By Mason Wittner—Staff Writer
Jasmine McAllister picked up her eleventh double-double of the season as Kennesaw State ended their three-game losing skid with a victory over North Florida Tuesday, 46-40.
McAllister led the Owls with 10 points and 15 boards.
“It was good to get it,” McAllister said of her double-double. “My teammates still had confidence in me even though sometimes I don’t need the ball. Without them, I wouldn’t have ever got it.”
The Owls (14-7, 3-3) managed to come away with a victory despite shooting 19-60 from the field, as well being outrebounded by UNF (10-11, 1-5) 55-36.
“We just talk about resilience and being a blue collar team,” KSU head coach Nitra Perry said. “Just doing the small things. We ended up getting a couple layups just diving for a loose ball. Every game, and I tell the kids this in practice all the time, we want to be tougher as the season gets going.”
After three straight losses, each by double digits, KSU found momentum early on in the match holding a 9-2 advantage with 12:27 to play in the opening half.
However, an Osprey 8-0 run had the Owls trailing 10-9 with 6:39 to go.
KSU pulled ahead 16-15 at the 4:25 mark, but allowed UNF to close the half on a 5-0 run and trailed the Ospreys 20-16 at halftime.
The Owls shot just over 20-percent in the first half as they went 7-34 from the field and 0-2 from the free-throw line.
The shooting struggled continued into the second half for the Owls as they trailed for nearly the first nine minutes. Valescia Dixon’s layup gave the Owls their first lead in over 13 minutes of game time as they were up 31-30 with 11:06 remaining.
UNF responded with six straight points of their own and pushed their lead back to 36-31 with just 8:38 left to play.
Kelly Dulkoski’s first and only shot attempt of the night was good from long range as she gave the Owls a 38-36 lead with 6:13 left in the game. The Owls never looked back as they closed the game on an 8-4 run.
Deandrea Sawyers bounced back from her two-point performance against FGCU by contributing 10 on the night.
KSU will look to continue their winning ways as they take on Jacksonville (6-13, 1-5) in the Convocation Center Saturday.
