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CLEVELAND, Miss. - After two comeback victories at home last week the Lee women's basketball ran out of steam on the road as it fell 54-49 to Delta State University on Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Flames jumped out to an early 19-10 advantage over the Lady Statesmen but the home team closed the first half on a 17-8 run to tie things up at 27 at the half. Delta State used that momentum to outscore Lee 27-21 in the second half to finish the five-point victory.

It appeared as if Lee was poised for another furious comeback effort. Down by nine with 57 seconds remaining the Lady Flames got a 3-pointer from Erin Walsh, a defensive stop and a lay-in by Carrie Cheeks to cut the lead to four at 53-49 with 30 seconds remaining but would not draw any closer.

"I thought we competed like crazy tonight and gave ourselves a chance to win in the second half," said head coach Marty Rowe. "I have to keep reminding myself that we are playing five freshman right now. Every time we come out its a learning process."

Freshman forward Shelby Brown came off the bench to lead the Lady Flames with 12 points and five rebounds. Her counterpart in the post freshman Cheeks was the only other Lee player in double-figures with 11 points and nine boards.

The usually sharpshooting Lady Flames converted just 3-of-21 (14 percent) from behind the arc and were held to only 38 percent (19-of-50) shooting from the field. Lee had been averaging seven made 3's a contest heading into today's matchup.

"We didn't shoot the ball good today but we got some good looks and we had the people shooting we wanted to," noted Rowe. "Once we start making those looks we're going to see the results we are looking for. I thought are execution was better than it has been and eventually those shots are going fall."

A key to the victory for the Lady Statesmen was limiting Lee's high-powered freshman duo of Emileigh Swafford and Walsh to just eight and seven points respectively. Swafford leads the team with 16.4 ppg while Walsh follows with 15.6.

Delta State had its own struggles shooting the basketball. The Lady Statesmen hit just 34 percent (18-of-53) from the field and 27 percent (4-of-15) from 3-point distance but did convert 14 foul shots in 22 trips.

The two clubs were evenly matched on the boards. Both teams recorded 38 rebounds but Delta State held a 12-8 advantage on the offensive glass. Lee was guilty of 11 floor mistakes compared to 10 for the Mississippi club.

The Lady Flames fall to 8-4 overall and are 5-4 in the Gulf South Conference (GSC). The young Lee squad is still searching for its first road victory (0-3) on the year. The win moves the Lady Statesmen to 7-6 on the season and 5-4 in league play.

Rowe's team will look to find that elusive road victory on Monday when they travel to Clinton to test Mississippi College. Tip time is set for 7 p.m.

"Mississippi College is the only team to beat West Florida and they did it on the road. It will be a challenge for us but I think we'll be ready and bounce back on Monday," concluded Rowe.