Senior Karley Miller calmly drained two free-throws with .8 seconds left to seal a 58-54 victory for the Lee women's basketball team over Gulf South Conference (GSC) foe West Florida Monday evening.
The Argonauts had an opportunity to tie the game with two seconds remaining but failed to convert from the foul line. Following the second miss Miller would secure the rebound and the win for the Lady Flames.
"We won on the road and will take it." noted coach Marty Rowe. "This team has uncanny ability to play through things and find a way to win games late and we proved that again tonight.
"We beat a good team in West Florida and we knew we were going to get their best shot as they try and secure the two-seed in the conference tournament."
Down the stretch Lee used stingy defense and grabbed timely rebounds to hold on for their 12th consecutive GSC victory. They are now 20-4 overall and remain in first place with a 16-2 conference mark. The loss drops West Florida to 16-8 on the season and 11-7 in GSC action.
Senior Hollie German led the Lady Flames with 23 points playing the full 40 minutes. Jenna Adams added 10 points, six rebounds and three steals while rugged-denfender Rachel Lockhart pulled down six boards and swiped three steals contest.
Myriah Illes and Miller made their presence felt in the post. Miller registered eight points and five boards just 48 hours after suffering an eye injury in Saturday's win over Alabama-Huntsville. Illes pitched in eight markers and three rebounds but played just 11 minutes due to foul trouble.
Lee overcame a poor shooting night (39.6 percent) from the field by forcing 18 turnovers thanks enlarge part to 10 steals. The Lady Flames were once again solid from the line, especially late in the contest, connecting on 14-of-19 (73.6 percent) including 3-of-4 in the final 10 seconds. West Florida hit just 15-of-43 (34.8 percent) from the floor but stayed in the game thanks to 23 made foul shots.
The Lady Flames held a slight 36-34 advantage on the glass. "Toughness, defense and rebounding travel, which is what I tell our team all the time and we proved that with another road victory." noted Rowe.
West Florida was led by Raquel Miller's 15 points and 13 rebounds. Miller got to the foul line 10 times and coverted seven. Katie Bobos pitched in 15 points of her own to go along with five rebounds.
Lee will battle West Georgia in Carrollton on Thursday before wrapping up the inaugural GSC campaign with a visit to Rome, Ga. to battle old rival Shorter on Saturday afternoon.