By: by Jason Hanes
KENNESAW, Ga. - With the 2009 and the non-conference portion of their schedule behind it, the Kennesaw State women's basketball team will begin the 2010 portion of its schedule by jumping back into Atlantic Sun Conference play with a contest at North Florida. Tipoff in Jacksonville, Fla., is slated for 4:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Owls have dropped three straight contests to fall to 4-7 overall; however, in their last A-Sun game, the Lady Owls came away with a, 70-52, win over the Bisons of Lipscomb to improve to 1-1 in conference action.
KSU swept a pair of contests from North Florida last season. In the first meeting of the year, the Lady Owls came away with a 10-point win in Jacksonville, 60-50, on Jan. 8, 2009. Almost one month later, the Lady Owls gutted out a 50-46 win over UNF at the KSU Convocation Center.
Sophomore Angie Smith leads the Lady Owls in scoring, averaging 12.1 points per game. Senior Gia Lockett has scored in double figures in each of her last two contests, averaging 15 points in those games. On the year, Lockett is second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.5 points per game.
The Ospreys (3-8, 0-2) are averaging 52.4 points per game and are led by Brittany Kirkland's 13.9 points per game. UNF has scored over 60 points in a game once, with that coming in a 75-57 home win over Bethune-Cookman Nov. 24.
The all-time series between the two former Peach Belt Conference rivals stands at 15-10 in favor of the Lady Owls. KSU and UNF both transitioned from Division II to Division I at the same time, and this year is the first year that both programs are fully eligible to compete in Division I post-season events.
Following Saturday's contest, the Lady Owls will stay in Jacksonville and will make the short drive to play Jacksonville University Monday evening at 5 p.m.
