CLEVELAND, Miss. – On a tough shooting night, the Valdosta State women's basketball team fought through it and came away with a hard-fought, 44-42 victory at Delta State Saturday evening.  Lady Blazer junior Tamiya Francis finished with a team-high 11 points, while sophomore Taylor Searcey finished with ten points and nine rebounds. 
 
Clinging to a 41-40 lead with 1:24 left in the final frame, sophomore Kate Tanner came up with a big jumper in the paint for a 43-40 lead as it was the first field goal for the Lady Blazers in nearly five minutes of game time.  Junior Lili Long came up with a huge steal and was fouled making one of two free throws for a 44-40 lead with 1:02 to play.
 
DSU's Alanna Smith scored on a layup off her own rebound for a 44-42 deficit and earned the "and one", but missed the toss giving the ball back to VSU.  The Lady Blazers had a shot clock violation with 12 seconds left and DSU advanced the ball to midcourt with its final timeout.  Smith missed the game-tying jumper at the buzzer. 
 
The Lady Blazers improved to 3-2 on the year and 2-1 in Gulf South Conference play as they won their third-straight game.  Delta State fell to 2-5 on the year and 1-2 in league play.  The Lady Blazers finished 16 of 50 from the field for 32 percent, while they were just 2 of 18 from beyond the arc and 10 of 15 from the line.  Both teams finished with 26 rebounds, while VSU made the most of the Lady Statesmen's 21 turnovers leading to an 18-8 advantage in points off turnovers.  Both Francis and Searcey each were 4 for 4 from the line in the game.  Tanner finished with nine points and five rebounds on 4 of 9 from the field and 1 of 4 from the line.
 
Delta State didn't shoot much better at 14 of 43 from the field for 32.6 percent, while it was 5 of 11 from downtown and 9 of 12 from the line.  Smith had a game-high 14 points, but was just 3 of 15 from the field with one triple and 7 of 9 from the line, while Camryn Davis finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.  The duo's 26 points combined were more than the rest of the team as only three other Lady Statesmen scored for a combined 16 points. 
 
VSU now has won the last three meetings in the series and nine of the last 12 dating back to 2017.  It was the fifth win in Cleveland, Miss., for VSU and the Lady Blazers have won four of the last five there.  It also was Lady Blazer head coach Deandra Schirmer's 65^th victory at the helm of the program (65-23).
 
The Lady Blazers continue their road trip in the Magnolia State on Monday at 6:30 p.m. ET at Mississippi College.  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 game also will be broadcast on 94.3 WJEM FM Fox Sports Valdosta and online at www.foxsportsvaldosta.com with Spencer Van Horn having the call.