Feb. 18, 2008
Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga. - Tierra Brown made a lay-up with three seconds left in the game and a potential game-winning lay-up by Jennifer Baker was blocked as the Stetson Hatters stunned the Lady Owls, 55-54, before a vocal crowd of 643 on Monday night at the KSU Convocation Center.
In one of the closest games of the season, the contest saw 10 ties and 20 lead changes in a back-and-forth game that saw neither team lead by more than four points. The final five minutes saw the teams tied once and five lead changes as Kennesaw State had its four-game winning streak snapped.
Kennesaw State (14-11, 9-4 A-Sun) found themselves trailing by four points with just over two minutes left before a pair of Britteny Henderson lay-ups sandwiched two DeAndrea Bullock free-throws, giving the Lady Owls 54-53 lead with 15 seconds remaining.
Stetson (7-19, 5-8 A-Sun) would hit the eventual game winning lay-up for Stetson on a spinning inside move by Brown with exactly five seconds left on the clock.
The Lady Owls quickly got the ball into Baker who sped past the Hatters defense and appeared to be headed for a game-winning lay-up, but had the shot tipped by a Stetson defender. The clock would strike 0.0 before the Lady Owls would get a second chance at the winning basket.
After an emotional pre-game Senior Night ceremony, the Lady Owls (14-11, 9-4 A-Sun) seemed unable to get over the emotional hump as the Hatters took advantage of a slow Kennesaw State start jumping out to a 6-2 lead courtesy of three-pointers by Briitany Carannante and Sharnesha Smith.
The Lady Owls started all of the honored players, with the exception of Stephanie Scearce who missed the season with a knee injury. Jade Robinson, Katie Martin, Nikki Gurley and Ngoneh Gaye started for Kennesaw State, but it was when the everyday starters back in the game that the Lady Owls took their first lead as Montinique Nixon scored on a lay-up and Baker drained a three-pointer to give KSU a 7-6 advantage.
After seven ties and 10 lead changes during the final 14:39 of the first half, Kennesaw State headed into the locker room with a 31-29 lead. The Lady Owls held the advantage for the first five minutes of the second half even though they were in the midst of missing 12 of their first 13 shots from the field.
Nixon and Henderson led Kennesaw State with 12 points each while Baker scored 10 points. Henderson just missed a double-double as she got nine rebounds.
Smith led all scorers with 18 points while Ayesha Barkley scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Hatters.
Kennesaw State will take to the road for its final three games of the season as they battle Jacksonville on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. The Lady Owls will then play North Florida on Monday night before finishing the season at Mercer on March 1.
