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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Clutch free throw shooting down the stretch helped lead the Lee women's basketball team over Christian Brothers, 58-54 on Thursday evening in the Gulf South Conference opener for both teams.

The Lady Flames hit 9 of 11 from the foul line and were 7 of 9 in the second half to withstand a pesky Lady Bucs squad and move to 1-0 in the GSC and 4-2 overall. Christian Brothers falls to 2-2 and 0-1 on the year.

Lee was led by freshman Haris Price who scored 17 points and hit 5 of 7 key free throws to help seal the victory. Senior Kayla Beavers posted her best game of the young season with 17 points and six rebounds. The sharpshooting guard hit 5 of 8 treys, including four in the first half. 

Beavers play in the first half proved especially valuable as leading scorer, Erin Walsh was limited for much of the game due to early foul trouble.

"KB (Kayla Beavers) was great tonight and hit some big 3s for us and also had a big steal in the game to give us a shot in the arm and take away some of their momentum," said head coach Marty Rowe. "Haris has been thrown in the fire and has had to play a lot of minutes for us and learn on the fly as a freshman. She made some big plays down the stretch and hit her free throws."

Carrie Cheeks added 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds while Christina Johnson continued her work on the glass, picking up nine boards. Freshman Anna Woodford tallied eight rebounds and dished off five assists in the contest.

"We're grinding right now but we'll take any win on the road," said Rowe. "Christian Brothers played well tonight but we were able to play through some foul trouble and get the win."

The largest lead of the game was an eight point advantage by Lee in the early moments of the second period. The tightly contested affair included six lead changes and five ties but the Lady Flames kept the advantage throughout the second half.

The Lady Bucs were paced by guard Courtney Banks who registered 19 points on 8 of 18 shooting from the field. Samantha Reeves added 15 markers and had eight rebounds. Madison Luckett followed with eight points and seven boards.

Lee dominated on the glass, holding a 44-29 advantage over CBU. The young Lady Flames would commit 20 turnovers while the Lady Bucs were guilty of just eight floor mistakes.

The Lee defense was able to limit the home team to just 34 percent (21 of 62) shooting from the field. The Lady Flames would hit only 39 percent of their own shots but benefited from seven triples.

"For us to get stops when it matters is a big key and a big confidence boost for this team," noted Rowe. "We still are too loose with the ball and attack at times we shouldn't but we're going to figure it out and at times find ways to win ugly like we did tonight. We want to be a team that figures out a way to win, a lot of teams don't have that quality but that's who we want to be."

With the win the Lady Flames improve to a perfect 5-0 all-time against the Memphis club.  After a back and forth non-conference start, Lee has won back to back games for the first time this season.

"Hollie (German, Assistant Coach) has worked this week on scouting Union and Jan (Spangler, Assistant Coach) put together a great gameplan tonight against Christian Brothers. I have a really great staff and we will be prepared for Saturday," added Rowe.

The road won't get any easier for the Lady Flames as they move on down the road to Jackson, Tenn. to square off with longtime rival and 10th-ranked Union University. The two clubs have drawn even at 3-3 over the past two seasons. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. EST.

Lee will look to hand the Lady Bulldogs their first loss as Union improved to 7-0 on Thursday with a 53-44 win over Shorter.