OXFORD, Ohio – Baleigh Reid scored a career-high 22 points to help send the Miami women’s basketball seniors out of Millett Hall on a high note in a 66-59 win over Kent State on Saturday afternoon.
Miami (7-20, 4-12 Mid-American) secured a season sweep of Kent State (5-22, 3-13 MAC) with the victory in Courtney Larson and Katy Dolesh’s final home game.
The RedHawks scored four of the game’s first six points on a Molly McDonagh layup and a Reid jumper, but the Golden Flashes ripped off eight-straight points to grab a 10-4 lead four and a half minutes into the contest. A transition layup by Reid halted the run, but layups by CiCi Shannon and Jordan Korinek extended KSU’s lead to 14-6 with under 13 to go in the opening stanza.
Reid finished off a nice passing possession with a three-pointer from the corner to cut the gap to 14-9, giving her seven of MU’s nine points at the time. Kent State continued its hot shooting, at one point shooting 10-of-13 from the floor to push its lead to 10 points on three separate occasions.
Trailing 25-15, the RedHawks reeled off eight-straight points points as McDonagh scored on a nice up and under move, Larson drained a three at the top of the arc and Hannah McCue scored three points the old fashioned way on a layup to cut the gap to 25-23 with 6:37 left in the half. A Reid three-pointer two minutes later tied the score at 27-27 and Larson’s trifecta capped a 15-2 RedHawk run that put them on top 30-27 with 2:49 left in the half. The teams traded baskets for the rest of the half with Reid’s jumper in the closing seconds sending Miami to the locker room with a 35-32 lead at the break.
Neither team scored for the first three minutes of the second half, though Kent State eventually got five-straight points from Jordan Korinek to take a 37-35 lead with 16:29 to go. A Larissa Lurken jumper put Miami down 39-35 and capped the Golden Flashes’ 7-0 run. Larson hit a baseline jumper for Miami’s first points of the half with 13:51 to go and Reid scored a layup to even the score on the next possession. After a sequence of MU offensive rebounds led to a foul, Jessica Rupright calmly hit two free throws to give the Red and White a 41-39 lead with 12:39 left.
Lurkin hit another jumper to even the score at 41 apiece on the ensuing KSU possession, though MU responded with jumpers from Larson and Kayla Brown to grab a 45-41 lead midway through the second half. The RedHawks eventually stretched their lead to 55-47 with 3:33 remaining, their largest lead of the game. Lurkin answered with a three-pointer to pull the Golden Flashes within five, but Rupright hit a long jumper to up the lead to 57-50. After KSU split a trip of its own to the charity stripe, McCue knocked down two free throws to move the lead back to eight and Kent State would get no closer than six the rest of the way.
After a hot-shooting first half, both teams cooled off considerably from the floor in the second. The Golden Flashes shot 42.1 percent overall while the RedHawks made 40 percent of their shots. MU hit all five of its three-pointers in the first half and finished 5-of-12 from beyond the arc while KSU went 4-of-13 from long range. The RedHawks outscored the Golden Flashes by 10 from the foul line, making 17-of-21 free throws (81 percent) against KSU’s 7-of-11 (63.6 percent) line. Kent State did enjoy a slight 36-32 advantage in rebounding, though Miami forced 19 KSU turnovers against 13 of its own, outscoring Kent State 19-8 off turnovers.
Reid’s 22 points tied KSU’s Lurken for the game high while Larson joined her teammate in double figures with 15 points. Shannon posted an 11-point, 13 rebound for Kent State while Korinek also chipped in 11.
The RedHawks return to action on March 4 when they travel to Akron.
