SAVANNAH, Ga.  – Kentucky State women's basketball reached the championship for the first time since 2019 by defeating Fort Valley State 63-52 Saturday afternoon in the SIAC Women's Basketball Championship semifinals.
 
Taleah Dilworth scored 18 points to lead all scorers, hitting five free throws and six field goals. She also led the Thorobreds with six steals and two assists. Gracen Kerr followed contributing with 11 points, three rebounds, and three assists.
 
Erica Jones grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots and added four points to the score sheet.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Thomas scored the first points for Kentucky State on a three-pointer at 7:23 in the first quarter. She found another three pointer to give the Thorobreds a 16-15 lead.

Erica Jones made a layup to tie the game 18-18 with 18 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
 
Jalyn Shelby scored a layup on a layup to begin an 8-1 run and 24-19 Kentucky State lead at 4:45 in the second quarter.
 
Fort Valley State went on an 11-2 run and would take a narrow 30-26 lead at halftime.
 
Dilworth made both her free-throws to give the Thorobreds a 31-30 lead with 8:54 remaining in the third quarter.
 
Shelby found a jumper to regain a 38-36 Kentucky State lead at 4:52 in the third quarter.
 
Kentucky State went on a 10-2 run and took 50-42 lead early in the fourth quarter.
 
The Thorobred kept the Wildcats scoreless for two minutes and 43 seconds in the four quarter. Fort Valley went on another scoring drought for over three minutes (3:32).
 
POST GAME QUOTE
Gracen Kerr on how she helped lead her team during, "I try to facilitate the team as much as I can and get them going. I knew that the other team would face guard or pressure hard on me, so I made sure everyone else was getting their shots."
 
Leading scorer Taleah Dilworth said following the game, "I made it my goal to attack the paint as much as I can. I knew they were either going to foul me or I was going to get my shot up. That was my goal tonight."
 
Facing a defict at halftime head coach Amani Williams told her team during halftime, " We were getting the shots we wanted we just weren't making them. So I told them in the locker room, just take your time and go up strong and that the shots were there. You just have to be patient and look for each other. We ended up having 15 assist at the end of the game so that means that we are playing really good team basketball."
 
CHAMPIONSHIP TIME
Kentucky State will meet Miles tomorrow, Sunday March 10 inside the Enmarket Arena at 12 p.m. live on ESPN+.
 
Amani Thoughts on Miles, "Miles is a great team, we split our games with them during the season. They are not going to back down. They were here last year and ended up being the runner up so they have some momentum behind them. But we are not going to back down. We are going to play just as hard. It's going to be a good game."
 
 
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