In a clash between the preseason top two in the A-Sun, KSU was edged 79-78 by a resilient East Tennessee State squad at the Convocation Center Thursday night.
Turnovers were the culprit for the Lady Owls during the overtime period as ETSU took a four-point lead in the final seconds. However, freshman guard Angie Smith nailed a clutch three to bring the Lady Owls to within one with five seconds left. ETSU’s Tamara Davis then missed two free throws, but ETSU was able to corral the rebound to seal the hard-fought game. Several exhausted and demoralized Lady Owls lay on the floor, head-in-hands as they realized the opportunity that had just slipped through their fingers. But the team realized it can compete with the best in the Atlantic Sun.
“Supposedly, we were the number one and two teams in the preseason, and how much closer can you get?” asked Tilley. “Hopefully, it lets our players know that we can play with them and when you can play with a team like East Tennessee State, we can play with anybody on our schedule. But if we don’t do the little things we need to do, it’s not going to make any difference.”
The Lady Owls led early on, but were besieged by two major runs by the Lady Buccaneers midway through the first half. ETSU surged after runs of 10-0 and 7-0 to take a 46-32 lead to the locker room. The Lady Owls had led until the nine-minute mark when ETSU took a 27-21 lead after a 10-0 run which was sparked by two 3-pointers by Lady Buc star Siarre Evans.
Then, ETSU extended its lead to double-digits with a 7-0 run that peaked on an Evans lay-in at the 4:50 mark. The visitors kept the lead until two Angie Smith free throws gave the Lady Owls a 64-63 lead. It was their first since the 9:14 mark of the first half. The black-and-gold run culminated with an 8-0 run with a Britteny Henderson jumper to give the team a 68-63 lead with 3:47 left. It was their largest lead of the game.
Smith keyed the second-half rally with 13 points and several key defensive plays. The freshman played big in her first truly big game.
“It built our confidence very well,” declared Smith. “Of course a one-versus-two matchup is always going to be intense. Unfortunately, we came out with the loss, but now we can go (to ETSU) with a little bit more confidence.”
ETSU scrapped for the overtime win by hustling for 29 offensive rebounds and causing 24 KSU turnovers.
“They just wanted it worse than we did,” said a frustrated Tilley. “Why? I don’t know. They just wanted it more.”
Despite the loss, an encouraging sign for the Lady Owls was how they fought back from a 15-point deficit in the second half to re-take the lead. KSU held the defending A-Sun champions and preseason conference No. 1 Lady Bucs to just six field goals and a 20-percent field goal percentage in the second half. Meanwhile, KSU was able to shoot 54 percent in the second stanza and outscore ETSU 38-24.
“I think we just turned up the intensity,” explained Tilley. “We made some defensive adjustments on who was guarding who. So I think that made them take a lot more time in getting shots off and they didn’t shoot it very well in the second half.”
Smith led KSU with 18 points while junior guard Greteya Kelly notched 17. Henderson controlled the paint for the Lady Owls with 10 points, eight crucial rebounds and two blocked shots before leaving the game with an apparent head injury just before overtime.
Next stop for the 3-5 Lady Owls is a trip to Farmville, Va., to take on the Longwood Lady Lancers (4-5) on Dec. 21. The two teams have one previous meeting, an 80-63 KSU win in 2006-07. The game will be the start of a five-game road trip that features three A-Sun games as well as a trip to Clemson to take on the Lady Tigers.
Black can be reached at sblack@scoreatl.com.
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