By: by KSU Sports Information
NASHVILLE - Taylor Mills scored a career-high 28 points and Kennesaw State shot 17-of-18 from the free-throw line as the Lady Owls defeated Lipscomb, 74-55, Saturday afternoon at Allen Arena in Atlantic Sun Conference women's basketball action.
Mills connected on six 3-pointers in the contest and went 9-of-18 from the field. For a player that has the green light from the coaches to shoot, it was still an impressive performance. "It's good to know the coaches trust me," said Mills. "My teammates got me the ball and set good screens for me to get open. I feel like we escaped with this one."
"I think we put together about 25 good minutes as a team," said KSU head coach Colby Tilley. "If we can find a way to stretch that out to 40 minutes, I think we're going to be a really good team."
Lipscomb (1-8, 1-1) cut Kennesaw State's lead down to two, 47-45, but the Lady Owls (3-4, 1-1) turned up the wick on the offensive and defensive end. A big three-point play by Kristina Wells pushed KSU's lead up to five, 50-45, and the Lady Owls fought for stops on the defensive end. After an offensive rebound by Lisa Capellan, the junior found Mills open for a big 3-pointer to stretch the lead up to eight, 53-45.
Lipscomb cut the lead down to five, but Mills come back in the next possession to get KSU's advantage back to 56-48. Following a Lipscomb free-throw, Mills drained another shot from beyond the arc to get the lead back into double-digits, 59-49.
Ahead 59-52, KSU got the lead into double-digits for good. A floater from the baseline by Mills edged the lead up to nine. After an Ashley Holliday steal, the junior connected on a pair of free-throws to get the lead up to 11. Following a Lady Bisons free-throw, Holliday drilled a shot from 3-point territory with 1:42 to go, giving KSU a 13-point advantage. Wells and Mills would close out KSU's scoring from the charity stripe, with each player connecting on four free-throws to give the Lady Owls the 74-55 win.
The Lady Owls led by six at the half, 36-30, thanks in part to the hot shooting of Holliday. The junior connected on 5-of-12 from the field, including two big 3-pointers, to stake KSU to the advantage. Mills had eight of her points in the first half, with Nicole Adams coming off the bench for five points and three rebounds, including two offensive.
Mills also added five assists, four steals, and three rebounds to her line for the evening. Holliday finished with 17 points, six rebounds and matched Mills with a game-best four steals. Wells finished nine of her 11 points in the second half. Sametria Gideon had a game-high nine rebounds, while Lisa Capellan had eight rebounds, six assists, four points and two steals.
Lipscomb was held to 19-of-46 shooting from the field, taking 20 fewer shots than the Lady Owls in the contest. Hannah Phillips led Lipscomb with 16 points and seven rebounds.
The Lady Owls will be off until until Dec. 12 when they visit Chattanooga. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
