VALDOSTA, Ga. – After a pair of disappointing trips to Mississippi College and Delta State last weekend, the Valdosta State women's basketball team returns home for the final two regular season home games this week at The Complex.  
 
The Lady Blazers will face Montevallo looking to even the season series with the Falcons on Thursday at 6 p.m. and will host West Alabama on Saturday at 2 p.m. for Senior Day, looking for the season-sweep of the Tigers.  
 
Fans can access links to live stats, audio/video streaming, ticket information and more at vstateblazers.com on the women's basketball schedule page.  The games also will be broadcast on 92.1 WDDQ FM with Mike Chason having the call.  
 
Prior to Saturday's game, VSU will honor seniors Nari Garner and Cheray Saunders, who will be playing in their final regular season home game of the 2019-2020 season.  Garner came to VSU last season, while Saunders came to the Blazers this season.
 
Heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, VSU sits at 8-8 in conference play and 16-8 overall.  The Lady Blazers are seventh in the league standings right now, if the season ended today.  Lee (16-1) and Union (15-2) have clinched berths in the GSC Championship already, while Alabama Huntsville is third at 11-5, followed by Delta State (11-6), Montevallo (10-6), Christian Brothers (9-8), VSU and Mississippi College is eighth at 8-9.  VSU has the head-to-head over Christian Brothers, but lost twice to Mississippi College.  
 
VSU is the only team to defeat Lee this season thus far, and that might come in handy for seeding purposes, if VSU is tied with a team it split with during the regular season.  The second tiebreaking criteria is against the league from top down, therefore VSU would win the hypothetical tiebreaker situation based on the win over Lee.  The playoff picture should be much clearer following this week's games. 
 
The top eight teams in the final league standings advance to the conference championship and the top four teams will host first round games on Mar. 3.  The winners of the campus site games will advance to the semifinals and final rounds of the conference championship, Mar. 7-8 in Birmingham, Ala., at the Pete Hanna Center.  
 
The first NCAA Region Rankings are expected to be released Wednesday afternoon.  There will be three public rankings leading up to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Selection Show, streamed live on NCAA.com in the evening on Mar. 8.  Check back with vstateblazers.com for more information on the rankings each Wednesday leading up to Selection Sunday.  
 
VSU held tough in its two games at Mississippi College and Delta State in the first half last week, trailing 67-66 in points scored, but the Lady Blazers were outscored 82-40 in the second half in the two losses.  Junior Kayla Bonilla paced the team averaging 14.0 points per game and she went a team-high 11 of 14 from the line.  Saunders averaged 11.5 points and shot 9 of 18 from the field.  Junior Delaney Bernard averaged 8.0 points per game and a team-high 8.0 rebounds per game.  
 
As a team, the Lady Blazers shot just .293 for the week on 34 of 116, while they were 8 of 48 from beyond the arc (.167) and 30 of 41 from the line (.732).  VSU averaged 33.5 rebounds per game and averaged 53 points per game.  
 
Montevallo enters with a 16-8 record overall and a 10-6 mark in the GSC.  The Falcons have lost four-straight since the 90-67 win over VSU on Feb. 1.  Last week, the Falcons dropped home decisions to Union (84-77) and Christian Brothers (94-86).  
 
The Falcons are led by Shyan Flack, who is averaging 16.8 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per contest.  Flack is 169 of 331 from the field for a .511 average.  Flack is second on the team in steals with 35 and leads the team with 21 blocks.  Her 53 assists are good for second on the team.  Kiya Sain is second in scoring at 10.7 points per game, while she is third on the team in made 3's with 26 and second in steals with 40.  Marisa Snodgrass is second on the team in made triples with 52, while she is third in scoring at 9.6 points per game as is Aaliyah Rice.    
 
As a team, the Falcons are shooting at a .410 clip on 651 of 1587 from the field, while draining 171 triples in 536 attempts (.319) and are 318 of 479 from the line (.664).  UM is averaging 74.6 points per game and 38.1 rebounds per game.  
 
In the first meeting, UM forced 19 turnovers by VSU for an 18-4 lead in points off turnovers, which was one of the big differences in the game.  Flack had 25 points and Sain added 17, while Rice chipped in 13.  VSU had four players in double figures led by Bonilla and Saunders with 11 each.  UM held a 47-39 lead at halftime, but outscored VSU 43-28 in the second half.  The 90 points allowed by VSU in the first meeting marked a season-high for points against. 
 
West Alabama enters also having lost four-straight, including a 66-65 setback at home versus Christian Brothers and a 70-54 loss to Union last Saturday. UWA is 10-13 overall and 5-12 in league play.  
 
The Tigers play at West Georgia on Thursday before visiting VSU on Saturday.  UWA has gone 3-10 in its last 13 games, beginning with the 79-67 loss to VSU on Jan. 4.  In that game, the Lady Blazers had four players in double figures including 29 from Bonilla and VSU shot a season-high .608 from the field on 31 of 51.  The Lady Blazers went 7 of 14 from range and 10 of 17 form the line, while Bonilla went 9 of 17 from the field, 4 of 7 from range and 7 of 11 from the line.  Saunders added 18 points, including 8 of 10 from the line, while Nari Garner added 14 points and Bernard chipped in 11 points.  VSU held UWA to a .379 clip from the field (22 of 58), while the Tigers went 20 of 28 from the line.  Bria Dent paced the Tigers with 21 points.  
 
UWA is led by Tazsa Garrett-Hammett, who is averaging 15.4 points per game on 135 of 247 (.547) from the field and a team-high 77 of 121 from the line (.636).  She is second in rebounding at 7.1 per game, while Dent leads the team averaging 11.9 rebounds per game.  Dent is second in scoring at 14.9 points per game on a team-best 137 of 262 from the field (.523).  She is 52 of 68 from the line for a team-high .765 clip.  Jada Golden leads the team with 36 made 3's.  
 
As a team, the Tigers are shooting .408 from the field on 582 of 1427, while they are 83 of 353 (.235) from beyond the arc and 309 of 450 from the line (.687).  UWA is averaging 43.4 rebounds per game and 67.7 points per game. 
 
This season, VSU is led by Bonilla as she is averaging 17.8 points per game for third in the league and 60^th nationally.  Bonilla is 132 of 309 from the field (.427), while she is 37 of 119 from beyond the arc (.311) and a team-best 90 of 115 from the line (.783) for fifth in the GSC in percentage.  She has 81 assists to lead the team and 44 steals for second on the team.  Saunders is second in scoring at 15.0 points per game on a team-high 135 of 285 from the field (.474).  She is 81 of 124 from the line and is averaging 6.0 rebounds to lead the team.  Saunders leads the team with 48 steals.  
 
The Lady Blazers are fourth in the GSC in field goal percentage at a .425 clip on 613 of 1441, while they are fourth in free throw percentage at .700 on 327 of 467.  VSU is fourth in the league in scoring margin at 5.8, while the team is sixth in the league in scoring offense at 72.0 points per game.  VSU's 175 triples made is good for fourth in the league, while the .342 clip from beyond the arc is good for third in the league and 56^th nationally.  
 
Following the two games this week, VSU closes the regular season next week at West Florida and Auburn Montgomery.