After flying to Richmond, the Lady Owls got off to a slow start and fell to the hometown Lady Spiders 79-62 in the season opener for both teams.
Richmond took advantage of cold shooting by KSU early on and went on a 9-0 run to start the game. The Lady Owls shot just 35 percent on the night.
“It was the first game of the season and maybe we were a little nervous, but we just shot the basketball so poorly,” said head coach Colby Tilley. “We dug ourselves a deep hole and were never able to get out of it.”
After trailing by 12 at halftime, the gold-and-black fell behind even further early in the second stanza. Richmond was playing at a torrid pace after the half and increased its lead to as much as 27 with 11 minutes left in the game. However, the Lady Owls fought back and climbed to within 12 after outscoring the Lady Spiders 17-2 over a four-minute stretch.
“It was a little disappointing because I really felt like we could give Richmond a good game,” explained a disappointed Tilley.
Senior guard Jennifer Baker led KSU with a double-double, leading both teams with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
After a rough bus ride to Chapel Hill to face a talented No. 4-ranked North Carolina squad, the Lady Owls played inspired basketball in the legendary Dean Smith Center before falling 102-68.
The Lady Tar Heels represented the highest ranked team KSU has faced since moving to Division I, but the Lady Owls were not intimidated. After taking an early lead, KSU hung tough for much of the first half before falling behind by 23 at halftime.
Despite the lopsided final score, the Lady Owls feel like they can build on the loss.
“We took a lot out of (the loss) because even though we lost by a good margin, we played hard,” declared star forward Britteny Henderson. “We played with pride. We showed that we can compete with them. It was good to play them to see how we compete with the top teams.”
Motivation was not hard to come by against the Lady Tar Heels, as the Dean Dome was filled with some boisterous UNC fans.
“The UNC crowd probably motivated us more (than other crowds),” said Henderson. “A lot of them were like ‘Who is Kennesaw? Where’s Kennesaw?’ That made us want to make our name. This is who we are. This is where we’re from. This is what we can do.”
The Lady Owls will take on metro Atlanta rival Georgia Tech on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The two teams clashed last year in Atlanta at the Georgia Tech Holiday Classic, when the Lady Yellow Jackets claimed an 83-68 win.
“I think it’s going to be good for basketball at Kennesaw State in that Georgia Tech will play us,” explained coach Tilley. “They don’t have to play Kennesaw State but they chose to because of the closeness of the two universities. I think it’s good for our program that people get the chance to see us play Georgia Tech and schools like that in the ACC. It’s good for our fanbase to get a chance to go 20 miles down the road and watch us play against Tech.”
Black can be reached at sblack@scoreatl.com.
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