By: Matteen Zibanejadrad
Wednesday, December 16
4 p.m. ET – Kennesaw State (0-0, 0-0) vs Martin Methodist (1-3, 1-1)
Links: ESPN+ | Live Stats
Location: Convocation Center | Kennesaw, Ga.
Game Notes: KSU
Tickets
TOP STORYLINES
» The Kennesaw State women's basketball team opens up the 2020-21 season Wednesday afternoon against the Martin Methodist College Redhawks. The 4 PM game was added to the team's schedule after the first four games of the season were canceled due to positive COVID-19 tests.
» With Head Coach Agnus Berenato taking a leave of absence to focus on her fight against breast cancer, Interim Head Coach Khadija Head makes her debut as a head coach in the NCAA for the Owls.
» Redshirt Junior guard Jah'Che Whitfield has been declared eligible to compete by the NCAA and is projected to make her KSU debut as a starter in Wednesday's game. The transfer from Winthrop University was a standout player for the Eagles, having led the team in scoring and posting four double-doubles last season.
» Junior phenom Amani Johnson will look to cement her accolades after being named to the ASUN Preseason All-Conference Team in late October. The guard ended her 2019-20 season in record-breaking fashion, scoring 45 points in the opening round of the ASUN Tournament. There is no higher point tally in the championship's history and no better scoring performance in the team's Division I history.
» Of the roster's 11 players, the Owls return only four players from last year's team and all of them are native Pennsylvanians: Amani Johnson, senior Breanna Hoover, sophomores Gabi Legister and Gillian Piccolino.
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
When the Owls returned to practice, the team voted for team captains for the first time in Berenato's reign as head coach. The two players chosen were KSU veterans Amani Johnson and Breanna Hoover.
Hoover is the lone senior in the squad, becoming a serial starter in her junior year. She made her name as the trigger-woman from the 3-point line and led the team with 40 triples last year. She will be looking to cement her legacy this season as she is only seven trifectas away from her 100th.
Johnson and Hoover's seven years of combined experience will set an example for the rest of the roster and their chemistry will play a pivotal part in the team's play on the court.
SOPHOMORE SAVVY
Gillian Piccolino and Gabi Legister are the only sophomores in the squad and they return for the 2020-21 season after two phenomenal freshman seasons.
Piccolino was named in the ASUN All-Freshman team and named ASUN Freshman of the Week twice. She played and started in all of her games, recording two double-double performances. The 5-foot-10 guard had a career performance against Lipscomb scoring 25 and ranked ninth in the top shot-blockers of the conference.
Legister scored ten or more points last season in two of her 25 games last season. The highlight of her season was a 85-62 win against NJIT, where she scored 11 points and had seven rebounds.
TRANSFER TANDEM
Along with Jah'Che Whitfield, the roster adds Ashley Free from Greensboro College. The junior was added to the roster during preseason tryouts.
The guard from Montgomery, Ala. had a sensational sophomore season as she chalked up four performances with twenty or more points; this includes scoring 31 of her team's 78 points in a win against Meredith College. Free led the Pride in minutes with 31.1 minutes per game and points with 14.7 points per game.
Whitfield was a Big South Freshman of the Week two weeks in a row in the 2018-19 season and got even better the next campaign. She posted career highs in assists, steals and points; the five-foot-eleven South Carolinian played the most minutes for Winthrop University and was second on the team in rebounds.
UP NEXT
After Wednesday's opener, the Owls return to the Convocation Center on Friday to face UNCW at 2 PM.
