MT. VERNON, Ga. - Pressuring Brewton-Parker College forced the Lee University Lady Flames into 26 turnovers in the first half and went on to a 68-56 victory on Thursday night in an important Southern States Athletic Conference contest.
The Lady Barons were ranked 10th nationally by the NAIA going into the game, while Lee was listed as 15th best. The two clubs are expected to battle it out for the SSAC title.
"I don't see anyone coming into this place and beating Brewton-Parker," said coach Marty Rowe after his Lady Flames slipped to 4-2 on the year. "Especially when they are allowed to play the way they did tonight. I'm not making any excuses, but I think there were a lot of fouls that were not called."
"We had our chances and cut the lead to five points in the second half, but we missed three or four easy shots in a row and that cost us the opportunity to win," he added.
The Lady Barons were paced by an outstanding effort from guard Dannisha Winfrey. Not only did she score 24 points and hit 9-of-10 free throws, but the All American candidate came away with 10 steals in 37 minutes of play.
"I think Winfrey will probably be the best guard we face this season," said Rowe. "All they were doing was clearing a side and letting her speed carry her to the hole. Most teams are going to have trouble guarding her."
Tamika Drinks-Holloway also tallied a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Tori Williams rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11 points.
The Lady Flames countered with a solid 21 points and nine rebounds from Jan Dodson. The sophomore played 37 minutes in the rugged contest. Danielle Bobo was the only other Lady Flame in double figures. She finished with 12 points. Lindsay Sparks added eight points to the Lee attack and Jessica Still finished with six.
Allison Rader came off the bench to settle the Lee offense in the second half and drew praise from coach Rowe. The Lee coach also complimented the first half play of Morgan McConico-Lewis, Bobo and Dodson.
The difference in the contest came in the turnover and free-throw shooting departments. Lee turned the basketball over 35 times, while the Lady Barons committed 19 turnovers. The Lady Flames went to the line 14 times and made nine. Brewton-Parker hit a blistering 14-of-16 from the free-throw stripe.
"We will take some positives from this defeat and hope it helps us down the road," said Rowe. "I'll give the girls a couple days off and then we will go back to work and get ready to face a very good Trevecca team one week from Monday."