Box Score (.pdf)

Kennesaw, Ga. – Jasmine McAllister had 19 points and 19 rebounds to lead the Kennesaw State Owls to a 67-55 victory over USC Upstate Saturday afternoon in A-Sun women's basketball action from the KSU Convocation Center.

Upstate falls to 11-12 overall and 3-5 in the A-Sun, while KSU improves to 15-8 on the season and 4-4 in conference play.

Brittany Clency scored a team-high 13 points for the Spartans while Sharmayne Edwards had 10. Kristen Dickerson recorded nine points off the bench and Mar'Lisa Braxton grabbed a season-high seven rebounds. Maddie Herr was 5-for-6 at the charity stripe and finished with seven points.

McAllister and Kristina Wells both had 19 points to lead the Owls offensively as they had four players finish in double-figures.  McAllister finished the game shooting 9-of-13 from the field and Wells went 11-for-12 at the free-throw line. Deandrea Sawyers added 13 points and nine rebounds and Aareon Smith contributed 10 points.

Kennesaw State led by as many as five in the opening six minutes of the game after a three by Smith gave it an 11-6 lead with 14:16 to go. Dickerson answered two possessions later with a three to cut the Upstate deficit down to two at 11-9. The Spartans would go without a field goal for the next 10 minutes allowing the Owls to build a 25-11 lead following McAllister's layup at the 6:51 mark. During that stretch, Upstate connected on four free-throws by Dickerson, Clency and Travonda Haddock.

The Spartans finished the first half outscoring Kennesaw State 9-4 over the last 3:55 to trail at halftime 29-22. Jefferson scored four of those points to start the run with Herr and Coco Ritter picking up two each. Ritter's layup with 31 seconds remaining put Upstate down seven heading to the break.

Shelby Hicks's three highlighted a 10-2 run for the Spartans to begin the second half. Hicks and Edwards followed each other with triples to trim the Owls lead down to 33-30 less than three minutes into the half. Kennesaw State responded with seven straight points to go back in front 40-30 at the 16:07 mark. Sawyers scored the first five points of the run with a jumper and three while Wells made a pair of free-throws.

After a basket by Edwards made it an eight-point contest, the Owls broke the game open courtesy of a 10-0 run and increased their lead to 50-32 with 11:59 left. Smith gave Kennesaw State its largest lead of the game with 10:22 remaining after her jumper put KSU in front 55-36. The Owls led by double-digits for the next six minutes before Upstate made a late charge.

Herr sank two free-throws to get the Spartans within single digits at 57-48 as part of a quick 6-0 run. The teams traded field goals over the next two minutes as Brittany Starling's layup with 2:52 left put the score at 61-52. Upstate would only be able to get as close as eight in the game's final minute after a free-throw by Clency made the score 63-55. Wells and Karly Frye scored the last four points to give KSU the 67-55 win.

The Spartans finished the game shooting 35.4% (17-of-48) from the field and made 5-of-12 three-pointers for a 41.7% clip. Kennesaw State went 25-of-64 (39.1%) overall.

Upstate continues a three-game road trip Thursday evening when it travels to Jacksonville, Fla. to face North Florida at 7 p.m.

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