Junior Tynikki Crook scored 13 points to go along with seven rebounds as the Thundering Herd women's basketball team notched its first win of the season, taking down Kent State by a 57-50 margin Saturday afternoon at the Cam Henderson Center.

Marshall (1-2) trailed by six points, 33-27, at halftime, but came out strong in the second half, holding Kent State (2-1) to just 17 second-half points to rally for the win.

"I thought that it was a defensive struggle both ways. I think both teams did an excellent job both ways of playing very, very good defense," Marshall head coach Royce Chadwick said. "I thought it was very difficult to get a basket on either end."

KSU guard Jena Stutzman, who entered the game 1-9 from three-point range, paced the Golden Flashes in the first half, hitting 4-of-5 treys and all four free throw attempts to score 16 points as KSU took a 33-27 lead to the locker room at the half.

Neither team held a lead of more than six points in the opening stanza. With the score knotted at 13-13, the Herd put up six straight points, including two free throws by Alyssa Hammond, to take a 19-13 edge, however, Kent State turned the tables late in the half, scoring the final eight points over the final 1:19 to hold a six-point edge following the first period.

Marshall quickly fought back in the opening minutes of the latter half, eventually tying the game at 39-39 just over six minutes in thanks to a pair of free throws by senior Kendra King. With the score tied at 46 all with 7:55 remaining, Marshall made a game-changing run, scoring the next 11 points while holding Kent State scoreless of the next 6:05 to take the largest lead either team would enjoy all game at 57-46.

Chantelle Handy and Crook combined for nine points in the run, which saw the Golden Flashes miss eight consecutive shots before Taisja Jones hit a free throw with 1:50 left in the game. Kent State scored three more points over the final minutes, but would get no closer than the final score of 57-50.

The Herd saw a sharp improvement in its shooting. After hitting just 26.6% of its shots in the first two contests of the season, Marshall shot .423 (22-52) on Saturday. Kent State shot .458 in the opening half, however, the Herd defense clamped down in the second, holding KSU to just .237 (6-22).

Crook and Handy marked the lone double-digit scorers for the Herd with Crook tallying 13 and Handy scoring 11. Alyssa Hammond scored nine while junior Mystee Dale chipped in eight points while dishing out a game-high seven assists. Hammond hit all three free throw attempts, extending her streak to 36 consecutive free throw makes, dating back to last season.

Stutzman was the lone scorer in double figures for KSU, finishing the game with 19 points, 16 of which came in the first half. She hit 5-of-6 three-pointers. Yoshica Spears led all players with eight boards.

Marshall will take to the road for its next six games, beginning with a trip to Athens, Ohio to face Ohio U. on Tuesday evening. Tip is set for 7 p.m. at the Convo. Next Friday, the team will travel to Pittsburgh for the Pitt Thanksgiving Tournament. Marshall will face Miami (Ohio) on Friday before going against Pitt or Appalachian State on Saturday. The next home game for MU will be on Sunday, December 20 when the team faced UT-Martin at the Henderson Center.