Valdosta State women’s basketball head coach Deandra Schirmer pleads her case to an official after an offensive foul call in the fourth quarter against Lee Thursday at The Complex.

VALDOSTA – A layup by Lee’s Addison Smith with 17.4 seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner as Lee (2-1, 1-0 Gulf South Conference) held off the Valdosta State women (0-2, 0-1 GSC) 56-55 Thursday night.

Out of a VSU timeout with 11 seconds left in the game, Lee star Haley Schubert drove to the basket and drew a foul from Taylor Searcey. Schubert, a career 78% free throw shooter, clanked both shots as Searcey rebounded and called timeout with 10 seconds left.

However, the play out of the timeout failed to launch as VSU guard India Jordan was called for an illegal screen to give it back to Lee with 8 seconds left.

The Blazers forced a miss by Schubert on a difficult, off-balanced shot at the basket to keep the door cracked open slightly for a potential go-ahead bucket. Out of a timeout with 5 seconds left, the Blazers went to point guard Tamiya Francis but her shot attempt was blocked by Smith as time expired.

“We have people that are in new positions – when situations get tight like that, we’re still learning who can play in those moments and I feel like we had fouled out both of our bigs at that point and usually that’s a post player that’s setting that screen but India had to step in because we didn’t have anybody else and she got a little excited and set a moving screen,” VSU head coach Deandra Schirmer said. “I thought it was a great look for us and I thought Jirah (Ards) had it clear as day going downhill on the opposite side. It’s just a matter of, in those moments, can you stay poised and can you execute and not get some of those tick-tack fouls.

“As far as the game overall, I was very proud of our group. We gave up 88 points to a very talented team the last time we came out here and our big focus this week was defense and I think that really showed. Numerous charges, numerous blocked shots and I just thought our defense looked like our defense and that was good for us. Honestly, if we would have shot the ball well, it would have been a much better outcome but unfortunately the rim was not kind to us. We didn’t hit a lot of 3s. We took a lot of good shots, we just didn’t hit and connect.”

The Blazers trailed 42-36 heading into the fourth quarter, but got a lift from newcomer Kate Tanner to claw back to take the lead.

Tanner scored nine of her team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter as the Blazers lost their second straight game to open the season. The sophomore center from Australia also pulled down six rebounds and made 6 of 9 field goals before fouling out in 16 minutes.

Tanner bounced back from a tough debut in the season opener against Eckerd that saw her shoot 1 of 8 from the floor and commit two turnovers before fouling out in 17 minutes.

“It was all about – in practice, my coaches always say, ‘Be aggressive. Be aggressive,’” Tanner said of her game. “The first game was really about making sure that I could come out and be aggressive. This game was more about bringing it back a little bit and being able to control that. Unfortunately I fouled out, but I just wanted to make sure I actually could impact the game this time like I wasn’t able to last game and just keep moving forward from there.”

Tanner added: “I’m hoping to reduce my fouls still, but I wanted to impact the game with the girls because we all need each other and everybody is special. We need everybody so everybody that gets a foul, it’s unfortunate but we still work together and finished off strong.

“I definitely felt a lot more comfortable. I think that was the biggest difference between the first and the second game – just going over things in practice, making sure that I remain confident and calm as well and just taking that extra second when I get the ball underneath the basket and going up strong and either drawing a foul, getting an and-one or scoring at the basket.”

Searcey was the only other Blazer in double figures with 10 points on 3 of 10 shooting to go along with seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and five turnovers in the loss.

As a team, the Blazers shot 35.8% overall and just 4 of 17 from beyond the arc.

The Blazers continued to struggle handling the ball. Though they had 11 assists on 19 field goals, the Blazers committed 22 turnovers Thursday.

Over their first two games, the Blazers have coughed it up an alamring 43 times.

“Yes…we need to limit our turnovers,” Schirmer said, looking as if she wanted to pull her hair out. “The No. 1 thing on the board before the game was limit our turnovers. There’s a fine line between…when you’re coaching, you don’t want your players to play tight. Our players never play tight and I’m proud of that. However, they’ve also got to play smart and I think that’s the big takeaway from tonight – we’ve got to play smarter in certain situations. We’ve got to make sure 50-50 in certain situations, we can’t throw those.

”When we first started off, you could see we were discombobulated. We weren’t on the same page. We’re still learning how to run the sets from different positions. We have people in different positions and different places. The more practice we get under our belt, the more games we get under our belt, I’m really excited for this group and what they can show.”

Mallory Hampton led the Flames with 20 points to lead all scorers Thursday. Hampton made 8 of 14 field goals and 3 of 4 from 3-point land in 37 minutes. Schubert added 13 points but shot just 4 of 14 from the floor and 4 of 8 from the free throw line in the game. Reserve forward Anna Muhonen contributed 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting before fouling out in 17 minutes off the bench.

The Flames shot 44% overall and 6 of 17 from beyond the arc.

The Blazers won the rebounding battle 38-29, outscored the Flames in the paint 28-22 and won the second chance points category 20-5.

“It’s tough when you’re in a tight situation like that, you really just want to make the most of every situation,” Tanner said. “We were very lucky to get a few chances at the end there. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done which is very heartbreaking for the team but we’re gonna keep our heads high. We fought really hard. Unfortunately we couldn’t get it done, but it was all about making sure we fought to the very end and that’s what we’re most proud of.”

GETTING HEALTHIER

Thursday’s game saw the return of combo guard Jirah Ards as well as the debut of junior forward Aleisha Curry.

Ards, who missed the entire 2021-22 season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, started the game after missing the season opener against Eckerd last week. Ards played 35 minutes and contributed four points, six rebounds and four assists.

Curry, a transfer from Santa Fe College, came off the bench to play just under 6 minutes – missing her only field goal attempt, but grabbing an offensive rebound to draw a foul in her stint.

“Aleisha has only been practicing full go this week,” Schirmer said. “She’s somebody that hasn’t had that many reps. Jirah is somebody that’s been practicing but she also knows the offense. She’s ran it and this is her third year so Jirah kind of seamlessly goes back in, but I’m so excited for Aleisha when she gets healthy because she’s very talented.

”I could see Kate getting 15 and Aleisha getting 15 right behind her. We’re gonna kind of have a 1-2 punch from that post position but we’ve got to get everybody healthy and that’s a process. I’ve told my team you’ve got to buy into that process. You’ve got to be able to take your licks and right now, we might struggle not having everybody full go but as soon as we get healthy, I’m excited for this season and what it has in store.”

UP NEXT

The VSU women host Shorter Saturday at 2 p.m.