After jumping out to a big lead the Lee men's basketball team saw things slip away in the second half in falling to Freed-Hardeman, 67-66 on Tuesday evening from Walker Arena.
Down by one the Flames secured a rebound with eight seconds remaining but the Lions recovered on defense and forced an off-balance three at the horn that fell off the rim.
Lee held a 39-32 advantage at the break but the aggressive Lions got into the bonus with some 13 minutes remaining in the second half and converted all 17 fouls shots they took to hold on for the one-point win.
For the game Freed-Hardeman hit 21 of 22 from the charity stripe overall.
Freshman Michael McGuirk delivered his best performance of his young career as he led the Flames with 21 points and connected on three triples. The Alabama sharpshooter also went to the line and connected on 8 of 9.
"I thought Michael was the only player who really attacked their zone tonight," said head coach Bubba Smith. "He's a very skilled shooter but he was really aggressive and attacked the defense which was big for us."
Chase Cullen was the only other Flame in double-figures as he finished with 12 points and four rebounds before fouling out of the contest late in the second half.
Playing without starters Ryan Montgomery and Colton Blevins the Flames lost the rebounding battle, 37-22. The Flames took 31 3-pointers against the Freed-Hardeman zone defense but converted just nine (29 percent).
"I thought defensively we got lazy and settled for fouling instead of playing our normal aggressive style of defense. We sent them to the line and that caused us to get out of rhythm and rotation in the second half," said Smith. "I liked how we responded following the loss to Carson-Newman and I expect we will be ready to get back to work but we need to sit with this one for a day or two and then put it behind us and get back to work in practice on Friday."
Marcus Baldwin led the Lions with 24 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the 3-point line and 7 of 8 from the charity stripe. Simon Fransis followed with nine points and eight rebounds. With the win Freed-Hardeman improves to 2-5.
Lee falls to 6-2 on the year and will now break for finals before getting back to work next Tuesday as it welcomes Lane College to Walker Arena for an 8 p.m. tip.For the second straight game, the
The Lee University women’s basketball team came out the locker room blistering hot in the opening 10 minutes. Unlike the previous game, the Lady Flames were able to extend the lead over the final 30 minutes to post an 81-41 throttling of Stillman College in a non-conference battle Tuesday night in Paul Dana Walker Arena.
The Lady Flames (7-2) scored 28 first period points, their highest tally in any period this season, and held Stillman (3-6) to eight to lead by 20. Lee outscored the visitors 17-9 in the second period to head into the halftime break with a 45-17 advantage.
Carrie Cheeks entered the game needing just two points to reach 1,000 points in her Lee career. The senior reached the milestone on a layup with 2:39 remaining in the opening period. Cheeks finished with seven points and eight rebounds.
“I’m happy for Carrie,” said Lee head coach Marty Rowe. “We want her to continue to build on that and continue to pad on her rebounds as well. She’s closing in on 700 rebounds and we haven’t had a lot of post players that could put up those kind of numbers.”
The Lady Flames placed three players in double figures in scoring. Erin Walsh made three 3-pointers on her way to a team-leading 16 points. Anna Woodford and Shelby Brown added 11 points each.
Lindsey Roddy contributed nine points, four rebounds and two assists, while freshman Halle Hughes posted a career-high nine points in seven minutes of action.
Lee doubled Stillman on the boards, pulling down 52 rebounds to the Lady Tigers’ 26. Brown posted nine boards. Taylor Boggess and Cheeks were next with eight rebounds apiece.
The Lady Flames turned 24 offensive boards into 24 second-chance points, while Stillman used 10 offensive rebounds to post 12 second-chance points. Lee scored 34 points off 22 Stillman turnovers.
Kiazha Ginwright was the only Stillman player to reach double figures with 13 markers. Morgan Collins had eight points and Ki’Onna Likely added seven. Likely tallied a team-high six rebounds.
After making 11-of-21 (.524) shots in the first period, the Lady Flames cooled off a little to connect on 28-of-71 (.394) shots from the field. Lee was 11-for-35 (.314) from behind the arc and converted 14-of-15 (.933) free throw attempts.
Stillman was 18-for-50 (.360) overall and just 1-for-9 (.111) from distance. The Lady Tigers shot under 31-percent (4-for-13) from the charity stripe.
Fourteen Lee players saw time on the court. Markie Dean came off the bench to grab three rebounds and dish out an assist. Jenna Scoggins recorded a steal and an assist. Nicky Widenski supplied four points to the win.
“It’s important for us to play games like this,” added Rowe. “We got a chance to work on some things and some different lineups that we’re going to toy with. Our biggest fear is being the same team we were last year. That’s a good team, a really good team, but we don’t want to be satisfied with staying there, so we have to get some new wrinkles and we worked on some new things.”
The Lady Flames will take some time off for final exams before getting back to the hardwood next Tuesday evening when Lane College visits Walker Arena at 6 p.m. The non-conference battle is the final home game before the holiday break.