VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State Lady Blazers delivered their fourth consecutive home victory with a big 77-67 Gulf South Conference win over the rival Lady Hawks of Shorter on Thursday night at The Complex in Valdosta, Ga.
The win allowed VSU to advance their overall team record to 10-9 and 6-8 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Lady Hawks dropped to 12-6 overall and 9-5 in GSC play.
The Lady Blazers shined in the first half as they accumulated a nine point advantage over Shorter, which highlighted a 46.2 shooting percentage from the field, 45.5 percentage from the three-point range, and a 90.0 percent average at the free-throw line.
The Lady Hawks fed off of Shakierya McClendon, who posted 11 points in the first half. The Lady Blazers used a team effort, however, to clinch 23 points in the second quarter compared to Shorter's 12, and
Aaliyah Cheatham buried a three ball at the halftime buzzer to give VSU a 38-29 lead at the break.
Cheatham proved to be an offensive threat the entire night for the Lady Blazers. During the third frame, she captured eight of Valdosta State's 17 points in the quarter. The Lady Hawks looked to Taylor Adams for an answer, and the senior responded with five rebounds and seven points in attempt to cut VSU's lead to 11.
The Lady Blazers used the efforts of Cheatham and
Madi Mitchell down the stretch, who teamed up to score 27 of VSU's 39 second half points. Eight of those points for Cheatham came in the final period and consisted of two layups and four free-throws to put pressure on the Lady Hawks. Meanwhile, Mitchell scored nine of her 11 points in the second half. As a team, Valdosta State closed out the second half by shooting 12-of-26 from the field and 14-of-16 from the line.
For VSU, Cheatham displayed a stellar performance overall, as she set a new career mark with 23 points scored.
Lydia Harvey also proved to be effective with 16 points in the game on 4-of-7 shooting, all of which were threes.
For Shorter, McClendon finished the night with a team high of 26 points, while Adams contributed a solid double-double performance with 17 points and 19 rebounds. The rest of the Lady Hawks were shut down by the Lady Blazer defense, who did not allow another player to score more than six points.
Valdosta State will return to The Complex on Saturday for a GSC matchup against the Lady Flames of Lee. Tipoff starts at 2:00 p.m., and the game will mark the Lady Blazers' annual Pink Out event, which will be held in order to raise awareness for breast cancer. In addition, two lucky VSU students in attendance on Saturday will win $1000 courtesy of the Georgia Lottery.
