by Daniel Miller (Staff Writer)
KSU’s women’s basketball team suffered another tough loss falling to USC Upstate 72-64 on Saturday Afternoon.
KSU (4-15, 2-6) had another game that was there for them to take, but USC Upstate (9-9, 4-3) executed better down the stretch to secure the victory. It was a tightly contested first half as early on as both exchanged leads in the opening minutes. Free throws from Deandrea Sawyers and Valescia Dixon gave the Owls a 9-6 lead before Upstate tied it at nine with with buckets by Alex Stanford and Valese McAllister.
Wells proceeded to hit a three, but a 4-0 spurt by the Spartans put them up one at 13-12 with 10:57 remaining in the half. After a timeout, KSU put together a 6-0 for an 18-13 on consecutive jumpers by Sawyers and freshman Chloe Branch.
Upstate answered back and trimmed the lead to one before Sawyers rallied off in a row to give the Owls their biggest lead of six at 23-17 with 5:55 remaining in the half.
Unfortunately, KSU could not expand on the lead, and there six-point lead evaporated as the Spartans closed the half on a 12-4 run, highlighted by six points from Stanford. The Spartans took a three-point lead going into the locker room on a 3-pointer by Toni Romiti. The Owls shot 39 percent in the half compared to 36 percent for the Spartans.
The second half early on continued with both teams jockeying for a lead. Upstate expanded a three point halftime lead to five but to the Owls credit, they battled back and Aareon Smith’s second three-pointer of the game, and with 12:15 left the Owls had a 44-42 lead.
From there, KSU went nearly three minutes without a point as Upstate rallied off the next 10 points for a 52-44 lead. For every Spartans run, KSU responded, and with four clutch free throws by redshirt- senior Lisa Capellan it was a two point ball game at 52-50.
That would be as close as the Owls would get. Upstate was more efficient down the stretch and found them-selves leading 59-50 with 5:32 left. Wells made a lay-up to keep the Owls within six, but Stanford had other ideas and drilled a dagger three and ended the comeback attempt for KSU.
The Owls were once again led by the sensational duo of Wells and Sawyers. Sawyers finished the game by pouring in 20 points to go along with seven rebounds, and three assists while Wells put in 19 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Aareon Smith set a career high with 11 rebounds and had eight points.
The Owls bested the Spartans by shooting 41 percent to there 39 percent.
Both teams finished the game with 43 boards, but the Spartans were able to grab 17 offensive rebounds resulting in 16-second chance points. The Owls committed 16 turnovers compared to only eight for the Spartans.
The Owls next game is against in state rival Mercer Saturday, Feb. 1, at 3 p.m. in Macon, Ga
