Feb. 4, 2008
Box Score
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Kennesaw State opened the game on an 18-1 run and never looked back as Greteya Kelley led the Lady Owls with 15 points in a 80-49 victory over USC Upstate on Monday night at the Hodge Center.
KSU (11-10) has won four of its last five games and moves to 6-3 in the Atlantic Sun Conference with the victory. The Spartans remain winless in their first year in the league and drop to 4-18 overall after making the leap from Division II.
After both teams went scoreless for the first three minutes of the game, the Lady Owls broke the drought, scoring the first six points on three straight fast-break lay-ups, including two by Jennifer Baker. After a Shanea Wyatt free throw put Upstate on the board, KSU exploded for 12 straight points, capped by a DeAndrea Bullock three-pointer.
Kennesaw State led by as many as 30 points in the first 20 minutes after Nikki Gurley converted one of her team-high three-pointers to give the Lady Owls a 42-12 lead with 1:54 to play. Ebony Johnson was able to knock down a jumper in the lane to cut the score to 42-14 heading into halftime.
Upstate went just 2-of-24 from the field in the first half, but was able to make 10-of-12 free throws to keep the game respectable.
The second half was much of the same, as the Lady Owls continued to dominate their former Peach Belt Conference foe. Gurley and Ngoneh Gaye led the way for the Black and Gold in the second stanza, as each scored seven points en route to helping KSU to its 13th consecutive win over the Spartans.
Kelley notched her 10th straight game in double figures as she finished the game shooting 7-of-14 from the floor and once again paced the Lady Owls with four steals. KSU had three players score 13 points apiece in Bullock, Gurley and Henderson as the trio combined to shoot 15-of-31 from the field, while Henderson finished one rebound short of a double-double with nine.
The Black and Gold once again out-rebounded its opponent, 49-39, and converted 23 Upstate turnovers into 32 points.
The Lady Owls will return to the KSU Convocation Center when they play host to the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon. The action is scheduled to tip-off at 3:00 p.m. and can be seen on A-Sun.TV.
