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SAN MARCOS, Texas – Senior
Ashley Holliday made it back-to-back 20-point games while sophomore
Kristina Wells came away with a career high 15 rebounds, but the two big outings weren’t enough as the Kennesaw State women’s basketball team fell at Texas State, 75-61.
Holliday (Greenville, S.C./J.L. Mann Academy) led the 3-7 Owls with 23 points after putting up 25 during KSU’s last outing at UNC Asheville as Wells (Douglasville, Ga./Douglas County HS) put up her first double-double of the year, chipping in 15 points to go along with her 15 boards.
“They played and they played their hearts out,” said Kennesaw State head coach
Nitra Perry. “They both played a lot of minutes and I’m proud of them, but we needed that third scorer to get in there and finish around the basket. We missed nine or 10 easy layups and that can't happen.”
Texas State, now 6-3, took a quick four-point lead out of the gates, but the tight KSU defense held the Bobcats in check, scoring on back-to-back baskets on the other end from Holliday and
Sametria Gideon (Madison, Ala./Bob Jones HS) to give the black and gold its first lead of the game at 7-6 after four minutes of play.
After two ties and five lead changes over the next five minutes, it was freshman
Chelsea Mason (Bellevue, Neb./Bellevue West HS) who gave the Owls their final lead of the game with consecutive jumpers to put the Owls up, 22-19, with 9:23 to go in the opening half, followed by a big three to force the Texas State timeout.
A 6-0 run from the home team after the timeout saw the Bobcats grab a 35-29 lead with just over a minute to go before Holliday drilled a triple to cut the lead down to three. A pair of free throws by Texas State then sent the game into the break, 37-32 TSU.
The teams exchanged field goals coming out of the half with the Bobcats maintaining a five-point lead, 43-38, with 14:50 remaining in regulation. An 8-0 run from Texas State over the next five minutes saw the Bobcats extend the lead to 51-38, but the Owls weren’t done, battling back to cut the lead down to five once again with Mason and Holliday hitting back-to-back threes to spark the rally. Wells was then good for four straight points with Gideon adding in a layup to make it 58-53 Bobcats with 6:35 remaining.
Texas State then went off for seven straight points as they never looked back, taking the 75-61 win.
“We played a good first half, but the second half we kind of had a couple plays that got our confidence down,” said Perry. “After that, we just weren’t able to bounce back. We missed too many shots and defensively, when they have a kid like Diamond Ford who goes for 31 points, that’s almost half of their team total, we’ve never given that many up to one kid and we can’t do that.”
Mason also ended the game in double-figures with 12 points with Gideon coming down with 15 rebounds.
On the boards, the teams tied with 48 rebounds each, KSU winning the battle on the offensive end with 19 compared to the Bobcats’ 18.
The Owls also put up five blocks, one each from Gideon, Wells, Mason,
Christine Wylie (Ballarat, Australia/Ballarat HS) and
Shadelly Guzman (Miami, Fla./Monsignor E. Pace HS).
Kennesaw State will be back on the court this Friday, Dec. 21, making its long-awaited return to the KSU Convocation Center with a 7 p.m. game against Georgia Southern.
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.
