Freshman Lindsey Roddy scored 21 points and junior Carrie Cheeks delivered another double-double performance to help guide the Lee women's basketball team to a 79-70 conference opening victory over rival Shorter University on Saturday night from Walker Arena.
Cheeks was a perfect 6 of 6 from the field to account for 16 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Abby Bertram added 17 points and dished off six assists while Erin Walsh added 10 points.
Facing a five-point deficit at 47-42 with 4:02 remaining in the third quarter the Lady Flames used a 20-1 run over the next six minutes to break open a tight contest.
After the lead ballooned to 16 points early in the fourth it was the Lady Hawks turn to dial up the pressure as they cut the lead down to three with 3:32 remaining before Lee put the contest away late at the free throw line.
"Five out of six games Carrie has had a double-double so she continues to play at a very high level for us," noted Rowe.
"She also had to guard Taylor Adams, who played great, but I thought Carrie held her own in that matchup as well especially after battling through a little sickness this week."
Adams led Shorter with a game-high 31 points on 11 of 19 shooting from the field while adding eight rebounds. Kayla Tillie chipped in 14 points and Raven Flair had 11.
"Our rotation shortened and we talked about everybody being a star in their role and I thought we responded well to that and got really good minutes from Tori Lentz (three rebounds in four minutes) especially in the first half off the bench. It was good experience for our young guards to play a tough game like this and I thought Lindsey played outstanding tonight."
Lee out rebounded the Lady Hawks 37-24. Shorter used an aggressive full court press to help create 24 turnovers while the Lady Flames forced 14 floor mistakes.
Lee shot 53.8 percent from the field (28 of 52) and hit 16 of 20 freebies. Shorter went 45.6 percent from the field and was just 14 of 23 (60.9) from the charity stripe.
"Getting into conference play we knew, especially against Shorter, it was going to be a tough game because everybody is so familiar with what everybody else does," said Rowe. "I thought we did a good job of defending without fouling. We were a little loose with the ball in the second half but we hung in there and hit our free throws down the stretch so I was proud of the way we finished the game."
The Lady Flames have now won four straight games and are 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the GSC. The loss drops the Lady Hawks to 1-5 on the year and 0-1 in league play.
Lee will step outside of conference play to host an old SSAC rival in Auburn Montgomery on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Lady Flames jump back into conference play with a home date against Mississippi College on Thursday, Dec. 15.
During the first media timeout of the men's game, standout guard Erin Walsh was recognized for joining the exclusive 1,000 point club at Lee earlier this season. Walsh currently has 1,065 points and is averaging 16 points per contest on the young season.