Category | Sports

Lady Owls fall in season opener

Published on November 17, 2009 by Matt Bradshaw

Sophomore guard Angie Smith scored 17 points and did everything a coach could ask of her but falling behind 22 points after the first half proved too much for the Lady Owls who eventually lost to the Georgia State Panthers 77-52 at the KSU Convocation Center Saturday, Nov. 14.

Panthers Chandra Harris and Danyiell McKeller overwhelmed the Lady Owls with defense from the start of the game. The pair forced several turnovers early in the contest as the Panthers converted 26 points off 19 turnovers in the first half alone.

“Well of course we were disappointed in how we played, we’re a young team and we made a lot of mistakes. We knew what was going to happen against a good team like Georgia State, you can’t afford to make so many mistakes,” head coach Colby Tilley said.

Chandra Harris kept up the blistering Panther pace as the end of the first half neared, but KSU’s guard Smith started answering with her own shots. It appeared a KSU comeback could be in the making if the rest of team adopted the attitude of Smith, who made a pivotal lay up with less than five minutes left in the half.

Smith fought her way to the paint as the crowd counted down the final seconds on the shot clock, the shot was good at the buzzer and for the first time fans at the Convocation Center believed the Owls could win.

“Angie Smith is a very good point guard, she got frustrated cause she just couldn’t get the ball to her teammates, so she put it all on her self and she did some good things, but we’ve got to get all the players involved,” Tilley said.

With 2:37 left on the first-half clock, Smith hit an unbelievable 3-point basket from the sidelines of the Panther bench.

However, the fate of the Owls seemed sealed at the end of the first half as Danyiell McKellar spun away from Owl defenders and capitalized on a buzzer beating fade away jumper.

The second half was far more competitive as the Owls cut their turnovers down to nine. Ashley Holliday came off the bench and scored none points with a steal. Sametria Gideon was also effective coming off the bench scoring six points, grabbing three boards and making a couple of steals. However, the solid bench play was not enough to come back from the deficit created in the first half.

“We had a lot of careless turnovers, we didn’t run plays correctly, we’ve got a long way to go,” Sametria said.

The Lady Owls will contest their second game of the season when Jacksonville State University visits the KSU Convocation Center Nov. 20. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.