The Falcon women’s basketball team fell to the Kent State Golden Flashes 77-73 Saturday, nearly coming back from a third quarter 58-48 deficit.
With the win, Kent State moves up to 7-5 in the conference standings, while the Falcons drop to 1-11 on the season.
The game started out with Kent State outscoring the Falcons 25-19 in the first quarter. The Falcons were able to keep the game nearly even until Kent State made a run of 5 unanswered points to end the first quarter. Freshman guard Kadie Hempfling led the Falcons offensively with 6 points coming on a pair of successful 3-pointers near the beginning of the quarter.
In the second, the Falcons turned the momentum back around to their favor, as they outscored Kent State 21-13, on the strength of three successful 3-pointers from freshman guard Morgan McMillen. At the half, McMillen led the team with a total of 14 points, but Hempfling and sophomore guard Madisen Parker also had strong first half showings with 6 and 5 points respectively.
However, the third quarter would see Kent State retake both the momentum and the lead, outscoring the Falcons 21-8 as they grabbed a 58-48 advantage. The teams were deadlocked throughout much of the first half of the third quarter; however, Kent State was able to pull forward with an 11-point rally, which featured Kent State freshman guard Asiah Dingle earning 7 points during the run.
In the fourth quarter, the momentum began to swing back in the Falcons’ favor, with junior guard Andrea Cecil and freshman guard Molly Dever each earning 4 points during an 11-point run that cut the Kent State advantage down to just 2 with 2:33 remaining.
Kent State pulled further out in front with a pair of successful free throws; however, the Falcons tied the game back up as Parker and senior guard Sydney Lambert each hit each of their free throws to make it 71-71 with less than two minutes to go in regulation time.
After a Kent State layup and another pair of successful free throws from the Falcons, the teams were tied at 73-73 with 16 seconds remaining. However, the Falcons fouled with five seconds to go, allowing Kent State to get two more free throws, both of which Dingle sank to allow Kent State to jump back out in front 75-73.
With less than a second remaining, the Falcons fouled again looking to get a chance to get the ball back; however, Kent State junior guard Megan Carter made both ensuing free throws to seal the 77-73 victory for Kent State.
Despite the loss, McMillen and Cecil both finished the night with double-digit point totals, earning 19 and 17 points respectively. Dingle led Kent State with a 21-point effort while junior guard Ali Poole had 17 and Carter had 16.
The team will next play on Wednesday night at home against the Central Michigan Chippewas.
