By: by Jason Hanes
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KENNESAW, Ga. - Angie Smith's jumper with 0.5 seconds to go provided the winning margin as the Kennesaw State women's basketball team earned an Atlantic Sun Conference victory with a, 71-69, decision over Jacksonville Saturday evening at the KSU Convocation Center.
The decisive play was called for Smith, who dribbled the ball for over 20 seconds before the final shot. "We wanted to make sure, at worst, we had overtime," Smith said. "All of my teammates did a great job of keeping their player on them, and I just went to the step-back jumper."
Smith's shot from just beyond the free-throw line touched off a celebration as originally, the clock expired. However, the officials cleared the court and put 0.5 seconds back on the clock. After a JU timeout, a play by the Dolphins to draw a foul didn't work, and a desparation heave came up well short as the Lady Owls celebrated for the second time.
KSU (4-12, 1-7) trailed, 42-33, after the first half, and after the Dolphins (8-9, 3-5) scored the first basket of the second half, the lead was at 11. Yet just as quickly, the Lady Owls responded, scoring the next nine points, capped on a fast-break lay-up to pull KSU within two, 44-42.
The Lady Owls kept the momentum going, as after a JU basket, KSU scored the next seven points, taking the lead when Ashley Holliday connected on a 3-pointer to make the score 49-46. The lead would bulge to seven, 57-50, after a three-point play by Smith gave KSU the advantage with just under 12 minutes to go.
Jacksonville would come storming back, as with KSU up 65-57, an 8-0 run by the Dolphins in a span of 67 seconds tied the score, 65-65, with 2:22 left. The teams would swap the next 10 points, ending with Smith's heroics just before the buzzer.
Even though the Lady Owls trailed at the half, KSU got a big lift from Christine Wylie in the opening 20 minutes. The freshman had six points and four big blocks to go with three rebounds. Wylie would add another block in the second half to finish the game with five.
"Christine really energized our team," said KSU head coach Colby Tilley. "You could see our team get fired up with those blocked shots and her baskets."
Smith led all scorers with 21 points, while Ashley Holliday had 13 and Sametria Gideon had 12, 10 of those coming in the second half.
Richardson had a double-double for the Dolphins with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Ashanti Williams also had 13 points, while Ronisha Mitchell and Lynsey Paschal each had 10.
The Lady Owls will be back in action Monday evening at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center as North Florida visits for an A-Sun contest.
Notes: With attendance at 711, the Lady Owls are now 3-0 in home games this season when more than 400 fans are in attendance...Smith scored over 20 points for the third time this season...KSU only turned the ball over 15 times, the second-lowest total of the season.
