TAMPA, Fla. - A late push came up just short for the Valdosta State women's basketball team, as the Tampa Spartans took down the Lady Blazers 59-54 in regional action on Wednesday night in Tampa, Fla.
After a tight first quarter, Tampa used a strong offensive effort to pull away throughout the second quarter. The Spartans saw six different players contribute with points scored during a 6-of-14 effort from the field. Meanwhile, Valdosta State suffered a drought that produced just seven second-quarter points, which resulted in a 32-20 deficit at the half.
In the second half, Tampa raced out to an 18-point lead with an 8-2 run during the first three minutes of the third quarter. From that moment forward, however, the Lady Blazers turned up the heat on defense and allowed UT just two points during the final seven minutes of the frame. During that same stretch, VSU poured in 13 points to trim the Spartan's lead to 42-35 at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was more of the same, as the VSU defense held Tampa to just two field goals throughout the entire fourth quarter. The difference came at the free throw line, however, as the Spartans managed to negate the Lady Blazers' 19 fourth-quarter points with 12 points on 18 free throw attempts. Valdosta State pulled to within one at 51-50 with just over one minute to go, but the Spartans shot 28 free throws against just 10 for the Lady Blazers throughout entirety of the game, and UT capitalized on the abundance of free throw shots down the stretch to avoid concession of the slim lead.
In the contest, Valdosta State shot below 30 percent for just the second time this season.
Kenya Samone' Dixon and
Madi Mitchell both produced double-doubles on the night, but the Tampa defense zeroed in on Mitchell and allowed the senior just four buckets on 16 attempts. The Spartans didn't fare much better offensively, but VSU's opponent eclipsed the 30 percent mark by a slight margin with a 17-of-51, 33.3 percent shooting effort from the field.
Molly Franson did the most damage offensively for the Spartans with 20 points and eight rebounds. Meanwhile, Karma Jeremie delivered 15 points on a 4-of-12 performance and added 10 rebounds to score a double-double.
With the loss, the Spartans improved to 8-1 overall. The Lady Blazers fell to 4-3 on the season.
Valdosta State will look to return to form with a long awaited return to The Complex on Sunday afternoon. Valdosta State will square off against the Lynn Fighting Knights at 2:00 p.m.
