The Kennesaw State women’s basketball team faced off with Furman University for an exciting non-conference game. Coming into the matchup, the KSU Owls were 2-6 versus the 5-4 Paladins. Senior Amani Johnson was a key player in Kennesaw’s last game, and was still relied on in this win.
From the first quarter, both teams played very competitively. Alexis Poole racked up 9 points of the 14 scored by the Owls in the first quarter. Poole flexed her muscles, and proved why she had been selected for ASUN’s Preseason All-Conference Team. The score going into the second quarter was 17-14, in favor of Furman.
The second quarter was pretty slow for both teams, but the Paladins were pulling out ahead. The Owls allowed too many missed baskets, and went into the half break with a score of 31-25.
Furman continued to outscore Kennesaw State in the third quarter, and this added up to a score of 41-31 going into the final regulated period of the match. A fire was lit under these Owls, and they turned their performance around. After making a few more baskets and adding on two more treys, Kennesaw was in the lead. The energy on both teams to finish out the game with a win was definitely there.
It was not looking good for KSU after they were down by 3 with 7 seconds on the clock right after Johnson had missed a 3-point attempt. However, Poole rebounded Johnson’s ball, and gave her co-captain another chance, and right when the buzzer went off, Johnson made it, and sent the Paladins and Owls into overtime.
Both teams went into the fifth period of intensity fired up, but the women of Furman may have been too intense. This is because Kennesaw State racked up most of their points from free throws after being fouled. 11 of the 13 points scored by the Owls in overtime were free throws, and this sealed the deal. Kennesaw State earned their victory over Furman University with a final score of 70-59. The Owls will be back at home on December 17th after a short break to go head-to-head against Georgia Southern!