Marshall University Athletics
Herd Falls to Kent State in MAC Semis
3/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Herd Falls to Kent State in MAC Semis
3/11/2005
- Box Score
Sikeetha Shepard-Hall posted her third 20-point game in as many tries this season against Kent State, including a game-high 20 points in Friday's MAC Tournament semifinal, but it wasn't enough to get the Thundering Herd past the Golden Flashes to the championship game. Photo by Matt Riley |
Story courtesy of the Mid-American Conference.
CLEVELAND - Melissa DeGrate scored all 18 of her points in the second half to lead No. 2 seed Kent State to a 73-57 semifinal victory over No. 3 seed Marshall Friday afternoon at Gund Arena, advancing the Golden Flashes into the championship of the 2005 Kraft Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament.
The Golden Flashes (21-8), who trailed by as many as 13 points, have won nine straight games overall heading into Saturday's final against top-seeded Bowling Green. Kent State will be making its 10th appearance in the championship game and eighth in the last 10 years.
Marshall (19-9) opened the game on an 11-1 run in the first five minutes and led 20-7 with 11 minutes left in the first half. Kent State got back into the game on the strength of a 12-2 run. Marshall, behind 16 points from Sikeetha Shepard-Hall, led by four at the break, 32-28.
Kent State opened the second half on an 11-2 spurt capped by a 3-pointer from DeGrate to take a 39-34 lead. After Marshall cut the deficit to one, Kent State outscored the Thundering Herd 17-5 over a 4:30 span to take control of the game.
After a 0-for-4 first half, DeGrate was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field in the second stanza, including four 3-pointers, to fuel the Kent State attack. Lindsay Shearer scored 16 points and Malika Willoughby added 10 points and five assists for the Golden Flashes, who recovered from a 0-for-10 start by shooting 55.6% (15-of-27) in the second half.
Sheppard-Hall led all scorers with 20 points, but only four of those came in the second half. The Thundering Herd was held to just 12-of-34 (35.3%) shooting in the second half, including 0-for-7 from 3-point range. Kim Griffin was the only other player in double figures with 10 points. She added four steals.
Kent State made its last seven free throws to close out the game while Marshall scored just two points in the final two minutes.
Marshall turned the ball over 21 times, leading to Kent State's 20-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
Modupe Ishola grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for the Thundering Herd, which held a 43-35 edge on the boards.
