GAME NOTES: Valdosta State at Delta State (GSC First-Round)
CLEVELAND, Miss. -- No. 4 seed Delta State University women's basketball (18-9, 13-7 GSC) hosts No. 5 seed Valdosta State (19-9, 13-7) GSC) for the first round of the VisitSpaceCoast.com Gulf South Conference Tournament on Tues., March 5 at 6:30 p.m. at Walter Sillers Coliseum.
LADY STATESMEN IN THE GSC TOURNAMENT: The Lady Statesmen are 58-15 all-time in GSC Tournament games, including a 25-4 mark in the opening round. Delta State owns tournament records for appearances (32), wins, semi-final appearances (24), championship game appearances (23) and titles (16). Delta State owns 16 GSC championships winning the league's first-ever team title in 1986 and followed suit in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2016.
RUSH UPDATE: Alondrea Rush went 2-for-7 from beyond the arc against Montevallo ranking 2nd in career 3-pointers made (211) and 3rd in career 3-pointers attempted (615). Rush is 29th on the career scoring list with 1,173 points and needs 14 points to pass Amber Gean (1,195) for 28th on the career scoring list and is two 3-point attempts from passing Rhodes (616) for 2nd in career 3-pointers attempted.
vs. VSU GSC TOURNEY HISTORY: Delta State and Valdosta State have met in the GSC Tournament 8 times with the Lady Statesmen owning a 7-1 record. Tuesday's game will mark the third time in six years that the Lady Statesmen and Lady Blazers square-off in the opening round of the GSC Tournament. Both teams are 1-1 in the previous two meetings. The Blazers 66-41 win (2.28) in the 2016-17 while the Lady Statesmen won 60-50 (3.3) in the first round in 2014-15.
INSIDE THE VSU SERIES: Delta State owns a 39-10 lead in the series and is 19-3 at Walter Sillers Coliseum in Cleveland, Miss., heading into the 50th meeting in the series. The Lady Statesmen and the Blazers meet for the third time in 2018-19 with each team winning on the others home floor. The Blazers won 69-60 (1.12.19) in Cleveland, Miss., while the Lady Statesmen claimed a 68-60 ( 2.16.19) in Valdosta, Ga.
LADY STATESMEN DOUBLE-DOUBLES: Quantesha Patterson has 6 double-doubles: @ Barry (18 pts. | 12 rebs.); @ Miss. College (18 pts. | 12 rebs.); @ Union (17 pts | 14 rebs.); @ Christian Brothers (11 pts. | 13 rebs. & 25 pts. | 13 rebs); @Montevallo (20 pts. |, 15 rebs.).
Frederica Haywood has 4 double-doubles: vs. Spring Hill (12 pts. | 11 rebs); vs. Montevallo (14 pts. | 12 rebs.), Alabama Huntsville (14 pts. | 14 rebs) and vs. Miss. College (18 pts. 11 rebs.)
Kirstin Brown has 1 double-double @ Arkansas-Monticello (11 pts. | 10 rebs.) and
Zyaire Ewing has 2 double-doubles vs. Lane (13 pts. | 10 rebs.) and AUM (20 pts. | 11 rebs.)
LADY STATESMEN REWIND: Quantesha Patterson scored 20 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds to lead the Delta State University women's basketball (18-9, 13-7 GSC) to a 76-58 win over the University of Montevallo (12-15, 8-12 GSC) on Thurs., Feb. 28 at Walter Sillers Coliseum. Trailing 31-30 at the half, the Lady Statesmen outscored the Falcons 46-27 in the second half and 22-11 in the third quarter.
NOTES, SIDEBARS & STORYLINES
WINDEX LADIES: The Lady Statesmen have out-rebounded have out-rebounded their opponents in 19-of-26 games this year.
Frederica Haywood has a team-high 10 games with double-figure rebounds followed by
Quantesha Patterson with 7 double-figure rebound games, including a career-high 13 rebounds against Christian Brothers (2.7.19).
Zyaire Ewing has 3 games with double-figure rebounds while
Kirstin Brown and
Raven Johnson, have 2.
LADY STATESMEN AT HOME: Delta State is 10-2 at home this season with losses to Valdosta State and then #1 Union University. The Lady Statesmen have won five straight home game since Since the Loss to the Blazers on Jan. 12, 2019. The Lady Statesmen have a +9.9 scoring margin and a +6.8 rebounding margin.
Nia Johnson averages 16.5 points, 2.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals.
Quantesha Patterson is averaging 12.3 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 65.8 percent from the floor.
Frederica Haywood is collecting 10.3 rebounds and is shooting 53 percent at home.
DOWN THE STRETCH: Delta State has been clutch from the charity stripe in the final 5 minutes of games, shooting 80.2 percent (101-of-126). For the season, the Lady Statesmen are shooting 72.3 percent.
Alondrea Rush is shooting 87.5 percent (91.7 GSC) followed by
Ernesha Chatman's 83.3 percent.
Nia Johnson's is shooting 84.4 percent from the line down the stretch. In the last three games, the Lady Statesmen have been Red Hot making 20-of-23 free throws for 90.5 percent.
