Kent State Women’s Basketball Loses Hard-Fought Contest To St. Bonaventure
Krewson, Hutcheson and Beckford finish in double figures for Golden Flashes.
KENT, Ohio -- The Kent State women's basketball team fought hard and gave St. Bonaventure all it could handle for over 32 minutes, but the Bonnies surged ahead in the waning moments to secure a 60-51 victory Wednesday (Nov. 30) in a non-conference game at the M.A.C. Center.
The Golden Flashes (1-5) won the turnover battle and outrebounded the Bonnies (5-1), but a 16-6 surge by St. Bonaventure over the final eight minutes of the game proved to be the difference. Kent State fell to 5-4 all-time against a St. Bonaventure squad that pulled out a 64-58 season-opening triumph at then-No. 25 St. John's on Nov. 12 and a 56-48 victory at West Virginia on Nov. 18 and is considered to be one of the top contenders out of the Atlantic 10 Conference this season.
"We were competitive for about 33 minutes, but at that point we were tired and started making plays that would not allow us to win a game, especially as good as these guys," said 23rd-year head coach Bob Lindsay. "There was a lot of improvement tonight, a lot of improvement from other games, a lot of light at the end of the tunnel, but still not good enough to beat a good basketball team."
Junior guard Trisha Krewson (Sandusky, Ohio) reached double figures for the fourth time this season, tallying a game-high 14 points. Krewson also hauled in a game-high eight rebounds (one offensive, seven defensive). She was joined in double digits by freshman guard Jamie Hutcheson (Ancaster, Ontario) and junior forward Diamon Beckford (Upper Darby, Pa.). Hutcheson tallied a career-high 13 points for her second straight double-digit output of the season while Beckford hit double figures for the second time this season with 11 points. Freshman guard Itziar Llobet (Sant Cugat de Valles, Spain) just missed out on reaching double figures, scoring nine points in addition to posting six boards (two offensive, four defensive) and a game-high three steals.
"For 35 minutes of the game, we stuck to our game plan and played good defense, but down the stretch we just didn't make big shots and got a little tired on the defensive end of the floor," said Krewson.
The Flashes put together a balanced offensive attack and a solid rebounding effort in the first half. Krewson and Hutcheson led the way with seven points apiece while Llobet chipped in six. Kent State outrebounded St. Bonaventure, 15-13, over the first 20 minutes of action.
The Golden Flashes got off to a hot start in front of the hometown crowd, running out to a 14-4 lead to open the game. The charge out of the gates was fueled by six points off of turnovers, thanks to two steals by junior guard Tamzin Barroilhet (Sainte Maxime, France) and one by Llobet that led to buckets.
The Bonnies came roaring back, though, using a 22-7 run to grab a 26-21 advantage. A jumper by Llobet, a layup by Beckford and a trey by Hutcheson helped keep the Flashes within three at the break.
Kent State stayed step-for-step with the Bonnies over the first 12 minutes of the second half, using two layups each from Beckford and Hutcheson and another from Krewson to take a 45-44 lead with 8:08 to play. Unfortunately for the Flashes, it was all St. Bonaventure after that as the Bonnies outscored Kent State by 10 points over the final stretch.
Four Bonnies finished in double figures, led by 14 points from sophomore guard CeCe Dixon. Senior forward Megan Van Tatenhove contributed 13 while junior forward Chelsea Bowker came off of the bench to add 12. Senior guard Jessica Jenkins rounded out St. Bonaventure's balanced attack with 10 points.
Kent State concludes its two-game stretch against Atlantic 10 programs next Tuesday (Dec. 6), traveling to Philadelphia to battle Temple in a 7 p.m. meeting.
