BOX SCORE

KALAMAZOO- Western Michigan (8-12, 5-1 MAC) squeezed out a tight one in a hard fought victory over the Kent State Golden Flashes (5-13, 2-4 MAC), 66-59 on Jan. 26 at University Arena. With their fifth straight conference win, the Broncos remain tied for first place in the MAC with Ball State.

Amanda Parker led all scorers with 18 points, tying her career high for the second straight game. Freshman Brenna Banktson also had a career game, recording her first career double-double, scoring 15 points and pulling in 11 rebounds.

Trailing by as many as five in the first half, WMU battled back and took a 29-27 lead as Sara Vest converted a three-point play the old fashion way, giving the Broncos the halftime advantage.

Vest finished the game with 13 points and went 7-for-7 from the free-throw line, four coming in the final 42 seconds. The first two put the Broncos up 62-55, tying the largest lead of the game.

WMU was behind, 49-47, with 7:13 remaining but pulled even on a pair of Parker free throws. Bankston corralled a miss on the other end and Molly Dwyer dropped in a three-pointer to give the Brown & Gold the lead for good. Parker continued to show her senior leadership when the game was wearing thin, scoring eight of her second half 12 points in the final 5:38 of the game.

Chenel Harris led the Golden Flashes with 17 points and hauled in eight rebounds. Ellie Shields also scored in double digits, chipping in 14 points.

Tiera DeLaHoussaye paced the Western Michigan attack with nine assists.

It was a tale of two half for the Broncos, who shot only 36 percent in the first half, but improved to 55 percent in the second. The Golden Flashes also improved their shooting in the second half, but hung around the 40 percent mark for most of the game.

The Broncos travel to Bowling Green Wednesday, Jan. 30 to take on the Falcons. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.