Kent State spoils home opener for Penguin women

A fast start for the Penguins quickly vanished as the Kent State Golden Flashes took control of the game toward the end of the first half and did not back down as the Penguins lost their home opener 70-55.Head coach Cindy Martin was pleased with the effort of her Penguins, but not with the result.

"We're not going to be satisfied until we're cutting the nets here at YSU," Martin said.

Sophomore guard Macey Nortey led the Penguins in scoring with 20 points. Nortey, like Martin, was happy the Penguins performance, but not with the outcome.

"I'm satisfied that we were in the game but I am not satisfied with the result," Nortey said.

The Penguins jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the early part of the game, but could not sustain it.

KSU slowly built up momentum in the first half, as the Golden Flashes would go on runs of 10-0 and 9-0. The last lead the Penguins enjoyed was 13-12 in the first half.

The Penguins were up 13-8 before the 10-0 run by the Golden Flashes, which put them up 18-13. The 9-0 run came when the Golden Flashes were up only two points at 20-18. The Golden Flashes ran off the next nine points and eventually went into halftime with a 31-22 lead.

In the second half, the Penguins cut the lead to seven at 38-31. Unfortunately, this was the closest the Penguins would get to the Golden Flashes in the second half.

A key reason the Golden Flashes won was because of their ability to crash the boards. The Golden Flashes outrebounded the Penguins 50-32. The Golden Flashes had multiple opportunities to put back their misses as they accumulated 19 offensive rebounds in the game. Neither team shot particularly well, as the Golden Flashes shot 40 percent from the field and the Penguins shot just 32 percent.

Jamilah Humes lead the Golden Flashes with 14 points and six rebounds. The Penguins had two players besides Nortey to have a double-digit point total. Bojana Dimitrov scored 15 points and Kenya Middlebrooks chipped in 12 points for the Penguins. The loss dropped the Penguins to 0-3 on the season.