After Duquesne’s Libby Bazelak drilled two free throws – a rare sight down the stretch in this one, with both teams missing crucial shots at the charity stripe in the game’s final minute – to knot the game at 75, Kent State head coach Todd Starkey called timeout, a chance to draw the game-winning play.
After the inbound, Kent State guard Megan Carter got the ball at the top of the key and quickly attacked the basket, driving right on a depleted Duquesne defense that had three players foul out. Carter stopped a handful of feet from the basket on the block and sent up a floater that drifted through the nylon in what was ultimately the game’s decisive moment.
Duquesne was given 0.2 seconds to work with after the officials checked the monitor, but it wasn’t enough. Carter’s heroics made all the difference in the opening game of the campaign for both programs.
Lindsay Thall led the Golden Flashes offensively for the night, scoring a game-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Most notably, though, the sophomore forward shot 6-of-9 from behind the arc, the anchor of a shooting attack that allowed Kent State to claw back into the game after a below-par first quarter. As a team, the Golden Flashes went 10-of-19 from three and shot 83.3 percent from deep in the second half.
This game was the first of two at PPG Paints Arena to tip off both Duquesne basketball teams. To open the night, the men defeated Princeton, 94-67, opening up the game big time in the second 20 minutes after a lackluster first half. That momentum carried with the women early in their game, but Carter and the Golden Flashes ultimately ruined the theoretical perfect night in Pittsburgh.
Nothing But Nylon was there live, covering and reporting from Duquesne’s men’s and women’s doubleheader to start their respective seasons in first of many such events we will attend, providing you with our grassroots approach to basketball media.