ATLANTA, Ga. – Coming off a 30-3 campaign tying the school-record for victories and a school-best 23-1 mark in the Gulf South Conference, Valdosta State head women's basketball coach Deandra Schirmer was named the Whack Hyder Georgia Women's College Coach of the Year, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced this week.
 
Schirmer guided the Lady Blazers to the program's fourth GSC title in program history in 2023-24 and earned GSC Coach of the Year honors for the second time.  Schirmer and the Lady Blazers won a school-record 27-straight games for the third-longest winning streak in GSC history.  She is 114-31 in her five seasons in Titletown and is 86-19 in GSC play.
 
This season, the Lady Blazers were selected to host the NCAA South Regional for the first time in program history and were ranked as high as No. 2 nationally during the season, finishing 11^th nationally in the final Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 (WBCA) and 13^th in the final D2 College Sports Communicator's Top 25.  
 
Schirmer coached her second WBCA First Team All-America selection in Kalifa Ford this season as Ford was named GSC Player of the Year and D2CCA South Region Player of the Year.  Schirmer also coached two-time first team All-America honoree Kwajelin Farrar as the 2021-22 team won the South Regional earning the program's first trip to the Elite Eight since 1984.  
 
The 2023-24 edition of the Lady Blazers saw the team qualify for the NCAA postseason for the fourth-straight season, while VSU finished seventh nationally in field goal percentage for a .460 clip to lead the GSC.  VSU was seventh nationally in scoring defense holding teams to 54.4 points per game, while the team was eighth nationally in scoring margin at a 17.1 clip.  The Lady Blazers finished ninth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage at a .361 average, while the team was 12^th nationally in rebounding margin at a 7.5 clip.     
 
Individually, Ford averaged 14.2 points per game to lead the team and was fourth in the GSC in scoring. Senior Emma Martin finished fourth in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at a .440 clip, while she was fourth in the league in made 3-pointers (70) for 45^th nationally on 159 attempts.  Senior Taylor Searcey was second in the GSC in assists for the season with 132 for 41^st nationally as she earned second team all-GSC honors.  
 
Along with Schirmer, Georgia's Men's College Player of the Year went to Zawadie Jackson of West Georgia, while the Whack Hyder Georgia Men's College Coach of the Year was Clark Atlanta's Alfred Jordan and the Georgia Women's College Player of the Year as Terren Ward of Georgia Southern.