VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State Lady Blazers recorded their second straight Gulf South Conference win on Thursday night at The Complex in Valdosta, Ga. after a strong 62-53 win over the rival Chargers of Alabama-Huntsville.
 
"I thought this was a tremendous team effort tonight," said Head Coach Kiley Hill following the victory, which improved the Lady Blazers to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in league action. "We had some players step up. Jo Bistrow was outstanding, Maggie Davis did so many little things that added up over the course of the game, and I thought Imari Simpson played one of her best games. Our younger players, who have been carrying us these last few games, didn't play quite as well tonight, but we had some other players step up, which was huge for our basketball team."
 
Alabama-Huntsville entered the contest on the heels of a strong win at West Florida on Thursday night, but fell to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the GSC after failing to solve the Lady Blazers' strong offensive rebounding effort, which resulted in 15 second-chance points on the night.
 
Valdosta State didn't shoot as well as they did in Thursday night's win over North Alabama, but Bistrow and Simpson teamed up for 17 and 11 points, respectively, which added up to 28 points off the bench for VSU. In contrast, the Chargers' bench did not score a point in the contest.
 
The game remained tight throughout the first half with five ties and nine lead changes, but a pair of point-blank buckets by Bistrow late in the second quarter allowed VSU to open up a 25-22 lead at halftime.
 
UAH's Josi Sounders, who led the Chargers with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, opened up the third quarter with a three ball to knot the game up at 25-25, and Halle Jarnagin added a layup less than one minute later to give Alabama-Huntsville a 27-25 lead. Neither team scored for the next two minutes, but Lydia Harvey broke the trend at the 6:37 mark with a three-pointer to put VSU back in front by one. The two teams traded baskets over the next two minutes, before freshman Maddy Corazza connected from long range to give Valdosta State a 33-30 lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of the night.
 
Bistrow finished the night with a career-high 17 points after shooting 6-of-12 from the field and 4-of-9 from the three-point line. The performance marked the sophomore's second straight double-digit scoring effort and boosted her points per game total to 6.0 on the year.
 
"Any time you can get a conference win in this league, it's massive," added Hill. "So far, we've had a great opportunity to build the confidence of a young team, and we've shown the ability to figure out ways to win. We're not world-beaters right now, but we're very competitive."
 
The Blazers take to the road for their next two matchups against Lee in Cleveland, Tenn. on December 10^th and Shorter in Rome, Ga. on December 12^th. Be sure to follow the team on the road via live coverage, always available right here at www.vstateblazers.com.