By: Michael Pitts
KENNESAW, Ga. - The first half of the 2024-25 women's basketball season comes to a close Monday night when Kennesaw State hosts in-state rival Mercer inside the KSU Convocation Center.
Head coach
Octavia Blue leads KSU against the Bears after a thrilling 65-52 win on Dec. 19 over another in-state foe, Georgia State.
Prencis Harden led the way with a career-high 26 points and was joined by impact performances from
Keiara Griffin and
Carly Hooks. The Owls erased a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to win its second-straight game and third of their last four.
Harden is averaging just shy of a double-double (15.3 PPG, 9.4 RPG) in her senior campaign. She was named Conference USA Player of the Week Dec. 23 for the second week in a row, becoming the first in progam history to win multuple CUSA weekly honors.
She is followed by fellow senior
Keyarah Berry who is averaging 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds this season. Berry earned the first CUSA Player of the Week honor in program history on Nov. 18.
Mercer enters the contest trying to snap a five-game road skid but has taken each of the last three against KSU. A win Monday night will mark the first time Kennesaw State women's basketball has collected victories over both Georgia State and Mercer in a single season.
2024-25 marks Kennesaw State's new era as a member of CUSA.
Game Information
Matchup: Mercer Bears (4-10, 0-0 SoCON) at Kennesaw State Owls (5-5, 0-0 CUSA)
Date: Monday, December 30
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Kennesaw, Ga.
Arena: KSU Convocation Center
ESPN+ |
PxP: Jordan Griffitt |
Analyst: Shanteona Keys
Live Stats
KSU Game Notes
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Notes to Know
- Prencis Harden has reached double figures in points in 11 of her last 13 games. During that stretch, she is averaging 15.7 PPG and 9.5 RPG.
- Harden's 16 double-doubles are fifth in Kennesaw State DI program history. Her 528 rebounds are ninth in KSU DI career history.
- Kennesaw State's 58.7 scoring defense is second in the conference and 79th in the country.
- KSU leads CUSA in double-doubles (6) and defensive rebound percentage (73.7%).
Series History
This December clash marks the 32nd meeting between the two former Atlantic Sun Conference opponents. Mercer holds an 18-13 advantage in the series and won the last meeting in Kennesaw, 60-57, back in Dec. 2022.
A victory for Kennesaw State will be its first in the series since a 92-64 rout in Nov. 2019. The Black and Gold are 8-7 all-time at home against Mercer.
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 currently has with 1,109 career points, the sixth-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.
Inside the Roster
Captains for 2024-25 include graduate guard
Carly Hooks and senior forward
Prencis Harden. Blue's fourth season at the helm sees nine returners on a roster loaded with experience in addition to four newcomers with just one true freshman.
Hooks and Harden join an impressive batch of returners that include
Keyarah Berry,
Morgan Dillard,
Kailyn Fields,
Lee Lee Willis,
Taylor Cullinan and
Sophia Rueppell.
Kennesaw State has six seniors/graduates on the team this season, the second-most in Conference USA.
Three of the four newcomers transferred in to KSU during the offseason with a combined 264 games played and 142 starts. 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.
Pack 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 10 home showdowns remain, including an in-state clash with 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.
