By: by Jason Hanes
KENNESAW, Ga. - Winners of five out of their last six contest, the Kennesaw State Lady Owls can improve their seed into next week's Atlantic Sun Conference Championships with a pair of road wins this Thursday and Saturday. KSU will battle Lipscomb at 5:15 p.m. CST Thursday and Belmont at 5 p.m. CST Saturday in Nashville, closing out the regular season.
After hanging on the edge of not qualifying for the conference tournament, the Lady Owls could potentially end up as high as the third seed when all is said and done. Currently, KSU is tied for the No. 5 seed with Jacksonville, as both teams have an A-Sun record of 7-11. Both KSU and JU trail Belmont, KSU's Saturday foe, by one game entering the weekend. Belmont will also be attempting to improve its seeding, as it sits just one game behind Campbell (9-9) for the third seed in the tournament.
KSU has won five out of six contests using tough defense, timely offense, and a bit of luck. The run began when the Lady Owls defeated both Mercer and USC Upstate by a point, 52-51 and 69-68, respectively. Following those contests, the Lady Owls won their first road game of the year, defeating Campbell, 67-58, on Feb. 11. After a loss at East Tennessee State on Feb. 13, the Lady Owls came home for Senior Weekend and defeated Jacksonville, 65-62, and North Florida, 63-59.
The Lady Owls received balanced scoring in their win over UNF last Saturday. Gia Lockett led a quartet of Lady Owls in double-figures with 17 points, while Montinique Nixon and Angie Smith each scored 14 and Sametria Gideon added 10. KSU also battered the Ospreys on the boards, out-rebounding UNF, 54-44. Gideon ranks as the leading freshman rebounder in the A-Sun, pulling down eight rebounds per game.
The Lady Owls took care of Lipscomb earlier this season at the KSU Convocation Center, 70-52, but fell hard to Belmont, 68-44. The win over Lipscomb was the first A-Sun win of the season for Kennesaw State.
Each of the two games upcoming for KSU will be available via
ASun.TV.
