by AJ Howard (Staff writer)
With the 2014-15 season drawing closer, the Kennesaw State women’s basketball team released its 29-game schedule Thursday.
In her third season leading the Owls, head coach Nitra Perry will look for improvement after finishing last season 6-24 and falling in the first round of the Atlantic Sun tournament.
KSU begins its 15-game non-conference schedule at the Convocation Center on Nov. 14 against College of Charleston. Following the season opener against the Cougars, the Owls will play six consecutive road games, including two Thanksgiving week games– at Seton Hall on Wednesday and Columbia on Saturday–in the New York area.
The early road games will give the team an early chance for evaluation after finishing last season 1-15 away from the Convocation Center. Perry told KSUOwls.com the experience on the road will be beneficial for the team’s development.
“We’re already talking about as a team the road trips and how we have to be mentally tough,” Perry said. “So it’s definitely going to prepare us for that conference schedule when we are on the road.”
The non-conference schedule also features a familiar foe: Mercer. Although the Bears have moved on to the Southern Conference, the in-state rivalry has been salvaged–at least for this season. The teams will meet in Macon on Dec. 16 and again in Kennesaw on Jan. 6.
The Bears are just one of five in-state teams the Owls will play against this season. Along with a Nov. 8 exhibition against Emory, KSU will also play Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern, and Georgia State in non-conference play.
“We’re just trying to win the state,” Perry said. “That’s been our goal from the beginning.”
With the exits of Mercer and East Tennessee State bringing the Atlantic Sun to eight members, the Owls’ conference schedule will consist of 14 games in a double round-robin format.
A-Sun play begins for KSU on Saturday, Jan. 10 on the road against USC Upstate. The Owls’ first conference game at the Convocation Center will be Jan. 14.
Perry highlighted last season’s finalists, Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson, as this season’s A-Sun frontrunners. Both of KSU’s two meetings with each team will come just two days apart from one another.
KSU will play at Stetson Thursday, Jan. 22, before traveling to Fort Myers and facing off with FGCU on Jan. 24. The Owls will welcome the two teams to Kennesaw the following month, with FGCU visiting on Thursday, Feb. 19, and Stetson on Saturday.
After the Owls’ regular season schedule finishes at home against Lipscomb on Feb. 28., the Owls will enter the eight-team Atlantic Sun tournament, which begins March 6 on campus sites.
