Dec. 5, 2009
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
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KENT, Ohio - Jamilah Humes scored 23 points and Kent State raced out to a 14 point halftime lead to help the Golden Flashes to a 71-56 victory over Cleveland State in nonconference action at the M.A.C. on Saturday afternoon.
The Vikings fell to 2-5 overall, while Kent State won for the fifth time in six games this season.
Honesty King led the Vikings with 12 points in just her second career contest. Shawnita Garland added 11 points, while Janelle Adams scored nine and Shalonda Winton grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds.
"I thought we came out with some good energy and did some good things to start the game," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "But they started to put some pressure on us and took us out of rhythm. That allowed them to make a run and open up a lead and we couldn't recover.
"We didn't give up at all and were able to cut the lead under double digits in the second half with some good pressure. But we keep digging ourselves too big of holes to get out of. We have to find a way to get out of this funk that we are in and start playing like we are capable of."
The teams traded leads six times in the early going until a 12-0 run by the Golden Flashes gave them a 20-9 lead with 11:09 to play in the first half.
The lead swelled to as many as 17 points late in the half until King hit a desperation three-pointer from 35 feet at the buzzer to cut CSU's deficit to 36-22 at the half.
Kent State's lead would grow to 20 points (50-30) with 13:58 to play, but the Vikings would not go away, using a 16-3 run over the next five minutes to pull within 53-46 with 8:23 left on a layup by Adams.
But Stephaine Gibson and Humes hit three-pointers to push Kent State's lead back to 12 points with 6:39 to play and the Vikings would not get the deficit under double digits the rest of the afternoon.
Kent State had a 47-42 advantage on the boards, while both teams committed 18 turnovers.
CSU shot 22-of-67 (.328) from the field, including 7-of-31 (.328) from three-points.
The Golden Flashes hit 25-of-60 (.417) from the floor, knocking down 7-of-20 (.350) three's.
The Vikings will have the week off for final exams before heading to Niagara for a 2:00 p.m. contest on Sunday (Dec. 13).
