By: Aury St. Germain
KENNESAW, Ga. - Kennesaw State looks for back-to-back wins when taking the floor against Mercer on Wednesday inside the Convocation Center.
The Rundown
Opponent: Mercer (1-1, 0-0)
Date: November 13, 2019
Site: Kennesaw, Ga. (KSU Convocation Center)
Tipoff: 7 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN+
Live Stats: Click Here
Game Notes: KSU |
Mercer
Top Storylines
•
Alexis Poole is the reigning ASUN Player of the Week after averaging 19.0 points and 6.5 rebounds.
• The Owls return nine players, including all five starters from last year's squad. Kennesaw State comes into the 2019-20 season with last season's leading scorer, Kamiyah Street, (16.9 PPG), leading rebounder,
Alexis Poole (8.4 RPG) and leader in assists (
Amani Johnson (4.4).
• During the summer, it was announced that the Owls were ranked No. 20 in the WBCA Academic rankings. The Owls were the sole program in the ASUN to receive the honor as well as the only program in the state of Georgia to be recognized on the list. KSU ended the season with a 3.54 GPA.
• With
Amani Johnson's 2018-19 ASUN Freshman of the year award, the Owls have won three-straight awards.
Carlotta Gianolla won the award for the 2016-17 season, while Kamiyah Street won the award for the 2017-18 campaign.
• The Owls welcome two newcomers on this year's squad,
Gillian Piccolino and
Gabi Legister. Both hail from the Pittsburgh, Pa. area and logged significant playing time during the team's Italian Summer Tour.
• The Owls are coming off a 9-22 record, which included a 4-12 mark in conference play. The regular season was highlighted with a 70-47 win over NJIT on Feb. 9, 2018, when the Owls hosted Pink Day to honor Coach Berenato and her battle with breast cancer.
• After reaching the conference tournament with a No. 7 seed, the Owls knocked off No. 2 Stetson in the first round of the ASUN Championship Tournament. The victory was just the second time in league history that a No. 7 seed moved on the semifinals.
• Two new faces will be seen on the Kennesaw State bench this season. This summer, Coach Berenato introduced
Janell Crayton and
Alex Winchell as assistant coaches. Crayton comes to Kennesaw State from Hampton University, where she served as an assistant coach. Winchell joins the KSU staff from Memphis, where she served as the director of basketball operations.
• The Owls welcome two more student-athletes from the Pittsburgh, Pa., area with the additions of Piccolino and Legister, upping the total to four on the roster.
Noting Mercer
• The Bears' roster is comprised with a plethora of young talent with 11 of the 12 players being underclassmen. That unit makes Mercer one of the youngest rosters in the country, tying Winthrop for the most freshmen and sophomores.
• The Bears have claimed four consecutive Southern Conference Regular Season titles and two straight SoCon Tournament crowns coming into the 2019-20 season. Mercer was slated to finish first in the media poll and third in the coaches poll in 2019-20.
• Mercer comes into the contest 1-1, with a win against Lagrange and a loss against Western Kentucky.
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