The Kent State women's basketball team had its four-game win streak ended on Wednesday evening, as host Duquesne survived with a 73-67 victory inside of the UMPC Cooper Fieldhouse.
The Golden Flashes (5-3) made a season-high 14 three-pointers and received a 20-0 scoring advantage from the bench in the loss. Junior Casey Santoro led the way with 13 points and a season-high seven assists. Graduate student Hannah Young sank a career-best four three-pointers in the game's opening 14 minutes to keep Kent State within striking distance of the hot-shooting Dukes and finished with 12 points. Senior Katie Shumate grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass, and added eight points.
Duquesne made six of its first eight shots, including all four from three-point range, to lead 16-6 just four minutes into the contest. Young answered with her third triple on the following possession to get back within single digits. The defense settled in and kept the Dukes without a field goal over the final 3:43, while a basket from graduate student Abby Ogle and two foul shots from senior Clare Kelly got the Flashes within 21-16 after 10 minutes of action.
An 11-0 run midway through the second gave Kent State its first lead since it was 6-5. Six different Flashes connected on three-pointers as part of a 26-point period that gave them a 44-39 halftime lead.
Santoro scored on the opening possession in the third quarter to make it 46-39, matching the largest lead of the night. Kent State then went five minutes without a field goal as Duquesne regained the lead, and Kelly's three-pointer got it within 51-50 with 4:26 left in the period. The Dukes split two foul shots, and Ogle tied it up with a second-chance basket. Three-point shots by graduate student Lindsey Thall and sophomore Bridget Dunn made it a 58-58 game going into the fourth period.
It took more than four minutes for the Flashes to score in the fourth, and Santoro's driving layup made it 64-60 with 5:47 remaining. Another four-minute drought without a field goal followed and freshman Corynne Hauser got it within 69-64 with 1:21 on the clock. After two Duquesne free throws, Thall buried a three-pointer. The Dukes then bricked two foul shots but Kent State was unable to make a pair of attempts from long range with fewer than 30 seconds remaining that would have cut the deficit to a single point.
The Flashes' 14 three-point field goals are tied for the fourth most in a game in program history.
Kent State begins a four-game homestand on Sunday, Dec. 11 when Hiram visits the M.A.C. Center. Tip is scheduled for 2 p.m.
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