VSU women roll on Senior Day behind Martin's 26

Feb. 21—VALDOSTA — On a day where the Valdosta State women (19-5, 18-4 Gulf South Conference) honored their seniors, it was a junior that stole the show.

Junior sharpshooter Emma Martin poured in a season-high 26 points off the bench in the Blazers' 75-62 win over Auburn Montgomery (7-20, 6-17 GSC) Saturday afternoon.

Martin made 9 of 12 field goals overall but thrived beyond the arc with eight 3-pointers in 11 attempts to lead the Blazers.

"I think it had a lot to do with my teammates," Martin said. "We were executing our offense well. We've been working a lot lately on executing our offense. It was just us practicing that and all of us working together to execute and I happened to be the one today that got some open shots and was able to knock 'em down."

Led by Martin's marksmanship, the Blazers finished 12 of 30 from beyond the arc and shot 48.3% as a team. A major key to the team's hot shooting was benevolent ball movement as it finished with 21 assists on 28 made baskets.

A layup by Kate Tanner off a feed from Tamiya Francis gave VSU its largest lead of 25 points with 8:12 remaining.

Despite the cushy lead, the Blazers had to keep their regulars in longer than expected as the Warhawks knocked down four 3s in the fourth quarter to cut the lead from 25 to 13 with under 30 seconds to play.

With the win, the Blazers have won back-to back games after dropping two in a row for the first time since the first week of the season.

"Having our point guard Tamiya Francis back helps because she's able to get the ball out and we're able to go and get out in transition VSU head coach Deandra Schirmer said. "Credit to our team, we played a lot of bodies tonight and that allowed us to stay fresh and that allowed us to get up and down and spread the floor. I felt like we were able to beat them up and down the court and that was helping."

Though they led 37-26 at halftime, the Blazers caught fire in the third quarter. A 3-pointer by Francis with 6:11 left in the quarter started a run of five straight triples as Martin buried three in a row and India Jordan knocked in one of her own to cap the barrage with 2:59 left in the frame.

Martin buried four of her eight triples in the third as she beat the third-quarter buzzer with a long ball to whip the crowd into a frenzy and earn the right to be mobbed by her teammates on the sideline.

Playing without leading scorer Taylor Searcey, who was on crutches with what appeared to be a right ankle injury, the Blazers found themselves in a position they've grown all too familiar with this season.

Next woman up.

Searcey's injury is just the latest the team has had to deal with this season.

Francis missed seven games with a left knee injury before returning to the lineup Feb. 11 at West Florida. Since her return from injury, Francis has averaged 12.7 points, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 45.4% from the floor.

Francis finished with 11 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals in 28 minutes.

Reserve center Aleisha Curry, forward Kayla Frey and guard Shanice Nelson all missed time due to injury at the start of the year, recovering from different ailments and circumstances.

"I think it's a testament to the mental maturity of our group," Schirmer said. "It's never easy when you're adjusting to having somebody out there, especially somebody who's playing 40 minutes and not having her there. However, to have the mental toughness of next woman up and that we've got to step up and be able to fill that gap. Credit to our players for having the maturity to understand that and to be able to execute that out on the court."

Tanner added 10 points while Jordan scored seven points off the bench. Curry contributed six points and six rebounds and Lili Long pulled down eight rebounds off the bench in the win.

The VSU outscored the AUM bench 50-8.

AUM was led by Kamya Hollingshed's 20 points and six 3-pointers. Allasha Dudley had 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists as the Warhawks lost their eighth straight game.

UP NEXT

The Blazers go on the road to end the regular season Thursday at West Alabama and Saturday at Alabama-Huntsville.

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.