VALDOSTA, Ga. – In a Saturday night thriller at The Complex, the Christian Brothers Lady Bucs used clutch free throw shooting to claim a narrow 48-47 victory in Gulf South Conference women's basketball action.
 
The Lady Blazers made 23 free throws against just 10 by the Christian Brothers Lady Bucs, but three of those 10 came in the final minute to give CBU the edge.
 
The loss dropped the Lady Blazers to 8-5 overall on the season and 4-3 in GSC play, while the Lady Bucs boosted their season record to 5-8 and improved to 3-4 against league competition.
 
Valdosta State struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the first frame and shot just 6-of-24 from the field for a 25.0 shooting percentage. The Lady Bucs put heavy defensive focus on April Thomas, VSU's leading scorer this season, and held her scoreless throughout the duration of the first half.
 
Meanwhile, Christian Brothers strung together an effective attack on the offensive end with a 40.7 shooting percentage in the first half that allowed the Lady Bucs to take an eight point, 28-21 lead into the halftime break.
 
The early minutes of the second half, however, proved to be a different story, as the Lady Blazers pieced together a 10-3 run in the first five minutes of the second half. The stretch came as a result of a solid defensive effort that allowed VSU to tie the score at 31-31 with 15 minutes to go in regulation.
 
After the drought to begin the second half, CBU bounced back with an impressive mid-range shooting performance, namely by guard Brianna Ridgell. The senior scored eight of her 17 points during a six minute stretch that allowed Christian Brothers to open up a 39-34 advantage with fewer than 10 minutes remaining in the contest.
 
A resilient Lady Blazer squad responded yet again with an 8-2 run that gave Head Coach Kiley Hill's squad their first lead of the game after a Reshaundra Owens layup at the 6:47 mark. CBU proceeded to knot the contest back up at 47-47 with two Ridgell free throws just inside the final minute of regulation before Ridgell was fouled and hit the game winning free throw with just five seconds to go.
 
Ridgell was the top scorer for the Lady Bucs on the night and was supported by Taylor Pugh, who finished the evening with 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field.
 
For the Lady Blazers, Maggie Davis led the way on offense with 16 points while also serving as the top rebounder with eight boards. Seven other Lady Blazers scored at least one point in the contest, but no other player reached double digit figures in the scoring column. Thomas was held to just four points on the night.
 
VSU returns to action on Monday, January 5^th in Valdosta to host the visiting Union Lady Bulldogs at 6:00 p.m..