by Niamani Hollis

Lady Blazer’s basketball looks for revenge against the University of Alabama after their last meeting ended in a 69-67 overtime, buzzer win for the Lady Tigers.

Coming off of an on the road win against Christian Brothers University, the Lady Blazers hope to keep things rolling against UWA tonight at 6.

The game was back and forth in the first meeting between the two teams as the Lady Blazers and the Lady Tigers battled it out in an effort to get the W.

The Lady Blazers were in the lead for majority of the game and went into the second half leading 36-22. Things began to shift after the Tigers were able to go on a 19-4 run to bring the team within one point of tying the game.

After four lead changes, the second half came to an end with a score of 61-61, sending the teams into an overtime period.

Things remained close, but with only five seconds remaining in the game the Lady Tigers were able to drive the length of the court and hit a close range shot at the buzzer.

Assistant Head Coach Jennifer Grubbs says defensively “They are a very athletic ball club and they have really athletic players, one of which is Britney McCloud,” assistant head coach Jennifer Grubbs said. “She has the capability of pulling up and almost jumping over you to knock down shots and they run her off of a lot of stacker screens in order to get her open to score.”

McCloud lead her team and finished the night with 23 points 3 assists and 3 rebounds and played a total of 32 minutes. The Lady Blazers were, however able to score 19 points off of turnovers made by the Tigers.

“They play hard, so we just have to do a great job of containing the dribble drive and the pull up jumper and not allow them to get into the open space that they like, which is in the paint. Grubbs said. “We are going to have to keep them out of the paint and force them to have to play their game from the deep perimeter.”

Speaking on the offense gam e, “Things are starting to come together for us offensively, April Thomas has found her distance again and is knocking down big shots,” Grubbs said. “Everyone is playing really hard now and our team chemistry is clicking.”

During the first half the Lady Blazers outshot UWA 45.0 percent to 21.88 percent from field- goal range and 33.33 percent to 10.0 percent from the three point line.

In the second half UWA outscored the Lady Blazers 51.52 percent to 39.13 percent from field-goal range and 40.0 percent to 0.0 percent from behind the arc.

In overtime UWA maintained their stride outshooting VSU 60.0 percent to 42.86 percent.

“Imari Simpson is doing a great job now of putting her back to the back and we have been doing a great job as a team of finding her to get the ball to her,” Grubbs said. “Now we just have to get her to really concentrate on knocking down the shots once she gets the ball inside.”

Simpson led the blazer squad with 16 points 3 assists and 9 rebounds.

Tipoff will be in the Complex tonight for the Pink Zone game, where fans wear pink to support the Lady Blazers team.