VALDOSTA The Valdosta State women rallied from 14 points down to lead in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t hang on in a 74-71 loss to Georgia Southwestern Wednesday night. A layup by GSW’s Shane’ Jackson opened up a 53-39 lead with 1: 40 remaining in the third quarter, but the Blazers responded with a 30-point fourth quarter after struggling offensively much of the evening. A score inside by sophomore Raeanne Eccleston off a nice lead pass by Erin Whalen gave the Blazers a 68-67 lead with 3: 04 remaining their first lead since the 6: 44 mark in the first quarter. Unfortunately, the Lady ‘Canes buried a couple of tough shots to stem the tide as Tiara Hozumi knocked down a pull-up 19-footer late in the shot clock on the ensuing possession. Then, off a missed layup by the Blazers’ Aryana Hicks, the Lady ‘Canes answered with a Janiya Johnson 3-pointer from the left corner to push the GSW lead back to four at 72-68 with 1: 24 left. Down two after a jumper by Hicks with 1: 15 to go, the Lady ‘Canes iced the game at the free throw line when Ray’ven Robinson calmly sank a pair to push the lead to four with 8 seconds left in the game. Despite a backside flare screen for GSC Player of the Week Erin Whalen to get an open 3-pointer, the shot fell short and time ran out on the Blazers. “Defense has kind of been the thing we’ve hung our hat on,” VSU head coach Chandler Merkerson said after her team’s first loss of the season. “I would like for us to be a little bit more efficient and effective offensively I’ve just got to do a better job of coaching them through it but defense has been the thing that’s carried us this entire preseason and into the first three games of the season. For the last 7 minutes of the game, we kind of got back to our identity there. Our defense, when we bring it, we’re a really tough team. But when we don’t, Bad News Bears.” Johnson’s late 3 to beat the shot clock was a recurring theme in the game as the Blazers seemed to scramble and suffocate the Lady ‘Canes defensively only to leave a shooter wide open. Merkerson admits the late clock daggers were deflating for her group at times. “It’s just deflating when you defend well for 29 seconds and then don’t finish the plays,” the second-year coach said. “It’s just deflating as a defense, and then you’ve got to try to go back down and score when you’ve exerted a ton of energy on the defensive side of the floor. We’ve got to have the ability to finish plays and scramble out. We’ve got to have a little bit more grit and determination, especially at the end of the shot clock, to finish plays.” Hicks led the Blazers with 18 points and eight assists, Amaya Broadus added 12 points and six rebounds, and Whalen finished with 10 points and four rebounds in the loss. The Blazers out-rebounded the Lady ‘Canes 37-29, led by six apiece from Broadus and Eccleston. Hicks, who had been dogged by an illness in the days leading up to Wednesday’s game, played 36 minutes and shot 9 of 14 from the floor “She’s a tough kid, man,” Merkerson said of Hicks. “She’s been out the past two days sick. We didn’t know we would even have her, but she just kind of willed us to win. Once she gets that look in her eyes, you can tell she’s ready to go, and she played her tail off on both ends of the floor. She was phenomenal.” The Blazers (2-1) outscored the Lady ‘Canes 46-36 in the paint, but missed several shots at the rim throughout. Offensively, the Blazers struggled to execute in the half court looking indecisive and hesitant as they spent the first three quarters searching for continuity and flow. Though they shot 12 of 19 from the floor and hit 6 of 7 free throws during their fourth quarter rally, the Blazers hurt themselves in the end with poor free throw shooting over the first three quarters going 2 of 10 from the stripe prior to the fourth. “I think it was just indecisiveness,” Merkerson said of her team’s offensive woes. “I thought we got a little greedy with the ball, and it just didn’t move very well. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and get back to moving the ball and sharing the ball and keeping it moving. “We also are not a team that takes a lot of threes. We also don’t really have to if teams aren’t giving us that shot. I thought they did a good job of playing solid defense the whole game. They didn’t really give us open threes. We got a lot of chippies at the rim that we missed or they blocked, and then we’ve also just got to make free throws, too.” Johnson poured in 20 points off the bench for the Lady ‘Canes to lead all scorers Wednesday, shooting 8 of 17 overall and 3 of 7 from beyond the arc as the Lady ‘Canes shot just shy of 52% for the game and 9 of 21 from 3-point land. Not only was Johnson lethal off the bench, she got plenty of help from 5-11 freshman Kassidy Neal. Neal delivered a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds in 20 minutes, shooting a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor with one 3-pointer. The GSW bench outscored VSU’s 40-17. Madison Brittle was the only GSW starter in double figures with 15 points and three 3-pointers as the Lady ‘Canes picked up their first win of the season improving to 1-2. UP NEXT Georgia Southwestern: Hosts the University of Fort Lauderdale Saturday, Nov. 22 at 1 p. m. Valdosta State: Hits the road to take on the Lynn Fighting Knights on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 5: 30 p. m.
https://valdostadailytimes.com/2025/11/19/blazers-comeback-falls-short-against-lady-canes-74-71/
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