KSU took on Stetson on Thursday night at the Convocation Center with a milestone on the line for venerable head coach Colby Tilley. With the win, Tilley would have his 700th all-time win, a milestone that has rarely been reached in the world of college basketball. In fact, Tilley would become just the seventh women’s basketball coach to ever reach 700 wins.
Unfortunately, the Lady Hatters would not cooperate with history and dominated the final 30 minutes of play for a 77-65 upset over the home-standing Lady Owls.
The Lady Owls jumped on top of the Lady Hatters 11-0 and would lead by as much as 13 midway through the first half. Unfortunately, that would be the peak of the Lady Owls’ evening as a hot-shooting Stetson team took control the rest of the way. After trailing 24-11 with 10:23 left in the half, the Lady Hatters went on a 19-2 run over the next four and a half minutes and went into the locker room with a 38-30 lead at the half.
The second half would be more of the same as Stetson shot 47 percent from the field and hit four of five 3-point shots to coast to the finish line. The Lady Hatters did not give up the lead after taking it for the first time with just over six minutes left in the first half.
“In the second half we just couldn’t make a run,” said a frustrated Tilley. “We just could not get it going. They just got after it in the second half a lot more than we did.”
In one of the more mistake-free games in recent memory for both teams, the Lady Owls and Stetson combined for just seven turnovers. Only two of them belonged to KSU.
“They only turned it over five times,” stated the KSU head man. “We cause about 20 turnovers a game normally, so that’s 15 less turnovers than what our average is.”
The Black and Gold also controlled the paint, outrebounding Stetson by 19.
Despite the advantage on the glass, the Lady Owls could not take advantage as they shot just 35.8 percent, including 4-of-24 shooting from the 3-point land.
In addition to the lack of turnovers, another bright spot for KSU was the play of Britteny Henderson. The senior forward contributed her fourth double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
“I play every game like it’s my last,” said Henderson. “I play with my heart.”
Senior guard Jennifer Baker had another solid outing, with a double-double of her own, scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 boards as well as dishing a team-leading five assists.
KSU will look to earn Tilley’s milestone on Saturday against Florida Gulf Coast.
“(FGCU) is very well coached,” a respectful Tilley said. “They run a motion offense that is very difficult to stop—they just cut, cut, cut, cut. They lost four starters from last year, but you wouldn’t know it from how they’re playing now. It’s going to be another tough battle for us.”
Tip-off between the Lady Owls and Lady Eagles will be at 2 p.m. in the Convocation Center.
Black can be reached at sblack@scoreatl.com.
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