Women's Basketball 2/17/2014 9:19:00 PM

Seniors Lead Women’s Basketball Past N.C. Central

Box Score
SAVANNAH, Ga. – Senior's Ezinne Kalu and Jasmine Kirkland put up 15 points each to lead the Savannah State Lady Tigers past North Carolina Central, 60-53, in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game in Tiger Arena on Monday evening.

Kirkland went 4-for-7 from the field and 7-for-8 from the charity strip, while Kalu went 6-for-15 from the field and 2-for-5 from the free-throw line. Kalu added a single 3-pointer to her stats. Freshman Kenyata Hendrix joined the seniors in double-digits with 12 points.

Kalu leads the team with 401 points (16.0 average), followed by Kirkland with 259 (10.0 avg.)

The win lifted SSU to a 15-11 overall record, tying the 2010-11 season record, the best in the program's Division I history. The Lady Tigers improve to 8-4 in the MEAC and stay in 4^th place in the overall standings.

The Lady Eagles were led by Jessica Freeman and Racquel Davis. Freeman scored 20 points, while Davis tacked on 15. NCCU falls to 9-16 overall and 4-8 in the conference.

SSU opened the game with an 8-2 run that was capped by a 3-pointer from Bria Dorsey with 14:38 to play. The Lady Eagles bounced back with a 5-0 run to cut SSU's lead to 8-7, a minute later.

The Lady Tigers went up by double-digits, 17-7, behind a 10-0 run in the subsequent four minutes. But the Lady Eagles again responded with their own run. With 7:05 to play in the opening half, Morgan Jones got the visitors within a single point, 18-19, of SSU's lead behind a jump shot.

Freeman tied the game up at 23 with 1:52 to play, and lifted NCCU to their first lead of the half behind a layup with 56 seconds to play.

Kirkland drained a jump shot and Hendrix sank a layup in the final seconds to send SSU to the locker room with a 27-25 lead. The Lady Tigers are now 14-3 when leading at the half.

Both teams had a slow start to the second half. With 13:09 on the clock, Jasmine Norman drained a layup to lift SSU to a 39-32 advantage. The Lady Eagles tied the game up three minutes later behind a good free-throw from Tisha Dixon.

The Lady Tigers took control with a 12-2 run down the stretch, capped by a layup from Norman. With 2:31 to play, the Lady Tigers took their largest lead of the game, 55-42, on a layup from Hendrix.

Central failed to recover from the late run from SSU. Dixon tacked on two free-throws with four seconds to play for the final score.

Both teams shot under 40 percent from the field in the contest. NCCU outrebounded the Lady Tigers 47-31.

SSU hits the road for a three-game road stretch. They play South Carolina State on February 22, North Carolina A&T on March 1 and North Carolina Central on March 3. They return home for their final game of the season against S.C. State on March 6.

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