VALDOSTA, Ga. - A late run came up short for the Lady Blazers. Delta State tops Valdosta 62-53 on Saturday night.
Valdosta State trailed by six points with 3:19 to go and cut the deficit to two at the 2:04 mark after layups by both Delta State's Chelsey Rhodes, who finished the night with 26 points, hit a shot to open DSU's lead back up to four points with less than two minutes to play. VSU cut the lead to just two points again over the course of the next minute, and trailed 54-52 with just 17 seconds to play.
The game went downhill from there for Valdosta State. Jordan Waugh was charged with an intentional foul away from the ball during the final 13 seconds, and Head Coach Kiley Hill was tagged with a technical foul after voicing his displeasure with the call. The pair of fouls, along with an additional foul as the clock winded down, allowed Delta State six free throw opportunities. The Lady Statesmen converted on each of those shots to spread their lead back to nine before the final buzzer sounded. Imari Simpson was the high scorer for VSU. She had a season high 20 points.
Thomas added 13 points on the night, while Maggie Davis hauled in a team-high four rebounds.
Delta State survived 19 turnovers on the evening, thanks in large part to 39 rebounds against just 22 for the Lady Blazers. DSU secured 11 boards on the night, and scored 10 points off of putback shots.
As a team, the Lady Statesmen posted a 45.5 percent shooting effort from three point range, and were led from long range by Rhodes, who connected on four of her seven attempts.
The Lady Blazers fell to 11-12 overall after the loss and 7-10 in GSC play. Meanwhile, the Lady Statesmen improved to 13-8 overall, 11-6 against league opponents.
Valdosta State will hit the road for their final road trip of the season next week, beginning with a Thursday night matchup against Union in Jackson, Tenn..
***Valdosta State Athletics
