VALDOSTA, Ga. - Valdosta State women's basketball overcame an extremely slow start on Senior Night at The Complex to secure a third place seed in the Gulf South Conference with a 67-62 Thursday night win in Valdosta, Ga.

The Argonauts jumped out of the gate with eight unanswered points to open up an early 8-0 lead in the first five minutes of the contest. Valdosta State got two buckets from Taylor Buie to pull back to within six, but UWF proceeded to outscore the Lady Blazers 20-7 over the course of the entire opening frame.

The second quarter was a completely different story, however. West Florida's Shaniqua Magee connected for a layup at the 8:53 mark in the frame, but the Valdosta State defense went into lock down mode and did not allow another point for the rest of the quarter.

While shutting down the opponent with a gutsy defensive effort throughout the remainder of the first half, the Lady Blazers got a three ball from Mitchell and a layup from Kayla Bonilla inside the final minute to cap off an 18-2 second quarter surge. The second quarter performance gave VSU their first lead of the game and lifted the Blazers to a 25--22 advantage at the break.

In the second half, it was all Taylor Buie. The senior, in front of friends and family in attendance to celebrate senior day, buried 6-of-11 from the field, and each of the six shots were threes. Buie posted the highest scoring total of her Blazer career with a total of 24 points scored, and Mitchell complemented the effort with a team-high 25 points on 11-of-21 shooting.

The Lady Blazers' biggest shot of the game came at the 25 second mark, when Buie buried her final three from the corner to put the Blazers up by two possessions at 64-59 (shown in the video above). The shot proved to be the dagger in the heart of the Argonauts and helped VSU secure a third place seeding in the upcoming Gulf South Conference tournament.

Valdosta State improved to 21-7 in regular season play on the season and 16-5 in GSC play. The Argonauts fell to 16-11 overall and 11-9 against league opponents. The win capped off a perfect regular season in The Complex, where the Lady Blazers finished 14-0. 

Playoff action is set to begin on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m., where the Blazers will once again welcome the Argonauts to town. The game will represent the first round playoff matchup between the number three and number six seeds, respectively. The winner will advance to the SemiFinal Round on Saturday in Birmingham, Ala.