VALDOSTA, Ga. – Using a 24-1 run over the final 7:06 of the game, the No. 21 Valdosta State women's basketball team posted a 72-41 victory over West Alabama in one Gulf South Conference Quarterfinal Tuesday evening at The Complex. The Lady Blazers outscored UWA 24-3 in the final quarter after holding a ten-point advantage heading into the fourth.
VSU, who improved to 23-4 on the season, won its season-high ninth-straight game and advanced to the GSC Semifinal to face Lee University on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. ET in Birmingham, Ala., at the Pete Hanna Center on the campus of Samford University. VSU won its 15
th home game of the season (15-1) surpassing the previous mark of 14 victories (14-1) set in 2017-18. Overall, it marked the 13
th-straight home victory for the ninth-longest current streak in NCAA Division II.
For the quarterfinal, the Lady Blazers shot 26 of 56 from the field for 46.4 percent, while going 7 of 19 from deep and 13 of 20 from the line against the No. 7-seed Tigers Tuesday evening. VSU went 14 of 27 from the field in the second half and keyed the fourth quarter run on 7 of 13 from the field, 3 of 7 from deep and 7 of 8 from the line for the final stanza.
Graduate student
Nicole Heyn finished with a game-high 19 points on 6 of 10 from the field, 2 of 4 from deep and 5 of 5 from the line. She had six rebounds with four steals and two blocks leading three Lady Blazers in double figures. Graduate student
Kwajelin Farrar scored 17 points on 8 of 15 from the field with one free throw and eight rebounds, while graduate student
Delaney Bernard added 14 points on four treys and two free throws. Farrar and Heyn were named All-GSC First Team honors earlier in the day.
UWA finished its season with a 15-13 record as second team all-conference selection Tazsa Garrett-Hammett finished with 14 points as the only player in double figures. She was 5 of 8 from the field 0 of 1 from beyond the arc and 4 of 5 from the line with four rebounds, one assist, one block and finished with five turnovers. Bria Dent added eight points and six rebounds, along with two assists, one steal and four turnovers. She also earned second team all-conference honors on Tuesday. VSU's defense stymied two of the top scorers in the league as Hammett-Garrett entered averaging 18.4 points per game and Dent 14.3 points per game. Dent entered averaging a team-high 9.6 rebounding, but had just six rebounds tonight. In the two regular season meetings with VSU, Hammett-Garrett had a combined 38 points, including 30 in Valdosta on Feb. 5, while Dent combined for 33 points and 23 rebounds.
The Lady Blazers now head to Birmingham, Ala., for the semifinal round of the GSC Championship and will face No. 3-seed Lee for the third time this season. The two teams split the season series in 2021-22, with both winning on their home court. VSU won 52-51 on Feb. 17 in Valdosta as sophomore
Tamiya Francis scored a layup with 0.8 seconds left off a steal from Farrar for the thrilling, buzzer-beating victory. Lee won 56-45 in Cleveland, Tenn., on Dec. 13, 2021. Top-seeded Union will face No. 5-seed Delta State in the other semifinal. VSU went 3-2 against Lee last season as the Lady Flames defeated VSU in the semifinal round of the conference tournament 74-71 in Birmingham, but VSU answered with a 74-64 victory in the NCAA South Region Semifinal in Dahlonega, Ga.
This marks the 18
th time VSU has qualified for the semifinal round as it improved to 24-27 all-time in 31 appearances overall in the GSC Tournament. Fans can access links to live stats and audio/video streaming of the game at vstateblazers.com on the women's basketball schedule page.
Click here for the GSC Women's Basketball Championship Central Page. The game will be broadcast on 92.1 WDDQ FM with Mike Chason having the call.
The 2022 GSC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments will stream live on FloSports and fans may watch the games by purchasing a subscription to FloSports. With either a monthly or annual subscription, viewers will unlock access to premium content, both live and on-demand, across the entire FloSports network. The FloSports app is available for Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and Apple TV, the App Store, and Google Play Store.
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Garrett-Hammett scored two free throws to open the fourth pulling UWA within 48-40 as it outscored VSU 22-17 in the third quarter for a 48-38 defict through three frames. VSU held a 31-16 lead at halftime and led by as many as 18 in the first half. Following the Hammett-Garrett score, the teams went scoreless for the next couple of minutes, but a turnover on the Tigers led to a good look for Farrar inside from freshman
Taylor Searcey for a 50-40 lead with 6:47 left. Bernard then hit a trey courtesy of Heyn, pushing the lead back to 13 at 53-40 with six minutes remaining. Bernard hit another huge trifecta pushing the lead back to 18 at 58-40 with under five minutes remaining. Heyn then earned the "and one" from Bernard as Heyn extended the run to 13-0 since the 9:49 mark of the fourth quarter. Heyn stole the inbounds pass and sophomore
Lili Long was fouled. Long made one of two tosses for a 62-40 score.
UWA ended the 16-0 run with one free throw from Lauryn Lilly with 2:12 left in the game at 64-41. Long buried a triple and was fouled for a 68-41 score, stretching the run to 20-1. Jordan stole a pass and scored for a 70-41 score with 1:15 remaining and then she stole another pass and score for a 72-41 score.
Two early three's – one from Heyn and one from Bernard, put VSU up 10-4 with 5:30 remaining in the first quarter. Dent had two big buckets as the shot clock was winding down early in the contest, but Garrett-Hammett picked up her second foul with 3:20 left in the first quarter and VSU leading 12-6.
Heyn stretched lead to 14-6 with a great driving score from an assist from Francis. Francis then scored inside for a 16-8 lead with 1:11 left in the first quarter. VSU led 17-8 through the first quarter. The Lady Blazers opened the game 6 of 14 from the field and 2 of 3 from beyond the arc, while going 3 of 4 from the line. UWA was 4 of 10 and 0 of 2 from deep. The Lady Blazers used a full-court press for the entire quarter, forcing UWA into nine turnovers and holding a 7-0 advantage in points off turnovers.
Farrar scored inside for the first two points of the second quarter and a 19-8 lead, followed by a shot clock violation on UWA with 8:12 left in the half. Heyn made the Tigers pay, burying her second triple of the game, followed by a steal and score from Heyn for a 24-8 score and a timeout by UWA with 7:41 left in the half. An offensive rebound by Farrar and put back swelled the run to start the second quarter to 9-0 and a 26-8 score. Farrar then scored her sixth point of the game for a 28-8 lead and an 11-0 spurt to start the frame. Garrett-Hammett scored with 5:03 left in the half, for a 28-10 score as it was the first points for UWA since 2:56 in the first quarter. It also marked her first two points of the game.
Two free throws and a bucket from Dent pulled UWA within 28-14, but Heyn scored at the other end with 1:27 left in the half for a 30-14 lead, as VSU hadn't scored since the six-minute mark. VSU led 31-16 at halftime as the Lady Blazers shot 12 of 29 from the field for the half and 3 of 9 from deep, while going 4 of 6 from the line. UWA was 7 of 21 from the field, 0 of 5 from range and 2 of 3 from the line. VSU forced UWA into 14 turnovers as VSU had eight miscues. The Lady Blazers led 14-2 in points off turnovers.
Heyn had a team-high 14 points at the break on 5 of 6 from the field, 2 of 2 from deep and 2 of 2 at the line. Fararr scored six points and pulled down five rebounds. Dent had six points for UWA and Hammett-Garrett had four points.
