Kent State Advances To Semifinals With Win Over Ohio
March 6, 2002
CLEVELAND -- The top-seeded Kent State University women's basketball team (18-10) used hot shooting from the field and had a career high 30 points from guard Valerie Zona to propel the Golden Flashes to a 83-63 win over eighth-seeded Ohio University (13-16) in the first quarterfinal of the 2002 Kraft Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Kent State shot 55.6 percent from the field and 62.5 percent from three-point range, a season high.
After the Golden Flashes started the game on a 5-0 run, the Bobcats answered with seven points of its own. After a Kate Miller basket tied the score at seven, the Bobcats went on a 7-0 run to take a 14-7 lead. Ohio led by as many as eight points, 28-20, with 6:28 left in the first half on five straight points from Cathy Szall. Kent State came back to tie the game at 28 on a Zona three-pointer and took the lead on a second Zona triple. The Golden Flashes extended the lead to 35-28 with 3:15 remaining and led 39-30 at halftime.
Kent State extended the lead from nine to 15 points in the first three minutes of the second half and led by less than 10 points only once the rest of the way. Ohio cut the lead to nine points in the second half on a three-pointer by Andrea Johnson with 13:14 remaining, but Kent State went on a 7-0 run capped by a Zona layup and free throw. Kent State led by as many as 22 points with 52 seconds remaining and finished with a 20-point margain.
Zona led the Golden Flashes with 30 points, shooting 9-of-14 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. Kent State had four players in double figures, including Miller, who went 6-of-9 from the field and scored 14 points.
Candace Bates led Ohio with 18 points, including four three-pointers. Lori Morrman had eight rebounds for the Bobcats, who outrebounded the Golden Flashes 36-29. Kent State controlled the inside scoring, scoring 40 points in the paint compared to 11 for Ohio.
"I thought we were a little rusty coming off the week layoff," Kent State head coach Bob Lindsay said. "Once we got our feet under us in the second part of the first half we played better defensively. In the second half I thought we played well defensively except for a couple of lapses."
Kent State will face the Miami University/Western Michigan University winner Friday, March 8, at noon in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament.
