THE BASICS:
SCORE: Palm Beach Atlantic 57, No. 23 Valdosta State 51
RECORDS: Valdosta State 2-1, Palm Beach Atlantic 1-1
LOCATION: West Palm Beach, Fla.
THE LEAD: Poor shooting in the first half doomed the No. 23 Valdosta State women's basketball team in a 57-51 loss at Palm Beach Atlantic, Monday evening. Senior Crystal Townsend had a team-high 15 points for the Lady Blazers.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Lady Blazers opened the game making just one of their first eight shots, but were tied 4-4 through the first four minutes of the contest.
- The cold shooting continued as the Lady Blazers had a pair of good looks, but were unable to score, making just one field goal in their last nine for a 6-5 lead with 3:44 left in the first quarter.
- PBA's Ciara Cumbie ended a scoring drought of 3:45 for both teams with a layup for a 7-6 lead with 3:12 left in the quarter as VSU had not made a field goal in the last 3:02.
- The Sailfish extended their lead to 9-6 on a jumper from Darshan DeShazier for a 9-6 lead with 2:49 left.
- VSU's senior Crystal Townsend ended a 4:01 scoring drought with a jumper for a 9-8 deficit and just the third made field goal (18 attempts) in the first quarter.
- The second quarter started with buckets by both teams as each traded the lead in the first minute.
- PBA extended the lead back to three at 13-10 with a jumper from Victoria Self, but VSU senior Sonya Franklin buried the team's first triple to tie the game at the other end.
- Townsend put VSU up once again with a jumper for a 16-15 lead with 7:10 left in the half as it would be the final field goal made for the Lady Blazers in the half.
- Cumbie hit her second bucket of the game for a 19-16 PBA lead, matching the largest deficit of the game for VSU with 4:41 left in the half.
- A jumper from Mina Salhia extended the lead to 21-16 and a 6-0 run by PBA as VSU missed two more free throws at the other end (3 of 10) and a triple from Self extended the lead to 24-16 with 3:01 left.
- VSU had not scored in the last 4:11 and made just one of its last eight shots.
- Self buried another triple and steal for a 29-16 lead with less than a minute left.
- PBA ended the half with a 14-0 run over the last 5:40 as VSU didn't score in the final 7:12 of the half and trailed 29-16 at halftime.
- VSU began its comeback in the third quarter as Townsend buried a triple to begin a 7-0 run to end the frame as the Lady Blazers trailed 38-33.
- Townsend tied the game at 44 in the fourth with an offensive rebound and score with 5:07 left.
- Later, senior Kendra Green hit a triple for VSU's first lead since the first quarter at 49-48, but a layup from Aniyah Ross put PBA up 50-49 with 3:11 left.
- VSU sophomore Kayla Bonilla made two of three free throw chances to put the Lady Blazers up 51-50 with 1:37 left, but two free throws at the other end and a triple – all from Jonika Garvin gave PBA a 55-51 lead with 30 seconds left.
- Three looks at triples and offensive rebounds followed, but none would go down for VSU and Garvin hit two more free throws with four seconds left for a 57-51 win for PBA as she scored the final seven points of the game.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- VSU shot just 17 percent for the first quarter on 3 of 18, while going 0 of 2 from range and just 2 of 6 from the line.
- Senior Maddy Corazza had four points and four rebounds in the first quarter.
- PBA shot 29 percent on 4 of 14, while going 0 of 3 from beyond the arc and 1 of 2 from the line.
- VSU held a 15-13 lead in rebounding and 4-0 on the offensive end.
- The Lady Blazers had their worst half of the season, going 6 of 32 from the field for 19 percent, while making just 1 of 9 triples and went 3 of 12 from the line.
- Corazza had a team-high six points at half.
- The Sailfish shot 38 percent on 11 of 29, while going 2 of 9 from range and 5 of 8 from the line.
- PBA held a 27-23 lead in rebounding, while VSU led 7-3 in offensive rebounds. Self had eight points to lead the Sailfish for the half.
- VSU shot a season-low 18 of 64 from the field for 28.1 percent, while going 5 of 24 from beyond the arc (20.8) and went just 10 of 30 from the line.
- Townsend paced the Lady Blazers with 15 points on 6 of 7 from the field, 2 of 2 from beyond the arc and 1 of 4 from the line.
- Corazza had 12 rebounds, but missed a double-double by one point.
- PBA shot 21 of 50 from the field for 42 percent, while going 3 of 11 from beyond the arc and 12 of 22 from the line.
- Garvin had 19 points on 5 of 15 from the field with one triple and was 8 of 8 from the line for the lone Sailfish in double figures.
UP NEXT:
- VSU will look to get back on track Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Lynn.
- The Lady Blazers then have the rest of the week off and will open the 2018-19 Gulf South Conference slate at The Complex a week from Thursday against league-favorite Union at 6 p.m.
