CLEVELAND — Kent State has advanced to the Mid-American Conference Women's Basketball Tournament championship game for the first time since 2006, beating Ball State, 65-50, in a semifinal contest at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Friday.
The Golden Flashes (20-10) led for the final 36 minutes and forced the Cardinals into shooting just 32.1% from the field. Behind double-doubles from junior Bridget Dunn and redshirt senior Katie Shumate, Kent State held a dominant 50-23 rebounding advantage. Dunn scored a game-high 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting and pulled down 13 boards, while Shumate finished with 12 points and career-high 14 rebounds.
In addition to controlling the boards, the Flashes outscored Ball State in the paint, 44-16
Freshman Janae Tyler matched Dunn with 16 points off the bench and junior Jenna Batsch added 10 points and career-high five assists.
The Flashes will play No. 4 seed Buffalo in the championship game Saturday at 11 a.m. on CBS Sports Network.
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