SAVANNAH, Ga. – Savannah State women's basketball closed out the regular season this week with two conference wins in Tiger Arena and one of the best overall records in program history.
 
The Lady Tigers finished 15-7 overall after this week's wins. That was the program's best tally since the 2014-15 squad finished 21-11 and a vast improvement over last year's 7-19 season.
 
The 2015 Lady Tigers went 13-3 in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) action, and ended up winning the MEAC Championship that season, earning an automatic bid for the NCAA Division I Championship Tournament.
 
The 2019-20 Lady Tigers, in their first year of competition within the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and NCAA Division II, finished 10-7, unofficially sealing up the No. 2 seed in the SIAC East Division ahead of the March 2-7 SIAC Basketball Championship.
 
The official bracket for the 2020 SIAC Basketball Championship will be released on Friday, Feb. 28. Tuesday's SIAC game between Tuskegee and Spring Hill will determine whether Savannah State gets a bye to open the tournament or if they'll play on Monday.
 
In their final game of the regular season, the Lady Tigers made quick work of Fort Valley State with an 83-67 win in Tiger Arena. They were led by sophomore Azhana Maxwell, who raked in 21 points, shooting 7-for-18 from the field.
 
In the rout, four other Lady Tigers joined her in double-figures. Freshman Amari Heard drained 13 points, while Ta'Kyla Austin added 12, Le'Andrea Gillis put in 11 and Robbi Allen tacked on 10. Savannah State shot 43% from the field and 77% from the free-throw line.
 
Savannah State has continually had the top scoring offense in the SIAC this year. They're currently averaging 75.3 points a game. They are second in field goal percentage, managing a 42% clip in each game. They lead the conference in blocked shots average, at 4.8% and in defensive rebounds, grabbing an average of 32 boards a game.
 
On Thursday, Savannah State edged by Clark Atlanta with an 80-77 win in Tiger Arena. As a team, they had one of their best outings of the season, shooting 53% from the floor and 83% from the free-throw line.
 
The Lady Panthers opened the game with a strong first quarter, going up 19-10 after the first 10 minutes. Savannah State trailed at the half, 26-37 after two low-performance quarters to open.
 
But as they've done several times this season, the Lady Tigers hit hard in the third quarter, outscoring Clark Atlanta 29-15 to take a 55-52 lead into the fourth. Each team put up 25 points in the final quarter, with SSU's third quarter effort determining the final score.
 
Maxwell had her second-best outing of the season, leading the Lady Tigers with 24 points. Her best effort came against Paine College when she finished with 25 points.  Austin tacked on 16 points in the win, followed by Heard (15), Allen (10) and Gillis (9).