Sun Feb 12 2012
By David Carducci
Record-Courier staff writer
CLEVELAND — A valiant comeback in the closing minutes of the Mid-American Conference semifinals fell just short for Kent State in a 51-49 loss to Toledo on Friday at Quicken Loans Arena.
The third-seeded Golden Flashes turned the game’s final 10 minutes into a nightmare for the second-seeded Rockets with a frenzied full-court press.
Despite shooting under 20 percent from the field for most of the game, KSU managed to turn a 15-point deficit at the 9:25 mark of the second half into a chance to win or force overtime in the final seconds.
“I’m glad time ran out,” Toledo head coach Tricia Cullop admitted. “If you want to give a coach a heart attack, give her team timeouts and have them fumble the ball around at the end. Fortunately we gave ourselves enough of a cushion to win the game.”
It was just barely enough.
When Jessica Williams failed to extend Toledo’s lead beyond two points by missing two straight free throws, KSU’s Jamilah Humes grabbed the long rebound and tried to race 90 feet in 6.6 seconds in a frantic attempt to get a last shot.
She only made it about 45 feet.
“I wanted to push it as fast as I could and unfortunately I lost the ball around halfcourt ,” said Humes, who led all scorers with 16 points. “I was getting ready to pass the ball. I saw Rachel Bennett wide open up the court.”
While KSU ouldn’t quite complete the comeback, Bob Lindsay said he had never been prouder of a team’s effort. The KSU coach kept the starting lineup of Humes, Bennett, Yoshica Spears, Taisja Jones and Lorriane Odhiambo on the court for all but a few seconds of the final run.
“Those guys left everything they had on the floor,” said Lindsay. “You can’t ask for more than that.”
The Flashes forced half of Toledo’s 18 turnovers during those last 10 minutes. Their defense was good enough to advance to the title game. If only their offense was on a similar level.
Kent State was lucky to find itself somewhat within striking distance after suffering through several long stretches without making a basket. At one point, they endured a 9:46 drought until Bennett finally hit a 3-pointer for KSU’s first field goal of the second half with 11:42 remaining.
“Anyone who has watched us this year knows we aren’t the best offensive team,” said Lindsay. “We’ve had our struggles at times with our offensive execution.”
Friday was one of those times. Kent State ended up shooting just 25 percent from the field (15-for-60) for the game.
“That’s nothing foreign to us,” said Lindsay. “We’ve had trouble all season.”
Jones scored seven of her 12 points during the second-half rally. She also grabbed 10 rebounds. Odhiambo finished with a game-high 13 rebounds to go with her five points.
Naamar Shafir scored 13 points to finish as the only Rocket in double figures. She also struggled to 2-of-6 shooting from the foul line, which aided the Kent State comeback.
Toledo (24-7) will face top-seed Bowling Green today at 1 p.m. in the MAC championship game.
At 20-10, Kent State is forced to to wait for Monday to learn if its season will continue with a postseason bid to play in either the Women’s NIT or the Women’s CBI Tournament.
“Hopefully we aren’t done yet,” said Lindsay. “Hopefully we will get another game somewhere.”
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Contact David Carducci at dcarducci@recordpub.com
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