Sczeny Hartry (3) and the Valdosta State Lady Blazers defeated West Georgia on Saturday.

Receiving little respect around the conference, region and nation, the Valdosta State women’s basketball team made a statement Thursday night.

The Lady Blazers put together an impressive defensive performance, mixed in with effective offense, to defeat the Alabama-Huntsville Lady Chargers, who entered the night tied for first place in the Gulf South Conference, 65-55.

“We felt like we played pretty well tonight,” Valdosta State head coach Kiley Hill said. “We were the better basketball team, today. … We just made some adjustments from the last time up there.”

Valdosta State’s defensive pressure was stifling all night, holding Alabama-Huntsville well below its season average in points, which was 78 entering the night. The Lady Blazers also held the Lady Chargers to just 31 percent shooting from the floor (20 of 64).

“We played better team defense tonight,” Hill said. “It is a point of pride for us, and Huntsville did a tremendous job averaging (78) points per game, but we are not going to allow someone to come into our place and put that many points up.”

The Lady Blazers also controlled the rebounds, outrebounding Alabama-Huntsville 48-38 on the night and bringing down 17 offensive boards.

Guard Bena Hanyard led Valdosta State with 19 points, to go along with nine rebounds, while Sczeny Hartry and Courtney Mitchell each finished with 11 points. Brittany Ferguson, who was held to one point in the first half, finished with 16 rebounds, while shooting just 3 of 10 from the floor and recording a season-low eight points.

“We played with a lot of depth,” Hill said. “Everyone responded in a very positive way. I think an example is with (Ferguson), she didn’t put a lot of points on the scoreboard tonight, she struggled from there, but she put up 16 rebounds.”

Despite the impressive defensive play throughout the game, the Lady Blazers opened the door to a thunderous UAH comeback in the closing minutes. After taking a 16-point lead, the largest of the contest, with 4:11 remaining, VSU saw the Lady Chargers close within six points with 1:48 remaining.

Alabama-Huntsville started the run by connecting on three straight baskets, which was followed up with a free throw from VSU’s Maylisa Johnson. Huntsville then closed within eight points behind a basket from Jasmine Hammon.

On the following inbounds play, Brittney Nelson was unable to get the ball into play and was called for a five-second violation, thus giving the ball back to the Lady Chargers. Then Huntsville converted two free throws to cut VSU’s lead to six, 59-53, with 1:48 remaining.

VSU used two free throws to re-extend its lead to eight points and managed a defensive stop on the other end, which turned into another free throw for the Lady Blazers, which made the score 62-53 with 1:06 remaining.

Alabama-Huntsville would not get any closer in the final minute, as the Lady Blazers held on to secure the victory.

“We just made the stops throughout the course of the game,” Hill said.

The Lady Blazers used stifling defense to grab a 35-24 halftime lead, holding the Lady Chargers to 36 percent shooting (9 of 25) from the floor in the half. Meanwhile, the Lady Blazers were 14 of 31 from the floor. Hanyard led the way with 13 first half points.

Valdosta State fell in an early 4-0 hole, as Huntsville managed six shots from the floor within the opening minute and a half. The Lady Blazers managed to knot the game even at 4-4 and 9-9. From there, the rest of the half was owned by Valdosta State, who used a 29-15 run to take the halftime lead.

The Lady Blazers welcome North Alabama to the P.E. Complex Saturday night. The game will serve as the annual Pink Zone game, and fans are encouraged to wear pink attire.