By Mason Wittner, Staff Writer
Kennesaw State ended their three-game road trip winless as they fell to Florida Gulf Coast Saturday 61-47.
Jasmine McAllister recorded her tenth double-double of the season, leading all Atlantic Sun Conference members, as she scored 20 points along with 13 rebounds.
The Owls (13-7, 2-3) were unable to overcome a dismal shooting performance, as they went 18-51 from the field.
“It was a disappointing loss, but I felt very proud of the fight that we displayed for 40 minutes,” KSU head coach Nitra Perry told KSUOwls.com “We fought for 40 minutes, but we did not focus for 40 minutes, which is our goal.”
The lone lead of the night for the Owls came after a McAllister free throw gave them a 1-0 advantage with 18:58 to go in the opening half. After falling behind 7-1, the Owls pulled even at 9-9 with 14:15 to play.
The Eagles (18-2, 5-0) sparked an 18-4 run, thanks in part to 12 straight points from Kaneisha Atwater, and took a 27-15 lead with 8:08 to play in the first half. Atwater finished the night with 32 points.
“Kaneisha Atwater was shooting 28 percent coming into the game and hit 4-of-7 threes in this game, which was not usual,” Perry told KSUOwls.com “We were trying to play the odds and she made us pay. She is a great basketball player, but I thought that we did a great job on Whitney Knight, DyTiesha Dunson and Jenna Cobb.”
After back-to-back threes from Kelly Dulkoski cut KSU’s deficit to six, a 9-1 FGCU run put the Eagles on top 36-22 with 3:34 to go in the half.
KSU found themselves trailing 38-24 at halftime. Deandrea Sawyers, who leads the A-Sun in points per game, was held to just two points in the opening half and was unable to score in the second.
FGCU began the second half on an 11-2 run and held a dominant 49-26 lead with 13:04 to play. After failed attempts at decreasing their deficit, KSU strung together a 7-0 run and trailed 51-37 with 8:21 to play.
However, the Eagles continued to have an answer for every Owl possession as their lead remained over 10 for the remaining eight minutes.
“Jasmine having 20 points and 13 rebounds was great, and while it did not really show up in the statistics, Kristina Wells played as hard as she has played in a while and I thought that was really positive for us,” Perry told KSUOwls.com. “Kelly Dulkoski came off the bench and hit 50 percent from the arc. I told the team after the game, I feel like we are where we are supposed to be. We have to keep plugging away and putting our nose to the plow and not look back.”
The Owls will return home for the first time in two weeks as they take on North Florida (10-10, 1-4) in the Convocation Center Thursday.
