VALDOSTA, Ga. - The Valdosta State Lady Blazers look to salvage an arduous road trip on Saturday afternoon in Clinton, Miss. when the team takes on the Lady Choctaws of Mississippi College for one final contest before the holiday break.
In each of the two teams' games on Thursday night, the second half proved to be a deciding factor, although VSU's outcome was not as favorable as that of the Lady Choctaws.
While Valdosta State (7-4, 3-2 GSC) saw a two-point halftime lead slip away to Delta State in Cleveland, Miss., Mississippi College (6-3, 2-3 GSC) managed to overcome a 16-point deficit to the West Florida Argonauts. The Lady Choctaws' 35 second half points helped the team claim a 56-55 win against the defending GSC champs and the league's top team during this 2014-15 season.
Valdosta State will aim to keep their winning GSC record intact with a win on Saturday afternoon, and in order to do so, Head Coach
Kiley Hill's squad will need to slow the attack of both Ashley Minor and Kristen Sampson, who represent the top two scorers for the Lady Choctaws with averages of 11.8 and 11.6 points per game, respectively.
In order to pick up the road split, the Lady Blazers will also need a strong bounce back effort from
April Thomas, the team's leading scorer this season and the Gulf South Conference's 12th best scorer in terms of points per game average. The senior guard joins
Imari Simpson among the league's top 15 scorers with an average of 13.0 points per game. Simpson ranks just below Thomas with 12.6 points per game.
In Thursday night's loss to the Lady Statesmen, Thomas was held to just one three pointer in the contest, which marked her only points of the game. It was just the fourth time in her career that Thomas was held to fewer than four points in a single game.
If the Lady Blazers can match their first half shooting display from Thursday night, Blazer Nation will have plenty of reasons to celebrate. VSU shot 12-of-21 for an average of 57.1 percent in the frame and connected on 5-of-7 from long distance for a 71.4 percentage. Against conference opponents on the year, Valdosta State tops the league with a 31-of-70, 44.3 shooting percentage from beyond the arc.
Mississippi College is a strong rebounding team, and their 41.9 rebounds per game place them third in the Gulf South Conference, just behind West Georgia's average of 42.3 per contest. Head Coach Paul Allen Duke's team averages 30.0 defensive rebounds per game, which ranks 2nd in the GSC in the category.
Lady Blazer basketball fans who can't make it to Saturday's 3:00 p.m. EST contest can follow all of the action live via the links below or by visiting www.vstateblazers.com. Information regarding Lady Blazer basketball and Blazer Athletics will also be provided regularly throughout the 2014-15 season on Twitter. Follow us by searching for the handle @BlazerAthletics.
