BIRMINGHAM, Ala. –– The underdog will have its day.

Kayla Bonilla took over in the second half as No. 5 seed Valdosta State women stunned No. 1 Union 68-62 to advance to Sunday’s Gulf South Conference Championship Game.

Bonilla scored 22 of her career-high 30 points in the second half to lift the Blazers off the canvas after a cold shooting first half. The Blazers caught fire after shooting just 8-of-33 from the floor in the first half, including 5-of-22 from 3-point range.

According to the sophomore, Saturday’s season-saving win was born from belief.

“I think we just knew that we could play with them,” Bonilla said. “I felt like, as a team, we knew we could beat them and we knew that they feared us more than we feared them. We just had to come out and play –– we hustled on every play, everybody had the heart. We want to go to the ‘ship and prove everybody wrong, and we did that.”

Two free throws by Jazmyn McIntosh put VSU ahead 59-49 with 2:43 left. The Bulldogs responded with an 11-3 run to pull within two of the Blazers on a 3 by Tiffany Rechis with 36.9 seconds to play.

Bonilla sank two free throws to make it a 64-60 game with 35.2 seconds left then made a pivotal defensive play on the next Union possession. As Jada Smith was stepping up to receive a pass near mid-court, the 5-foot guard darted into the passing lane to steal the ball and take it coast-to-coast before drawing a foul on the layup attempt.

With enough time on the clock for the Bulldogs to try to score quickly, Smith drew a foul from the Blazers’ Shon Kitchens on a 3-point attempt with 9.2 seconds to go. Smith made 2-of-3 at the line, but the Bulldogs would get no closer as Bonilla calmly sank two more free throws to ice the game with 8.8 seconds to go.

Bonilla shot 8-of-16 from the floor, including a career-best 5-of-9 triples and knocked down 9-of-10 free throws in 34 minutes.

“The kid can play,” Blazers coach Carley Kuhns said flatly. “She’s tough, she’s a competitor –– she gets thrown to the ground. We ask her to do so much –– handle the ball for 40 minutes, defend some of their best players for 40 minutes and she’s as tough as nails. I’m super proud of her. She played with confidence and she made some big, big-time plays for us.”

The Blazers, who lost to the Bulldogs 62-47 in their lone regular-season meeting in Valdosta, went right at the 27-2 top seed. From the opening tip, the Blazers employed a frenetic, aggressive defensive game plan and used their athleticism to beat the Bulldogs to rebounds.

With their defense causing havoc, the third quarter saw the Blazers’ hard work finally bear fruit. The Blazers shot 10-of-15 from the floor and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc while holding Union to 3-of-14 shooting in the frame. 

The Blazers outscored the Bulldogs 27-10 and a pair of triples each from Bonilla and Nari Garner gave VSU a 51-40 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“Overall, the first half, I thought we played really well defensively,” Blazers coach Carley Kuhns said. “We held them to 30 points –– this is a team that can score 80, 90 points a game. We just had trouble putting the ball in the hole. 

“I told them at halftime, ‘I still want us taking those shots. They are great shots for us and they’re gonna fall. We’ve got to shoot the ball with confidence. We’re gonna continue to get 3s.’ … Our energy out of halftime and our toughness changed the game for us.”

A big reason for the Blazers’ shooting troubles early was a tightly-packed 2-3 zone defense by the Bulldogs. The air-tight defensive alignment largely neutralized the Blazers’ ability to penetrate and attack the basket.

Bonilla, who scored eight points on eight shots in the first half, made it a point to be aggressive against the Union zone as the Bulldogs aimed to make the Blazers prove themselves from 3-point land. 

Citing her status as the team’s second-best 3-point shooter by percentage at 34.6 percent, Bonilla felt confident she could bust the Bulldogs’ zone.

“I felt as though they sagged off me too much –– I had the confidence to knock them down,” Bonilla said of her mindset going into the second half. “I’ve been shooting (3s) well this whole season and…I don’t want to say they didn’t respect me, but I knew I could knock it down and my team knew I could knock it down. We didn’t force nothing, I took everything that they gave me.”

The Blazers used their rebounding to stay close throughout as they outrebounded the Bulldogs 42-32, 15 of which coming on the offensive glass.

“Out of the gate, I wanted to see how many offensive rebounds we could get in the first quarter,” Kuhns said. “Offensive rebounds changed the game for us and immediately established us as the aggressor. I thought we had an athleticism advantage.

A big part of the Blazers’ defensive success was their collective work on Union forward Morgan Martin. The 6-foot-2 Martin gashed the Blazers for 21 points in the Nov. 29 meeting in Valdosta. 

On Saturday, the senior foursome of Maddy Corazza, Kendra Green, Crystal Townsend and McIntosh made life miserable for the Bulldogs’ star –– Martin was held to nine points on 3-of-9 shooting with seven rebounds and four turnovers. Martin fouled out with 2:43 remaining.

“(Morgan Martin) for them, is their leading scorer; averaging 18 points a game. Everything revolved around her and our game plan was to take her out of the game and force someone else to step up and make shots. They did, they had some kids make shots, but that took possessions away from her and took possessions away from her getting comfortable.

“Then, late in the game, she started forcing things and we drew two charges on her. Defensively, I thought our post players did an excellent job of containing her and limiting her success. It changed the game for us dramatically.”

Smith had 25 points for the Bulldogs, who lost for the first time since Jan. 3. Avree Carpenter scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds in the loss.

Sonya Franklin was the only other Blazer to hit double figures Saturday, finishing with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. McIntosh added six points and eight rebounds while Townsend hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds along with six points and three assists.

UP NEXT

The Blazers face a quick turnaround as they face No. 3 seed Lee (24-6), who dispatched West Georgia 66-57 on Saturday.

VSU lost to Lee 72-61 on the road back on Dec. 15.

“We respect all, but we fear none,” Bonilla said. “We’re just gonna come out and play and do what we do.”