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Mississippi College Women’s Basketball Picks Up at Valdosta State

For the second time in a week, the Mississippi College women’s basketball team knocked off one of the top three teams in the Gulf South Conference as MC downed Valdosta State 65-63 at The Complex on the VSU campus. The Lady Choctaws improve to 9-6 on the season and 6-5 in the conference while the Lady Blazers fall to 10-7 and 7-4.

KEY STATS

Mississippi College placed three players in double figures led by Kelley Allen’s 22 points. The point total stood one point shy of the Puckett, Miss., native’s season-high of 23 set on Jan. 14 vs. North Alabama. Allen has scored in double-digits in 11 games this season.

Zariah Matthews 13 points for the Lady Choctaws to set a season-high for the freshman. The Bogue Chitto, Miss., product’s previous best came on Dec. 6 against LeMoyne-Owen, when she scored 11 points.

Cortrice Golden rounded out the top three scorers for MC with 11 points. The Memphis, Tenn., junior has scored in double-digits in seven games this season. It marks her third double figure outing in the last four contests.

MC shot a season-best 55.6 percent from the field en route to the win. The mark surpasses the previous best of 51.9 set against North Alabama last weekend. The Lady Choctaws held VSU to the fourth-lowest shooting percentage by an opponent this season as the Lady Blazers shot just 33.8 percent.

Valdosta State was led by Madi Mitchell’s 17 points. Sonya Franklin and Kendra Samone’-Dixon each added 14 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After trailing 27-15 at the end of the first quarter, MC outscored the Red and Black in the final three quarters 50-36 en route to the second straight win at Valdosta State in the series for the Navy and Gold.

The Lady Choctaws found themselves down 61-60 with just over a minute to play. A layup by Cortrice Golden placed MC back in front with 1:03 left to play. Ashley Minor added a pair of free throws with 35 ticks left to put the Navy and Gold up 64-61.

After VSU nipped the lead back to a point on a layup from Sonya Franklin with 23 seconds left, Olivia Mabry hit the back end of a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to make the margin 65-63. VSU had one last ditch effort as Kenya Samone’ Dixon’s 3-pointer, with four seconds left, couldn’t find the mark.

NEXT UP

Mississippi College travels to Florence, Ala., on Thursday, Jan. 26 as it faces North Alabama for the second time in 12 days. Tip-off at UNA is set for 6 p.m.

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