VALDOSTA, Ga. – Fresh off its third-straight NCAA postseason berth, the Valdosta State women's basketball team opens the 2023-24 season this weekend at the Gulf South Conference/Sunshine State Conference Regional Crossover in Pensacola, Fla.  The Lady Blazers open the season with No. 9 Eckerd College on Friday, Nov. 10 at 8:30 p.m. ET and will play Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 8:30 p.m. ET.
 
Fans can access links to live stats and streaming of the games at vstateblazers.com on the women's basketball schedule page.  All games this season will be streamed by FloSports.  Click here for more information on FloSports and how to sign up.  
 
The Lady Blazers, who finished the 2022-23 season with a 22-7 record overall and a program-best 20-4 mark in GSC play, were picked third in the GSC Preseason Coaches Poll, released earlier this month.  Union was tabbed league-favorite with 140 points and nine of 13 first-place votes, while Lee was second with 128 points and one first place vote and VSU was one point behind the Lady Flames with 127 points and garnered two, first place nods.  
 
VSU junior Taylor Searcey was named to the preseason all-league team this year.  A native of Lincoln, Neb., Searcey had a breakout season and earned second team all-conference honors as she led the team in scoring averaging 12.4 points per game and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per game.  She played in 23 games with 22 starts and averaged 32.7 minutes per game, while going 91 of 200 from the field (.455) as she 91 made field goals which were good for second on the team.  She was 11 of 32 from distance (.344) and a team-best 93 of 111 (.838) from the line.  Searcey led the team with 162 rebounds and 60 on the offensive end.  She dished out 65 assists for third on the team, while she recorded 56 steals for second on the team.  Searcey finished third in the GSC in free throw percentage (.838) and sixth in free throws made (93), while she finished third in the GSC in steals per game (2.43) for 41st nationally.  She had 16 games in double figures and registered five double-doubles and six games in double figure rebounds. 
 
In addition to the all-conference teams being announced, each school had the opportunity to name up to three players as the top newcomers to watch this season.  For VSU, three juniors were named including Kalifa Ford, Victoria Ikenasio and Tyasia Reed.  Ford, who redshirted last season, had a standout three-year career at Oklahoma Baptist where she earned All-Great America Conference First Team honors in 2021-22.  That season, she started 25 games and averaged a team-best 17.4 points and 9.1 rebounds.  She was the only player in the GAC to finish in the top eight in the league in field goal percentage (8^th, .475), scoring (4^th, 17.4) and rebounding (2^nd, 9.1).  She finished with 13 double-doubles that season which was 28^th nationally and second in the league.  
 
Ikenasio, a native of Melbourne, Australia, played last season at UT Tyler where she appeared in 27 games with four starts.  She shot .379 from the field.  She played two seasons at Division I Saint Peter's (N.J.) where she appeared in 53 games with 46 made field goals.  
 
Reed, a native of Huntington, Tenn., attended Walters State Community College playing in 55 games with 32 starts.  She went 196 of 446 from the field (.435), 81 of 215 from distance (.377) and 71 of 96 from the line (.740).  She scored 540 points and recorded 71 assists, 95 steals and nine blocks.  
 
Entering the 2023-24 season, VSU is among others receiving votes in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25, while it also is receiving votes in the D2 College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) Top 25.  Defending national champion Ashland (Ohio) leads the WBCA Top 25, followed by Minnesota State Mankato, Grand Valley State, Catawba and Tampa, out of the South Region, is fifth.  Eckerd, who VSU opens the season with Friday evening in Pensacola, Fla., is ninth, while Union is 17^th and Lee is 21^st.  The Lady Blazers, along with Tuskegee are among the other receiving votes.  
 
In the D2CSC Top 25, Ashland also leads that poll, followed by Minnesota State Mankato, Tampa, Catawba and Grand Valley State.  Eckerd is 10^th, while Union is 17^th and Lee is 22^nd.  VSU is the only other team from the South Region earning votes in the poll.  
 
Lady Blazer head coach Deandra Schirmer begins her fifth season at the helm of the program.  She has an 84-28 record overall and a 63-18 mark in Gulf South Conference play.  Schirmer earned GSC East Division Coach of the Year honors in 2021 and guided the Lady Blazers to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1984 in 2021-22.  She is 4-3 in three trips to the NCAA postseason.  
 
Also returning for the red and black this season is senior Tamiya Francis, who finished second on the team in scoring at 11.3 points per game last season and earned GSC All-Tournament accolades a year ago.  Seniors Emma Martin, Lili Long and Aleisha Curry, along with junior India Jordan all return following strong campaigns last season.  
 
Schirmer added the services of a number of talented newcomers this season including Western Carolina transfer junior Jacey Justice heads to Titletown as the third Justice-member to play for the Blazers or Lady Blazers.  Her brothers Beau and Blake had standout careers on the men's basketball team.  In addition, junior Perth, Australia, native, Courtney Stothard comes to Titletown from College of Southern Idaho, and freshman Cumming, Ga., native Erin Whalen joins after a good prep career at North Forsyth High School, also looks to make an impact immediately.   There is a bit of an international flavor with the Lady Blazers this season as three players are from Australia (Ikenasio, Long, Stothard), while Francis hails from Toronto, Ontario.  
 
VSU leads the all-time series with Eckerd 7-4, but Eckerd has won the last two meetings, including last season in the season-opener in Valdosta, 88-58.  Searcey led three players in double figures with 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Lady Blazers.  Eckerd also won in Valdosta, 72-56, on Nov. 12, 2016.  Schirmer coached at Eckerd College for current head coach Paul Honsinger as an assistant coach for five seasons before Schirmer was named head coach at VSU on May 3, 2019.  
 
Eckerd, who finished 26-6 overall and 18-2 in SSC play last season, lost to conference foe Tampa in the South Regional final in 2023, marking the first time in program history the Tritons reached the Sweet Sixteen.  Honsinger has three returnees and seven new faces this season as the Tritons were picked third in the SSC Preseason Coaches Poll, behind league-favorite Tampa and Nova Southeastern.  Returning this season is SSC Defensive Player of the Year Lauryn Vieira who earned the honor for the second-straight season as she averaged 10.3 points per game, 6.8 rebounds per game and 6.3 assists per contest.  Hannah Wentworth, who averaged 12.0 points per game also returns, along with leva Korzane.  Eckerd ended last season ranked 10th in 3-pointers per game, 14th in assist-to-turnover ratio, 15th in field goal percentage, 22nd in scoring margin, and 24th in 3-point percentage.  
 
Palm Beach Atlantic was picked tied for sixth with Embry-Riddle in the Preseason SSC Poll as the Sailfish went 10-16 overall and 6-14 in SSC play.  PBA was supposed to host the regional crossover last year, but it was cancelled due to a hurricane.  VSU ended up playing Eckerd in Valdosta, while West Florida also played Eckerd in Valdosta last season.  
 
PBA's T-6^th projection in the poll is the highest mark they have earned since joining the SSC.  Head coach Manish Redus has guided the team to double-digit wins for the first time since the 2015-16 season.  Redus welcomes back the top three scorers from last season in Darria Whitley, Kash Ayuso and Mariyah Fletcher.  Redus welcomes five freshman and Stetson transfer Anabel Ellison.  
 
VSU leads the all-time series with PBA 5-2 and won in Valdosta 72-40 on Nov. 12, 2021.  PBA has won two of the last three meetings in the series as VSU won the first four, dating back to a 68-47 victory on Dec. 10, 2007 in West Palm Beach, Fla.  
 
The Lady Blazers have a quick turnaround as they return home to open the 2023-24 home slate on Monday, Nov. 13 at 6 p.m. versus Brewton-Parker at The Complex.