SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Savannah State women's basketball team dropped their first game of the 2019-20 season on Saturday, falling to Kentucky State 69-73 in Tiger Arena.
 
The Lady Tigers fall to 3-1 on the season and 0-1 in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) play. They face SIAC foe Central State on Monday at 5:30 p.m. in Tiger Arena before heading on the road for a two-game conference run.
 
Kentucky State opened a massive 11-1 lead in the opening quarter as the Lady Tigers struggled to get shots to drop. Late in the quarter though, SSU cut the visitor's lead to five points at the end of the first 10 minutes.
 
SSU tied up the game and quickly took the lead in the opening few minutes of the second quarter behind a 5-0 run. But Kentucky State held close as a back-and-forth scoring effort tied the game three times in the following three minutes.
 
At the 4:41 mark in the second quarter, Le'Andrea Gillis dropped a jump shot to lift SSU to a 27-24 lead, but Deja Antoine answered with a 3-pointer on the following Kentucky State possession to tie it up once again. Gillies came back and nailed a 3-pointer of her own and moments later newcomer Ta'Kyla Austin hit a jump shot to give SSU a 32-27 lead.
 
The Lady Tigers held on to that lead down the stretch behind a strong offensive effort from Gillis and Austin. They led Kentucky State 36-33 at the half.
 
Into the third quarter, the Lady Tigers stretched that lead to eight points. But late in the period Kentucky State cut into it with some quick layups from Ashley Planter and a 3-pointer from Antoine.
 
At the end of three, Kentucky State led 50-49. They carried that momentum into the final quarter, going up by 12 points, 63-51, midway through. Late in the game, SSU cut the visitor's lead to two behind a fast break layup from freshman Amari Heard.
 
With 1:11 on the clock, SSU trailed Kentucky State 69-71. But Allenia Ponder and Camethia Brown each dropped good free-throws and SSU missed a couple of offensive opportunities to settle the final score.
 
The Lady Tigers had five players in double-digits on the night. Freshman Amari Heard earned her third double-double of the season with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Gillis led the entire field in scoring with 17 points, followed by Austin with 15. Azhana Maxwell added 13 and Mia Cooper had a season-high 11 points.
 
Brown led Kentucky State with 15 points on the night followed by Victoria Blankenship (13), Planter (12) and Antoine (10). Kentucky State out-rebounded SSU 39-32, but shot 41.5% to the Lady Tigers 44.4% from the floor. Both teams shot under 30% from beyond the arc.