2016 VisitSpaceCoast.com Gulf South Conference Basketball Championships

ROME, Ga. – The last time the team played, one could see that proverbial "look" in their eyes when they went into a defensive frame of mind.

And that's the mentality the Shorter Lady Hawks will bring to the table on Tuesday, when they enter the 2016 Gulf South Conference Tournament hosting the opening quarterfinal game as the No. 3 seed and squaring off against the No. 6 Alabama-Huntsville Chargers at 7 p.m. at the Winthrop-King Centre.

"It's exciting where our team is right now," Shorter head coach Vic Mitchell said as the Lady Hawks (19-7) enter the postseason one win shy of reaching the reaching the 20-win mark for the first time since 2012, "and hopefully, we will continue to play with a lot of effort on the defensive end of the floor and give ourselves a chance to move on to the final four in Birmingham." 

The "look" on the defensive side of the court wound up setting the tone in Shorter's final regular season game last week, a 57-46 win at WKC over Lee that secured the No. 3 seed – and home-floor edge – for the Lady Hawks when they shut down the Lady Flames' offense, allowing the visitors to connect on just 27 percent of its shots, forced 21 turnovers and came up with 12 steals.

"It was a very good night for us," Mitchell said. "It was senior night, rivalry game and a great crowd, and I was proud of the way the team responded.  We didn't play extremely well on the offensive end of the floor, but we played with a lot of intensity and emotion on the defensive end."

The win, the seventh in the last eight games, just about followed what has been a proven game plan for the Lady Hawks – go after the ball, create turnovers and turn them into scoring opportunities, with the inside and outside combination of All-GSC First Team junior forward Taylor Adams and senior guard Shakierya McClendon.

The pair enter their first postseason as Lady Hawks averaging in double figures, with Adams leading the team in scoring averaging 16 points, in rebounding as she clears a conference-best 10.6 a game and in steals with 70 for the season, also the top mark in the GSC.

McClendon has emerged as the spark to Shorter's offense as she is averaging 10.6 points and is leading the team averaging 2.2 assists a game, while senior Tamarr Williams, junior Shaundricka Mann and freshman Kayla Tillie gives the Lady Hawks a triple scoring threat as they average more than seven points.

The Lady Hawks won the two regular-season matchups against UAH, winning 60-47 in Huntsville in December and claiming a 66-58 decisions last Monday in Rome, but Mitchell knows that his team will be going up against a Chargers squad that has plenty of momentum heading into the game.

Huntsville (15-11) enters the game having won four of their last five games – the lone loss came by a scant six points to No. 11-ranked Union – and capped the regular season handing rival North Alabama a 58-51 defeat last week. Dina Saunders leads the Chargers averaging 12.8 points while three of her teammates are scoring more than nine points.

The winner advances to the GSC's Final Four that will be held at the Pete Hanna Center on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., with the semifinals taking place Friday and the championship being decided on Saturday. 

"We will have to come out with that same type intensity and focus we had last week against UAH," Mitchell said. "Our last game against them was close throughout, and I expect Tuesday's game to be another hard fought contest."