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Savannah State University Athletics

1
59
Albany State University ASUW 9-19
73
Winner Savannah State Univ. SSUW 27-1
Albany State University ASUW
9-19
59
Final
73
Savannah State Univ. SSUW
27-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Albany State University ASUW 7 11 18 23 59
Savannah State Univ. SSUW 18 15 16 24 73

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

No. 12 Lady Tigers Advance To SIAC Championship Game

ROCK HILL, S.C. – The 2021-2022 Savannah State women's basketball team is on the precipice of an historic moment in the program's prolific history.

On Friday, the Lady Tigers beat Albany State 73-59 in a semifinal game of the 2022 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Championship Tournament to advance to the championship game on Saturday.

Savannah State, the No. 1 seed out of the SIAC East Division, will play Benedict, the No. 2 seed out of the East Division, on Saturday at 5 p.m. for the 2022 SIAC Championship Title. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.

"I give all the credit for the wins to the players," Head Coach Cedric Baker said in a post-game press conference. "I take all the credit for the losses. I just want to congratulate them on another win and the opportunity to move forward."

It will only be the second appearance for an NCAA Division II Savannah State women's basketball team in the SIAC Championship game. The 1992-1993 team ventured as far as the finals, but lost to Fort Valley State.

Savannah State women's basketball has never won an SIAC Division II Championship. The program first competed within the SIAC from 1974 to 2000. From 1974 to 1981 they competed as an NCAA Division III team and then a NCAA Division II team from 1981-2005.

They will face the only team they've lost to this season in this year's championship game, the perennial powerhouse and reigning SIAC Champions. Benedict edged out a win in the team's first meeting this season on Jan. 22, but Savannah State got revenge on Feb. 14, beating them 80-72 in Tiger Arena.  

Already, this year's team has made history. On Friday, they improved to 27-1, one of the best overall records in program history. A win on Saturday will set yet another school record.

Part of their success this season is due to an overwhelming offensive effort in every game. This season, the Lady Tigers are outscoring their opponents by a margin of 20.9 points, averaging 81.3 in each game.

That motif continued in Friday's game as the Lady Tigers jumped out to an 18-7 lead after the first quarter. Savannah State has never trailed in any of their 28 games this season after the first period of action. Into the next two quarters, the Lady Tigers kept on the pressure, going up by as much as 17 points.

But in the fourth quarter, the tough Lady Tiger defense broke down and Albany State found some room to maneuver. Trailing by 15 points with 8:59 to play, the Golden Rams opened a 12-2 run through the next two minutes to cut Savannah State's double-digit lead to only five points, 55-50.

Savannah State, however, responded and cut Albany State's momentum with a three-pointer from Shekinah Howard at the 6:12 mark. Ta'Quasia Lampkin put away too good free-throws a minute later, and Amari Heard dropped in her own layup to push the Lady Tigers back out to a 10-point lead, 62-52, with 5:00 remaining to play.

Down the stretch, Savannah State pushed out to a 19-point lead, holding Albany to only seven more points as they continued to drop basket after basket.  

"Albany State is probably the best team in our league that runs the dribble-drive, motion offense, almost to perfection," Baker said. "We did a great job in our stance today, in our alignment and our assignments. There was a stretch there in the last quarter where we didn't ID some shooters and they made some shots. But every team is going to make their run. I was proud of our team to weather that storm."

Bria Gibbs led the Lady Tigers with her 10th double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Heard put away 12 points of her own in the win and Mia Goolsby tacked on 10.

Savannah State women's basketball finished an historic regular season in Tiger Arena on Feb. 24 with their 25th win of the season, tying the school record for most regular season wins with the 1977-1978 squad who had 27-10 overall record.
 
A win at tomorrow's championship game will give this year's Lady Tigers the new school record for most wins in a season. They opened the season 14-0, setting a new school record for most consecutive wins to start a season.

The Lady Tigers are ranked No. 12 in the WBCA Coaches Poll, No. 24 in the D2SIDA Media Poll and No. 6 in the NCAA Division II South Region poll—all three are the highest rankings earned in program history.
 
 
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