SAVANNAH, Ga.- Amari Heard scored a season-high 25 points to lead the Savannah State University women's basketball team to a 56-51 upset over No. 22 Miles College, in a game played at Tiger Arena on February 7, 2024.

In addition to her 25 points, the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Preseason Defensive Player of the Year also had six rebounds and matched her career-high of six steals.

The game pitted the top teams in the SIAC East and West Divisions.

Savannah State, who received a vote in the latest Division II Top Ten South Region Media Poll and is ranked sixth in the HBCU Premier Sports & More Women's Basketball Top Ten Poll, leads the East Division while Miles, who is tied for sixth in the Division II Top Ten South Region Media Poll, ranked second in the HBCU Premier Sports & More Women's Basketball Top Ten Poll and ranked 22nd in the NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll, is in first place in the SIAC West.

In their last meeting on December 4, 2023 in Birmingham, Alabama, Miles defeated SSU 68-45.

The Tiger Arena crowd of 350 fans saw Miles take a 41-39 lead into the fourth quarter.

Savannah State would begin the final quarter of play with a 11-0 run as they held the Bears without any points until Imani Williams made a layup with 40 seconds left.

Twice within the final 17 seconds Miles was able whittle their deficit down to four with the last time being with six seconds left.

The game had four ties and two lead changes.

SSU began the contest with a 3-pointer by Mya Byrd and a layup from Heard. Following a 3-pointer by Miles, the Lady Tigers put together a 6-0 mini run with Jacquece Alston making two layups and Heard hitting a jumper for a 11-3 lead with 3:30 on the clock.

Down 13-5, Miles closed the quarter with a 7-0 run to cut Savannah State's lead to 13-12.

Miles hit the first basket of the second quarter to take the lead. The Bears lead by as many as seven points in the quarter but Heard made a layup with 59 seconds left and Byrd followed with a 3-pointer with one second remaining to send SSU into the half down 28-26.

The third quarter had three ties.

The first came with 5:47 left when a jumper by Heard tied the score at 32. With 4:01 remaining, a layup by Nyla Allen knotted the game at 35 and with 1:04 left in the quarter, a jumper by Allen tied the game at 39.

During the Lady Tigers run to open the fourth quarter, four different players put points in the basket with Alston and Allen scoring two points, Byrd added a free throw and Heard contributed six points.

SSU ended the game scoring 20 points off of 21 turnovers by Miles. The Lady Tigers also had 13 fast break points.

Allen made all 12 of her free throw attempts and finished the game with 16 points for SSU. Ta'Quasia Lampkin had 11 rebounds to go with her two points and four steals.

Byrd scored seven points for Savannah State, and Alston had six points and seven rebounds, to round out the scoring for the home team.

Miles fell to 17-3 with the loss and was led by Madison Lee's 12 points.

Savannah State will hit the road for a trip to Atlanta, Georgia to play Clark Atlanta University on February 10 at 2 p.m.

The Lady Tigers are riding a five game winning streak and  have a 16-4 overall record and a 12-3 SIAC mark.