Strong Second Half Sends Kennesaw State Past Women's Basketball
12/22/2012 2:46:41 AM | Women's Basketball
KENNESAW, Ga. – Ashley Holliday scored 14 points, including 12 in the second half, to lead Kennesaw State to a 53-39 women's basketball victory over Georgia Southern Friday night in the KSU Convocation Center.
Anna Claire Knight led Georgia Southern (1-8) with 14 points, and Aishya Wofford tallied four points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Sametria Gideon posted 15 points and 15 rebounds for Kennesaw State (4-7), and Kristina Wells finished with six points and 14 boards. Chelsea Mason posted nine points and six rebounds.
The Eagles led 20-12 with time winding down in the first half, but Chantel Kennedy got an offensive rebound for the Owls, and Holliday scored a runner as the buzzer sounded. That bucket ignited a 13-0 run for KSU as Holliday hit three consecutive 3-pointers, and the Owls opened a 25-20 lead early in the second period.
Georgia Southern broke its drought with a Knight jumper, and after a free throw by MiMi DuBose, Knight hit another jumper to tie the score 25-25. The Eagles pushed ahead and led 27-26 on another DuBose free throw, but KSU responded with a 10-0 run to take control of the contest.
DuBose briefly trimmed the lead to seven with a jumper, but Wells scored six points in a 12-6 KSU run that made the margin 48-35 and put the game out of reach.
"We executed our game plan almost flawlessly in the first half, with the exception of allowing too many offensive rebounds, and the reason was because we were emotionally strong and mentally focused," said Georgia Southern coach Chris Vozab. "They made a couple of runs in the second half, and we played on our heels and didn't rally. We lost focus and missed crucial assignments and never recovered."
The Eagles scored five straight points on a driving layup by Wofford and a triple by Knight to push a one-point lead to a 13-7 advantage midway through the first half. KSU fought back and cut the margin to 13-11 on a Gideon 3-point play, but the Eagles answered with six straight points. Alexis Sams hit a jumper from just inside the circle, Maggie Davis scored a fastbreak layup and a Knight triple from the wing made the score 20-12.
GSU held Kennesaw State to 17 percent shooting in the half and forced 13 Owl turnovers. KSU stayed in the game with 16 offensive rebounds and seven second-chance points. The Owls shot 54 percent in the second stanza while holding Georgia Southern to 8-of-28 from the floor.
The Eagles were without starting forwards Meredyth Frye and Danielle Spencer, who suffered injuries in the Hatter Classic at Stetson earlier this week.
The Eagles return to action at George Mason Dec. 29, in a 3 p.m. tipoff.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.
