KENNESAW, Ga. - The fourth year under head coach Octavia Blue for Kennesaw State women's basketball begins Monday night, November 4 at 7:00 p.m. in a home showdown inside the KSU Convocation Center against in-state opponent Life University.

Blue leads a veteran roster onto the court holding a 3-0 record in home openers at Kennesaw State (since 2021-22). Prencis Harden and Carly Hooks highlight nine returners from 2023-24, tied for the most among Conference USA members.

2024-25 jump-starts Kennesaw State's new era as a member of CUSA.

Game Information
Matchup: Life Running Eagles (2-1) at Kennesaw State Owls (0-0; 0-0 CUSA)
Game Sponsor: Georgia Army National Guard
Date: Monday, November 4
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Kennesaw, Ga.
Arena: KSU Convocation Center
ESPN+ | PxP: Bryce Gaubert / Analyst: Shanteona Keys / Courtside: Adam Crooks
Live Stats
Game Notes
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Series History
Monday night's contest marks the fourth meeting between the two programs and the second in the Blue Era. Kennesaw State boasts a 3-0 all-time record over Life and won last season's meeting by a score of 62-45.

The two teams first met on Dec. 16, 2000, but did not face off again for 20 years until Dec. 21, 2020 - a 97-67 win for the Black and Gold.


Setting the Standard
KSU women's basketball comes off a season of achievements from its final year in the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2023-24. On Dec. 2 against Coastal Georgia, the Owls posted their fewest points allowed in a single game at 25. An 85-75 win over Bellarmine (Feb. 8) was the second-most points scored by KSU in a road DI conference win and most since Feb. 18, 2006.

The team achieved its most weekly ASUN honors since the 2014-15 campaign and the second-most weekly DI conference freshman honors in program history.

Head coach Octavia Blue became the fastest KSU WBB head coach to 30 Division I wins and 20 DI home wins while leading the Owls to their best conference start in DI history (4-0). KSU also marked its longest DI conference regular-season win streak of six games.

Kennesaw State led the conference in double-doubles behind Prencis Harden, who led the ASUN with 10 a season ago. KSU also paced the league in offensive rebounds per game and offensive rebound percentage. The Owls also allowed just 33.6 defensive rebounds per game, the best mark in program history, beating the mark of 34.4 set in 2003-04.


Executive Producers
Kennesaw State begins the new year returning 88.67% of its point production from last season, the second-most in CUSA behind former ASUN foe Liberty by just .05% (88.72%). KSU also returns 74.1% of its minutes-accounted-for, the third-most in CUSA behind Liberty (85.2%) and New Mexico State (77.5%).

KSU's nine returners are tied with NMSU and Liberty for the CUSA lead. The Black and Gold also bring back five student-athletes who accrued at least 10 starts last season - the second-most in the conference behind the Aggies (6).


Carly 1K
Hooks enters the new season with 1,050 career points, the fourth-most among active women's basketball student-athletes in Conference USA. She surpassed 1,000 career points on the road last season at North Florida (Feb. 24).

The grad led the ASUN last season with three games of 30+ points with all coming on the road. She enters 2024-25 on a five-game streak of 10+ points and has scored at least 14 in each of her last three.


The Long Road Traveled
Kennesaw State women's basketball embarks ona grueling schedule in 2024-25 with around 10,606 estimated miles of travel. The Owls will make two separate trips to the west coast, at San Jose State (Nov. 21) and Seattle (Dec. 16).

Those two games bookend a five-game road stretch that is estimated to include 6,610 miles of travel. Following shorter trips to Clemson (Dec. 1 - 137 miles) and Chattanooga (Dec. 8 - 94 miles), KSU treks to Boca Raton, Fla. to face Florida Atlantic (647 miles) then straight to Seattle (3,274 miles). At the end of this stretch, KSU will have traveled over 4,000 miles in eight days.


Inside the Roster
Captains for 2024-25 include graduate guard Carly Hooks, senior forward Prencis Harden and, new to the team this season, senior guard Kionna Gaines. Blue's fourth season at the helm sees nine returners on a roster loaded with experience in addition to five newcomers with just one true freshman.

Hooks and Harden join an impressive batch of returners that include Trynce Taylor, Keyarah Berry, Morgan Dillard, Kailyn Fields, Lee Lee Willis, Taylor Cullinan and Sophia Rueppell.

Kennesaw State has seven seniors/graduates on the team this season, the second-most in Conference USA.

Four of the five newcomers transferred in to KSU during the offseason with a combined 264 games played and 142 starts. Graduate forward Keiara Grffin comes from CUSA rival Jax State while Gaines enters with three seasons of experience at Clemson and Auburn. A 2024 Academic All-American, Gaby Bendeck-Giron, transfers in averaging 14.4 points per game last season at Pensacola State while Claire Davis joins the Black and Gold from Palm Beach Atlantic with eight games of 10+ points in 2023-24. True freshman and 6'6" center Mame Kane comes from Dakar, Senegal, as the first KSU Division I women's basketball student-athlete from the country.


Fill the Convocation Center
Season and single-game tickets are available for Kennesaw State women's basketball's first season as a member of Conference USA! A total of 14 home showdowns, including the season opener vs. Life (Nov. 4), in-state clashes with Georgia State (Dec. 19) and Mercer (Dec. 30), as well as key CUSA games against MTSU (Jan. 9), Liberty (March 1) and Jax State (March 8) set the stage for an exciting season.

Click here for more information. Admission is free for Kennesaw State University students to all 2024-25 home women's basketball games.


Stay updated with the action on the court for KSU women's basketball on X @KSUOwlsWBB, Instagram at @KSUOwlsWBB and on Facebook here.

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