VALDOSTA, Ga. --  The historic season for the Miles women's basketball team came to an end on Friday with a 66-55 loss to Valdosta State in the opening round of the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament. Miles (23-7) led early and was still within striking distance late but were unable to short-circuit the Lady Blazers (30-2), who have now won 27 consecutive games.

"We had a really good season," said head coach Pete Asmond. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to keep it going as we aspired to. But we accomplished a lot of our goals. We had over 20 wins this year, set a school record for wins this year. We were able to win the Western Division title and the SIAC Tournament. We accomplished a few of our goals, but we weren't able to keep the dream going."

The Lady Blazers, despite being big favorites coming into the contest, did not take the Lady Bears lightly.

"We knew that Miles College was a very talented team. We knew that they had a very good season, that some of their losses came when they had players injured, so we knew that them at full strength was going to be a tough test for us," said Valdosta State head coach Deandra Schirmer.

The Lady Bears struggled to put the ball in the basket in the second half, shooting just 24 percent from the field. They did not make a field goal in the third quarter for the first six-and-a-half minutes, missing their first nine shots. The Lady Blazers had opened a 16-point lead before Tederia Ashley finally scored at the 3:33 mark to cut the deficit to 48-35. Miles stayed in the game during that stretch by making 6-of-8 free throws, but VSU was converting on some wide open looks to expand its advantage.

"They move the ball, play well together. They've got some really good players. So we identified those players and tried to limit them, contain them as much as possible," Asmond said. "They're a really good team and we were hoping that our game plan was a little bit better than their game plan tonight."

At the start, Miles showed that it was not going to back down from the home-standing Lady Blazers, who were playing in front of a partisan crowd at their home arena, The Complex. But Madison Lee was fouled while drilling a 3-pointer and converted the free throw for a four-point play. Then Iemyiah Harris dropped her own 3-ball from the top of the key to put the Lady Bears ahead 7-6.

"There were no jitters," said Harris, who scored a team-high 13 points. "We knew it was going to be a good game, a tough game."

Valdosta State answered with three 3-pointers as part of an 11-1 run to retake the lead, one they wouldn't relinquish. Still the Lady Bears stayed close. India Brown took a feed from Imani Williams to score right before the horn to close the deficit to 17-10 at the end of the first quarter. That sparked a 7-0 run that closed when Ashley scored on a feed from Simone Johnson that brought the team within two points. Lee (11 points, two steals) knocked down another 3-pointer and Ashley took a sweet feed after an offensive rebound from Williams (three points, six rebounds, six assists) to score, which kept Miles within 22-20.midway through the second period.

Another big run by the Lady Blazers ran their advantage up to 13 points but when Feliah Greer (nine points, two assists) banked in a crazy a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired right before halftime, the Lady Bears were only down 35-27. But even after VSU went up big in the third quarter, Miles never backed down and they continued to hit some big 3-pointers to stay in the contest.

Nuriyah Slaton, playing in the final game of her career, made a 3-pointer in the third quarter to get Miles going. Even down 13 heading into the fourth, Harris and Lee both hit from deep to close the gap to 57-48 with eight minutes remaining. The Lady Bears felt a comeback was in the offing, but the missed shots - from the field and free throw line - continued to pile up and VSU seemingly grabbed every available rebound, limiting additional opportunities to score.

"We had a good plan. For the most part, I feel like we executed the plan," said Ashley, who finished with her third stright double-double (11 points, game-high 13 rebounds) and sixth of the season. "Rebounding is a big part of our game and we didn't rebound that well today."

Harris made one more 3-pointer with two minutes left but it was not enough as Valdosta State ran out the clock to advance to the next round and put an end to the Lady Bears season. But Asmond said he did not want his team to look at the conclusion of the campaign as coming up short. It may not have been Miles' night, but it will never take away from the historic nature of the 2023-24 season.

"I want the young ladies to enjoy the moment. We accomplished a lot this year and I don't want them to feel like this is a failure," Asmond said. "I'll give them a few weeks off and then we'll get back at it with workouts and start preparing for next year.

"But right now, I want them to enjoy everything that they accomplished because they've accomplished a lot. All the love they're going to receive, I want them to receive it because they put the work in to receive that."