It was a wild week for the Kennesaw State Lady Owls. The team got the proverbial monkey off their back while getting their first conference win on the road against the Lipscomb Lady Bison earlier in the week but lost on the road to rival Mercer on Saturday.
Monday’s win over Lipscomb was special for reasons than one. Aside from the team notching their first conference win of the season, senior forward Sametria Gideon became the first Lady Owl to rack up 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. She eclipsed the point mark earlier in the season against Wofford and pulled down her 1,000th board against Lipscomb.
“I’m excited for our players, It was a total team effort,” said KSU head coach Nitra Perry. “Christine came in and only played four minutes but got us two huge blocks and Sametria played out of her mind. She was outstanding on the boards coming down with 16 and getting her 1,000th was huge for her.”
The win was an all-around team effort for the Owls as they had four players in double figures. Chelsea Mason tied Lipscomb’s Hannah Phillips with a game high 17 points. The Owls were particularly effective on the glass as the team hauled in more rebounds (56) than they had points (55). The team used their advantage on the glass to overcome a subpar shooting performance which saw the team misfire on 22 three pointers and 7 free throws.
“Chelsea and Nicole stepped up big for us,” Perry said. ““This was a huge confidence booster for us.”
The team rode their momentum from the win at Lipscomb into Saturday’s game against Mercer. The team came out firing and used an early run to take a 10-4 advantage. Both teams made runs throughout the rest of the half with Mercer taking a 26-22 lead into the break. The team seemed to tire in the second half which is understandable as this was their third straight game on the road. Mercer came out firing and the Lady Owls never could recover.
“We just couldn’t get the game plan working in the second half like we did in the first,” Perry said. “As with any game plan, they started getting comfortable and finding the holes in our defense and we needed to adjust and we didn’t do as good a job as they did at tweaking the plan.”
Senior guard Ashley Holliday led all scorers with 17 points but the depth of the Bears was just too much. Mercer had eight players play at least 20 minutes and every player that got in the game scored.
“I think I take from this what I’ve been telling the girls all season,” said Perry. “And that’s that we can compete with anybody in the conference. Up until last 40 seconds of the first we did just that. Then in the second they went on that 10-0 run and we couldn’t bounce back. It’s a learning process trying to get them to finish and not just finish baskets but finish in the effort as well.”
The team now returns home with a bit of a swagger about them as they got that first conference win that had eluded them for so long. As every coach will tell you, February and March are the months where you want your team to be playing their best. Head Coach Nitra Perry has this team playing well at the right time. After a little much needed time off, the team will get another crack at their second conference win on Saturday February 9th as the team plays host to Jacksonville. The game is scheduled for a noon tipoff.
