MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The Valdosta State women's basketball team (16-12, 13-9 Gulf South Conference) closed out the regular season with a 72-54 road victory over Montevallo (5-22, 4-18 GSC) Friday evening at Central State Bank Arena. VSU clinched the sixth seed in the upcoming GSC Championship with the win.
The Lady Blazers opened the game with a strong stretch to build a 23-13 lead after the first quarter before extending the advantage to 38-24 at halftime. Montevallo responded with a solid third quarter to trim the deficit, but Valdosta State answered emphatically in the final period, shooting 12-of-14 from the field as a team in the fourth quarter to pull away and secure the win.
Sophomore Raeanne Eccleston delivered a dominant performance in the best effort of her VSU career, leading all scorers with 25 points on 12-of-19 shooting while adding five rebounds and three blocks. Junior Jada Williams provided a major spark off the bench with 11 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting night along with seven assists. Williams converted all eight field goals she attempted during this weekend's road trip.
Junior Erin Whalen added nine points, eight rebounds, and two steals, while senior Aryana Hicks recorded seven points and seven assists. Junior Alina Sapilak chipped in seven points behind a pair of three-pointers, and freshman Rebecca Souverain contributed six points as the Lady Blazers received 38 bench points in the victory.
Emily Mouser paced Montevallo with 20 points, while Elyse Hughes added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Falcons.
Looking Forward
With the regular season now complete, Valdosta State will turn its attention to postseason play as the No. 6 seed in the Gulf South Conference Championship. The Lady Blazers will travel to Cleveland, Miss., to face No. 3 seed Delta State (16-10, 14-7 GSC) on Monday, March 2 in the GSC Championship Quarterfinals, with tipoff scheduled for 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT.
Click here to see the full GSC Championship schedule and stay up to date with tournament seeding and matchups.
Find live stats, written coverage, streaming links, and more on vstateblazers.com and follow @VState_Blazers as well as @VSULadyBlazers to stay up to date with the team as postseason play begins.
