VALDOSTA, Ga. - Facing the GSC's number one seed on the road, the UWG women's basketball team was a bucket away from an opening round upset of the nation's hottest team, but in the end it was a 54-52 defeat for the UWG women's basketball team at Valdosta State.

West Georgia (16-13) went toe-to-toe with a Valdosta State (27-2) team that has now won 24 straight games, and led 52-50 with under two minutes remaining before VSU took the lead with 29 seconds left and held off a potential game winner from the Wolves.

It was a solid defensive effort for the Wolves as UWG held the Blazers to 38.5 percent from the field, but on the flipside, UWG shot 37 percent from the field.

The opening quarter was a game of runs as the Blazers jumped out to a double-digit lead at 13-3 before the Wolves got it back to three points at 17-14. VSU then went on another run to go up 24-15 but a Jada Powell bucket at 29 seconds made it a 24-17 Blazer lead after 10 minutes.

Neither team scored for over three minutes into the second quarter, but K'Nari Holliday ended the drought at the 6:53 mark. Sydne Tolbert had an old-fashioned three-point play with just over three minutes to play that got the deficit the three, but the Blazers led by seven at the break.

Out of halftime, UWG quickly tied things up behind a three from Zuriyah Davis and layups from Aliyah Washington and Jada Powell, but by the end of the third, VSU was back up by six at 46-40.

West Georgia never led until Washington's three-pointer that made it 52-50 with 1:49 to play. With the Wolves down one, UWG had a layup blocked, and were forced to foul and then had another chance to win with a three at the buzzer, but couldn't get the shot to go.

Powell led the way with 12 points and nine rebounds while freshman Sydne Tolbert also had double-figures with 10 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Holliday led on the glass with 10 rebounds.

UWG ends their season at 16-13 in the final season of Division II and the second year under Joanna Reitz.