throughout the season."

Kent State led 15-7 after the first quarter and used a 7-0 run midway through the second to lead 35-26 at the half.

The Chippewas cut the gap to three, 46-43, halfway through the third quarter before the Golden Flashes scored 11 straight points to close the stanza for a 57-43 advantage.

Kent State led by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter and CMU never got closer than eight points over the final eight minutes.

"This is still a hungry team," Shelton said. "There's still a lot of games to play, and we understand that it's a process. We're continuing to work, we're continuing to get better, it just all needs to fall into place and we'll be alright."