There are no longer any unbeaten teams in GSC women’s basketball. The Lady Choctaws of Mississippi College handed visiting Lee University a stunning 70-64 defeat on Tuesday evening. The loss dropped the Lady Flames to 7-1 in conference play and 9-3 overall. The Choctaws improved to 4-6, 5-8.
The low-scoring first quarter saw the contest deadlocked at nine, but Mississippi College put 20 big markers on the board in the second frame and held a 29-19 margin at the halftime break.
The Lady Flames made adjustments and began putting points up in the third period (23) but the Choctaws also tallied 20 and continued to hold a 49-42 advantage.
The lead grew to 16 points with just under five minutes remaining in the contest. Lee made one final desperate run at the home standing Choctaws, cutting the lead to five points, but Mississippi College made key free throws down the stretch to preserve the victory.
Mallory Hampton paced the Lady Flames comeback and was the only Lee player finishing in double-figures, 29 points. She was 8-of-16 shooting overall, made 4-of-8 triples and 9-of-11 freebies. Anna Muhonen, Haylee Johnson and Kara Williams totaled eight points each. Williams stepped up late to knock down two 3-pointers. Addison Smith was the Lady Flames top rebounder with seven.
Overall, Lee only shot 32% from the field (19-of-59) and converted just 6-of-17 shots from long range (22%). The Lady Flames were able to march to the line 25 times and convert 20.
The Lady Choctaws displayed balanced scoring. Amelia Bell was the leader with 17 points. Karly Ivy and Kyiah Julian followed with 15 markers apiece while Nia Coleman added 12 points. Each of the Lady Choctaws did an excellent job of knocking down key charity tosses. Overall, Mississippi College made 23-of-31 free-throw attempts. The Lady Choctaws shot a solid 45% from the field (21-of-47) and hit 36% from 3-point range (5-of-14).
It was an evening when the Lady Flames turned the basketball over 13 times to 10 assists, but they also forced the Choctaws into 21 floor mistakes. Mississippi College had 14 second-chance points to 10 for the Lady Flames and the lead changed hands only four times the entire contest.
The long journey in Mississippi continues on Thursday evening when the Lady Flames will face another challenge against a hungry Delta State University squad. The action is slated for a 6:30 p.m. tip.
Coach Marty Rowe’s thoughts:
“Very simple formula, Mississippi College outplayed us and were better coached tonight. You can’t expect to win on the road in this league getting out rebounded by 12 (39-27). Teams have too much ability for us to survive that.
“Give MC credit, they played with such a high sense of urgency and deserved to win”