Albany State women earn first victory of season

ALBANY — You won’t see Kayla Green pouting on the bench when she doesn’t start for the Albany State Lady Rams basketball team.

In fact, the junior seems to relish her new role this season.

The former Crisp County High School standout helped the Lady Rams pull away in the second quarter, sinking a jump shot on a fast break, then drilling a 3-pointer to give ASU an 11-point halftime lead.

Then she provided a crucial 3-pointer from the right win to halt a Lemoyne-Owen run late in the third quarter.

Green finished with 12 points to help Albany State pick up its first victory of the season, a 65-50 win over the Lady Magicians.

“It honestly doesn’t bother me,” Green said of not starting. “Starting is not that important. You just hear your name called, so it’s not that important to me.”

ASU (1-5, 1-0 SIAC) had been improving, but not able to earn its first victory — until Thursday night. The Lady Rams kept Lemoyne-Owen winless at 0-9, 0-1 in conference play.

Albany State women’s coach Robert Skinner thought Green’s play helped tremendously, especially her clutch 3-pointer to make it 51-34 late in the third quarter.

“That was a big run stopper and it helped to keep our pace and keep us in the lead when we needed it,” Skinner said. “Even though she could start, I need bench power, I need somebody who can score points. And she’s pretty much been that person all year.

“I’m really proud of Kayla. She’s shown me that she has a lot of leadership ability and she’s a humble kid. She’s one of the juniors on the team that’s been able to take a back seat and come off the bench and play.”

Albany State led the Lady Magicians’ early in the game when Zuri Frost sank a trey, then Raven Wynn followed with another 3-pointer from the corner to help ASU build a 17-10 advantage.

The Lady Rams matched their largest lead of 11 four times in the first half, then Ashley Johnson’s 3-pointer to open the third quarter made it 38-24. But Lemoyne-Owen responded with an 8-2 run to pull within eight.

However, Frost drained the second of her two 3-pointers in the game, and the Lady Magicians couldn’t get any closer.

Albany State shot 39 percent (27 of 69) from the floor, while holding Lemoyne-Owen to 30 percent shooting (19 of 64).

The Lady Rams did shoot 47 percent (9 of 19) from 3-point range. Frost, Wynn and Green finished with two apiece.

“I thought it was a great week of practice,” Skinner said. “Our execution on offense was much better tonight. Defensively, we didn’t do as well as I wanted to, but we didn’t have to play zone, we were able to play man the whole game which is something that was really encouraging to me. I felt good about it.”

Johnson led Albany State with 13, while Frost and Green finished with 12 points apiece. Uche Ibebunjo and Wynn scored eight points each.

Green was happy to help the team get its first win of the season.

“It takes a lot of stress off of us because it’s been kind of hard,” she said. “We’ve been close, getting closer and closer. We’re just working hard and we pulled it off. It makes it a lot more easier because now that we’ve got a win, we just have to keep it up.”

The Lady Rams will play at Georgia College at 2 p.m. on Saturday, then play at Columbus State on Dec. 10 before returning to the HPER Gym to play Georgia Southwestern on Dec. 10.