Head coach Colby Tilley’s Lady Owls basketball team had a solid season in 2007-08. The Kennesaw State women’s team went 11-5 in the Atlantic Sun conference, finished second place in the conference and saw one of its own win conference Player of the Year honors. Yet Tilley and his squad want more this season.
“Our motivation is to win the regular season (conference championship) so that we can go to the WNIT,” explained the 14th-year head coach.
KSU is ineligible for conference tournament play as well as an NCAA Tournament bid, as the program is in the fourth and final season of transferring to Division 1. The A-Sun coaches and media selected the Lady Owls to finish second behind East Tennessee State this season. If the team wins the conference regular season title or finishes second behind a team selected for the NCAA, the Lady Owls will make the WNIT.
After struggling early on, the KSU seniors have made great strides in four years at the highest level of competition.
“We’ve got these seniors that were here four years ago when we went Division 1 for the first time. We were 5-22 at that point and they’ve grown and matured and now are seniors,” explained Tilley. “They’ve been here and seen our program grow from the worst to perhaps first this year in the A-Sun.”
After opening the season with two easy exhibition win over Emmanuel College and Columbus State, the Lady Owls face a tough early-season schedule that includes trips to Richmond, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Clemson.
“We think (the tough schedule) is good for preparing us for the conference,” declared the veteran coach. “Granted, those ACC teams are much better than we are from a talent standpoint but we have players who grew up wanting to play at places like North Carolina, Clemson and Georgia Tech. And this gives them an opportunity to see what it would’ve been like had they been at that level.”
Helping to carry the Black and Gold through its rough early slate will be reigning Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Britteny Henderson. The senior forward was also the preseason choice to repeat as Player of the Year in 2008-09 after averaging 14.5 points per game and nine rebounds per game. The 5-foot-11 Atlanta native was named to the conference All-Academic team as well.
“She’s the straw that stirs the drink”, said Tilley. “Everything revolves around her in that she’s just a very exciting player, she gets the other players excited, and is just a great athlete. We feed off of her, the players and the coaches both. She can take control of a game and, in a five-, six-, or seven-minute span, we can go from three points down to 13 points ahead basically because of what she does.”
Although the senior forward has been primarily a post player, Henderson has improved her outside game in the offseason.
“Now she’s gotten to the point that she can step out and hit the jump shot. And that’s just added an awful lot to her game,” said her proud coach.
Another key piece to the Lady Owls’ success will be sixth woman Gia Lockett, who scored 22 points in the first exhibition and 19 in the second.
“(She is) probably one of the most intelligent players that I’ve ever coached in the sense that she just finds a way to get open. She loves to back-door people, she sets the defense up and just knows where to be at the right time,” said Tilley.
Lockett may not be coming off the bench for long, however.
“She’s not starting right now, but I can see that changing as time goes on,” declared Tilley.
The team is now preparing for a three-game road trip in which they will face Richmond, North Carolina and Georgia Tech between Nov. 14 and Nov. 19. The Lady Owls will be back in the cozy confines of the KSU Convocation Center for a Nov. 22 game against College of Charleston.
Black can be reached at sblack@scoreatl.com.
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