Junior Jordan Neuharth dribbles past a defender in Thursday's victory over West Florida.
photo by Lee University
Exacting some revenge for an earlier season loss the Lee women’s basketball team shot past West Florida, 88-75 on Thursday evening in front of a big crowd at Walker Arena for the annual Hoops 4 Hope game.
The fantastic freshman trio of Shelby Brown, Emiliegh Swafford and Erin Walsh led the attack for the Lady Flames. Brown and Swafford finished with 23 points each while Walsh tallied 21.
Lee was very efficient on the offensive end as they canned 35-of-59 (59.3 percent) from the field in the contest.
The defense also held firm holding the visiting Argonauts to just 34.3 percent (24-of-70) shooting in the contest.
The Lady Flames controlled the game from start to finish. The high-powered Argonauts last led with 17 minutes remaining in the first half. Lee would lead by as many as 18.
“I really liked the pace we played with tonight,” said head coach Marty Rowe. “When we play at that speed and get into a flow like we were tonight we are tough to beat. I thought we were able to do the things we wanted to do offensively and really played through foul trouble better than we have all season.”
Junior Christina Johnson pulled down six rebounds to help Lee out rebounded West Florida by a 37-30 margin. Johnson also added seven points and swiped two steals. The Lady Flames had their way inside outscoring the Argos 56-28 in the paint.
“We got another solid performance from Christina tonight especially on the defensive end,” noted Rowe. What a job by Emiliegh, Erin and Shelby tonight. They are really starting to understand our offense and did an excellent job tonight.”
Senior guard Alex Swope set the offense in motion with a game-high six assists and added eight points.
The Argonauts came into the contest in a tie for first with Union for the Gulf South Conference (GSC) lead. Lee (12-5, 9-5) moves one game back of second place with the victory while the loss drops West Florida to 13-5 overall and 10-4 in league play.
West Florida was led by Katie Bobos’ 18 points. GSC Freshman of the week Toni Brewer added 15 points and grabbed seven boards. Jasmine Wigfall and Brianna Williams rounded out the double-digit scoring with 14 and 10 points respectively.
Thursday was the first home contest for the Lee ladies since Jan. 5. The Lady Flames’ hosted the Hoops 4 Hope game for the sixth consecutive year. The event benefits the Lee University Developmental Inclusion Classroom (LUDIC) which provides services for students and young adults with Autism.
The Lady Flames will get back to work on Saturday afternoon when they welcome Valdosta State to town for a 2 p.m. tip.
“I hope we can turn around and get the same type of effort against Valdosta on Saturday. They are a big, strong club and present some match up problems for us,” concluded Rowe.