By Mason Wittner, Staff Writer
Aareon Smith gave the Owls the lead with a 3-pointer five minutes in to the opening half and Kennesaw State would never look back as they cruised to a 67-55 victory over USC Upstate Saturday.
Jasmine McAllister led the Owls in scoring, picking up her twelfth double-double of the season with 19 points, 19 rebounds. Smith finished with 10 points.
“It was a real double-double,” KSU head coach Nitra Perry said. “I give her a hard time about getting something like 10 points, 10 boards, but I felt like she bounced back. She was feeling well today.”
In addition to McAllister, Kristina Wells contributed 19 points, 6 boards. Deandrea Sawyers finished a rebound shy of a double-double, as she registered 13 points and 9 rebounds.
KSU (15-8, 4-4) lead the Spartans 33-30 with 17:43 to play in the second half. A 22-6 run extended the Owl lead to 55-36 with 10:22 remaining, seemingly breaking the will of USC Upstate (11-12, 3-5).
The Spartans failed to shrink their deficit to less than eight points for the remainder of the game.
A large key to the victory for the Owls was their domination on the low post, out rebounding Upstate 51-31.
“[Rebounding] definitely is a mindset,” Perry said. “We talk about how rebounding is really 100-percent effort. This week we really focused on rebounding drills and our mindset going into the game.”
KSU executed a 16-3 run in the first half to lead the Spartans 21-9 with 9:33 to play. Upstate attempted to restore a balance going into the half, outscoring the Owls 13-8 to close out the half with a 29-22 deficit.
Kennesaw State will travel to Jacksonville, Florida Thursday, Feb. 12 to take on a Jacksonville squad that closed out the Owls’ January with a 14-point loss at home.
“I feel like we’re getting back to our true identity,” Perry said. “It’s going to be hard any time you play on the road, but I think it’s going to be a grind. I think we can come out victorious is we do what we do.”
