Box Score MONTGOMERY—Ashley Holliday led a trio of Kennesaw State double-digit scorers with 17 points as the visiting Owls defeated Alabama State 61-51 in the Lady Hornets final preconference basketball game.
 
Holliday completed a double-double with 10 rebounds and Taylor Mills added 13 points and Lisa Camellan added 10 in the win.
 
KSU was able to have runs to both end the first half and the second half to help pull out the win.  A Brittney Smith free throw with 4:39 left in the game cut the KSU lead to 48-47, but that would be as close as ASU would get as KSU would out score ASU 13-4 down the stretch to account for the final score.
 
Holliday started the run with a three-pointer to push the lead back out to 51-47.  Mills would then add a field goal and Elaina Gray would add a free throw and the lead was 54-47 with 3:11 left.
 
ASU would cut the lead to 54-50 on Kierra Page's three with 2:44, but KSU put the game away with seven free throws to end any thoughts of an ASU comeback.
 
“We played hard but we did not play smart,” head coach Freda Freeman-Jackson said.  “Every time we got in there and would cut the lead to two or three points we would make a bad mistake on defense.  We would scramble and play hard, but we would leave a three point shooter open and she hit the three and now we are down even more.  That is the way it went the last two or three minutes of the game.”
 
Quentori Alford and Tamara Wadlington had 12 points each and Alford completed a double-double with a game-high 15 rebounds.  Smith ended the game with nine points and 12 rebounds.
 
The first half ended much led the game as the Owls were holding a 19-18 lead and were able to outscore the Lady Hornets 10-1 over the final 4:34 of the opening stanza to go into the locker room with the 29-19 lead.  Eight of those points came via the free throw as KSU was able to get to the free throw line 20 times in the first half, knocking down 13 of those.
 
Neither team shot the ball well in the first half with the visitors only shooting 25.9 percent (7-27) and ASU shooting 21.2 percent (7-33) from the field.  The difference in the halftime score being the free throw discrepancy were ASU only hit three of their seven attempts, being outscored 13-3 at the charity stripe.
 
Holliday led the first half scoring for KSU with 10 points and also had eight rebounds as KSU was able to out rebound ASU 28-25.
 
Alford led ASU with six first-half points and eight rebounds and Henderson came off the bench to add five points.
 
ASU finishes the preconference schedule at 3-6 while KSU moves to 6-7.
 
“Every game we have played with the exception of the ACC and SEC schools was a great learning experience for us because of the level of play we were playing and we know the level of play we have to have against the SWAC” Freeman-Jackson said.  “We have been in every ball game with the exception of two so every game we have been learning different things in different situations and now we have to learn how to finish games.”
 
“We are doing a lot of good things but we have a young ball club and we are going to have the tendency to make some mistakes that you just have to live with.  We also have three potential starters out (Millicent Jones, Jasmine Quinn and Brittney Howard) and we have girls trying to get healthy and be ok when SWAC time comes.”
 
The Lady Hornets will jump into Southwestern Athletic Conference action on Tuesday, Jan. 3^rd at Grambling State University.  The opening tip has been set for 5:30 p.m.