ATLANTA, Ga. – The top-seed Fort Valley State University Lady Wildcats used their aggressive full-court defense to force 32 Benedict turnovers and defeat the fourth-seed Benedict College Lady Tigers 79-65 in the semifinals of the 2012 SIAC Women's Basketball Tournament at Morehouse College's Forbes Arena on Friday.

Fort Valley advances to Saturday's championship game against Tuskegee.

The Lady Wildcats, now 22-6 overall, scored 31 of their 79 points off Benedict turnovers, forcing 19 steals. Fort Valley also went to the free-throw line 36 times, making 23 foul shots.

Benedict ends its season with a 19-9 record.

Yasheeka Jones led Fort Valley with 22 points, while Carmenonique Dawson and Dominique Collier each had 10 points. Collier had a double-double with 10 rebounds.

Monique Weathers, LaTeia Brailey and Brittany Jackson led Benedict with 12 points each. Santera Grooms had a game-high 11 rebounds.

Albany State pulled away from a close 20-18 lead midway through the first half to take as much as a 10-point lead, before Weathers hit a 3-pointer to make the score 38-31 at the half. The Lady Wildcats scored their last nine points of the first half at the free-throw line.

A six-point burst in 19 seconds early in the second half gave Fort Valley a 50-36 lead with 16:21 to play. Tamara Andrews hit two free throws, Collier scored on a jumper after a Benedict turnover and Jones stole the ball and hit a layup. Collier hit another jumper 30 seconds later to give Fort Valley a 16-point lead with 15:51 to play.

Fort Valley eventually built the lead to 19 points, 67-48, with 6:42 to play before the Lady Tigers got six points from Jackson and a jumper by Alexus Jones to cut the lead to 71-61 with 3:39 to play. That was as close as the Lady Tigers would get.

Benedict shot 39 percent (23-of-59) for the game, while Fort Valley shot 41.5 percent (27-of-65).