By: by Jason Hanes
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KENNESAW, Ga. - Tamasha Bolden had a double-double and the Kennesaw State women's basketball team recorded 22 steals, but it wasn't enough as the Lady Owls fell, 75-67, to USC Upstate on Monday night at the KSU Convocation Center in an Atlantic Sun Conference contest.
"We played well in spurts, but we have to play well for an entire game," said KSU head coach Colby Tilley. "We had a couple of good runs to get close, but then we just made bad plays and let Upstate pull away."
The Lady Owls (3-8, 0-3) all but erased a, 40-33, halftime lead for USC Upstate, opening the second half with an 8-2 run to pull within a point, 42-41. Upstate (6-5, 3-0) rallied back to push the lead up to a game-high of 14, 60-46, after a lay-up by A-Sun Preseason Player of the Year Chelsea McMillan.
Undaunted, the Lady Owls stormed back again, cutting the deficit to three on a pair of occasions. After a Tamasha Bolden lay-up cut Upstate's lead to five, 65-60, a steal by Ashley Holliday resulted in a put-back bucket for Sametria Gideon to pull KSU within three, 65-62. After another McMillan basket, Angie Smith connected on a yal-up with 2:12 to go to get KSU within three again, 67-64.
That would prove to be as close as the Lady Owls would get. A three-point play by McMillan gave the forward her 26th and final point of the night to push Upstate's lead to six. While Chelcey Farrar would get the Lady Owls within four, Upstate would close the game out by making 5-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final 68 seconds of the contest to pull away for the win.
KSU forced 34 Upstate turnovers, with Brandi Jones and Smith each earning five steals. However, Upstate would end up with 25 points off of turnovers, compared to just 20 for Kennesaw State.
KSU shot 30 percent (21-of-70) from the field and 71 percent (22-of-31) from the free-throw line. Upstate would miss just one free-throw on the evening, hitting 24-of-25 for a 96 percent clip.
Smith led all Lady Owls in scoring with 18 points, going 10-of-10 from the free-throw line in the process. Jones had 12 points, with Bolden and Gideon each adding 10.
McMillan led all scorers with her 26 points while completing the double-double with 14 rebounds. Kyana Jacobs had 17 points, with Lauren McRoberts adding 12.
The Lady Owls will be back in action this Wednesday when East Tennessee State visits for an A-Sun contest. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.
