KSU’s women’s basketball team lost their first home game of the season as they fell to Florida by 21 points in an 83-62 loss on Sunday. The team played well for the most part, but unfortunately the toughness of the Gators proved to be too much
for the young Owls team.
KSU played Florida extremely
well for the first 12 minutes of the game, as they were down by just four points with 7:53 to go in the first half, despite at one point allowing UF to go on a 12-2 run. At that point the Owls were shooting 38.1 percent from the field, and were out- rebounding Florida 16 to 7.
It quickly went downhill from here, however. The Owls turned the ball over 15 times in the rest of the game, and were outscored 60-43. The team’s defense struggled
all game against the taller, more experienced Gators, as
it recorded just 3 steals and allowed Florida to score 45 points in the first half as they shot 57% from the field. As coach Nitra Perry said, “We couldn’t get any stops, and there was a deficiency in the post.”
Offensively, the Owls
were led by Kristina Wells,
who scored 16 points, and
also contributed 11 rebounds and a steal. Aareon Smith was the only other Owl to score double digits, with 14 points, six rebounds, a steal of her own.
In the second half the defense played slightly better, but stil allowed 38 points to Florida, who took out most of their starters towards the end,
and the offense was slightly worse against these backups, scoring 30, vs the 32 they scored in the 1st.
Coach Perry said the goal was to create a post presence today. (include quote about
til midway in first here). The Owls attempted 13 shots from beyond the arc (of which they only completed two), but shot 59 times from inside the arc,
35 times in the first half alone. In the 2nd half, the Owls did a good job of forcing fouls on UF, leading to 15 free throws. The team converted 76.2 percent of their free throws on the day, but poor defense and field
goal shooting ultimately doomed the team.
Coach Perry saw this game as a point from which the team can learn from as they go on to later conference matchups. “I’d put them up against anybody and I was proud of how they fought. We challenged and competed for the most part, and that’s all I could ask
of my kids.”
The Owls will next play the Jacksonville State Gamecocks on the road, Wednesday night.
