Tuesday, October 30, 2007

12 Days of A-Sun Basketball previews Kennesaw State, one of the most improved teams in the Atlantic Sun from 2005-06 to 2006-07. The Owls improved to 13 wins from 5 in 2005-06. The Owls had not experienced such a jump since improving by 10 wins in 1998-99 from 18 the previous season.

Head coach Colby Tilley enters his 32nd season of college coaching with 677 coaching victories, tops among the 12 coaches in the A-Sun.

The Owls will have to get over the loss of leading scorer Rosetta Hollis. As a freshman she averaged 13.5 ppg, 4th in the A-Sun, and tops among conference freshman. She withdrew from school in the fall of 2007.

Coach Colby Tilley on the Owls

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Roster

Schedule

2006-07 Statistics

SEASON PREVIEW - (Courtesy Kennesaw State Media Relations)

Now in its third year of play in Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference the Kennesaw State women’s basketball team looks to take the next step by winning the conference regular season title. The 2007-08 squad returns nine letter-winners from last year’s squad that more than doubled its win total from the previous season, despite a bevy of season-ending injuries that hampered the Lady Owls down the stretch.

Four newcomers and redshirts and new assistant coach Teresa Brown will bring a higher level of excitement and skills to a team already loaded with the talent and enthusiasm needed to push KSU to the next level. While last season was a drastic improvement from the previous, head coach Colby Tilley is realistic about how far his team has come and the steps that this year’s team will need to take to become one of the elite programs in the A-Sun.

“I expect us to be even better than last season,” said a motivated Tilley. “While we are making a steady improvement and getting the players we want, we still have a lot of work to do to get where we want to be.”

The Lady Owls will look to its upperclassmen to carry much of the load in 2007-08. With the return of All-Atlantic Conference Second Team honoree Jennifer Baker, as well as junior guards Nikki Gurley and Jade Robinson, KSU will have the leadership it has lacked in recent years as the Lady Owls look to show they can be a force to be reckoned with in the A-Sun this season.

Frontcourt

Last season Tilley and his staff thought they had finally found the mix of players needed to “bang with the bigs” in the A-Sun. However, the Lady Owls took a serious hit in the frontcourt over the off-season when the team learned it would be without two of the top rebounders and scorers from last season.

All-Atlantic Sun Freshman Team recipient and last year’s leading scorer, Rosetta Hollis, chose not to return to the team just a few weeks before the start of school. Just when it looked like things couldn’t get worse, senior Stephanie Scearce once again went down in practice, tearing her ACL yet again and effectively ending her basketball career.

Therefore, KSU will rely heavily on the play of Ngoneh Gaye, who returns after playing just nine games in ’06-’07 due to a knee injury. The 6-0 forward was having a marvelous sophomore campaign, as the Pawtucket, R.I. native was averaging 9.4 points and a team-high 10.3 rebounds a game prior to her injury. While her rehab has gone a bit slower than expected, Gaye should be ready to go by season’s start.

Helping Gaye in the post are sophomores Montinique Nixon and DeAndrea Bullock. Nixon returns for her second year after scoring 3.4 points and grabbing 4.9 boards per contest last season. The coaching staff will once again look to her to take advantage of opponents by plugging up the middle and making teams think twice about coming in the lane because of her great shot blocking abilities.

Bullock saw action in all 29 games last season and averaged 6.2 points and 3.4 rebounds a game during her freshman campaign. She will play more inside this season after being used primarily as a shooting guard last year.

Coach Tilley believes he has struck gold, so to speak, with the addition of junior college transfer Britteny Henderson. Last season, the 5-11 forward helped Georgia Perimeter to the national tournament as she averaged 14.6 points and 9.3 rebounds while leading GPC to a 26-7 record and an undefeated mark in the GJCAA. Henderson played her freshman season at Bevill State, where she was a first team all-region selection as well as being named the team's Most Valuable Player.

"Britteny is the kind of post player we like to have in our program," said Tilley. "She is very strong, can run the floor well, can score and defend and is very good at creating her own shot."

Backcourt

Once again, Kennesaw State appears to be a bit top-heavy in the backcourt positions in 2007-08. The Lady Owls will have a talented group of guards with tremendous athletic ability, experience and versatility.

Any discussion of the Lady Owls guard corps must begin with junior Jennifer Baker. The 5-9 Soperton, Ga. native is coming of a sophomore campaign that saw her average 11.7 points and 3.1 assists last season en route to being named an All-Conference Second Team selection. Her ball-handling skills and ability to spot up from anywhere on the court with allow Baker to play both the point and shooting guard position.

Senior Jade Robinson provides leadership both on and off the court for KSU and will be relied upon heavily to help carry the Lady Owls on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. A native of Orangeburg, S.C., Robinson has worked extremely hard in the off-season and will look to improve upon her 8.8 points per game average last season.

Redshirt junior Nikki Gurley is perhaps more excited for the start of the season than anyone else in a Lady Owls uniform. After being forced to missed the entire ’06-’07 schedule will a torn ACL, the 5-6 Blairsville, Ga. star will look to return to the form that saw her finish fifth in the A-Sun with 1.89 three-point field goals a game in 2005-06. Gurley, who scored 7.6 points per contest as a sophomore, has the awareness to dish off the ball to any team. Her hustle is what was most missed last season, as she is unafraid to give up her small frame for any loose ball.

Unable to do so in past few years, the Lady Owls will be able to play the run-and-gun style of typical Tilley teams thanks to juniors Ashley and Lennisha Johnson as well as redshirt sophomore Greteya Kelley.

Ashley Johnson is back for her third year after posting 5.6 points and 3.8 assists a game last season. Being hampered by nagging injuries for much of the year, the Riverdale, Ga. native has something to prove this season as she will battle Kelley for the starting role.

A transfer from Coffeyville Community College in Kansas, Lennisha Johnson was second on the team in assists last season and shot 48 percent from the floor as she helped lead the Ravens to a 29-5 record and the KJCCC Eastern Conference Championship.

"Lennisha is a talented point guard who pushes the ball extremely well," said Tilley. "She will have an impact on our lineup immediately and her quickness will help our team to dictate the tempo on both ends of the floor."

Greteya Kelley may very well be the most talented of the bunch despite sitting out last year after transferring from Appalachian State. In 2005-06 she was named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year and averaged 9.9 points in 28 games played, including a career-high 22 points in ASU's win over Wofford and a team-high 17 points in the Mountaineers’ game at nationally-ranked Maryland.

Add to the mix, Gia Lockett, Katie Martin and JoeDonna Molden and it’s easy to see why the Lady Owls will have one of the deepest backcourts in the conference if not the nation.

Schedule

The 2007-08 schedule will see the Lady Owls play some of the biggest and best of women’s college basketball during the non-conference slate, in addition to the usual Atlantic Sun ledger. After an exhibition game against Oglethorpe, the Lady Owls open the regular season with four straight home contests, beginning with Jacksonville State on November 9. Match-ups against Richmond, Presbyterian and Troy will close out the homestand just before the Thanksgiving Holiday break.

For this year’s break, the Lady Owls will travel to Lubbock, Texas to take part in the Travelers Classic hosted by Texas Tech on November 22-24. In addition to facing the Red Raiders, KSU will face-off with Alcorn State and Idaho State, before returning home for a December 1 showdown with Austin Peay. The Lady Owls will hit the road for a pair of contests in Charleston, S.C. to take on the College of Charleston on December 12 and Charleston Southern two days later.

KSU is pleased to take part in the annual Georgia Tech Holiday Invitational on December 29-30 and will square off against the likes of Harvard, Chicago State and the host Yellow Jackets. The new year begins with KSU opening with three straight home A-Sun contests against Mercer (January 5), North Florida (January 12) and conference preseason favorite Jacksonville (January 14). Visits to Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson are next on the docket, followed by home games versus Lipscomb and Belmont to round out the month of January.

February starts with the Lady Owls on the road at East Tennessee State and A-Sun newcomer USC Upstate before returning home for a match-up with Gardner-Webb on February 9. After a quick trip to Campbell, KSU comes back to campus for the final two home games of the season against FGCU and Stetson. The Lady Owls will close out their third year in the A-Sun with trips to Jacksonville and North Florida, before ending the season on March 1 at Mercer.

12 Days of A-Sun Basketball Schedule
Oct. 22 - Belmont
Oct. 23 - Campbell
Oct. 24 - ETSU
Oct. 25 - Florida Gulf Coast
Oct. 26 - Gardner-Webb
Oct. 29 - Jacksonville
Oct. 30 - Kennesaw State
Oct. 31 - Lipscomb
Nov. 1 - Mercer
Nov. 2 - UNF
Nov. 5 - USC Upstate
Nov. 6 - Stetson