by Daniel Miller
Trailing 61-60 with 25 seconds remaining, the KSU Women’s basketball team was in position to overcome a double digit halftime deficit, and win their third straight game in the Convocation Center, but a costly turnover and two free throws sealed the 63-60 victory for ETSU.
The game was a tale of two halves for junior Kristina Wells, who entered the game second in the conference in scoring at 16 points per game, scored 20 of her 23 points in the second half.
“We’ve seen it time and time again,” said head coach Nitra Perry. “She has the ability to turn it on and carry a team.”
The loss now puts KSU at (6-19, 4-10) while ETSU moves to (8-16, 4-9).
“Were a tough team, we’re learning every game” Perry said. “I think we have as good of shot as beating Upstate as we did ETSU. I felt we were the better team, that was my expectation.”
The game provided several big runs by both teams with the Owls starting the game on a 11-2 run, building a 17-6 lead on a three pointer by junior Bria Young with just over 13 minutes remaining in the half. The Bucs responded with their own 10-2 highlighted by two threes by Shamauria Bridges, and two layups by Tiana Burley to trim the Owls lead to three with 10:05 remaining.
The next several minutes both teams would exchange baskets before ETSU would go on a 10-0 run giving the Bucs their first lead of the game. After consecutive layups from Freshman Gratia Brooks to even the score at 28, the Bucs closed the half on a 13-1 and lead 41-29 at halftime.
“I thought we had our opportunities, (we) got into a little bit of a lull in the first half,” said Perry. ETSU had an 11-4 advantage in free throw attempts and shot 46 percent from the field compared to 38 percent for the Owls.
The Owls came out of the locker room rejuvenated, and quickly began to close in on ETSU’s advantage. A 15-6 KSU surge to start the second period closed the gap to 47-44 with 14:28 left to play. The Bucs struggled to find the offensive rhythm they had in the first half and the Owls took full advantage of it.
Along with Wells’ stellar second half, Young added 12 points, and Lisa Capellan finished the game with nine rebounds, but really ignited the second half rally with her energy crashing the boards, and all around defensive presence The second half the Owls locked in defensively, and outscored the Bucs 31-22. KSU became the more aggressive team going to the charity stripe 19 times. In the end, ETSU’s Tiana Burley proved to be too much for the Owls as she was sensational setting a career high with 25 points coming off the bench. Serena Clark also chipped in game high 12 rebounds for the Bucs.
The Owls next game will be on Saturday, Feb 22 with it being Breast Cancer Awareness Day and Alumni Day versus USC Upstate in the Convocation Center. Game time is set for 2 P.M and will broadcast on ESPN3.
