By: by KSU Sports Information
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Ashley Holliday had her first career double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Kennesaw State women's basketball team won its second consecutive road contest with a, 61-51, win over Alabama State at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome Thursday evening.
"Ashley made some key baskets for us down the stretch. Rebounding is all about working hard, and for a small guard like Ashley to get that many rebounds really shows how hard she worked tonight," said KSU head coach Colby Tilley. "I really think our guards helped pull us through tonight. Chelcey Farrar came off the bench and made some big plays for us. Taylor Mills did a great job running our offense. Our post players had an off-night, but our guards really played well for us."
Kennesaw State (6-7) led, 29-19, at the half, but Alabama State rallied back to pull within a point on four separate occasions in the second stanza. Each time, the Lady Owls would keep Alabama State at bay. Ahead 35-34, a free-throw by Elaina Gray and a 3-pointer by Taylor Mills pushed KSU ahead by five, 39-34. After KSU's lead reached seven, 43-36, Alabama State sliced the lead back down to one again with a 6-0 run. A Gray jumper gave KSU the lead back by three, but the Lady Hornets answered on the other end with a jumper to get the lead down to a single point again. Gray would come through with a three-point play to get the KSU advantage back to four, 48-44.
Alabama State (3-6) scored its next three points from the line, but missed a chance to tie the game when a free-throw drew iron. Holliday would come through on KSU's next possession with a clutch 3-pointer, giving KSU a 51-47 advantage. With fouls mounting, Kennesaw State switched to a zone defense. "In a way, our foul trouble was a good thing for us," said coach Tilley. "Once we went to a zone defense, it kept Alabama State from having open outside shots, and then they weren't able to get inside against for easy baskets either."
After a defensive stand by the Lady Owls, Mills connected on a jumper with just over four minutes to go in the contest, giving KSU a six-point lead, 53-47. From there, the Lady Owls would ice the game from the charity stripe as KSU scored its last eight points of the game on free throws while holding the Lady Hornets to just four points over the final 4:53 of the contest.
Holliday set a new career-high in rebounds in the win. The junior went 5-of-10 from the field, including 4-of-6 from 3-point territory, in leading KSU in scoring for the second consecutive game. Mills scored 13 points thanks to a perfect 8-of-8 performance from the free-throw line, and also had a team-best four steals. Lisa Capellan scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds before fouling out after 21 minutes of work.
Quentori Alford scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds off the bench for the Lady Hornets. Tamara Wadlington also added a dozen points for the home team in the loss.
The Lady Owls were 16-of-47 (34.0 percent) from the field, but connected on 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from 3-point territory. KSU went to the free-throw line 38 times, converting on 24 occasions. Alabama State was 16-of-69 from the field and a dismal 3-of-32(9.4 percent) from beyond the arc. The Lady Hornets were 16-of-30 from the free-throw line in the contest.
Kennesaw State will be back in action Monday afternoon at 4:45 p.m. when Stetson visits the KSU Convocation Center for an Atlantic Sun Conference contest.
ASun.TV and
KSU All-Access will provide live coverage of the game.
Notes: KSU won consecutive road contests for the first time since wins Feb. 14 and Feb. 23, 2008 over Stetson and Jacksonville State...The Lady Owls had more assists (11-10) and more steals (12-9) than Alabama State...KSU improved to 2-0 all-time against Alabama State...The Lady Owls finished non-conference play with a 5-6 record, with three of the losses by six points or less.
