CARROLLTON, Ga. – After a 14-2 first quarter lead and a 22-15 advantage at halftime, cold second half shooting helped West Georgia come back for a 45-41 victory over visiting Valdosta State Thursday evening.  With the loss, VSU fell to 15-7 overall and 9-5 in Gulf South Conference play as its four-game winning streak came to an end. UWG improved to 12-8 and 7-7 in league play.
 
Despite the cold shooting in the final half, VSU had a chance for the win in the final 1:14 as senior Sonya Franklin hit one of two free throws breaking a 40-40 tie, but UWG's Ayesha Harris hit a jumper with 27 seconds left and then buried two free throws with ten seconds remaining, giving her a game-high 12 points.
 
VSU was led by 11 points from senior Maddy Corazza and sophomore Kayla Bonilla.  Corazza had a team-high seven rebounds.  Three UWG players were in double figures as Edley Drawhorn and Terrianna Cave each had 11.
 
The Lady Blazers shot a season-low 27.6 percent for the game on 16 of 58, while going just 2 of 13 from beyond the arc and 7 of 15 from the line for a season-low 41 points.  Despite that, VSU dominated inside to the tune of 22-8 and held a 15-7 lead in second chance points in a game where field goals were hard to come by for both teams.  UWG shot 31.9 percent on 15 of 47, but were 5 of 15 from beyond the arc and 10 of 14 from the line.  VSU held a commanding 44-31 lead in rebounding, including 21-9 on the offensive end.
 
VSU, who had an 11-point advantage in the first half, swelled the lead back to double-digits at 11 on a jumper from senior Crystal Townsend for a 30-19 lead with six minutes and chance left in the third.  UWG closed the frame on a 6-1 run for a 31-25 lead through three. 
 
Early in the fourth, Townsend hit a triple pushing the lead to seven, but UWG answered with a triple at the other end.  The teams exchanged buckets, but a triple from Cave and layup from Drawhorn gave UWG its first lead of the game with 3:35 left at 37-36.  Bonilla hit two free throws later to put VSU back in the lead, but another triple from Drawhorn gave UWG a 40-38 lead with 2:22 left.  Senior Shon Kitchens hit a jumper for a 40-40 tie with 1:49 remaining, marking VSU's last made field goal of the game. 
 
VSU scored the first four points of the game and a lone bucket from A'Kia Harris pulled the Wolves within 4-2, but VSU closed the frame on a 10-0 run for the 14-2 advantage as the two points allowed in the quarter marked a season-low allowed by VSU.  The Lady Blazers built the lead to 11 in the second quarter, however, UWG closed the half on scoring 10 of the final 16 points to pull within 22-15. 
 
The Lady Blazers return to action Saturday at 2 p.m. at Shorter as fans can access links to live stats and audio on vstateblazers.com on the women's basketball schedule page.  The game will be broadcast on 92.1 WDDQ with Spencer Van Horn having the call.