By: by Jason Hanes
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Angie Smith was one of three Lady Owls to score in double figures, but it wasn't enough as the Kennesaw State women's basketball team lost a tightly-contested, 69-64, contest to USC Spartanburg on Monday night at the Hodge Center in Atlantic Sun Conference action.
KSU (6-14, 3-9) was bidding for its fourth win in five contests, but could never quite pull even with the Spartans after the home squad went ahead in the first half. KSU led in the early stages of the contest, but with the Lady Owls up, 4-3, Upstate went on an, 11-0, run over three minutes of action to take a, 14-4, lead.
Upstate (12-9, 8-4) led by as many as 11 in the first half, but with the Spartans ahead, 24-13, the Lady Owls went on an, 8-0, run to close the gap. Four points by Smith and two each from Sametria Gideon and Chelcey Farrar pulled KSU within three, 24-21.
The Spartans would own a, 32-25, advantage at halftime, but stretched the advantage back up to 11 in the opening moments of the second half. KSU would continuously whittle away at the lead, getting it down to three ponts, 38-35, after a Smith bucket on the fast break. Upstate regained a double-digit advantage, 50-40, but KSU responded by cutting the lead down to four, 62-58, after eight straight points from Ashley Holliday and a free-throw by Gideon.
From that point, with just under two minutes to go in the contest, the Lady Owls were forced to start fouling the Spartans. KSU kept the deficit at four for a while, but Upstate would eventually get the lead as high as seven in the closing seconds before settling for the five-point win.
Smith scored a team-high 16 points for the Lady Owls. She was joined in double figures by Ashley Holliday with 12 points and Chelcey Farrar, who matched her career-high with 10. Gideon and Lisa Capellan each narrowly missed a double-double, with Gideon tallying nine points and 12 rebounds and Capellan scoring nine points and grabbing nine boards.
Chelsea McMillan and Tee'Ara Copney proved to be too much for the Lady Owls to overcome. McMillan recorded a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds while Copney scored a game-high 27 points.
The Lady Owls will be idle until next Monday when they host Campbell in A-Sun action. Tip-off at the KSU Convocation Center is set for 5 p.m.
