The Lee University Women’s Basketball opened the 2018-19 regular season with a 70-64 loss to No. 17 Florida Southern College Friday afternoon. The non-conference battle was part of the GSC/SSC Challenge being held at Saint Leo University.
The Lady Flames (0-1) trailed by as much as 17 midway through the third period before chipping away at the deficit and eventually tying the game at 55-55 with 4:37 left in the game. Lee maintained a three point lead with 1:50 remaining, but the Mocs (1-0) used a 9-0 run during the remaining time to turn thwart Lee’s upset bid.
“We had a chance down the stretch and I put us in a couple of bad situations,” admitted Lee head coach Marty Rowe.
“I have to do a better job of helping this team finish games out.”
Haley Schubert was 6-for-14 from the field and made 5-of-7 free throws to lead the Lee offense with 17 points. Taylor Boggess canned three 3-pointers and was 4-for-4 from the line on her way to 15 points.
Florida Southern’s Camille Giardina led all scorers with 18 points. The guard was just 1-for-8 from the floor, but made 16-of-19 attempts at the charity stripe. Mercedez Claybrone, Anja Fuchs-Robetin and Mackenzie Steele gave the Mocs four players in double-figure scoring. Claybrone had 16, Fuchs-Robetin added 13 and Steele was right behind with 12 markers.
The Lady Flames were outrebounded 44-35 with Fuchs-Robetin pulling down 10 of her own to complete the double-double.
“We were outrebounded by nine,” added Rowe. “If we expect to beat good teams that has to change.”
Neither team shot particularly well. The Lady Flames were 21-for-57 (.368) overall and were 5-for-19 (.263) from behind the arc. Florida Southern made 18-of-52 (.346) shots from the field and were 6-for-11 (.545) from distance.
FSC held a big advantage at the free throw line where they converted 28-of-40 attempts, while Lee went to the line just 21 times, making 17.
The Lady Flames return to action Saturday afternoon against host Saint Leo. The GSC/SSC Challenge finale is set for a 3 p.m. tip.