KSU sweeps Bobcats

Fans who bleed the hunter green and navy blue of Georgia College & State University had a night they would rather forget, as Kennesaw State University swept a Peach Belt Conference basketball doubleheader at the Cenntenial Center Wednesday.
The Lady Bobcats blew an early 12 point lead in the second half, and lost their third straight game, 91-85, to KSU. In the men’s game, the Bobcats gave one of the PBC’s best men’s teams all it could handle, only to be blown out in the second half in a 84-59 defeat, snapping a two-game winning streak.
The women’s game opened with Kennesaw State (12-6, 4-3) jumping to a 13-8 lead with 15:48 left in the first half. However, the Lady Bobcats (14-4, 3-4 PBC) responded with a 6-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 14-13, more than three minutes later. GC&SU built the lead to 34-26 on a jumper by Kirsti Jones,
with 4:39 to go. The Lady Bobcats led 45-37 at halftime.
The GC&SU women built a 59-47 lead with 12:31 remaining in regulation thanks to a successful lay-up by Antoinette Long. Then the Lady Bobcats fell back, as KSU outscored GC&SU 25-12 in a span of more than seven minutes to gain a 72-71 lead. A two-point by Kristina Usaite gave the Lady Owls a 75-71 lead, prompting Head Coach John Carrick to call a time-out with 4:55 left in the game.
However, GC&SU couldn’t stop the bleeding, as Kennesaw State went on a 10-4 run to increase its lead to 85-75, and held on for the victory.
Carrick believed KSU’s performance at the charity stripe hurt the Lady Bobcats.
“(KSU) was 33 of 38 from the foul line. We were six of 10. You do the math,” Carrick said.
Kennesaw State also had balanced scoring from five players. Usaite, who finished with 19 points, followed by 18 points from Denisha Ferguson, 16 points from Larvisha West, 12 points from Dominika Miezkowska, and 11 points from Lauren Gaines. On the other hand, Kirsti Jones scored a game-high of 23 points, followed by 21 more by Antoinette Long, albeit in a losing effort.
The men’s game proved to be a see-saw battle, at least for much of the first half, as the Bobcats took an early 9-7 lead thanks to two free throws by Duke Gibbs with 14:47 left. The first 20 minutes of the contest saw at least seven ties before KSU (17-4, 7-0) pulled away late to lead 35-25 in the first half.
Then the Owls pulled away in the second half, building the lead to 48-31 on a lay-up by Cardale Talley, who became one of four KSU players to score in double digits, finishing with ten points. Tommy Thompson led the Kennesaw State attack with 15 points, followed by Rey Luque with 12 points and Georgy Joseph with 10 points.
Meanwhile, GC&SU struggled to score in the second half, as the Bobcats (5-13, 2-5) made just ten of 27 shots for 37 percent, shooting 44.4 percent for the overall game, compared to 47.5 percent for Kennesaw State. The Owls also made the most of their opportunities at the free throw line, making 19 of 22 foul shots for more than 86 percent.
Both GC&SU teams will re-group this weekend, as they travel to USC-Spartanburg for an afternoon Peach Belt Conference doubleheader on Saturday, before returning to the Centennial Center next Wednesday to host the University of North Florida.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 30 2004. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry