Box Score Box Score
SOUTHAVEN, MISS. – The Harding women's basketball team could not overcome a nightmarish first half shooting effort Thursday and fell 69-42 to Valdosta State in the quarterfinals of the Gulf South Conference Tournament at the DeSoto Civic Center.
The loss ended Harding's season at 19-10 overall, the team's most successful season since the 1998-99 campaign. The Lady Bisons were making their first appearance in the conference tournament in their seven seasons in the GSC.
Valdosta State (23-5) entered the game ranked 18th in NCAA Division II and won its 11 consecutive contest. The Lady Blazers, the first seed from the GSC East, will meet Arkansas Tech, the second seed from the GSC West, on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
Harding connected on only 1-of-23 field goal attempts in the first half. The Lady Bisons' lone basket came on a Catherine McMenamy layup on an in-bounds pass with 11:00 left.
Harding, which made 11-of-19 three-pointers in its opening round victory over West Florida, missed all 14 of its long range attempts.
Harding trailed 27-12 at the break with 10 of those points coming at the foul line.
The Lady Bisons missed their first five shots of the second half before Chelsea McCarty's put-back with 15:46 left, ending a drought of more than 15 minutes of game time without a basket.
Harding improved to 30 percent from the field in the second half, but finished the game at only 17 percent. The Lady Bisons' lowest shooting percentage on record before Thursday was an 18-percent effort against Henderson State in 2004.
Despite the cold shooting from the field, the Lady Bisons made 26-of-30 (86.7 percent) from the foul line.
Freshman Stacey Owens scored nine of her team-high 13 points in the second period, finishing 4-of-7 from the field and 5-of-5 from the line. Owens also had nine rebounds.
Valdosta State shot only 23 percent in the first half but scorched the nets at 63 percent after the break to finish at 41 percent for the game. The Lady Blazers made 13-of-23 (56.5 percent) from three-point range.
Junior guard Janelle Collazo led Valdosta State with 22 points, and junior guard Carley Peterson scored 15.
