Lee Women's Basketball Named Champions Of Character Award Winner

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Making a trip to the NAIA National Championship became even more special to the Lee women's basketball team on Tuesday evening at the pre-tournament banquet.

Coach Marty Rowe and his Lady Flames were awarded the annual NAIA Five Stars Champion of Character award. The honor is given to the basketball team that displays exemplary character on the court, on campus and in the community.

The NAIA has stressed its five core values for a number of years and this is the first time it has been awarded to a Lee basketball squad. The values are integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership. The winner is selected by the NAIA Coaches Association Officers.

The Lady Flames have been a busy group since early August. They made a mission trip to the Dominican Republic and volunteered at an orphanage, visited sugarcane villages and distributed food to the villages, conducted basketball clinics, led devotions, and shared testimonies with opposing teams following games played in the Dominican.

They took part in "Crossovers", a community food distribution program. The Lady Flames donated time on weekends to deliver food and spent time ministering to needy people in the community.

They continued with the Hoops for Hope Autism Awareness event which raises money to support autism awareness in the LUDIC Center at Lee. They were also a part of the Run for Food International. Called a race to end world hunger, the Lady Flames spent an afternoon helping prepare 50,000 meals that helped to defeat world hunger.

Other projects included Helping Hands, where they teamed to help incoming freshmen move into dorms on the Lee campus. The Lady Flames also volunteered to be mentor partners with a Sunday School class at North Cleveland Baptist Church and worked with the Lee Physical Plant to aid in fund raising for their trips.

The extremely happy coach Rowe said, "This year’s team has been great on and off the court. We spent hours on our campus spreading mulch and removing dorm furniture to fund raise for our mission trip. These girls have decided to take complete ownership of their team and it has carried over on to the court. In being selfless with our time and effort, blessings have come back to this group. I am extremely proud of the team and their character and work ethic."

Sophomore Hollie German added, "Character is what makes this team and the program special. Our team is made up of a great mix of girls and coaches with great personalities that all mesh together. Throughout this season no matter if things were going good or bad, the character makeup of this team has been what has kept us together. We all want to work hard for the person beside us."

The 32nd annual NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship tips off Wednesday when the first of 31 tournament games gets underway. The Lady Flames will wait until Thursday at 6:15 p.m. to make their tournament appearance. Rowe's club will be matched against Biola (Calif.). The tourney is being played in Frankfort for the first time after being moved from Jackson, Tenn.