Using a 10-0 run midway of the final period, the Lee University women’s basketball team came from behind to defeat Rollins College 67-62 in the opening round of the GSC/SSC Challenge on Friday morning.
The Lady Flames will return to action on Saturday at noon and will face the host team, Florida Southern College.
The Lady Flames trailed 17-13 after one quarter of play. Both teams had trouble finding the bottom of the net in the second period, scoring only 11 points each and giving the Tars a 28-24 lead at the half.
Lee only made 1-of-12 3-point attempts in the first half while the Tars were making good on 5-of-12 attempts.
Heading into the final period of play the Lady Flames trailed 51-45 and both teams had begun to pick up the scoring. Lee trailed by as much as seven points before finally tying the contest at 55. The Lady Flames went on the 10-point run to move out to a 65-57 lead at the 4:22 mark. Mallory Hampton, Haylee Johnson, Haley Cameron and Bailee Delbridgecame up with key plays during the run.
The total team effort saw Hampton lead the way with 24 points. She was 7-of-15 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line. Delbridge had one of her best efforts as a Lady Flame with 12 points, seven rebounds, 5-of-8 from the field and 2-of-2 from long range. Johnson and Cameron added nine points apiece while Anna Muhonen finished with eight points and four rebounds. Addison Smith matched Delbridge for top rebounding honors with seven.
After a cold-shooting first half, the Lady Flames heated up, especially in the fourth quarter when they made 8-of-10 field goal attempts and finished the game shooting 46% from the field (25-of-54). Lee only made 1-of-12 triples in the first half but made 6-of-10 in the final two quarters. They were awarded 13 free throws and made 10.
Rollins got a big effort from Kaitlyn Sanders who made five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points. The Tars had made 10-of-20 shots from beyond the arc over the first three quarters, but were able to convert 1-of-8 of the attempts in the heated final frame. The stats tell the story. Rollins shot 62% from the field in the third quarter and only 25% in the fourth. The same could be said at the free-throw line where they canned just 2-of-5. For the game, the Tars shot 39% from the field, 39% from 3-point range and made 11-of-17 free throws.