The first round of the regional will begin Friday at 12 p.m. with (3) Tampa battling (6) Embry-Riddle, followed by (2) Union versus (7) Eckerd at 2:30 p.m. VSU and Miles tip at 5 p.m., followed by (4) Nova Southeastern faces (5) Lee at 7:30 p.m. The winners of the games Friday meet Saturday with the first semifinal beginning at 5 p.m., followed the second at 7:30 p.m. Monday's regional championship game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip.
The winner of the regional will advance to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Elite Eight, scheduled for Mar. 25-29 at the Saint Joseph Civic Arena in Saint Joseph, Mo. VSU last qualified for the Elite Eight in 2022 in Birmingham, Ala., where it lost in a 58-55 heartbreaker to eventual national runner-up Western Washington.
VSU enters with a 29-2 record overall and a school-record 26-game winning streak which is the longest current streak in NCAA Division II women's basketball. The 26-game winning streak is the third-longest winning streak in GSC history as Delta State won 33-straight games in 2007-08 and 28-straight in 1989-90. The Lady Blazers went a school-best 23-1 in Gulf South Conference play for the second-longest winning streak in league history for conference games. DSU won 29-straight league games from 2006-09.
This past weekend, the Lady Blazers won their fourth Gulf South Conference title in thrilling fashion with a 63-58, come-from-behind victory over Lee on Sunday afternoon in Birmingham, Ala. In that game, VSU trailed by as many as eight points in the second quarter and outscored Lee 23-15 in the fourth quarter for the victory. A bucket from junior
Kalifa Ford put VSU up 51-50 with 4:15 remaining as strong defense and good free throw shooting down the stretch propelled the Lady Blazers to their fourth Gulf South Conference Championship in program history and first since 2017. Ford, along with seniors
Aleisha Curry and
Taylor Searcey were named to the GSC All-Tournament Team and Searcey was named Tournament Most Valuable Player, becoming the first Lady Blazer to do so since Madi Mitchell in 2017.
VSU is 4-2 against the NCAA South Regional field this year, handing No. 2-seed Union two of its three losses this year, while the Lady Blazers are 2-1 against No. 5-seed Lee and 0-1 against No. 7-seed Eckerd as the two teams battled in Pensacola, Fla., in the first game of the season on Nov. 10, 2023 with the Tritons pulling out a 69-64 victory.
The Lady Blazers are making their 16
th appearance in the NCAA postseason and are 17-15 all-time with a third-place finish in 1984. VSU won the South Region title in 2022, in Jackson, Tenn., defeating Union on its home court to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 1984.
VSU head coach
Deandra Schirmer is 113-30 at the helm of the Lady Blazers in her fifth season. Schirmer was named GSC Coach of the Year in 2024 as she has guided the team the 29-2 record overall and went a school-best 23-1 in Gulf South Conference play. Schirmer has led VSU to a national-best and school-record 26-straight victories this season. She also was named GSC East Division Coach of the Year in 2021. This year marks the fourth-straight year of qualifying for the NCAA postseason under Schirmer. Schirmer is 4-3 in her previous three trips to the NCAA postseason heading into this year.
Tampa is 10-14 all-time in the NCAA postseason and also is making its 16
th appearance, while Nova Southeastern is 14-8 and making its ninth appearance as is Union (9-7). Lee (3-6) and Eckerd (4-6) are both making their eighth appearance, while Embry-Riddle (1-1), while this is Miles' first trip to the NCAA postseason in program history. Lee leads the regional field in consecutive trips making its eighth, while Union has made seven-straight, followed by VSU with the last four. Tampa and Eckerd have qualified for the last three, while ERAU is making its first trip since 2018. Teams who qualified for the 2020 NCAA postseason still get credit for qualifying even though the COVID-19 Pandemic canceled the tournament that season.
Nationally speaking, VSU remained No. 2 in the latest D2 College Sports Communicators Top 25. Ashland (Ohio) leads the poll, followed by the Lady Blazers, Gannon, Grand Valley State and Southern Nazarene rounds out the top five. Union is 11
th in the poll, while Nova Southeastern is 14
th and Tampa is 24
th. As for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25, Ashland leads that poll, too, followed by Grand Valley State, Thomas Jefferson, Gannon and VSU is fifth. Union is eighth, while Tampa is 15
th and Nova Southeastern is 25
th. Miles and Eckerd are among others receiving votes.
VSU enters the postseason seventh nationally in field goal percentage at a .463 clip on 817 of 1776 from the field, while the team also Is seventh nationally in scoring defense at just 53.9 points allowed per game for the season. The Lady Blazers have not allowed a team to score 61 or more points in the last 19 games as VSU allowed 60 points in an 82-60 win over Alabama Huntsville in the regular season finale (3/2/24). VSU is eighth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage at a .367 clip to lead the league. VSU is 209 of 569 from distance this season as VSU is fourth in the GSC in 3-pointers per game (6.7). The Lady Blazers lead the GSC in 3-point field goal defense, holding teams to just .281 from beyond the arc on 173 of 616. The Lady Blazers are ninth nationally in scoring margin at an 18.2 clip for second in the GSC.
Individually, senior
Emma Martin is fourth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage at a .450 clip on a team-best 67 of 149 from distance. Her 67 made 3-pointers are good for fourth in the GSC and 49
th nationally, while she is fifth in the GSC in 3-pointers per game at a 2.16 clip. Ford is second in the GSC in field goal percentage at a .482 clip on 158 of 328 from the field. She leads the team averaging 14.3 points per game for fourth in the league. Ford is 83 of 108 from the line for a .798 clip. Curry is second in the GSC in free throw percentage at an .846 clip on 99 of 117 from the line to lead the team. This season Ford was named GSC Player of the Year and first team All-GSC, while Searcey and Curry were named to the second team.
This marks the second time VSU has played Miles in women's basketball as the Lady Blazers won 81-63 victory to open the 1994-95 season, at Miles in Birmingham, Ala. The Lady Bears won their first Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title with a 75-72 victory over Kentucky State on Mar. 10. Miles' Feliah Greer scored a career-high 33 points in the championship and named the SIAC Tournament MVP. She was 13 of 19 from the field, 2 of 4 from deep and 5 of 8 from the line leading three players in double figures. Tederia Ashley had ten points and 14 rebounds in the championship. The Lady Bears enter with a 23-6 record overall after going 15-4 in SIAC play this season. Pete Asmond is the head coach of the Lady Bears.
Nationally speaking Miles is 12
th in Division II in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to a .352 clip, while Miles is 17
thnationally in rebounding margin at 6.9. Miles is sixth nationally in rebounds per game at 44.1 and fifth nationally in offensive rebounds per game at 17.2. The Lady Bears are 33
rd nationally in scoring defense allowing 58.2 points per game, while they are 27
th nationally in steals per game (11.4) and fifth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage defense holding teams to .244 from beyond the arc.
Individually Iemyiah Harris leads the team in scoring at 17.3 points per game for 46
th nationally. She is 20
th nationally in 3-pointers made (80) and 15
th in 3-pointers per game (2.86), while she is fifth nationally in 3-point attempts (249). She is 26
thnationally in steals (76), while she is 153 o 423 from the field for the season and 99 of 121 from the line. Harris earned first team all-league honors for the second-straight season. On Dec. 14, she registered a triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against Clinton College.
