Marshall University Athletics
Thundering Herd Bolt Past Flashes, 62-47
2/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Thundering Herd Bolt Past Flashes, 62-47
2/19/2003
HUNTINGTON, W.VA.-The Marshall women knocked off their second consecutive first place team Wednesday night with a 62-47 win over the MAC East Division leading Kent State Golden Flashes in the Cam Henderson Center. On Saturday, the Herd beat the Ball State Cardinals, co-leaders in the West Division. Marshall improves to 9-14, 5-7 in the Mid-American Conference, while Kent State drops to 13-10, 8-4 in league play.
It took both teams a few minutes to get comfortable on the offensive end of the floor, as both Marshall and Kent State combined to score only eight points in the game?s first five minutes and thirty seconds. At the 13:21 mark, Sikeetha Shepard-Hall (Houston, Tex.) made a running layup in the paint to give the Herd an 8-7 lead, a margin they would never relinquish. Marshall put together a few big runs as the first half progressed, and saw their lead blossom to as many as 14 points with 2:19 to go in the period. The Herd outscored Kent State 14-5 in one of those runs, with big buckets coming from a plethora of Marshall players. MU took a 28-19 lead into the halftime break.
Marshall?s lead hovered around the ten-point mark for the rest of the game. Kent State cut the Herd lead to six with 13 minutes to go in regulation, but that was as close as the Golden Flashes would get.
?We?ve got a lot of basketball left in us,? said Marshall head coach Royce Chadwick. ?We?re turning it on at the right time. Kent State is a very good basketball team.
?We didn?t beat ourselves tonight with turnovers and fouls. When we conduct ourselves on the defensive end without fouling, we?re a pretty good basketball team.?
Wednesday?s win snapped an 11-game losing streak to Kent State, dating back to the 1978-79 season. The five Mid-American Conference wins also ties for the most conference victories for a Marshall women?s basketball team since entering the league in 1997. The 2001-02 team won five MAC games.
Marshall was led by Shepard-Hall who scored 15 points on six-of-eight shooting. Ida Dotson (Tombstone, Ariz.) was the only other Herd player in double-figures with 14 points. Also contributing for the Herd was Amy Reed (Schuykill Haven, Pa.) who had ten rebounds, and guard Christina Harbin (Miami, Fla.) who had five points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and two steals.
Kent State?s Jamie Rubis tallied a double-double with 12 points and ten rebounds, while Valerie Zona added 12 points.
The Thundering Herd return to action Saturday afternoon against Ohio at the Convocation Center in Athens. Tip-off is slated for a 3:30 start.
