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Savannah State University Athletics

1
56
Savannah St. SSU 26-3,16-1 SIAC
87
Winner Union (TN) Union 27-2,18-0 Gulf South
Savannah St. SSU
26-3,16-1 SIAC
56
Final
87
Union (TN) Union
27-2,18-0 Gulf South
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Savannah St. SSU 13 10 16 17 56
Union (TN) Union 20 23 24 20 87

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Lady Tigers Close Out Historic Season

JACKSON, Tenn. – Savannah State women's basketball closed out one of the best seasons in program history on Friday in the 2022 NCAA South Region Tournament, falling to Union 56-87.
 
At 27-3, the Lady Tigers tied the school record for the most wins in program history with the 1977-78 team, finishing in the top echelon of great Savannah State basketball teams.
 
It was only the third trip in school history to the NCAA Tournament, which the 2021-22 Lady Tigers secured with the school's second at-large bid in program history.
 
The 2014-15 team, on the NCAA Division I level, lost to the University of South Carolina in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and the 1994-95 team—under the guidance of Phillip Wallace an SSU graduate and Savannah native—fell to Delta State in the first round.
 
Savannah State started the season 14-0, setting a new school record for most consecutive wins to open a season, eclipsing Wallace's 1992-1993 Lady Tigers who opened 11-0. The Lady Tigers' only losses of the season came against Benedict and Union.
 
The Lady Tigers reached as high as No. 12 on the WBCA Coaches Poll, No. 24 in the D2SIDA Media Poll and No. 6 in the NCAA South Region poll—all were program bests.
 
Tagging onto the accolades for the 2021-2022 season, was a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Coach of the Year award for Cedric Baker, an All-SIAC First Team award for Bria Gibbs and an All-SIAC Second team nod for Le'Andrea Gillis, an SIAC East Division Championship and an SIAC Runner-Up trophy after falling to Benedict in the SIAC Championship game.
 
On Friday, facing the best team in the South Region, the No. 8 seeded Lady Tigers opened strong against the No. 1 seeded Union. With 5:37 on the clock in the opening period, it was anyone's game, tied at 8 all.
 
But Union opened an 11-4 run over the next five minutes for a 20-13 lead at the end of the period. Savannah State has only trailed twice this season after the first quarter of play. The first time was against Benedict College in the SIAC Championship game a week ago.
 
Union outscored the Lady Tigers 23-10 in the second quarter and from there, it was the No. 1 team's game as the Lady Bulldogs pushed out to a 30+ point lead in the final quarter, cutting any chance for Savannah State to rebound late.
 
The typically prolific offensive output from Savannah State was muted against Union. The Lady Tigers have been averaging over 80 points a game and beating opponents by a 21 point margin all season. Against Union, it was only the third time this season in which Savannah State has scored less than 59 points in a game.
 
Senior Ta'Kyla Austin led the entire field on the night with 22 points going 9-for-17 from the floor. Gillis tacked on 11 points and Mia Goolsby put up eight, but the rest of the field struggle to score as the team shot a rare 30 percent from the floor in the loss.
 
The 2021-2022 Lady Tigers have etched themselves in the record book this year and will be the team to beat in coming years as Savannah State women's basketball continues its quest for an SIAC Championship and a run at the NCAA Division II title.
 
 
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