VALDOSTA – The Valdosta State women’s basketball team bounced back in a big way, defeating Columbus State 78-51 Friday afternoon.

The Blazers jumped on the Cougars from the opening tip, outscoring them 20-10 in the first quarter and creating significant distance in the second quarter as part of a 28-8 run to go ahead 36-18 at the half.

“I think we were ready for this fight,” VSU head coach Deandra Schirmer said after the game. “We know that they’re an excellent team and we kind of had a really good wake-up call (against Georgia College) last weekend. Our team came out really, really hungry and ready to play. That first quarter was what paced us for the entire game. It was very imperative that we start strong and thankfully we did.”

Making her season debut for the Blazers, graduate student Nicole Heyn came off the bench to pour in 17 points, six rebounds and five steals as the Blazers (3-1) shot 48.2% from the field and outscored the Cougars (5-1) 38-18 in the paint.

The Cougars, who came into Friday undefeated, were led by Imani Arnold’s 15 points, seven rebounds and four steals . Amber Abusbeih and Kristyn Goshay added nine points apiece in the loss. For the game, the Cougars were held to 30.2% shooting and 5 of 20 from beyond the arc.

VSU starting guard Jirah Ards left the game with an apparent leg injury just 8 minutes into Friday’s game. The 5-11 Heyn came in and filled the void left by Ards’ departure, playing 27 minutes.

Center Kwajelin Farrar added 15 points and seven rebounds while Australian newcomer Lili Long chipped in with 14 points and a pair of 3s in 30 minutes.

“Kwajelin is coming off injury and she’s getting into the flow,” Schirmer said. “She’s still not what she was at the end of the season, her end of the season form she had last season. She’s missing some catches here and there, but you see that she’s going to be somebody that we rely on down the stretch. She’s just such a dominant player and she forces the other team’s defense to account for where she’s at at all times, which is tough. Now she’s getting double-teams, that’s opening up stuff.

“Lili Long, she’s been a scorer at her community college. She was an All-American. She hadn’t gotten into the flow yet, so it was kind of her getting her legs underneath her and realizing how she can be effective in this offense and realizing we need her to be aggressive. Today, you saw her be aggressive. She took a deep 3, which I was glad it went in, but I think we had better shot selection this game. They were all-out pressing and we were able to make the one more pass and get somebody wide open. I’m really proud of our girls being able to execute a scout because that was huge today.”

With the injury to Ards, the Blazers are down another contributor as guard Shanice Nelson and center Abby Rouse have yet to play this season due to injury.

“We’ve taken a lot of blows with injuries, but the attitude and the mindset that we’ve had is next person up and you see how new faces are stepping up – players that didn’t necessarily play last season are stepping up in big minutes and making big plays,” Schirmer said. “It’s all about being able to adjust to whatever adversity comes your way and we’ve had a lot of adversity so far. Hopefully we can get some of those players back and we’ll be at full-go and playing our best when our best is required at tournament time.”

UP NEXT

The VSU women host Bentley Saturday at noon.

“(Bentley’s) a very, very good team – top 25 caliber team,” Schirmer said of Saturday’s opponent. “They’re going to run a lot of ball screen defense and they’re very well-coached. They’re a team that didn’t get to play last season due to COVID so they’re hungry to come out and play basketball. When you watch them play, they’ve got a very smart, high basketball I.Q. team so it’ll be a battle and hopefully we’re ready for it tomorrow.”

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.