By: KSU Sports Information
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KENNESAW, Ga. – The No. 5 seeded Kennesaw State women’s basketball team is ready to makes its postseason run on Thursday as it takes on No. 4 North Florida in the first round of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament in Macon, Ga. Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m.
The Lady Owls (13-16, 8-10 A-Sun) go into Thursday’s matchup against the Ospreys with a chance to do something it has never done in program history and that is to get a win in the A-Sun Tournament. KSU has an all-time program record of 0-2 in the tournament as it fell to Belmont, 70-65, in its first appearance during the 2009-10 season, and it also lost last season to Stetson, 65-47.
The 13 overall wins are the most for KSU since the 2008-09 season, and the No. 5 seed ties the highest seed it has ever achieved in the A-Sun Tournament with the 2009-10 team who has also the No. 5 seed.
With that in mind head coach
Colby Tilley knows what his team is capable of and if they play the way he knows they can the Lady Owls can surprise a lot of people down in Macon.
“Our players know that today marks the start of a new season and they are excited about the opportunity to achieve our goal that we set at the beginning of the season which is to win a conference championship,” coach Tilley said. “They are all anxious and have been working hard all week, but I know that if we play up to our abilities that we have a really good shot at this thing.”
Looking at KSU’s first round opponent in North Florida (13-16, 10-8 A-Sun) one thing that has really hurt Kennesaw State during both its losses to the Ospreys this season has been inconsistency on the offensive end of the floor. KSU fell at home to UNF in their first meeting, 66-57, on Jan. 19, and it also couldn’t dig itself out of a hole in Jacksonville falling, 64-56, on Feb. 18.
The Lady Owls are only shooting a combined 33.5 percent from the field in their two games against North Florida this season, compared to just under 39 percent against the rest of their opponents. One person who hasn’t struggled against the Ospreys this season is A-Sun All-Freshman guard
Kristina Wells who is averaging 12.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals against them.
Only two players on Kennesaw State’s active roster have more than one game of postseason experience and they are junior forwards
Lisa Capellan and
Sametria Gideon. Gideon has stepped up her play in those two contests averaging 11.0 ppg and 9.5 rpg in postseason play.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and live audio will be available via KSU All-Access.
