KENT — In the semifinals of the 2023 Mid-American Conference tournament, the Kent State women's basketball team's season ended at the hands of Toledo, which went on to capture its ninth tournament title.
The Rockets tormented the Golden Flashes again Wednesday night at the M.A.C. Center, ending Kent State's six-game winning streak and extending their own winning streak to six with a 87-76 victory.
"I knew coming into this game we're going to learn a lot about ourselves," Kent State coach Todd Starkey said. "I thought once we started really playing aggressively and attacking the baseline, in the fourth quarter, we started to see some things happen for us, but we needed to have that mentality from the start."
The game matched KSU's high-scoring offense, ranked first in the MAC at 74 points per game, against Toledo's second-ranked scoring defense (57.3).
"Playing Toledo is always great," Flashes senior guard Katie Shumate said. "Obviously, you want a different outcome. But we're learning a lot about ourselves, and we haven't met this kind of competition in the conference yet."
Shumate finished with a season-high 26 points, shooting 8 of 15 from the field with four 3-pointers, to lead Kent State (10-5, 5-1).
"Katie came out and was ready to go from the start," Starkey said. "I really felt like she tried to set the tone; however, she got in foul trouble early. She just didn't have enough of her teammates jumping on board with that type of aggression and that type of intensity that she had."
The athleticism and on-ball screens by the Rockets (12-3,5-0) were something Shumate and her teammates hadn't seen before this season.
"It was a bit of a challenge for us with them just being aggressive with as much pressure as they're putting on us," she said. "We just have to change our mindset and be more aggressive, playing our game."
Starkey said it starts with him and his assistants.
"We didn't coach our best either," he said. "It starts with me and our coaching staff by putting them in a little bit better position to be able to be successful."
Junior forward Jenna Batsch, who scored 17 points, said, "There's still room to grow."
"I think we just need to look at the film and learn from it, but we definitely didn't play our best," she said. "We can beat that team, but today just wasn't our day."
Rockets guard Sophia Wiard scored 40 points for the second time in her career to become the first MAC player to reach that benchmark this season.
"They get up for playing against us for some reason," Starkey said. "But, I mean, Sophia is obviously a great point guard and we can't, we can't allow her to score 40 points."
The Flashes will look to get back on track when they play at rival Akron at 2 p.m. Saturday. It will be their third game in seven days.
"When we get to Cleveland [for the MAC Tournament], we're gonna play three games in a shorter period of time," Starkey said. "It's our job as coaches to manage that and understand who's playing major minutes and how to manage their legs."
The Flashes are 58-18 all time against the Zips (6-9, 1-4) and have won eight of the last 10 in the series.
"I haven't put much thought into it; our focus has been all on Toledo," Starkey said. "Obviously, every year, the home and away series that we have with the school down the road is a great rivalry.
"But we have to learn from tonight and be better. We're not as focused on Akron as much as we are getting better ourselves."
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent State women's basketball loses to Toledo in MAC play
