Nova Southeastern University outscored the Lee University women’s basketball team 21-5 in the second quarter and built a 35-21 halftime advantage. The Lady Flames were down but not out in the opening round of the NCAA DII South Regional hosted by Valdosta State at The Complex on Friday evening. Coach Marty Rowe regrouped his troop at the break and they came fighting back, outscoring the Sharks 18-9 by the end of the third period. The Florida club made a steady march to the free-throw line in the final 10 minutes to post a 71-61 victory and advanced to the second round and will face host Valdosta State on Saturday.
The physical contest saw the taller Sharks march to the charity stripe 34 times and convert 26.
The Lady Flames were awarded only 14 and canned 13. Nicole Scales paced the winners with 17 points. She was 4-of-5 from the field and made a pair of key 3-pointers in the opening quarter. Scales hit 7-of-8 charity tosses. Aubrey Stupp also made 7-of-8 free throws and finished with 15 points while Kailyn Terrell joined in with 11 markers. The battling Lady Flames outrebounded the Sharks 31-24.
Mallory Hampton helped stage Lee’s second-half comeback. She finished with 32 points, making 9-of-18 shots from the field and 13-of-14 freebies. Hampton went to the glass for six rebounds. Mia Hurst battled the taller Nova players and finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Anna Muhonen, who had an excellent conference tournament, was saddled with foul problems the entire game and played only nine minutes before fouling out. She did manage to grab four rebounds. Lee’s other post player Haley Cameron also played only 10 minutes before fouling out.
For the game, the Lady Flames made 22-of-55 field goal attempts (40%). They made only 4-of-14 triples (29%) and at times when they were mounting the comeback, a turnover (19) or a personal foul (31) halted the surge. The Sharks shot a solid 47% from the field (20-of-42) and hit 5-of-17 triples.
Lee completes another solid season under Coach Rowe’s leadership, 21-11. The coach pointed out that some of his players had to play different positions on Friday and that should help next season. A third post player Keira Leffew went down with a knee injury late in the year and was not available for tournament play. He will have his entire team to work with when next season begins.
Coach Marty Rowe’s thoughts:
“I’m really proud of this team and how they continued to improve throughout the year. Tonight was not the outcome we wanted but the fight we showed and the character we showed playing through adversity is something we will continue to build on down the road.
“I am very grateful for these players and my coaching staff. It was a lot of fun competing down the stretch with this team.”