The Lee University women’s basketball team put an exclamation point on the regular season with an 84-51 defeat of Shorter University Thursday evening at the Winthrop-King Centre. The Lady Flames (22-6, 15-5) finished tied with Valdosta State University for third, but will be seeded fourth in the upcoming GSC Basketball Championships.
The Lady Flames placed two players in double-digit scoring. Carrie Cheeks made 12-of-14 shots from the field on her way to 27 points, tying her career high.
The senior added nine rebounds, three assists and four blocked shots. Abby Bertram made three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points.
Lindsey Roddy and Erin Walsh supplied eight points and four rebounds each. Roddy also had four assists, while Walsh was credited with three. Anna Woodford was 8-for-8 at the free throw line to record eight points. Shelby Brown added seven markers to go with six rebounds.
“We’ve been playing better and better,” said Lee head coach Marty Rowe. “We’ve gained confidence the last few weeks and we saw that tonight. We defended and rebounded with urgency, especially in the first half. It was a good overall performance. Great energy from our crowd. It felt like a home game.”
Lee was 32-for-50 (.640) from the field and was 8-for-17 (.471) from behind the arc. Shorter (7-19, 5-15 GSC) made 15-of-65 (.231) overall and 7-of-23 (.304) from distance. The Lady Hawks made 23 trips to the charity stripe and converted 14 (.609). The Lady Flames were 12-for-13 (.923) from the foul line.
The Lady Flames outrebounded their hosts by a 43-32 margin. Shorter turned 19 offensive rebounds into 12 second-chance points, while Lee made the most of its six offensive boards to tally 12 second-chance points of its own.
Shorter was led by Bianca Thornton with 17 points and five rebounds. Jasmine Gaines and Raven Fair added 14 and 10 points, respectively, to give the Lady Hawks three players in double-figures.
Lee hosts West Georgia in the opening round of the GSC Tournament on Tuesday. Opening tip is scheduled for 6 p.m.
“Now, it’s just making sure everybody is ready to go. We’ll take the next couple days off and get back to work on Sunday. It’s going to be tough and physical. That’s why this game was important, because Shorter is so physical. We just have to be ourselves,” added Rowe.