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March 8, 2002
CLEVELAND - Led by a Mid-American Conference (MAC) record block performance by Andrea Csaszar, the Kent State University women's basketball team (19-10) moved into the MAC Tournament final with a 74-50 win over Miami University (19-11) in the first semifinal of the 2002 Kraft MAC Tournament at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Csaszer tied a single-game conference record with nine blocks, most recently performed by Northern Illinois University's Jessica Shattuck in 2002, and broke MAC Tournament single-game and tournament (12) records. Csaszar broke the record set by Ohio University's Amy Turner March 1, 1998 (6) when she had seven at halftime. She broke the tournament record, which was nine, set by Kendra McDonald of Western Michigan University in 1998.
With Miami leading 10-8, Kent State went on a 12-0 run to lead 19-10 at 10:38 left in the first half and extended the lead to 22-13 with an old-fashion three-point play by Katalin Kollat. The Golden Flashes led by as many as 15 points in the first half on a Kollat free throw, but Miami cut the lead to 10 at halftime on a 6-0 run, culmulating on a buzzer beater three-pointer by Melanie Kozlowski.
Kent State opened the second half on an 11-0 run capped by a three-pointer by Jamie Rubis and never looked back. Miami would cut the lead to 13 points on two free throws by Kim Lancaster, but that would be as close as the RedHawks would get.
The Golden Flashes were led by Miller, who had a game-high 22 points. Kollat was two points of her career high with 21 points. Miami was led by Kozlowski's 11 points. Lancaster had a game-high eight rebounds, while Miami's Kim Smith added seven. Heather Cusick, the 2002 MAC Player of the Year, broke Miami's single-season assist record (168) and tied the school's single-season scoring record (521) with her 10 points and two assists.
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Miami would end the game shooting 25.7 percent (18-of-70), while the Golden Flashes shot 51 percent (25-of-49). Kent State also went 19-of-24 (79.2 percent) from the free-throw line, compared to 7-of-7 for the RedHawks.
"Our defense was outstanding today," Kent State head coach Bob Lindsay said. "We limited Heather Cusick to 10 points. We won this game on defense."
Kent State will now play the winner of the Ball State University/Northern Illinois game in the MAC Tournament final Saturday, March 9, at 1 p.m.
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