By: Aury St. Germain
KENNESAW, Ga.- After enjoying four days off for Thanksgiving, Kennesaw State women's basketball travels to Navy for a two-game slate. The Owls will take on Navy on Saturday, before playing either UMBC or La Salle on Sunday.
The Rundown
Opponent: at Navy (3-3) | vs. UMBC (2-4) or La Salle (5-1)
Date: November 30, 2019 | December 1, 2019
Site: Annapolis, Maryland
Tipoff: 3:30 p.m. (ET) | 1 p.m. (Dec. 1)
TV: Stadium (Saturday Only)
Live Stats: Saturday |
Sunday
Game Notes: KSU
Top Storylines
• Alexis Poole won the ASUN Player of the Week after averaging 19.0 points and 6.5 rebounds after week one of the season.
• The Owls are coming off a tough 63-51 defeat at Mercer. The Owls claimed a lead a lead at the half, but were unable to pull away from the Camels in the second half.
• 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 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 the Kennesaw won the award in 2017-18 as well.
• 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.
Noting Navy
• Though its offense has had its ups and downs so far in the early part of the 2019-20, one consistent facet of the Midshipmen has been its stout and pesky brand of defense. Once again the Mids are tops in the Patriot League in steals and rank amongst the NCAA leaders in thefts pergame at 10.6.
•The Mids look forward to playing in the friendly confines of Alumni Hall as the program has won 11 or more games in the arena in eight of nine seasons since the 2010-11 season. Beginning that season, the Mids are 108-38 with a program-record 16 wins coming during the 2017-18 campaign.
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