Heyn, Farrar lead VSU women past Auburn Montgomery

Dec. 21—VALDOSTA — Nicole Heyn and Kwajelin Farrar scored 15 points each to lead the VSU women past Auburn Montgomery (4-5, 0-4 Gulf South Conference) 72-64 Monday night.

Heyn shot 4 of 5 from 3-point range and made three of her six free throws along with four steals before fouling out in 29 minutes. Farrar made 7 of 10 field goals added nine rebounds (six offensive) and two blocks in 28 minutes.

The Lady Blazers (9-2, 4-1 GSC) led wire-to-wire for their second straight win.

"It's important for us to make sure we have the mental maturity in a game like this when we're about to head off to break to make sure that we're ready to go; we're not thinking about the holidays and the presents that we have," VSU head coach Deandra Schirmer said. "You've got to be locked in to get the win because this win is as important as any other. We talked about that during the week, We talked about focusing on what we needed to do and handling the task at-hand and then we can enjoy the holidays."

The Lady Blazers got it done with defense Monday as they forced 15 second-half turnovers.

With each AUM miscue, VSU got out in transition and turned defense into offense. India Jordan scored 10 points off the VSU bench, but her impact on defense was vital as she came up with a game-high five steals in 20 minutes.

"India Jordan had a fantastic game," Schirmer said. "She's somebody who works hard every single day in practice and she's earned it more than anybody else. She gives us that spunk a little bit defensively. She had, I think, four steals on the game just by getting up and pressuring. She was somebody that was really able to make a difference on that defensive end and then we were able to turn that defense into offense."

VSU shot 45.6% from the floor and 8 of 22 from beyond the arc. Much of the long-range success came in the first half as the team hit on 6 of 11 triples in the first 20 minutes of play.

Though the Lady Warhawks shot a healthy 48.8% from the floor in the game, the Lady Blazers forced 26 turnovers in the game, which led to 25 points.

It wasn't a perfect defensive performance by the Lady Blazers as they struggled containing the Lady Warhawks off the dribble. The dribble penetration led to several easy baskets at the rim which allowed AUM to come within a 37-31 deficit at halftime.

In the second half, though VSU was able to clog the driving lanes to a degree, the aggressiveness led to fouls. VSU was whistled for 22 personals in the contest.

"In the first half, I felt like we didn't do a good job containing and in the second half, I don't think we did a good job containing without fouling," Schirmer said. "It was like we were there where we were supposed to be, but instead of sliding our feet and getting in front of them, we were fouling and putting them at the free throw line. That's something we've got to get better at. When they're going with their 5-out motion, we've got to make sure that we're able to adjust to whatever they're trying to attack us with and communicate and get the stops and defend without fouling."

Offensively, the Lady Blazers relied on ball movement to get going. As the Lady Warhawks collapsed early and often on Farrar, the Lady Blazers patiently pinged the ball inside then back outside until they achieved the desired result: Open 3-point shots or timely baskets for inside baskets.

As the defense began to loosen and stay home on the Lady Blazers' outside shooters, Farrar eventually took advantage of the extra room to operate.

"We have such an advantage having an All-American in Kwajelin Farrar in there," Schirmer said. "She draws so much attention, so we talk about if they're taking it away, we've got to hurt them someplace else. We have a lot of knockdown shooters so that was our game plan going in. They're going to double down heavy, we've got to look for those kick-outs and we were able to execute that in the first half. Then they started not doubling down, so then Kwajelin was able to go off in the second half."

Catlin Carter had a game-high 20 points for AUM. The graduate student shot 6 of 7 from the floor and 8 of 10 from the free throw line. Carter had four steals in the game, but committed nine turnovers of her own in the loss.

Despite several players out due to various injuries, the VSU women have won nine of their first 11 games heading into the winter break.

"I think we're just getting started," Schirmer said of the team heading into the holiday break. "We've had to adjust to a lot of different players not being able to go at the start of the season. We've got four returners that are out. This group has been relentless. It's about finding a way to win every single night in the gauntlet that is the GSC. We have to find a way to win, whether we're at home or on the road. I'm very proud of this group going into winter break. I know I've got a relentless bunch and that's really good when you're facing a tough schedule. I'm excited to see what all we can accomplish and how much better we can get come towards the end of the season."

UP NEXT

Auburn Montgomery: Hosts Lane College Dec. 30.

Valdosta State: Visits Alabama Huntsville Dec. 31.

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.