VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State women's basketball team held a 62-60 lead with one minute left, but was unable to hold the lead, falling 70-66 to Delta State Saturday afternoon at The Complex.  
 
VSU fell to 17-8 overall and 11-6 in Gulf South Conference play, while Delta State improved to 16-9 and 11-7 in league play as each team won on the other's home court this season. VSU senior Maddy Corazza had a game-high 18 points on 7 of 17 from the floor with one 3-pointer and three free throws leading three Lady Blazers in double figures.  Sophomore Kayla Bonilla added 17 points and senior Crystal Townsend chipped in ten points with a team-high eight rebounds.
 
The Lady Blazers shot 42.3 percent for the game on 22 of 52, while going 9 of 17 from beyond the arc and 13 of 15 from the line.  VSU held a 33-30 lead in rebounding, but 18 miscues by the Lady Blazers led to a 21-5 lead in points off turnovers for DSU.  
 
DSU shot 42.6 percent on 23 of 54, while going 6 of 10 from beyond the arc and 18 of 21 from the line. Nia Johnson paced the Statesmen with 17 points and Kirsten Brown had 12 points off the bench with a team-high nine rebounds.  
 
VSU held a 31-29 lead at halftime and built a 40-33 lead with 6:19 left in the third capped on a jumper from Townsend.  From there, DSU outscored VSU 9-2 the rest of the frame for a 42-42 score heading into the final quarter.
 
DSU's Quantesha Patterson tied the game for the ninth time at 47 with 7:18 left on a layup, but the Lady Blazers and the crowd of 1,659, helped VSU regain the lead with triples from Bonilla and junior Nari Garner.  Later in the frame, Corazza put VSU up six at 62-56 with 3:05 to play.  
 
A quick 6-0 run by the Statesmen tied the game with 59 seconds left.  A costly turnover by VSU followed as DSU scored on a layup from Brown and then another turnover by VSU led two two free throws from Johnson for a 66-62 score.  
 
VSU cut the deficit to two at 68-66 with seven seconds left, but Johnson calmly buried two more free throws for the 70-66 win.  DSU went 6 of 6 from the line in the final minute to seal the win.  
 
The Lady Blazers finish the 2018-19 road portion of the schedule at West Florida and West Alabama next week, before returning home for Senior Night on Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. at The Complex versus Auburn Montgomery.