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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – The University of Montevallo Falcons had to fight and claw their way to victory, but they stepped up in the end to pick up a crucial conference win in front of a large audience on Pack the SAC night.

Montevallo defeated the Valdosta State Blazers 69-64 on Thursday, Jan. 16 at Central State Bank Arena after sending the game to overtime off a Jordan Gillies layup with four seconds remaining in regulation.

After Lia Edwards started out her 21-point evening with two baskets, the Blazers took a 6-4 lead and wouldn’t trail for the rest of the first half. Montevallo quickly tied the game back up at 9-9, but Valdosta State knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to lead 16-9 at the end of the first quarter.

After the Blazers extended their lead to 20-11 in the opening minutes of the second quarter, Ramie Reid powered a 5-0 Falcons run to make it a two-possession game with 5:40 remaining in the half.

The teams went back and forth before Montevallo’s Elisa Saffold landed the final shot of the half, a 3-pointer with 1:24 remaining to cut the deficit to 24-23 going into the halftime break.

That set up the Falcons to go ahead 25-24 in the opening minute of the third quarter thanks to a layup from Isabel Grimes. After another stretch where the two teams exchanged offensive blows, Valdosta State scored five straight points to retake a 35-31 lead with 3:49 left in the third.

The Falcons briefly cut the gap to two before the Blazers finished the quarter on a 4-0 run to go up 42-36 at the end of the third.

Montevallo responded after Valdosta State started the fourth with a layup as Saffold scored five straight points to make it a 44-41 game with 8:31 to go. That three-point advantage held until the Blazers threatened to pull away with a 56-49 lead with 1:23 remaining.

Facing pressure to fight back, the Falcons secured multiple steals on defense and got multiple successful trips to the free throw line to pull within one with 12 seconds left.

Montevallo fouled on the other end of the floor and Valdosta State hit one of its two free throws to extend the lead to 57-55 with just 10 seconds to go.

That was when the Falcons successfully executed their inbounds play as Gillies drove to the basket and score to tie the game with four seconds left, sending the teams to overtime.

Montevallo carried that momentum into overtime, going up by four just 24 seconds into overtime off two Sorrells free throws and a Gillies layup.

Edwards then responded to two Blazers free throws with a three-point play to restore the four-point lead, and Jerrilyn Richardson followed that up with a crucial 3-pointer which extended the lead to 67-60 with 2:54 remaining.

Valdosta State made its last stand and scored the next four points to make it a three-point game with 1:19 left, but the Falcons held the Blazers scoreless from there and hit a pair of free throws to seal the five-point win.

Edwards led Montevallo with 21 points and seven rebounds. Gillies finished just shy of a double-double with 14 points, nine rebounds and six steals. Sorrells earned nine points and five rebounds and Saffold finished with eight points and three rebounds.

The Falcons improved to 7-8 overall and 5-5 in GSC play, and they will have another home game on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 4 p.m. at Central State Bank Arena against the West Florida Argonauts.

As for the men’s side, Montevallo fell 90-76 to No. 18 Valdosta State in the back half of the doubleheader with the women. The Falcons will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 6 p.m. against West Florida at home.