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DELAND, Fla. – An early 12-0 deficit was too much for No. 4 seed Kennesaw State to overcome as it fell 78-48 to top-seeded Stetson in the semifinals of the ASUN Conference Women's Basketball Championship Wednesday at the Edmunds Center in DeLand, Fla.
 
Senior Deandrea Sawyers led the Owls (10-20) with a game-high 20 points as she became Kennesaw State's Division I career scoring leader with 1,380. Junior Kelly Dulkoski added 10 to points to finish in double figures for the Owls.
 
Stetson (26-5), which won its program-record 15th consecutive game, took control of the game at the outset and led wire-to-wire. The Hatters will host Florida Gulf Coast in Sunday's championship game.
 
Stetson placed five players in double figures and was led by McKenna Beach, who scored 17 points.
 
"Stetson is a really good team, they're the No. 1 team in the ASUN, and (head coach) Lynn Bria does a really nice job with her team," Kennesaw State head coach Agnus Berenato said. "We were really excited as organization to be here in the semifinals and to represent Kennesaw State in the ASUN Championship.
 
"Right now, we're not ready to compete at this level, and we just aren't at the level where the top three teams in the conference are," Berenato added. "They really hurt us on the boards. They had 17 rebounds in the first quarter and we had five. We were just never able to recover and it was a battle from the very beginning."
 
Stetson won the rebounding battle by a 49-28 margin and outscored the Owls 42-12 in the paint while shooting 45 percent from the field. The Hatters' defense also played a key role in their victory, limiting Kennesaw State to just 27 percent shooting.
 
After taking a 41-24 lead into halftime, Stetson came out on fire and outscored Kennesaw State 24-9 in the third quarter. The Hatters shot 53 percent from the field and held the Owls to just two field goals in the period.
 
Kennesaw State managed to outscore Stetson 15-13 in the fourth quarter, during a period that saw Sawyers become the program's all-time leading scorer during its Division I era. The record-breaking field goal came at the 7:42 mark when she hit a jumper in the lane.
 
"I thought Deandrea did a great job for us during the second half of the season. She started to understand myself and my staff and we started to understand her," Berenato said. "I'm really proud that Deandrea broke the school record. All the compliments go to her. She came in and re-wrote the history book."
 
Despite Wednesday's loss, Kennesaw State made strides during Berenato's first season leading the program. The Owls put together a five-game conference winning streak, earned their highest ASUN Championship seed and hosted a tournament game for the first time.
 
"It's been a great couple of days for us and, honestly, I love this team, and I am proud that we went 8-3 in our last 11 games prior to tonight," Berenato said.
 
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State women's basketball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook. Follow Coach Berenato on Twitter @KSUCoachB.