Category | Sports

Not your ordinary seniors

Published on February 26, 2008 by The Sentinel

   After the March 1 game against the Mercer Bears, five KSU Lady Owls will have played their last college basketball game.

    Seniors Katie Martin and Jade Robinson, as well as Juniors Nikki Gurley, Stephanie Scearce and Ngoneh Gaye will be out of eligibility following the 2007-08 season.

    In their years here at KSU, they have seen and been through quite a bit, from the jump to Division I, to the bottom of the Atlantic Sun and now competing for the conference championship this year.

    Jade Robinson is a Sports Management major from Orangeburg, South Carolina. This year she has a season total of 42 points and collected 37 rebounds as of Feb. 23. Robinson has helped the Lady Owls tremendously in her career. One her greatest games was during her junior year against Winthrop, where she posted career highs in points, rebounds, assists, and steals.

    Ngoneh Gaye, the redshirt junior out of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, has contributed to the team with 26 points and 22 rebounds in the 15 games she has played this season. Making starts in every year she played for the Owls, Gaye saw some of her best play during the 2006- 07 season, on pace to grab 300 rebounds until a knee injury ended her season after only nine games. Gaye plans to graduate with a degree in Human Studies.

    Redshirt Junior Nikki Gurley, a guard from Blairsville, Ga, has been a huge contributor for the Lady Owls in three of her four years (missed 2006-07 season with knee injury). Averaging five and a half points in 23 games this year, Nikki has done a lot in her years as a Lady Owl. In the 2005-06 season, she led the team in three- pointers with 51 and was second on the team in free throw shooting. She was named to the 2006 Atlantic Sun All- Academic Team, and will graduate with a degree in Sports Marketing.

    True Senior Katie Martin has seen limited action this season. A History Education major from Marietta, Ga, has been a member of the team in all her four years at Kennesaw. A great example of a student- athlete, Katie is a two time Atlantic Sun All- Academic team member as well as a Student Activities Advisory Committee representative and was elected as the A-Sun SAAC Vice President in 2007.

    Last but not least is Stephanie Scearce, a Communications Major from Blue Ridge, Ga. Scearce has had to sit out the entire 2007-08 year after suffering an ACL tear before the season started; she was also redshirted during the 2005-06 season with a knee injury. In the two years she was healthy, Scearce made great contributions to the Lady Owl’s. During her freshman year she started in all but five games, averaging nine points and six boards a game, including an 18 point, 13 rebound showing in her very first game as a Lady Owl. Her junior year was very impressive too, leading the team in rebounds with 192, along with a couple of 20 point performances against tough teams such as Georgia Tech and Belmont. Without the injuries, no one knows what kind of numbers she could have put up in her time here at KSU.

    Its no doubt these five young women have done big things during their college basketball career, and it is safe to say that their accomplishments will carry over into each of their professional lives. These girls have helped build the KSU Lady Owls basketball program into a championship caliber team, and nothing would make them happier than to close out their career with a victory.