The Valdosta State Lady Blazers are going to the Sweet Sixteen.

Valdosta State advanced to the finals of the Division II South Region women’s basketball tournament with a 67-63 victory over Florida Southern on Saturday evening.

On Monday, the Lady Blazers will face Rollins, the host school and the South Region’s No. 1 seed, in the region final at 7 p.m. at Rollins’ Warden Arena.

“I am so proud of the young women who are in our program. Across the board, a tremendous team effort,” Valdosta State head coach Kiley Hill said. “Our staff put together, I felt, a great game plan, and these kids just came out and executed to perfection.”

One day after knocking off the tournament’s third seed, Fort Valley State (59-47), sixth-seeded Valdosta State beat the second-seeded Lady Moccasins. The Lady Blazers have arguably played some of their best basketball in the tournament. Hill gave credit to his players for the work they have put in throughout the season and the way they have come together as a team.

“(Preparation for this) doesn’t begin in the month of March. It begins in August, and in June and July,” Hill said. “These kids are willing to buy in to what we’re asking them to do, and willing to share themselves for the bigger picture. That makes it even sweeter. Because when you’re around people you love to be around, and you have that chemistry, positive things happen. And win or lose, you have no regrets and you walk off the floor a champion. That’s what our program’s about and that’s what these kids are about.”

Both teams came ready to play on Saturday night. Valdosta State shot 47.2 percent from the floor, while Florida Southern shot 42.9 percent. The three-pointer was a big weapon for the Lady Blazers, who made seven of their 17 attempts from beyond the arc.

“I thought Valdosta played really well,” Florida Southern head coach Jarrod Olson said. “They really shot the ball well, I thought, from the perimeter. Seven three-pointers — I don’t know what their season high is, but I think that’s got to be in the neighborhood.”

“Two very good basketball teams were going to be on the floor tonight, and it was going to come down to who was able to (execute better),” Hill said.

For the second day in a row, Valdosta State seniors Sczeny Hartry and Brittany Ferguson and junior Brittney Nelson stepped up for the Lady Blazers. Hartry was VSU’s leading scorer again, scoring 20 points. Nelson had another double-double, this time scoring 15 points and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds. And Ferguson, Valdosta State’s All-Conference and All-Region forward, scored 11 points.

“I think it’s just heart, and we all wanted it,” Nelson said.

Michaela Hawley, Florida Southern’s 6-foot-3 standout center, scored 22 points and teammate Megan Dzikas added 17 points. But aside from those two players, Valdosta State’s defense pretty much shut down the Lady Mocs’ offense. And they limited Hawley to four rebounds.

The Lady Blazers led most of the game, but Florida Southern stayed in their rearview mirror throughout the night.

Valdosta State led 33-27 at halftime, but early in the second half, the Lady Moccasins scored seven straight points and tied the score at 34-34. The Lady Blazers answered with a 7-0 run of their own, and built their lead back to seven points, 41-34.

Then Florida Southern made another run. Dzikas drained a three-pointer and a jumper on         consecutive possessions. Then Danielle Walsh tied the score, 41-41, with a layup. Two minutes later, Dzikas buried another three-pointer, and gave Florida Southern its second lead of the night, 46-43.

Trailing for only the second time all game, Valdosta State responded.

Ferguson made a jumper. After a turnover, Maylisa Johnson fed Bena Hanyard in the lane for a layup to put the Lady Blazers back on top, 47-46. A free throw by Ferguson and a jumper by Johnson gave VSU a four-point lead, then Nelson got an open look and drained a three-pointer, giving Valdosta State a 53-46 lead with 6:18 to play.

That run was big for Valdosta State. Florida Southern wouldn’t get any closer than four points the rest of the game.

“I think it was massive,” Hill said about the way his team answered every time Florida Southern started building momentum. “This time of year, it’s about runs, and separation and momentum. We felt that we gave a good effort the first 20 minutes, and we knew how good a basketball team (Florida Southern is). I said (to our team) we’d have to answer those runs.”

The Lady Moccasins fought to stay in the game. Five times in the final 4:40, Florida Southern cut Valdosta State’s lead down to four points. Each time, the Lady Blazers had an answer. The first time, Hartry made a jumper and a three-pointer on back-to-back possessions to turn a four-point lead into a nine-point lead (59-50) with 3:50 left.

Dzikas’ free throw with 49 seconds left made it a four-point game again, 61-57. Then the Lady Blazers beat the Lady Moccasins’ full court press, and Kourtnee Williams found Nelson for a layup. Florida Southern’s Taylor Maldonado made it 63-59 with a layup with 35 seconds left.

With time running out, the Lady Mocs started fouling. They fouled Hartry, and the senior guard walked to the line and made both free throws to give her team a six-point lead again. After Maldonado made another layup, Hartry was fouled again, and made one of two free throws, giving the Lady Blazers a 66-61 lead with 25 seconds left.

With 12 seconds left, a three-point attempt by Walsh hit the rim and bounced away. Nelson leaped and grabbed the last of her 11 rebounds. She was fouled with seven seconds left and made one of her two shots from the line. Nelson’s rebound and free throw all but sealed the victory for the Lady Blazers.

Maldonado made a layup with 2.2 seconds left, but after a timeout, the Lady Blazers inbounded the ball and got it up the court as time expired.

In the opening minutes, Valdosta State grabbed an early lead, scoring the first four points of the game. A 5-0 run gave Florida Southern the lead for 12 seconds, but three-pointers by Nelson and Jordan Waugh put the Lady Blazers back on top, 12-9.

Midway through the first half, the Lady Moccasins tied the score again (16-16) on a three-pointer by Dzikas, but 23 seconds later, Hartry answered at the other end of the floor with a three-pointer of her own. That put VSU ahead once again, and the Lady Blazers would remain on top for the rest of the half.

Valdosta State shot 48.3 percent from the floor in the first half, including 40 percent from three-point range (4 for 10). That helped the Lady Blazers build a six-point lead at halftime, 33-27.

After the game, Ferguson said VSU’s bench, which scored 30 points, played a big part.

“I would really like to give credit to our bench,” she said. “We had 30 bench points (in this game), and that’s just tremendous. It’s a group effort. When I look down (at the statistics) and see that, that’s just huge. That’s a big part of Valdosta State basketball. And if we continue to get that kind of production out of any bench, we’re not going to get beat.”