Adam MacDonald
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA — SOUTHAVEN, Miss. – The Valdosta State Lady Blazers’ 15-game winning streak finally met its match in the Delta State Lady Statesmen on Saturday.
Bug Cooper torched the Lady Blazers for 15 points, nine assists and four rebounds, and West Division Player of the Year Veronica Walker scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, as the Lady Statesmen again knocked the Lady Blazers out of a postseason tournament with a 72-60 win in the Gulf South Conference women’s basketball tournament semifinals at the DeSoto Civic Center.
VSU is now 0-6 against the Lady Statesmen in the past three seasons. Five of those losses have come in the postseason.
“We gave a valiant effort,” Lady Blazers head coach Kiley Hill said. “Of course I’m disappointed. Honestly, and I’ll say it to my dying days, I thought we were going to move on to play (Arkansas) Tech in the finals. We showed great heart and great effort. We have to battle. We have to go back and get better and better and better.”
The Lady Blazers (18-8) turned the ball over an uncharacteristic 22 times, something they didn’t have a problem with during their winning streak. Offense was hard to come by most of the game for VSU, as leading scorer Michelle Thompson was shut out. Brittany Daniels and Amanda Haven kept the Lady Blazers alive with 16 points apiece.
The Lady Blazers dug themselves a hole against Division II’s No. 8 team that they could not escape. Delta State (25-2) ended the first half on a 17-5 run, behind eight straight points from Cooper, then started fast in the second half and built a 15-point lead.
The Lady Blazers chipped away and got within five points on a pair of free throws by Haven, but the Lady Statesmen got a huge lift from Walker when she scored five straight points to put Delta State up 64-53 with 2:49 remaining. Walker grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back, then stole the ball at the other end and took it in for a layup while getting fouled. After the free throw, the Lady Statesmen owned a comfortable double-digit lead again.
“I thought those were some key plays, but I wish she would do that the whole time,” Lady Statesmen head coach Sandra Rushing said. “She’s a tremendous athlete. She can score. I was really happy with her performance.”
The Lady Blazers hung with the Lady Statesmen for most of the first half, but Cooper took off down the stretch. She went on an 8-0 run of her own to put Delta State up 34-22 late in the first half. Moe Bell drained a long 3-pointer in the waning seconds of the first half to put Delta State up 39-25.
Daniels boosted VSU’s comeback with two 3-point plays early in the second half, and Sczeny Hartry drilled a 3-pointer to make it 51-45 with under 10 minutes to go.
However, the Lady Blazers’ comeback bid fell short when Walker took over late.
The Lady Blazers, ranked No. 6 in the South Region, now await their national tournament fate. The top eight teams from the South Region make the Big Dance. The field of 64 and the site of the South Region tournament will be announced on Sunday evening. Hill said he would hope that since the Lady Blazers have won 15 of their last 16 games, they would earn an at-large bid.
The Lady Statesmen move on to the GSC tournament finals on Sunday at 1 p.m., where they will face Arkansas Tech. Delta State is seeking its fifth straight GSC championship, which would be a record.
