Things started on the right foot in the Owls’ final trip around the ASUN Conference.
Kennesaw State women’s basketball opened ASUN conference play with a good win over Queens University on Saturday, Jan. 6 at the KSU Convocation Center with a concluding score of 61-42.
The Owls went wire to wire on the hardwood to start conference play and never allowed the Royals the lead for a single minute throughout the game.
Junior Forward Prencis Harden launched the Owls to a win in the conference opener over the Royals after she recorded her third straight double-double.
Harden continued to make an impressive appearance on the court as she recorded seven straight games in double figures. Harden recorded 18 points and 14 rebounds against Queens.
Harden broke her single-season career high in scoring 177 points and 64 field goals. To add more to the record book, Harden added 14 reboundsto set a new single-game career high for herself surpassing her previous marker of 12 rebounds against Mercer on Jan. 2, 2024.
Junior Keyarah Berry finished right behind Harden with 13 points. Berry recorded her fourth double-digit scoring game of the season.
Carly Hooks posted alongside Harden and Berry with 11 points and her eighteenth game in double digits as an Owl and her sixth this season.
Freshman Trynce Taylor tied Hooks for the second on the team with six rebounds and tallied her fifth game with 10 or more points this season alone.
The Owls allowed only four first-quarter points and seven fourth-quarter points. This is the second game in which the Owls have allowed less than 10 points in two separate quarters. The first occurrence came against Coastal Georgia.
The Royals could not keep up offensively as the Owls outshot Queens 45% to 25% from the floor, 40% to 21% from beyond the three and 76% to 57% at the free throw line.
Hooks came out hot and started the offensive attack immediately from beyond the arc—giving the Owls an early 3-0 start.
The Owls’ defense held the Royals at four points to end the first 10 minutes with a lead of 17-4.
Continuing up on the positive trend, the Owls outscored the Royals 16-13 in the second quarter to carry them into the half leading 33-17.
After the second half, the Owls offense came out with a quick burst with threes from Kailyn Fields and Laura Toffali—which pushed the Owls up by 18 going into the fourth with the score at 51-33.
The Owls only allowed nine points in the third quarter. A three pointer in the fourth quarter gave Hooks a second straight game in double digits.
The Owls scored the final three points to cement the 61-42 victory, which provided them with their first 1-0 start in conference play since the 2016-17 season.
With this being the final season of competition for the Owls in the Atlantic Sun Conference, the Owls are starting strong before moving to Conference USA on July 1.
