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KENNESAW, Ga. – In the non-conference finale for the Kennesaw State women’s basketball team it was Big South opponent Gardner Webb that came out on top, 68-59, handing the Owls their first loss of the season at the KSU Convocation Center on Friday night.
Senior
Sametria Gideon (Madison, Ala./Bob Jones HS), playing in her 100
th career game for the now 4-8 Owls, made it back-to-back double-doubles and six on the season with a 14 point, 12 rebound effort while sophomore
Kristina Wells (Douglasville, Ga./Douglas County HS) put in 18 points on a 7-of-8 night shooting from the field.
The black and gold lunged out to the early lead thanks in part to freshman #Chelsea Mason’s# (Bellevue, Neb./Bellevue West HS) 14 first half points, 11 of which came in the first 10 minutes of play, putting the Owls up 23-14 at the 10:21 mark in the first half, their biggest lead of the game over 7-5 Gardner Webb.
Just before the half, the Bulldogs went on a 10-2 run to take their first lead of the game at 26-25 with just under six minutes to go. Then down 28-25 it was Mason who tied it back up with her fourth three-pointer of the half, followed by buckets from Wells and Gideon to send the Owls into the half with the 31-28 lead.
KSU inched its lead up to six points coming out of the break on a Wells layup to put the score at 37-31. A 6-0 run from the Bulldogs then tied the game up at 37 before another 6-0 run moments later put GWU up, 45-39.
Wells and Gideon hit on field goals to put the Owls within three at the 7:27 mark with an
Ashley Holliday (Greenville, S.C./J.L. Mann Academy) three-pointer tying things up at 49, but an 8-0 spurt from the Bulldogs put GWU up for good as they took the win, 68-59.
“We’re getting better each game played and that’s the good thing,” said Kennesaw State head coach
Nitra Perry. “We played hard in certain stretches and we accomplished one of our goals by winning the first four minutes of the game. The second half was a different story, they came out and won the first four minutes and that was huge for them. It was a tough loss but we kept fighting.”
The Owls had four players score in double-figures including Wells with a team high 18, 16 from Mason, 14 from Gideon and 10 from Holliday with six threes in the game, four from Mason and two from Holliday.
“Offensively, we have scoring power,” added Perry. “We have shooters that can come out and knock down shots so it wasn’t surprising to me to see those numbers on the offensive side. But then I look at the rebounds and I see us getting outrebounded 30-40. I think those offensive boards at the end of the game for them were a big difference in a close contest.”
Defensively, the Owls pulled in 22 rebounds and seven steals, four by wells, and a pair of blocks from Gideon.
The Owls will continue their home stand this Monday, Dec. 31, with a New Year’s Eve matchup against Florida Gulf Coast at 2:30 p.m. in the Atlantic Sun Conference opener for both teams.
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.
