On the strength of a career-high by Gia Lockett, the Kennesaw State women’s basketball team cruised to an 82-61 victory tonight against Georgia Southern at the Convocation Center. Lockett surpassed her career-high with 2:13 left in the first half as she connected for her 20th point.
“I really actually didn’t even know that,” said a humble Lockett. “You know, it’s hard to keep up with points while you’re playing so I really just went out there and kept doing what I was doing. I really didn’t even know how many points I had.”
The junior guard from Snellville finished the game with 36 points, easily surpassing her previous high of 18 which had been set last season. Lockett scored 22 this season in an exhibition versus Emmanuel College. The 36 points scored are the most by a KSU player since moving to Division I play four years ago.
“I hadn’t really been shooting well this year, but I came out and hit the first shot and I was feeling good,” explained Lockett. “And I took another one and I hit it. Coach Tilley told us in a timeout to keep trying to get me the ball because I had the hot hand so I just kept shooting it.
Despite the overwhelming 23-point victory, KSU did not grab its first lead of the game until 10:48 of the first half. Southern actually led 12-6 with 13:11 remaining in the half.
However, Lockett caught fire and scored 24 points in a span of 12 minutes as the Black and Gold took a commanding 42-21 halftime lead. The sharp-shooting guard hit five 3-pointers during that stretch.
“You know in basketball, when a shooter gets on a roll, it doesn’t matter—you try to guard her, put two people on her, they just are able to get loose, get open for shots and they make shots with people all over them and this was Gia Lockett’s night,” declared a proud coach Colby Tilley. “And thank goodness for that because she really got that lead for us in the first half.”
The Lady Owls played well defensively, causing 21 turnovers and nabbing 14 steals. After falling behind 12-6 with 13:11 left in the first half, KSU allowed just nine more points in the period. Then, early in the second half, the Lady Owls poured it on some more by extending their lead to 30 points at 69-39 with 12:25 remaining in the game. KSU had allowed just 27 points in over 21 minutes of action, mostly by causing turnovers and converting them into points. The Lady Owls scored 28 points off of turnovers.
“The thing I like is we’re gaining confidence in what we’re doing,” explained Tilley. “When you gain that confidence, you just play better. You do things that you normally wouldn’t do. You take chances that you wouldn’t normally take. And we try to tell our team that, defensively, we want them to take chances. It may be the best team that I’ve coached here, defensively.”
The Lady Owls have now won three straight after dropping four in a row to start the season. On Thursday, they will host the Atlantic Sun preseason No. 1 team in the East Tennessee State Lady Buccaneers. The Lady Owls were picked preseason No. 2 in the conference.
“Preseason one, preseason two going after it this early in the season, and I don’t know how it will come out, but we’re playing well right now,” said Tilley.
Tip-off Thursday night at the Convocation Center will be at 7 p.m.
Black can be reached at sblack@scoreatl.com.
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