FORT VALLEY, Ga. – The Benedict College women's basketball held Fort Valley State to just two points in the first quarter and put together another strong defensive performance to take a 79-35 victory over the Lady Wildcats on Saturday afternoon to close out the regular season.

Benedict improved to 12-3 overall, while Fort Valley State, playing their fourth game in five days, fell to 6-6.

The Lady Tigers scored the first 20 points of the game before the Lady Wildcats got on the board with 1:12 on the clock. Benedict held FVSU to 1-for-14 (7.1 percent) shooting in the first quarter. Benedict had a 44-14 lead by halftime and built the lead to as much as 46 points, 75-29, in the fourth quarter.

Ay'Anna Bey and Keondra Archie led the Lady Tigers with 15 points each. Wykira Johnson-Kelly added 11 points. Bey led the Lady Tigers with 10 rebounds as Benedict had a 53-32 rebounding advantage.

Benedict will await NCAA selections, which will be announced at 10 p.m. on Sunday on ncaa.com. With no SIAC tournament and no automatic bid this year, Benedict is hoping to receive an at-large selection. Due to Covid-19, Benedict and other SIAC schools were moved to the Southeast Region with the South Atlantic Conference and Conference Carolinas schools. Also, the 2021 tournament field has been reduced to 48 teams – six teams in each of the eight Division II regions.