By: by Jason Hanes
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Gia Lockett led a trio of Lady Owls in double-figures with 15 points, but it wasn't enough as the Kennesaw State women's basketball team saw a five-point second half lead fade away in a 79-52 loss to Florida Gulf Coast Thursday night at Alico Arena in an Atlantic Sun Conference game.
After leading 31-30 after the first half, KSU (5-13, 2-7) led 37-32 with 18:30 to go after a Lockett 3-pointer. FGCU scored the next six points to take a one-point advantage, but Lockett gave the Lady Owls the lead back, 39-38, with 16:21 left to go.
That would be the last lead of the game for the Lady Owls, as FGCU (13-4, 8-1) went on a 29-3 run over the next 10 minutes. The Eagles went 9-of-14 from the field during the run, including hitting five 3-pointers as a team to take control of the contest.
The Lady Owls led for most of the first half, scoring eight of the first 11 points of the contest to take an early five-point advantage. After a 6-0 run by FGCU gave the Eagles a 16-14 lead, Lockett and Ashley Holliday connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Lady Owls a four-point advantage again. FGCU would keep the score close, tying the game on three more occasions, but the Lady Owls trailed just once in the opening half. Angie Smith gave KSU a 31-28 lead in the waning seconds, but a shot just before the buzzer by Adrianne McNally went to make the score 31-30 at the half.
Smith had 13 points to go with a game-high seven rebounds for KSU. Holliday connected on four 3-pointers in the contest for 12 points. As a team, the Lady Owls out-rebounded FGCU, 33-32.
McNally led FGCU with 18 points, while Shannon Murphy had 17 points and nine assists. Five Eagles scored in double-figures as FGCU went 29-of-52 (55.8%) from the field.
The Lady Owls will be back in action this Saturday when they visit Stetson in an A-Sun contest. Tip-off from the Edmunds Center in DeLand, Fla., is set for 3 p.m.
