St. Petersburg, Fla. - The No. 6 seeded Valdosta State Lady Blazer basketball team saw their incredible season come to end on Friday, following a 71-60 loss to No. 3 seeded Benedict in the opening round of the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Valdosta State concluded the year at 22-10 overall, while Benedict improved to 22-7 and advanced to the semifinal round, where the Tigers will face the winner of Friday's matchup between the No. 2 seeded West Florida Argonauts and the No. 7 seeded Nova Southeastern Sharks.
The Lady Blazers outrebounded the Tigers 45-36 in the game and committed just 14 turnovers. Shooting woes proved to be the difference, however, as Valdosta State was able to connect on just 18 of their 64 shots in the game for 28.1 percent.
In contrast, the Tigers put together a 49.1 percent shooting effort (28-of-57) over the course of the game. Mikeisha Moore was the driving force behind the team's performance with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and a 5-of-8 effort from beyond the arc.
Sonya Franklin led the Blazer offense with 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting, but Moore's stellar outing for the Tigers, combined with Destiny Betts' 19-point performance, proved to be too much for VSU to overcome.
Valdosta State's seven three pointers in the game lifted VSU to 206 on the season, which set a new school mark for made three pointers in a single season. The previous mark of 199 was set when Head Coach Carley Kuhns played her senior season at Valdosta State in 2007-08.
Valdosta State's 22-win season marks their highest win total since 2011-12, when the program finished at 22-8. The GSC Champion Lady Blazers are expected to return their full roster next season.
