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WNIT BRACKET
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Sophomore guard
Bria Young set a new career high with 15 points on five three-pointers, but it wasn’t enough to overcome costly turnovers as the Owls fell in their season opener, 87-45, to Middle Tennessee State in the WNIT opening round.
Young (Suwanee, Ga./Collins Hill HS) connected on five of her seven attempts as the Owls, now 0-1 on the young season, shot 51.4-percent from the field as a team, going 18-for-35.
“Bria did a good job shooting for us tonight,” said Kennesaw State head coach
Nitra Perry “But what I’m trying to demand from our players right now is that they give on both ends, offense and defense. Right now I’m impressed with the shooters but we need to get more physical on defense and show a little more effort.”
KSU was outrebounded by Middle Tennessee State (1-0), 45-27, but did haul in 23 defensive boards to the Blue Raider’s 18, led by
Kristina Wells (Douglasville, Ga./Douglas County HS) and her team high nine.
The Owls never led in the game after MTSU won the opening tip and put in the first bucket of the game on a Shanice Cason free throw. Wells then put the Owls back within two with a jumper two minutes in followed by a
Chantel Kennedy (Brooklyn, N.Y./Colorado State) layup to tie it up at four, the only tie of the contest.
A 12-0 run by the home team over the next six minutes catapulted the Blue Raiders to the forefront as they held a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game, heading into the locker room at the intermission with a 38-24 advantage.
The Blue Raiders came out firing away in the second half, extending the lead to 28 within the first five minutes before the Owls put in their first field goal of the half at the 15:07 mark on a
Chelsea Mason (Bellevue, Neb./Belleview West HS) layup.
KSU did end the game on a high note, scoring the final four points of the night with a
Sametria Gideon (Madison, Ala./Bob Jones HS) basket followed by a Kennedy fast-break layup, capitalizing on a Mason rebound and assists to end the game, 87-45.
“I think we could have done a lot more fundamentally,” added Perry. “It’s stuff we work on every day, but we need to do a little more of it. They pressed us all game but we kept our composure and turned it into layups on the other end. We just missed a few and that’s something we can’t have.”
The Owls committed 38 turnovers during the loss, leading directly to 36 Blue Raider points on the other end of the floor.
Kennedy was the only other Owl in double-digit scoring with 14 points, going 7-of-14 with a team high five assists. Gideon added in seven points with a 2-for-2 night shooting while Wells added in four steals.
The Owls now drop into the loser’s bracket of the WNIT and will play a pair of games on Nov. 16-17 with opponents and location to be released on Saturday morning.
“It was a lesson learned, but there’s a lot more basketball to be played,” said Perry “We tell them every day in practice to do something and when they don’t do it in the game, this is the outcome we get. But we’ll learn from it and move on to Georgia Tech on Tuesday.”
The next outing for the black and gold will be Tuesday, as the team heads into downtown Atlanta for a 7 p.m. showdown with No. 20 Georgia Tech.
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State women’s basketball news follow the team on Twitter
@KSUOwlNation and
@KSUOwlsWBB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.
Kennesaw State University is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
