VALDOSTA, Ga. – Coming off the first Elite Eight appearance since 1984, the Valdosta State women's basketball team learned this week it is 22^nd in the D2SIDA Top 25, while the Lady Blazers are among others receiving votes in the WBCA Preseason Top 25. 
 
VSU finished the 2021-22 campaign with a 26-6 record overall and went 17-2 in Gulf South Conference play.  The Lady Blazers upset top-seeded and top-ranked Union University on its home court in the South Region Championship, 66-58, to advance to the Elite Eight.  VSU dropped a 58-55 heartbreaker to eventual national runner-up Western Washington in the Elite Eight.  The Lady Blazers finished the 2021-22 season ranked sixth nationally in the WBCA Top 25 and fifth in the D2SIDA Top 25.
 
Western Washington owns the top spot in the D2SIDA Preseason Top 25, while defending national champion Glenville State and national semifinalist Grand Valley State are tied for second.  North Georgia, who also qualified for the national semifinals a year ago, is fourth, followed by Union to round out the top five.  Missouri Southern is sixth, followed by West Texas A&M, Ashland, Fort Hays State and Lander rounds out the top ten.  Eckerd, who VSU opens the season with on Nov. 11 in West Palm Beach, Fla., is 16^th and Lee is 20^th.  
 
The WBCA Top 25 has Grand Valley State atop the poll, followed by Western Washington, Fort Hays State, Union and Ashland rounds out the top five.  West Texas A&M is sixth, followed by California (Pa.), Glenville State, Carson-Newman and Drury is tenth.  Eckerd sits 11^th, while Lee is 24^th.  The Lady Blazers are third on the list of among others receiving votes behind Alaska Anchorage and Minnesota Duluth.  
 
VSU was picked third in the Gulf South Conference Preseason Poll announced last month.  Union was tabbed the league favorite, followed by Lee and VSU.  Lady Blazer head coach Deandra Schirmer begins her fourth season at VSU with a 62-21 record and a 43-14 mark in the GSC.  
 
Schirmer welcomes back eight players from last season and added the services of four talented transfers to the roster for 2022-23.  The transfers this season for VSU include; junior Kalifa Ford from Oklahoma Baptist, sophomore Kate Tanner from Butler, junior Emma Martin of Utah Valley University and junior Aleisha Curry of Santa Fe College (Fla.).
 
Ford, a 5-10, guard/forward from Bono, Ark., came to VSU from Oklahoma Baptist University where she played for the Bison for three seasons.  In 2021-22, she started 25 games and averaged a team-high 17.4 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per contest.  She was the only Great American Conference athlete to finish in the top eight in the league in field goal percentage (4th; 47.5), scoring (5th; 17.4) and rebounding (2nd; 9.1).  She finished the season with 13 double-doubles earning her a spot in the top 25 in all of NCAA Division II.  She earned All-GAC First Team honors last season.
 
Tanner, a 6-2, center from Melbourne, Australia, and transfer of Butler University, played in 18 games with three starts last season as redshirt freshman for the Bulldogs.  She played one season at Miles Community College in Miles City, Mont., where she averaged 7.5 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per contest.  She helped lead her team to the round of 16 at the NJCAA National Tournament, while the team won the MonDak Conference and Region XIII Tournament.  She shot 40.9 percent from the field, along with seven double figure games.
 
Martin, a 5-11, guard from Richfield, Utah, played two seasons for the Wolverines and appeared in 19 games last season, along with 24 as a freshman in 2018-19.  Following the 2018-19 season, Martin served on her LDS mission.  In high school, Martin earned first team all-state by both the Desert News and the Salt Lake Tribune, while leading the state of Utah (all classifications) in 3-pointers with 75 made, marking fifth all-time in a single season.  She also is fifth all-time in career made triples with 179.  
 
Curry, a native of Lehigh Acres, Fla., played in 2019-20 for the Saints, playing in 28 games and starting 26.  She earned NJCAA Honorable Mention All-America honors and was named the Mid-Florida Conference Player of the Year.  Last season, she played in 22 games with 18 starts, going 108 of 204 from the field (.529) and averaged 10.2 rebounds per game.  
 
Returning this season are seniors Jirah Ards, Kendall Bollmer and Shanice Nelson, along with juniors Lily Long and Tamiah Francis and sophomores India Jordan, Taylor Searcey and Grace Beyer.
 
Schirmer and the Lady Blazers open the 2022-23 season with the South Regional Crossover in West Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 11-12 where they will face 2022 NCAA regional participant Eckerd College to open the season and host Palm Beach Atlantic.  
 
The Lady Blazers have 13 home games in the friendly confines of The Complex, including 12 grueling Gulf South Conference home games as the league moved to playing each conference opponent twice during the regular season for 2022-23.  
 
"This will be the first time since I have been at VSU that we will play all conference teams twice during the regular season, Schirmer said. "I think it will provide a unique opportunity to face quality opponents night-in-night-out.  This season we have a very challenging schedule that we are hoping will prepare us for the postseason.  We start off the year on the road against a top 25, in-region opponent in Eckerd College.  We then finish our opening tournament with host team PBA, which will be two important region games for us."
 
VSU opens the 2022-23 home slate with conference matchups against Lee on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m., beginning a three-game home stand.  VSU went 15-1 last season at The Complex and has gone 35-7 at home with Schirmer at the helm.