VALDOSTA, Ga. – Using a 16-2 start out of the gates, the No. 15 Valdosta State Lady Blazer basketball team posted a 72-40 victory over visiting Palm Beach Atlantic in the South Region Crossover Friday evening in the season-opener for both teams.  Graduate students Kwajelin Farrar and Mallory Odell each tallied double-doubles in the victory.  
 
In front of a crowd of 481, the Lady Blazers came out firing on all cylinders as sophomore Jirah Ards scored the first bucket of the season en route to an early 6-0 lead with buckets from graduate student Mallory Odell and sophomore Tamiya Francis.  A bucket from Kamryn Estell got the Sailfish on the board with 5:56 left in the quarter.  From there, it was all Lady Blazers as they blew the game open with a 10-0 run for a 16-2 lead on a bucket from Farrar with 2:54 left in the opening frame.  
 
Estell added two free throws to end the run, but the Lady Blazers closed the frame on a 6-0 run for a 22-4 lead at the end of one quarter.  VSU shot 7 of 14 from the field in the first frame and 7 of 11 from the line with one triple, while PBA was 1 of 14 from the field, 0 of 8 from range and 2 of 3 from the line.  
 
PBA cut the deficit to 13 at 25-12 on a trey from Sia Williams with 3:09 left in the first half, but a 6-2 run by the Lady Blazers to finish the half gave VSU a 31-14 lead at intermission.  For the half, VSU shot 11 of 30 from the field, while going 1 of 8 from range and 8 of 13 from the line.  Farrar had ten points on 3 of 6 from the field and 4 of 6 from the line in the opening half.  
 
The Lady Blazer defense held PBA to 4 of 26 from the field for the half, while it was 1 of 15 from range and 5 of 9 from the line.  VSU held a 30-23 lead in rebounding and forced 11 miscues by the Sailfish.
 
Farrar pushed the lead to 25 at 50-25 with 2:01 left in the third quarter and then midway through the fourth quarter, Odell put the Lady Blazers at the 30-point mark with a pair of free throw tosses at 60-30 as she finished her Lady Blazer debut with 14 points and 11 rebounds, including 7 of 10 from the line.  VSU built the lead to as many as 36 and settled for the 32-point victory.  Farrar finished with 20 points and ten rebounds.
 
Francis finished with 17 points on 7 of 10 from the field 3 of 4 from range and five rebounds in her debut, while recording two assists and four steals in 33 minutes of action.  VSU finished the game 22 of 54 from the field for 40.7 percent, while it was 5 of 20 from range and 23 of 34 from the line. The Blazers held a 50-42 lead in rebounding.
 
PBA shot 13 of 16 from the field for a .213 average, while hit was 2 of 22 from range (.091) and was 12 of 25 from the line for a .480 clip.  Estell paced the team with nine points on 3 of 6 from the field with one trey and 2 of 5 from the line.
 
VSU returns to action Saturday at 4 p.m. versus Benedict to conclude the South Region Crossover.  Benedict (1-0) battled back from a big deficit against Gulf South Conference foe West Florida for a 80-74 victory Friday afternoon.