#21 Keyarah Berry soars for a layup against Thomas on Dec. 6 at VyStar Arena. Photo by Jackson Louneounbonh.
After a 79-65 loss to Alabama on Monday, women’s basketball returned to VyStar Arena on Saturday afternoon, defeating NAIA opponent Thomas 81-37.
KSU came out sluggish in the opening period, holding a slim 9-8 lead with six minutes to go in the first.
The second quarter was a much different story, as the Owls dominated the period by a score of 21-4 and held a 39-15 lead heading to the halftime break.
“We get going by defensive effort and I thought we started the game a little slow,” coach Octavia Blue said. “I think we came out trying to feel the game out, and we should never do that here at home.”
Despite committing nine fouls in the third and routinely sending the Night Hawks to the free throw line, the Owls continued to pull away and led 60-27 after three.
KSU never let up in the game, winning the second half 42-22 with the help of the bench.
The Owls scored an astounding 42 points off the bench, and every player who touched the floor got their name in the scorers book.
“It means a lot,” Blue said. “We play an up-tempo, aggressive style of defense, so the more [players] we can use, the better we are as a team.”
Kaelyn Flowers, Florida Gulf Coast transfer, put up a career-high 14 points on Saturday.
“As a player, sometimes I lack confidence,” Flowers said. “I think this was a perfect game to kind of have my confidence grow but also having people around me that fuel my confidence is super key and that’s what I was looking for when going to a new school.”
Leading the way off the bench and leading the team in scoring was guard Gabriela Bendeck-Giron, scoring 15 points including four three-pointers for her career high point total and first time getting on the board this season.
Keyarah Berry also contributed 12 in the starting lineup, as she has now scored in double figures in eight straight games to begin the year.
The Owls will have a challenging end to the non-conference schedule, going on the road to face Georgia State and Miami — Blue’s alma mater. Blue spoke about how the team can improve heading into the road trip.
“Just how we start games,” Blue said. “In Alabama this past Monday we started off slow, giving up 28 points in the first quarter, and then [today] a little big sluggish in the first quarter here at home.”
The Owls will take on Georgia State in Atlanta on Dec. 14.
