SAN JOSE, Calif. - Kennesaw State's fourth-quarter resurgence came up just short against the San Jose Spartans in a hard-fought Thursday evening contest inside Provident Credit Union Center, 68-64.
The Owls (2-3) battled back from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to get within striking distance of the Spartans (3-2) and were one point down in the final stages before the home team managed to pull away.
Graduate
Carly Hooks came off the bench and led KSU with 12 points. She was followed by sophomore
Kailyn Fields who posted a career-high 11 points. Both went a combined 9-for-9 from the free throw line.
Hooks now has 1,070 points in her career, fifth-most among active Conference USA women's basketball student-athletes.
Prencis Harden finished a few digits shy of her third-straight double-double with eight points and nine rebounds.
Keyarah Berry and
Keiara Griffin each had nine points and 10 combined rebounds.
Griffin's stat line came in just 16 minutes of action. She shot 57.1% from the floor with four rebounds.
FIRST HALF
Hooks broke through with the first KSU points on a trey and ended up scoring the first six for the road team. The Owl defense then created a 2:55 scoring drought for the Spartans with five takeaways in that span. The Owls forced another 3:13 scoreless stretch for San Jose State, combined with a 6-0 run of their own. SJSU only made two of their first 11 field goals. Hooks led the Black and Gold with eight first quarter points as the Owls led 18-13 after one. Kennesaw State went 7-for-7 from the free throw line in the first and forced eight turnovers.
KSU's 18 first quarter points were the team's most in the opening quarter of a non-conference road game since Dec. 15, 2022 at Furman.
Hooks banked the first points of the second quarter on a pair of free throws, reaching 10 points on the evening. San Jose State evened the score at 20 apiece and again at 25 before back-to-back layups by
Prencis Harden and
Morgan Dillard off more forced turnovers. Fields made a bucket, followed by a three from
Sophia Rueppell, to get the Owls back up by five, 32-27. The Spartans ended the half on a run to take a slim 36-34 advantage into the break.
Griffin led the team with four rebounds in the first half. KSU shot 52.4% from the floor and 50% from three in the first half.
SECOND HALF
Griffin got the scoring starting for KSU on a layup to quickly even the score at 36. A defensive-heavy start to the third period, the two teams combined for just five points through the first 3:44. The offenses then picked up the pace, with Berry draining a trey to even the game at 41 with 5:29 remaining in the third. The Spartans increased their lead out to 49-41 before a Harden layup and a Fields three got KSU back within three, 49-46, with under a minute left in the third. A pair of Hooks free throws moved the Owls closer, 49-48. San Jose State managed a three to take a 52-48 lead into the fourth.
Berry made the first bucket of the fourth to get the Black and Gold within two, 52-50. The Spartans pushed their lead out further before free throws from Berry and a three from
Taylor Cullinan once again put KSU down by just five, 62-57, with five minutes left. The Owl defense stepped up down the stretch, forcing four turnovers in four minutes and Spartan scoring drought of 3:02 to get the offense back in it.
Cullinan sank another three with 1:50 left to get Kennesaw State down by one, 63-62. Harden managed two free throws after five SJSU points to make it a four-point game, 68-64, with 0:18 left. San Jose State held on for the win in the final seconds.
STAT OF THE GAME
Kennesaw State went to the free throw line 25 times in Thursday's showdown and shot an impressive 80%. KSU also forced 24 San Jose State turnovers and scoring 20 points off those takeaways.
HEAD COACH OCTAVIA BLUE POSTGAME
"Our defense was a point of emphasis. We know they have some size with their starting center Finau Tonga and Djessi Diawara, so we knew we could press them based on our scouting ability. We knew they would struggle a little bit and it showed true early on in the first quarter," - on forcing several turnovers and holding San Jose State to 2-for-11 to start the game.
"Anytime we can get to the foul line we want to always try to cash in on it. We had some looks in the fourth that we needed to go down but happy that we were able to shoot 80% from the free throw line with that many attempts," - on the Owls' 20-for-25 free throw clip Thursday.
"It was the first time all year that we've had the majority of our squad available. We've been hit with the injury bug. Making no excuses, San Jose State protected their home court. This was a heavyweight battle where it was punching and counter-punching and ultimately they were able to knock us out in the fourth quarter. There were some bright spots in this game and definitely something to build off of," - overall thoughts on Thursday's game.
"We have a tall task coming in with an ACC opponent on the road and we have some time between now and then to clean a lot of things up," - looking ahead to the Owls' next game, Dec. 1 at Clemson.
UP NEXT
Kennesaw State's road trip rolls on after nine days rest Sunday, Dec. 1 against the Clemson Tigers. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.
The Owls return to the KSU Convocation Center Thursday, Dec. 19 versus Georgia State.
