VALDOSTA, Ga. – Down by as many as 16 on Friday evening in the Gulf South Conference Women's Basketball Championship Semifinal, the No. 6 Valdosta State Lady Blazers roared back to take the lead with 2:31 left, but was unable to hang on, falling to Lee 74-71 Friday evening at The Complex.
 
VSU (17-3), who entered the conference tournament as the No. 3-seed in the latest NCAA South Region rankings, will await the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Selection Show, scheduled for 10 p.m. on Sunday, Mar. 7 and streamed live on NCAA.com.
 
Four Lady Blazers were in double figures in the game, led by 13 rebounds from graduate Kwajelin Farrar as she also had 13 points for her 11^th double-double of the season earning Guardian Bank Blazer Player of the Game honors.  Senior Kayla Bonilla had a team-high 17 points, while freshman Alexandria Smith added 15 points and senior Delaney Bernard chipped in 11. 
 
VSU shot 29 of 60 from the field for the game for 43.3 percent.  The Lady Blazers were 9 of 21 from range and 10 of 14 from the line.  VSU held a 43-27 lead in rebounding and 16-8 in offensive rebounds, leading to an 18-6 lead in second chance points.
 
Turnovers proved to be a big part of the game, especially early as VSU had nine in the first quarter alone and 11 for the half leading to a 21-10 lead for Lee in points off turnovers through the first half.  VSU made adjustments and limited the mistakes in the second quarter and through the rest of the game, but Lee lead 29-14 for the game in points off miscues, while it ahd just 11 miscues for the game of its own. 
 
Lee (15-6) was led by 24 points from Haley Schubert as she was 9 of 20 from the field, 1 of 5 from range and 5 of 5 from the line.  She scored the first 11 points of the game for the Lady Flames.  Hannah Garrett added 13 points, while Halle Hughes chipped in 11 and Maddie Long added ten for four starters in double figures.  Lee shot 45.8 percent from the field for the game on 27 of 59, while it was a blistering 12 of 27 from beyond the arc, including 9 of 16 from deep in the first half.  Lee was 8 of 12 from the line. 
 
Pulling within 60-53 through three quarters after trailing 47-37 at intermission, VSU pulled another late game rally, almost exactly like it did on Tuesday versus Delta State in a thrilling 55-51 victory in the GSC quarterfinal.  Farrar brought VSU within 60-55 for the first points of the final stanza, but another deep shot from Garrett pushed the margin back to ten with 8:38 left. 
 
VSU kept within striking distance and Farrar scored on a layup, off her own offensive rebound, beginning a 7-0 run as Bonilla hit two huge shots during the spurt for a 69-68 deficit with 3:01 left.  After a missed trey from Schubert, Bernard drained her third triple of the game for the first Lady Blazer lead of the game at 71-69 with 2:31 left.
 
Following two missed free throws from VSU, Lee's Julia Duncan had a dagger triple with 1:27 left putting the Lady Flames back in front 72-71.  Still trailing by the same margin, the shots weren't falling for Lee as they were earlier in the game, and VSU junior Kayla Frey came up with a big rebound with 26 seconds left.  Following a timeout, VSU had a chance for what could've been the winner with seven seconds left, but turned the ball over for the 18^th time in the game.
 
From there, VSU had fouls to give and, when it finally got Lee to the line, Schubert buried two free throws.  Bonilla had a chance at a tying triple at the buzzer but it didn't go down.