SAVANNAH, Ga.- The Savannah State women's basketball team advanced to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Semifinals after posting a 81-68 win over Tuskegee in the quarterfinals, in a game played in Tiger Arena on March 7, 2024.
 
SSU will play the winner of the Miles/Clark Atlanta game on Saturday, March 9 at 10 a.m. in Tiger Arena.
 
The Lady Tigers improve to 20-5 with the win. They have won at least 20 games in two of the past three seasons.
 
In the post-game press conference, Nyla Allen said that SSU was hungry for a win while Amari Heard stated that she did not want a repeat of last year.
 
"We needed to come out and make a statement after what happened last year."
 
Savannah State opened the contest with a jumper from Heard and a 3-pointer by Jashiyah Jones for the early 5-0 lead.
 
Down 12-7, Tuskegee would claw their way back and tie the game at 14 with 1:47 left in the first quarter. 
 
Allen would hit a free throw for SSU with 1:17 remaining and when Ta'Quasia Lampkin missed a free throw with two seconds left, Heard would grab the rebound and put it back up for a layup to give Savannah State a 17-14 edge to end the first quarter.
 
A layup by Amani Hamilton to start the second quarter gave the Lady Tigers a 19-14 lead but Tuskegee went on a 7-0 run to go ahead 21-19 with 7:29 showing on the clock.
 
Savannah State answered Tuskegee's run by scoring the next eight points with Heard making a free throw, Jacquece Alston burying a 3-pointer, Lampkin making a layup and Alston hitting a jumper for a 27-21 lead.
 
SSU's lead grew to 33-26 with 2:10 left after a jumper by Allen and Savannah State took a 35-31 lead into intermission.
 
The Lady Tigers shot 55 percent from the field in the second quarter and hit two of three 3-point attempts.
 
Savannah State began the third quarter with a 10-2 rally to expand their lead to 45-33 with 6:20 remaining.
 
A 3pointer by Jones gave SSU a 50-35 lead with five minutes left and another triple by Jones put them ahead 57-39 with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter.
 
Tuskegee cut their deficit to 14 but a 3-pointer by Mya Byrd sent SSU headed into the final quarter of play with a 60-43 lead as they ended the quarter shooting 71.4 percent from the field and 75 percent from beyond the arc.
 
"We made the corrections at halftime to close out the game," said Heard on SSU's big run to start the third quarter.
 
The Golden Tigers got within 13 early in the fourth quarter before Savannah State answered with a layup from Heard, a jumper by Hamilton and two free throws by Allen to build a 66-47 lead with 6:18 left.
 
With 4:46 left, a free throw by Allen gave SSU their largest advantage of the game at 73-53.
 
Tuskegee kept chipping away but never got any closer than 13 the remainder of the game.
 
Head coach Cedric Baker stated that SSU's game plan worked well, particularly since nobody really plays Savannah State in a zone.
 
"Our transition went well. I knew they were going to put up a lot of shots. We kept their guard play off balanced."
 
Heard had her sixth double-double of the season with 14 rebounds and 12 points while Allen scored a game-high 21 points. Byrd finished with 12 points and seven assists while Alston was a spark off the bench with ten points.
 
Jones hit three 3-pointers for her nine points, Hamilton had eight points and five rebounds, Lampkin added seven points and eight rebounds and Sanai Chisholm made two free throws for her two points.
 
Tuskegee, the defending SIAC champions, ends their season with a 15-10 record and was led by Jasmine Manuel and Sumaiyah Abdur-Rahim who scored 27 points each.