VALDOSTA —
The Valdosta State women’s basketball team is taking it one game at a time.
For head coach Kiley Hill and the Lady Blazers, that next game comes tonight when they host Gulf South Conference rival Alabama-Huntsville at the P.E. Complex.
“Right now, we have to be very solid with our ability to protect our home floor,” Hill said. “There are a lot of games left to play. We’d love to win the league but we want to be in the top three going into the conference tournament, and to have the chance to do that, you have to protect your home court advantage.”
The Lady Blazers and Lady Chargers will meet for the first time this season tonight at 6 p.m. It is the first conference game for either team since Dec. 1.
Valdosta State enters tonight’s contest with a 7-3 overall record, but an 0-2 conference record.
The Lady Blazers lost their conference opener to Union, 69-51, and dropped their next game to North Alabama, 62-54.
“For us, it feels like conference play,” Hill said. “When we played against Union and North Alabama, it didn’t feel like a conference game. We still had some many non-conference games still to play. The sense of urgency wasn’t there. Now for us, it is a standpoint where we are a little bit more focused and we are a little bit better of a team than we were back in November and early December.”
The Lady Chargers (5-7) enter tonight’s game riding a five-game losing streak, losing by an average of 10.8 points per game during that span.
Regardless of the losing streak, UAH still is a dangerous basketball team with talented players, according to Hill.
“Alabama-Huntsville has struggled here of late, but they are still a very dangerous basketball team,” Hill said. “They’ve played some very good people. They have two first team all-conference players; Jasmine Hammon and Jordan Smith, those two kids are very, very talented.”
Hammon leads Alabama-Huntsville in scoring this season, averaging 18.2 points per game, while Smith is averaging 15.8 points. Both players currently rank in the top five in the conference in scoring.
For the Lady Blazers, Hill said they are finally getting healthy and moving in the right direction, after starting the season with nearly half the team out with injuries.
As players continue to return from injury, Hill said the Lady Blazers are continuing to figure out their identity, as a team.
“We are still trying to figure out, as a team, what we want to hang our hat on,” Hill said. “As a coach, that isn’t a good thing. But we are further along to get to that point than we were a month ago. We are finally starting to get certain kids healthy, but we are having to play three, four of five kids 30 or 40 minutes. That grind of the season just wears on you.”
One player that won’t likely be returning for the Lady Blazers this season is senior point guard Maylissa Johnson. After tearing her ACL over the summer, Johnson has worked hard through rehab for a chance to return to the team. But Hill says she isn’t quite ready to return and the team is debating on using a redshirt to allow her the ability to play next season.
“May is back on the floor practicing, but we are possibly going to end up redshirting her,” Hill said. “We are so late into the season and I am not sure she is mentally ready coming off that ACL. We’ve had some discussions and you may see her, but I just don’t know.”
While Johnson is out, players like Brittney Nelson, Kourtnee Williams and Kamyia Smith have been clutch for the Lady Blazers.
Nelson and Johnson are each averaging over 14 points per game, while Smith leads the team in assists and steals.
Blazers Blog
Related Photos
-
Ed Hooper | The Valdosta Daily Times Valdosta State guard Kourtnee Williams is one of two Lady Blazers averaging over 10 points per game this season. The sophomore is averaging just over 14 points per game for the 7-3 Lady Blazers.
Discussion
Lady Blazers looking to find identity, host Lady Chargers
- Blazers Blog
-
-
Blazers host respected rival UAH in Super Regional
One would expect a matchup featuring two of the top softball programs in Division II to come in the national championship game.
Unfortunately for Valdosta State and Alabama-Huntsville, who have combined to appear in four straight national championship games, they won’t be meeting in title game on Memorial Day in Salem, Va. -
Blazers lose to Delta State, fall to loser’s bracket
If the Valdosta State baseball team is going to win the South Region Tournament, the Blazers going to have to do it from the loser’s bracket.
The Blazers (33-17) dropped their first game of the tournament Thursday, falling to Delta State 4-2 at UT Baseball Stadium.
VSU will face Stillman College, which lost to No. 1 seed and tournament host Tampa Thursday, Friday at 11 a.m. to advance to the weekend portion of the tournament. The loser will be eliminated. -
Former Lady Blazer Ferguson hired to lead Vikettes
The sign above the door still has Shan Garner’s name on it. There is even a Shan Garner plaque sitting on one of the shelves in the corner of the gymnasium office.
That will soon change, though, as Lowndes has hired its newest girls’ basketball coach. -
VSU wins 7th GSC Men’s All-Sports Trophy
Look out Title Town, another trophy is coming to town.
Valdosta State’s athletic department was awarded a seventh Gulf South Conference Men’s All-Sports Trophy Tuesday, sharing the honor with West Florida.
The tie between VSU and West Florida marked the first time in the GSC’s 42-year history that a pair of schools shared the honor. Both schools finished the athletic season with 29.5 points, based on the conference’s point system that gauges athletic success. -
Baseball Heading to Tampa for NCAA Regional Play
The Valdosta State baseball team learned Sunday night that it will open the 2013 NCAA South Region Tournament against Delta State at the UT Baseball Field on the campus of the University of Tampa.
-
Soccer and Women’s Basketball team up for BoostHER Golf Tournament
Registration is now available for the annual BoostHER golf tournament to be held on Thursday, May 23rd.
-
VSU softball beats Tampa, 12-6, to host Super Regional
Kiley Rusen picked a good time to have a career breakout day for the Valdosta State softball team. Slugging her first-career home run and triple, while driving in six runs, Rusen led the charge as the Blazers routed Tampa 12-6 to advance to a second straight NCAA South Super Regional Tournament.
-
Late homers lift Blazers to South Region 1 final
Valdosta State’s softball team is one win away. One more win and the Blazers will be heading back to the NCAA South Super Regional for the third time in the last four years.
-
VSU softball has three named to All-South Region
Less than three hours before they took the field to open the South Region 1 tournament at Steel’s Diamond against Albany State, three Valdosta State softball players were named to the All-South Region First Team.
-
VSU softball, baseball camps set for june
Camp informationr regarding Valdosta State softball and baseball.
- More Blazers Blog Headlines
-
