BOX SCORE
GSC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
                                                                 

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Halee Nieman earned a second team all-conference honor in the morning and led the sixth-seeded UWF women's basketball team to a 68-49 road win over third-seeded Valdosta State in the Gulf South Conference Tournament, presented by VisitSpaceCoast.com at The Complex on Tuesday night.
 
Nieman led all players with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and a season-high six assists. Shami Goodman added 14 points with a pair of 3-pointers and Chloe Branch added 12 points, six boards and a pair of steals.
 
The win propelled UWF (17-11) into the GSC semifinals for the second-consecutive year. The Argonauts will face seventh-seeded West Alabama (14-14) on Saturday afternoon. The game will start at 2:15 p.m. at the Pete Hanna Center on the campus of Samford University.
 
"Having to come back and play a team for the second time in five days is challenging enough, so to see our team put on the performance tonight was so gratifying," UWF head coach Stephanie Lawrence Yelton said. "We shot the ball extremely well and hopefully we can carry that shooting into the weekend."
 
The hot shooting got started early, as UWF built a 20-8 lead after the first quarter – the same score as five days prior. But unlike the last game when the Argos struggled in the second quarter and fell behind at the break, they expanded upon their lead and rode the momentum of a 52 percent shooting half to a 36-24 lead.
 
After trading baskets to open the second half, UWF went on an 8-0 run and extended the advantage to 46-27 as Nieman capped the run with a 3-point play. The margin never got closer than 11 the remainder of the contest and reached 22 late in the game.
 
UWF shot 47 pct. and assisted on 14 of 28 made field goals as it ended VSU's 20-game home court winning streak. The Argos were the last team to win at The Complex, doing so in January of 2017.
 
VSU (21-8) shot just 28 pct. and were just 4-of-21 from outside. The field goal shooting and points were the second-lowest for the Lady Blazers this season. Taylor Buie, who finished with a career-high 24 on Thursday, had a team-high 10 on Tuesday. Madi Mitchell was limited to just nine points – half of her season average.