By: Zac Pike
Kennesaw State (1-3), (0-0)
at Chattanooga (2-3), (0-0)
Location: Chattanooga, Tenn. | McKenzie Arena
Date: Nov. 21
Time: 7:00 p.m. EST
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KENNESAW, Ga. – Kennesaw State continues its road swing with a trip to Chattanooga to take on the Mocs Monday at 7 p.m.
KSU and the Mocs have met four times, splitting the four games 2-2. The two teams met last season in Kennesaw, with the Owls winning 75-68 as head coach Octavia Blue earned her first career Division I win.
Jah'Che Whitfield finished with 15 points and
Amani Johnson chipped in nine points and seven assists in the victory.
The home team has won each meeting in the series as KSU hopes to break the trend Monday night.
Record-Setting Home Performance
Second-year head coach Octavia Blue has shown what her offense is capable of early on as the Owls' offense has rewritten the Kennesaw State record books with a pair of 100-point outbursts in just over a year at the helm. The Owls hit the century mark for the second time in KSU DI history in the home opener on Nov. 7, in a 100-57 win over Middle Georgia State. The Owls knocked down 11 three-pointers, tied for the fourth-highest total and grabbed 61 rebounds in the win, the second-highest in KSU history.
Johnson Aiming for KSU Scoring Record
Entering the 2022-23 season,
Amani Johnson is poised to break the Kennesaw State record for most points scored in program history. Johnson currently sits with 1,386 points and only needs 68 more points to pass Alexis Poole for the record. She already holds the KSU Division I record for assists (503), steals (213), and minutes played (4,184).
Scoring Weapons Return to Kennesaw State
The Owls return 73.8% of their scoring from a year ago. Graduate guards
Amani Johnson and
Jah'Che Whitfield combined for 602 total points in KSU's offense last season, with Johnson scoring over 300 points and Whitfield chipping in 235. Four different Owl players accumulated more than 100 points last year, including
Bre'Lyn Snipes (158) and
Stacie Jones (125). Through four games this season,
Jah'Che Whitfield (10.5 points),
Amani Johnson (9.0 points), Lyndsey Whilby (8.0 points) and
Bre'Lyn Snipes (7.0 points) lead the KSU offense.
Power Five Influx
Kennesaw State made some new additions to the team this offseason, signing two guards and two forwards who transferred from Power 5 schools. Former Purdue guard and Georgia native Lyndsey Whilby returns home to play her graduate season at Kennesaw State. Whilby has gotten off to a quick start at KSU, posting her first career double-double with 20 points and career-best 14 rebounds against Middle Georgia State. Keyarah Berry, a sophomore guard from Indiana, looks to spark the KSU offense to new heights as she scored 3,340 points in her high school basketball career, which ranks second all-time in the state of Georgia. Junior forward Kyndall Golden previously played nine games at Vanderbilt, averaging 15.7 minutes per game in her sophomore season. Sophomore forward Taylor Cullinan also returns to her native Georgia after playing six games at Alabama and an impressive career at North Paulding High School.
Owls Welcome New Assistant Coaches
The Owls added two new assistant coaches this past offseason. Malikah Willis joins the Owls with over 20 years of coaching experience from 10 different colleges, including West Virginia and Georgia Tech. Composed as a high-profile recruiter and veteran coach, Willis helped assemble seven top-25 recruiting classes and coached 16 student-athletes to all-conference honors, including five future WNBA draft picks. Drew Landers brings seven years of Division I coaching experience to KSU as a former assistant coach at USC Upstate for the previous two seasons. Landers improved the Spartans' win total by 14 games, finishing with a record of 22-8, as well as helping player recruitment and development on a national level.
Scouting Chattanooga
Head coach Shawn Poppie enters his first season at the helm at UTC after serving as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech for five years. The Mocs return 79.8% of their scoring from last season, including Abbey Cornelius, who averaged a team-best 13.2 points and 8.9 boards per game. Cornelius finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds against Austin Peay. Yazz Wazeerud-Din leads the way with 17.2 points per game and is 12-of-39 from the beyond the arc. Cornelius is second on the team in scoring averaging 12.6 points and a team-best 7.4 rebounds per game. She has nine blocked shots and ranks third all-time in Mocs' history with 137. Freshman Raven Thompson led the Mocs in scoring at Murray State with a career-best 15 points. She is third on the team in scoring (9.4 ppg) and rebounding (6.4). Addie Grace Porter is second on the team in rebounding with 6.6 per game and fourth for scoring with 7.0 points per game. She leads the team with 3.0 assists per game.
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.
