By: KSU Sports Information
Live Stats I
Game Notes
Watch I
Listen
Coach Tilley Pregame
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Kennesaw State women’s basketball team looks to hand Florida Gulf Coast its first Atlantic Sun Conference defeat of the season on Saturday night as the teams will meet for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff at Alico Arena.
The Lady Owls will enter Saturday’s contest in eighth place in the conference, but a win could catapult KSU all the way up to a tie for fourth place in the crowded league standings.
Kennesaw State (9-12, 4-6 A-Sun) started its Sunshine State road trip in frustrating fashion as it had the second-best team in the A-Sun in Stetson on the ropes, but couldn’t come away with the win falling, 73-67.
The Lady Owls dug themselves into a hole early as their offensive struggles let the Hatters grab a 36-25 lead at the half. KSU didn’t go down without a fight as they caught fire from three-point land hitting 4-of-5 on their way to starting the second half on a 18-9 run.
Taylor Mills and
Ashley Holliday each hit two three-pointers in the run that got Kennesaw State to within two at 45-43 with 11:31 left to go in the game. Unfortunately for the Lady Owls, they couldn’t maintain the momentum as Stetson eventually stretched the lead back out to as big as 16 and held on for the win.
Mills led all scorers in the game with 16 points and she also dished out a career-high eight assists, while junior
Chelcey Farrar scored a season-high 15 points, to along with a career-high nine rebounds in the loss.
The Lady Owls now go into Saturday hoping to cap off their road trip with a split as they will take on conference-leading Florida Gulf Coast. The Eagles are 41-1 on their home floor in their last three seasons so head coach
Colby Tilley knows that his team will have to play at its best if they want to pull off the upset.
“Florida Gulf Coast is a very good team and we are going to have to play smart, disciplined basketball on Saturday night,” coach Tilley said. “We have to keep our turnovers to a minimum, we have to hold them to one shot on the defensive end and we must be active away from the basketball as a lot of their offense is based on motion. If we do those things I think it gives us a chance to come away with a win”
For KSU to hang with the Eagles it will have to control the paint and try to use its size to its advantage. Junior forward
Lisa Capellan will have a major role in that area as she has averaged 10 points and seven rebounds in her last two games against FGCU.
FGCU (18-2, 10-0 A-Sun) enters the contest as one of the most decorated mid-major teams in the country. The Eagles are receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today and AP Top 25 polls, and they are ranked No. 3 in the CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top 25 poll. Florida Gulf Coast returns four starters from a team that went 28-4 last season, including Sarah Hansen who leads the Eagles in scoring averaging 13.2 ppg.
