By: by Jason Hanes
KENNESAW, Ga. - Ashley Holliday scored a game-high 18 points, but it wasn't enough as the Kennesaw State women's basketball team fell, 50-47, to Belmont Saturday afternoon at the KSU Convocation Center. The loss gives KSU the No. 7 seed into the General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Conference Championship.
"I thought we did a great job defensively up until the last three and a half minutes of the game," said KSU head coach Colby Tilley. "The game is 40 minutes long and I thought we played 36 good minutes. We made three mistakes in a row that they capitalized on and that hurt us."
Both teams struggled offensively in the early stages of the contest, but KSU was able to take advantage to the tune of a, 10-2, lead after eight minutes of play. The lead would balloon as high as 10 after a Holliday 3-pointer pushed the score to 21-11. Holliday would connect three times from beyond the arc in the first half as KSU held a, 27-20, lead after twenty minutes of action.
KSU led for almost the entirety of the second half, but a late Belmont (10-19, 7-13) run would give the visitors the win. KSU didn't score over the final 5:11 of the contest as the Bruins rattled off the final 10 points of the game.
"It's disappointing to lose the last game going into the conference tournament," said Holliday. "We just have to make sure to bounce back quick. We know what we have to do to get ready for our next game."
Holliday was the only Lady Owl to score in double-figures in the contest. Sametria Gideon grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, her 15th game of the season with 10 or more rebounds. Angie Smith recorded a game-best five steals.
Haley Nelson scored a team-high 16 points for the Bruins, coming up with a final steal and lay-up in the final 20 seconds of the contest to seal KSU's fate. Nelson fell one rebound short of a dobule-double, grabbing nine for the game.
The Lady Owls will play Stetson in the quarterfinals of the A-Sun Championship. "Stetson beat us twice in the regular season," said coach Tilley. "They have a very good inside game and they have two very good guards as well. It's going to be a challenge for us to get by them in the first round because they are a [No. 2] seed for a reason."
Tipoff for KSU's quarterfinal match-up with the Hatters is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the University Center in Macon, Ga.
ASun.TV will provide free live coverage of the quarterfinal round.
