VALDOSTA, Ga. - The Valdosta State Lady Blazer basketball team helped lift Head Coach
Carley Kuhns to her first collegiate victory in convincing fashion, as VSU took down Albany State 76-53 in the club's season opener on Friday night at The Complex.
"I feel like I didn't even take a breath in that game tonight," said Kuhns after starting her head coaching career with a bang. "You have your expectations of what it's gonna be, and then you get here in front of this crowd. It was definitely a cool feeling."
The Lady Blazers looked polished and confident during the opening frame and were led by
Madi Mitchell on the inside, who picked up several big buckets early to help boost her squad to a 25-point first quarter effort.
"I think we prepared well, and the work these girls have put in during preseason was a testament to our performance tonight," added Kuhns. Our game plan was really just based around playing hard. If we play hard, good things tend to happen, and it's fun for people to watch when kids are diving on the floor, taking charges, being aggressive, and attacking the rim.
Albany State evened up the pace in the second and third quarters, allowing Valdosta State to outscore them by just one point, but the Lady Blazers regrouped on offense in the final frame to score 28 points and put the finishing touches on the impressive outing.
Mitchell scored 18 points for a team-high on the night, 10 of which came in the first half. As a team, the Blazers struggled to find their range with just four three balls in the contest. VSU masked the long range deficiency, however, in other areas, shooting nearly 40.0 percent from inside the perimeter and just under 75.0 percent from the free throw line.
The Lady Blazers dominated the contest in nearly every facet, outscoring ASU 32-18 in the paint, outrebounding the Lady Rams 48-44, and holding the opposition to a paltry 27.5 shooting percentage for the entirety of the contest.
Other top performers included
Jazmyn McIntosh, who swiped five steals to complement seven rebounds and eight points. In addition,
Kenya Samone' Dixon came up just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds and 16 points.
Valdosta State returns to the court on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. matchup against Eckerd.
