VALDOSTA, Ga. – In a contest that was decided in the first quarter, Valdosta State displayed why it is likely the top team in the Gulf South Conference by overwhelming Lee inside The Complex, posting a convincing 80-50 victory. It was the 13^th straight win by the streaking Lady Blazers who improved to 16-2 overall and 13-1 in the GSC standings. The Lady Flames dropped to 11-7, 9-5. 
 
In the Saturday afternoon battle, Lee found the lid almost closed on the bucket on their end of the floor and put up only four points in falling behind 24-4 in the opening quarter. The margin reached 41-16 by halftime. The Lady Flames fought back in the third period and outscored Valdosta State 19-18, but the margin was way too much as the tally had reached 59-35. The Lady Blazers continued to show no mercy in the final frame and outscored Lee 21-15. 

While the Lady Flames were shooting only 32% from the field (14-of-44) for the game, Valdosta State made 54% of its shots (25-of-46). Lee took 21 attempts from long range and only made three (14%), at the same time the Blazers were smoking hot nailing 9-of-17 of their triples (53%). It was the same old story at the charity stripe. The host club marched to the free-throw line 24 times and knocked down 21. Lee was awarded 25 and converted 19, by far their best percentage of the game (77%). 

Valdosta State outrebounded the Lady Flames 27-18 and had 17 assists compared to 13 turnovers. On the other hand, Lee was guilty of 14 floor mistakes and dished off just five assists. Mallory Hampton had 15 points in the loss. Haley Cameron finished with nine points and five rebounds. Keira Leffew came off the bench and tallied seven points while Mia Hurst and Anna Muhonen did likewise, both scored six points.  

Valdosta State had four players in double-figure scoring. Aleisha Curry came on in a reserve role and recorded 18 points. Kalifa Ford followed with 14 points and a team-leading seven rebounds. Tamiya Francis also came off the bench and added 13 points, six rebounds and Taylor Searcey was her team leader with 10 points, four rebounds and six big assists. 

The Lady Flames will regroup and return to Walker Arena for one game next Saturday and face the University of Montevallo for a 2 p.m. tip before returning to the road for games at West Alabama and Alabama Huntsville.     

Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts: 
"We got outplayed from start to finish today. We did not have a lot of fight today and you can't do that against a great team. Give Valdosta State all the credit, they were really good on both ends of the court. The bright side is we got a split for the weekend and this game doesn't change the fact it was a successful trip. However, I promise there will be a tremendous week of detail next week in practice."