SAVANNAH, Ga. – Kentucky State women's basketball moves on to the 2024 SIAC Women's Basketball Championship Semifinals after defeating Central State 74-67 Thursday afternoon in Savannah, Georgia.
Gracen Kerr showed why she was SIAC Player of the Year, shooting 100% from the charity stripe along with making five three-pointers and seven shots from the field to lead both teams with 21 points. She also led her team with four assists and one steal.
Taleah Dilworth received her SIAC Second Team Honors and proved why she was deserving making nine free-throws and three shots from the field to score 15 points.
Leading Kentucky State with seven rebounds
Erica Jones almost earned a double double scoring 13 points.
How It Happened
Sydney Thomas scored early on a layup to give Kentucky State an 8-0 lead at the 7:50 mark of the first quarter.
As just seconds remained in the first quarter Kerr scored on a jumper to give the Thorobreds a 25-16 lead at the end of the quarter.
In the second quarter the Thorobreds held the Marauders scoreless for 2:15 and a three-pointer by Thomas gave Kentucky State a 35-24 lead with 5:40 remaining in the quarter.
Dilworth went to the free-throw line at the close of the second quarter and sank two shots, widening Kentucky State's lead to 41-30 at the break.
Four points from
Erica Jones and two from Dilworth led to a 6-1 run and a 54-36 Kentucky State lead at 4:35 in the third quarter.
A three-pointer by Kerr led to a 19 point 57-38 at the 3:44 mark in the third quarter.
Kerr's three-pointer pushed the lead to 19 points, making it 57-38 with 3:44 left in the third quarter.
At 3:12 in the fourth quarter Central State scored in the paint to come within single digits of the 69-62 Kentucky State lead.
Dilworth was sent to the charity stripe with just 15 seconds remaining in regulation and made both of her attempts to secure a 74-67 win over Central State.
Post-Game Quotes
During pregame head coach Amani Williams was presented with her trophy from SIAC Commissioner Anthony Holloman, she said post game. " It means everything to me. When I first started playing basketball, everyone was so infatuated with going to the WNBA and being a professional player, but I always told people I wanted to be a coach. I kind of just soaked in all the information that I kind of got growing up and just used it to my advantage. Coach (Terrance) Slater is a pivotal person in my life. He's a really good mentor to me, so he helps me with a lot of stuff and just playing from him and then being able to be his assistant for the past three years to just learn a lot over the years is just amazing. So I'm so grateful for him to still have it in my corner."
During the game the Thorobreds got up to a 19-point lead in the third quarter and coach Williams said "Our transition, dialing back and just playing half-court deffense with them, we were able to get a lot of stops and then soon as we got the rebound our game plan was to just push it. We were a little bit undersized, so that was kind of to our advantage. So that was kind of just our game plan to just be able to push and run and push the ball. It worked once we got to that 19-point lead, I think they kind of mentally just thought the game was over just because you get so much of a hard lead. I was telling the girls the game's still going on and you have to keep punishing teams as we get deeper and deeper into the conference tournament.
On facing rival Central State Kerr said, "This was an anticipated game because they are rival of ours, so we wanted to extend the lead as much as we can because we knew they would be able to come back if it was a close game. So that's what we did.
With the next game on the Thorobreds mind head coach Williams said, "We are going to fix these turnovers. But besides that, we are going to play hard. Like I told them it's do or die at this point, so you are either going to do it or your not. As a team everyone wrote down their goals that they wanted to win a championship and if we want to win that championship we have to go after it and get it."
Up Next
The Thorobreds will face the winners of Fort Valley State and Albany State on Saturday, March 9 at 12:30 p.m. inside the Tiger Arena in Savannah, Georgia.
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