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POSTGAME INTERVIEW
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Even with a 74-36 loss at Florida Gulf Coast University in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday night, the Kennesaw State women’s basketball team is headed to the Atlantic Sun Conference Postseason Tournament after finishing eighth in the final season standings.
A Lipscomb loss to North Florida sealed a spot for the Owls (7-23, 3-15 A-Sun) in the General Shale Tournament where the black and gold will face the top seeded Eagles (25-5, 18-0) for the second straight game.
“I’m extremely excited,” said Kennesaw State head coach
Nitra Perry “I’ve never been so happy to get to play Florida Gulf Coast again. I’m just really happy for our players, staff and the kids for working so hard to get to this point.”
The Owls kept pace with the formidable FGCU through the first half, going on a 5-0 run to cut a nine point lead down to just four after a pair of free throws from senior
Sametria Gideon (Madison, Ala./Bob Jones HS). A triple from
Nicole Adams (New Port Richey, Fla./Gulf HS) then put the score at 13-9 Eagles just seconds later.
Gideon’s tenacity at the free-throw line again put the Owls within five, this time after putting in a pair from the charity stripe. The senior then answered a FGCU field goal with a layup of her own, keeping it at 19-14 with over seven minutes to go in the first half. After the home team went back up by nine, Adams made it a six point game with a triple before the Eagles ended the half on back-to-back threes, making it 31-19.
FGCU came out of the half the same way they went in, on consecutive three-pointers to extend their lead to 16. A layup made it 18 moments later as the Owls never recovered, taking a 74-36 loss after being outscored 43-17 in the second half.
“We played great defense for the first 19 minutes,” said Perry. “It was a six-point game late in the first, but the last three minutes of the first half hurt us with the two threes. Overall, I’m pleased with the communication as a team in the first half but in the second it fell off and that’s something we’ve been working on.”
Offensively, Adams led KSU with her 12 points on three three-pointers followed by
Kristina Wells (Douglasville, Ga./Douglas County HS) with eight.
On the boards, junior
Chantel Kennedy (Brooklyn, N.Y./Colorado St.) set a new career-high with 14 rebound, 10 on the defensive end alone, while Gideon ended with seven before fouling out midway through the second half.
“She was a wild banshee out there tonight,” said Perry of her forward. “We’ve wanted her to do that all year and she came through tonight. She’s a talented, athletic kid and I’m pleased with her performance.”
Kennedy also ended with a pair of assists as did the KSU point guard
Ashley Holliday (Greenville, S.C./J.L. Mann Academy).
The Owls will now play the Eagles in the first round of the conference tournament this Wednesday, March 6, at noon in Macon, Ga.
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.
Around the A-Sun
Stetson 74, Mercer 60
Northern Kentucky 76, Jacksonville 71
USC Upstate 60, East Tennessee State 56
North Florida 61, Lipscomb 49
