Dec. 29, 2006
Box Score
MACON, Ga. - The Kennesaw State women's basketball team had five players score in double figures but it wasn't enough as the Lady Owls fell to UNC Asheville, 83-76 in game one of the 2006 Mercer Blade Holiday Classic on Friday afternoon.
The Lady Owls (4-7) started the game slow but rebounded when a Jennifer Baker (2-for-4) three-pointer and a Jade Robinson (4-for-11) lay-up and subsequent free throw capped an 11-3 run to give Kennesaw State a four-point lead.
However, the Lady Owls brief rally were the last points KSU would record for the next three minutes as five straight missed shots and a turnover fueled a Bulldogs' (6-6) 12-0 run after Katie Baldwin drained two threes to give UNC Asheville a 26-18 lead with 9:00 to go in the first half.
Gia Lockett (4-for-8) came up big down the stretch of the first stanza as she scored a lay-up and a couple free throws to pull the Lady Owls to within three with just under a minute to go. After the Bulldogs missed a three pointer on their next possession, DeAndrea Bullock (5-for-13) converted a lay-up to bring the core to 35-34 with :22 remaining. KSU was lax on defense, however, and allowed Ashton Barton (6-for-11) to hit a lay-up to give UNC Asheville a 37-34 halftime lead.
The Lady Owls kept it close in the early minutes of the second half, as neither team had more than a five-point lead for the first 13 minutes. But after Robinson gave KSU a 63-60 lead with a wide-open lay-up, the Bulldogs put together a 14-0 run over the next three minutes to give the Lady Owls the fourth loss in their last five games.
Barton scored a game-high for UNC Asheville with 21 points, while Amanda Elder added 20. Rosetta Hollis (6-for-14) led the Lady Owls with 18 points, while Lockett finished with a season-high 13.
KSU will be back in action in the consolation game against Savannah State tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at the University Center in Macon.
