By: by Jason Hanes
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KENNESAW, Ga. - Ashley Holliday scored a game-high 25 points while Angie Smith added 23 of her own to lift the Kennesaw State women's basketball team to a, 71-60, win over Campbell Monday evening at the KSU Convocation Center in Atlantic Sun Conference action.
"This could have been our most complete game of the season, particularly the first half," said KSU head coach Colby Tilley. "When our team plays hard, a lot of good things happen, and a lot of good things happened tonight."
The Lady Owls (7-14, 4-9) trailed for just 19 seconds of the contest, leading nearly the entire duration of the game. Leading, 13-11, a, 13-2, run by KSU enabled the Lady Owls to double up the visiting Camels with just over eight minutes left in the first half. The lead would swell to as high as 17 on two occasions in the first half, both on Holliday 3-pointers, as KSU led by its largest first-half margin as any point in the season. KSU would lead by 15, 42-27, after the first 20 minutes of action.
Smith was red hot in the opening 20 minutes for the Lady Owls, scoring 17 of her points in the first half. The junior went 7-of-10 from the field, including connecting on 2-of-3 from 3-point territory. "I just went out there and let the game come to me," said Smith. "Coach Tilley was telling me to be smart and be patient, and I just took his advice."
Still, even with the scoring heroics of the first half, the Lady Owls were in a battle with the Camels down the stretch. Though the lead swelled as high as 19 points, 48-29, after a Holliday 3-pointer. Campbell (10-13, 9-5) would go on a, 14-4, run to trim KSU's lead all the way down to nine, 52-43, with with just under 12 minutes to go in the contest.
At that point, KSU's defense clamped down and bought opportunities on the other end of the court. A jumper by Sametria Gideon sparked a, 10-2, spurt by the Lady Owls, fueled by buckets by Smith, Chelcey Farrar and Christine Wylie.
"I really thought that Chelcey Farrar played an outstanding defensive game for us tonight," said coach Tilley. "She was feeling it defensively for us tonight and she hit the boards really hard. Eight rebounds by a guard is really, really good."
Still, the game was in doubt as the Lady Camels had sliced KSU's lead down to nine again, 64-55, with 3:37 to go in the contest. With Campbell pressing, Smith found Holliday wide open with a long skip pass. The sophomore drilled a 3-pointer, her seventh of the game, to push KSU's lead back into double digits. "The way [Campbell] was playing its defense, I was just left wide open," Holliday said. "Obviously, we needed that 3-pointer to get us a good lead because they were coming back."
On Campbell's next possession, Wylie's fourth block of the night sparked a KSU fast break, ending with a lay-up by Smith to effectively seal the deal.
Gideon led the all players in rebounds with 11, including five on the offensive end. Capellan also had five offensive boards, as KSU out-rebounded the Camels 38-33.
Jazmine Cooper led the Camels in scoring with 16 points, with Lauren Yesh scoring 14.
Now with a three-game lead over Mercer for the eighth seed in the A-Sun Championships, the Lady Owls will look to make it a four-game lead as they play the Bears Thursday night in Macon. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
Notes: The win was the fourth in a row at home for the Lady Owls...Holliday has now made 16 3-pointers in her last two home games...Farrar tied her season-high in scoring...KSU improved to 8-3 all-time against the Lady Camels...Tonight's contest was the last regular-season contest scheduled between the two, as the Lady Camels will be joining the Big South Conference next year.
