Feb. 23, 2009

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - A quartet of players scored in double-figures for Kennesaw State, led by Britteny Henderson's 19, to give the Lady Owls a 69-51 win over Jacksonville State on Monday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum. The win guarantees the Lady Owls a winning season for the second straight year.

Leading 14-13, the Lady Owls began to blow the game open with a 12-2 run through the middle stages of the first half. Gia Lockett sank a free throw then followed her own miss from the charity stripe, grabbing the offensive rebound and putting home a jumper to spark the run. Henderson sank a lay-up after a JSU miss, then following a Gamecocks basket, DeAndrea Bullock drilled her only three-pointer of the night to push the lead to eight. Henderson then scored the next four points to push the score up to 26-15 in favor of the visitors.

KSU (15-12) would maintain an 11-point advantage after 20 minutes, but JSU (7-21) chipped away, cutting the lead to four, 41-37, with over 14 minutes to go in the contest. That's when the Lady Owls turned on the defensive pressure and started scoring baskets again, going on a 12-0 run capped by a Jennifer Baker lay-up with just under nine minutes left to make the score 53-37.

The lead ballooned as high as 21 for the Lady Owls, with JSU scoring the final three points of the game to set the final score at 69-51 in favor of KSU.

Henderson recorded a double-double, adding 11 rebounds to her game-high point total. Montinique Nixon chipped in 13, while Lockett and Baker each added 12. Lockett, starting in place of Greteya Kelley, filled in admirably for the reigning A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year, recording a game-high six steals. Baker continued her solid all-around play with eight rebounds and six assists, giving her averages of 7.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists over her last three games.

KSU shot over 50-percent for the first time all season, hitting on 30-of-59 from the field. The Lady Owls out-rebounded JSU by a 38-27 margin.

Destiny Lane led JSU with 11 points.

The Lady Owls finish off the season winning four of their final five non-conference games and with a 4-5 record in non-conference play. Three of those losses came against Atlantic Coast Conference foes.

KSU will finish off the season with a pair of road games in the Atlantic Sun Conference, starting this Thursday at East Tennessee State.