Kennesaw State was unable to complete a fourth quarter comeback as the Owls fell 61-53 to USC Upstate on Wednesday.
KSU (9-15, 4-5) turned the ball over 19 times in the contest, but managed to force 18 turnovers and outscore the Spartans (16-8, 7-2) in points off turnovers. 61 points tied the Spartans’ lowest total in a winning effort this season.
“We’ve always talked about the defense winning games,” KSU head coach Nitra Perry said. “When we’re not scoring, they can’t score. That was our mindset, [Wednesday.] We still just didn’t put the ball in the hole. We had plenty of layups. I felt like we got every shot that we wanted and just couldn’t finish.”
Senior Jasmine McAllister led the Owls offensively with 15 points while grabbing five rebounds. Redshirt-sophomore Kelly Dulkoski also scored in double digits, recording 13 points on 5-10 shooting. Upstate’s Brittany Clency, who led the Atlantic Sun in rebounds entering the game, picked up a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards.
The Owls trailed 45-36 with 9:11 remaining in the fourth quarter following a 7-0 run from Upstate. After nearly three minutes of game play and no change in score, junior Aaeron Smith connected from beyond the arc to spark a run for the Owls. Junior Deandrea Sawyers pulled up in the paint and knocked a jump shot, pulling the Owls within four points.
On the Spartans’ ensuing possession, Aaeron Smith forced a turnover and hit a three-point shot on the other end of the court to give KSU its smallest deficit of the second half. Upstate led 45-44 with 5:36 left in the fourth quarter.
Clency went 2-2 from the free-throw line to extend the Spartans’ lead, but McAllister answered with a layup. The Owls trailed 47-46 with 3:39 to go in the final quarter.
Leading 54-51 with just over a minute remaining, the Spartans’ dominance of the boards closed the game out for Upstate.
Clency missed a jump shot with 1:06 to go, but Upstate’s Brittany Starling grabbed a crucial offensive rebound to keep the possession alive. Starling went up for the put-back layup and missed, but managed to grab her own rebound and connect on a jumper in the lane to put the Spartans up 56-51 with 0:54 to go.
The Owls were outrebounded 47-37, including 20-13 in offensive boards.
“We knew it would come down to the boards and we lost that,” Perry said. “They got ten more boards than us, and not only that, but seven more offensive boards. This is one of the best rebounding teams in the conference, so I’m pretty disappointed about our rebounding effort.
Sawyers missed a three-point shot and the Owls were forced to foul Upstate and send a shooter to the free-throw line. After multiple missed foul attempts, redshirt-sophomore Clara Young fouled Clency hard and was called for a flagrant-one foul. Clency knocked down a free throw and was immediately fouled on the inbounds, going 2-2 from the line to put the Spartans up 59-51 with 27 seconds remaining.
“I think they grit they displayed was impressive,” Perry said. “It’s just learning how to finish. I thought we had two or three possessions late where we didn’t take great shots and we didn’t take advantage of the opportunity given to us.”
KSU surrendered the first points of the game, but the Owls responded with six unanswered to take a 6-2 lead at the 6:53 mark in the first quarter.
Young checked in with 3:00 remaining in the opening quarter and made her presence felt immediately, scoring five straight points for the Owls to tie the game at 13-apiece with 1:46 to go. The Spartans took a 17-16 lead into the second quarter.
The Owls recaptured the lead early in the second, scoring the first four points to give themselves a 20-17 advantage with 8:31 to go in the first half. Leading by a point, the Spartans went on a 7-0 run to increase their lead to 31-23 with 2:36 left. KSU trailed 31-25 at the half.
After a slow start to the second half for both teams, the Spartans led 35-27 with 5:33 remaining in the third quarter. The Owls scored six unanswered points to cut their deficit to 35-33 at the 2:31 mark. Upstate led 40-36 at the end of the third.
The Owls will look to bounce back this weekend as they host Jacksonville on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.
