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Kent State sports | Delrecco Gillespie, Jalen Sullinger lead Flashes to basketball wins
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- Kent State sports | Delrecco Gillespie, Jalen Sullinger lead Flashes to basketball wins
The Kent State University men's basketball team (15-8) enters this week with a two-game win streak after defeating host Eastern Michigan and visiting Arkansas State last week.
KSU topped EMU 70-49 at the George Gervin GameAbove Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on Feb. 4 to improve to 5-5 in the Mid-American Conference.
Akron Zips guard Shammah Scott (1) looks to pass around Kent State Golden Flashes forward Delrecco Gillespie (23) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Kent, Ohio.
KSU junior Delrecco Gillespie scored 13 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, both career-highs, against EMU. The Flashes' other top scorers were senior VonCameron Davis (15 points), sophomore Jamal Sumlin (career-high 13 points) and seniors Jalen Sullinger (11 points), Marquis Barnett (seven points) and Cli'Ron Hornbeak (six points and a career-high seven blocks).
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Gillespie's 18 rebounds were the highest rebound total for a Kent State player since Chris Payton pulled in 20 against Cleveland State on Dec. 9, 2023.
Sullinger scored 27 points Saturday to lead KSU to a 76-75 win over Arkansas State in a Mid-American Conference- Sun Belt Challenge game at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center. The Red Wolves (18-7, 9-3) are atop the Sun Belt standings.
"This is a big-time win because they are a great team and they play hard," Gillespie told reporters Saturday.
Sumlin made two free throws to give KSU the lead with 15 seconds to go in the second half and grabbed the final rebound of the game before time expired.
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"This is a big win because it shows what we can do in big games if we all are on the same page," Sumlin told reporters Saturday.
Kent State Golden Flashes guard Marquis Barnett (2) looks to get around Akron Zips guard Sharron Young (3) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Kent, Ohio.
Barnett scored 14 points, Gillespie totaled 12 points and nine rebounds, Sumlin finished with nine points and sophomores Cian Medley and Magnus Entenmann added five points apiece.
"This is a really good win for us," KSU coach Rob Senderoff told reporters Saturday. "It is great to play as hard as we did and as well as we did at home. We, obviously, did that Tuesday night against Eastern Michigan on the road. We needed to do that against a really good team here at home, and it was good to do.
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"Jamal hit some big free throws for us to give us the lead. Recco came up with a huge play at the end to seal the win, and did a great job all afternoon defensively as well as offensively."
Kent State women's basketball tops Troy in MAC-SBC matchup
Sophomore Janae Tyler scored a career-high 26 points to lead Kent State to a 84-73 win at Troy in a Mid-American Conference-Sun Belt Challenge game on Saturday. It was Troy's first home loss this season.
Tyler scored 11 points in the third quarter to help the Flashes (16-8) extend their lead to as many as 16 points. The Trojans (15-10) made a run in fourth quarter to get within 71-67 with 3:45 left, but senior Jenna Batsch scored five points on the next two Kent possessions to make it 76-69 with 2:08 remaining.
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The Golden Flashes then closed the game out with an 8-0 run as Tyler scored five points and sophomore Mya Babbitt added a 3-pointer.
Kent State Golden Flashes forward Janae Tyler (34) is all smiles as she puts on her cap after winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament women’s championship game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Batsch finished with 20 points. Senior Bridget Dunn scored 16 points and Babbitt added 12 points.
Before the trip to Alabama, Northern Illinois beat Kent 73-69 on Feb. 5 in DeKalb, Illinois. Babbitt led KSU with 17 points, Batsch added 15 points and junior Dionna Gray contributed 14 points and four assists.
Kent State softball opens season in North Carolina
Kent State opened its 50th softball season over the weekend at the Camel Stampede in Buies Creek, N.C., winning two of its five games. Delaney Robison went 8-for-12 with six RBIs and one run in four games. Kendal Leitner went 7-for-17 with a home run, four RBIs and three runs in five games.
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In Friday's season opener, Kent State won 7-6 in 11 innings on an error by East Tennessee State that allowed Brynn Libler to cross the plate with the winning run. Leitner earned the win in relief. In Friday's second game, host Campbell bested Kent State 5-4.
On Saturday, Campbell beat the Golden Flashes again, this time 9-3. Kent State then lost 5-3 to East Tennessee in its fourth game of the weekend.
To get win No. 2, Kent State scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Massachusetts 10-9. Delaney Nagy (1-2) earned the pitching win in relief. Savannah Wing's bases-loaded double in Kent's eight-run second inning drove in three runs to give Kent an 8-3 lead.
Kent State women's lacrosse opens season with weekend split
Kent State women's lacrosse team split games with George Mason and George Washington last weekend. Lizzie Lundeen scored five goals to lead the Golden Flashes to a 13-9 win over George Mason on Friday.
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George Washington downed the visiting Flashes 13-9 Sunday. Zayda Crumpton scored two goals for KSU.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent State Golden Flashes sports for the week of Feb. 3-9, 2025
