The Lee University women’s basketball team withstood a furious rally from the University of Tampa in the fourth quarter holding on to win 66-63 in the opening round of the NCAA South Region Tournament. The Lady Flames led for 31 minutes of the game and led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter before the Spartans mounted the comeback. Mallory Hampton made two free throws with 11 seconds left in the game and then Tampa missed the game tying shot as time expired to give Lee the three point win.
Lee scored the first two points of the game before Tampa went on a 9-0 run to lead it 9-2 early.
Lee fought back and tied the game at 11-11. The two teams then traded buckets before tying the game at 16-16. A jumper by Anna Muhonen gave Lee the lead for good. Tampa tied the game at 18, but after that point Lee never trailed again.
Lee led by two points after the first ten minutes before dominating the second quarter. The Lady Flames outscored the Spartans 20-10 to lead it 40-28 at halftime. Lee outscored Tampa 19-18 in the third quarter to lead it 59-46.
The fourth quarter the Spartans made the comeback. They held Lee scoreless for seven minutes and pulled within five points at 59-54. Hampton hit a big three-point shot to stop the drought and put Lee back up by eight. Tampa continued to grind away and with 11 seconds left Audrey Ramsey hit a three to make it 64-63. Hampton was fouled and made both her free throws to give Lee the 66-63 lead. Tampa had a shot to tie it from Olivia Davis, but it missed and the Lady Flames snuck away with the three point win.
Lee shot 39% from the floor going 22-of-56. They were 10-for-30 from long range with five different players hitting three-pointers. Tampa shot 51% from the floor at 24-of-47. Both teams shot 12 free throws in the game. Tampa only missed one and Lee was perfect from the line.
Hampton led all scorers with 24 points. Mia Hurst had 11 while Anna Muhonen had 10. Zoe Piller had 20 points for Tampa while Ramsey and Giorgia Palmieri each had 16.
The Lady Flames will now advance to the second round of the NCAA South Region Tournament and will take on #1 seed and host Union University on Saturday, March 15 at 8:30 PM EST in Jackson, Tenn.
Coach Marty Rowe’s Thoughts:
“Give Tampa a lot of credit. We were playing against the two-time defending region champion and have been in the Elite Eight the last two years. We played really well in stretches tonight and hung in there at the end. This time of the year you have to take advantage of any free throws you might get and credit to our players we did that tonight.”