BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Tiara Caldwell scored 20 points to help lead No. 9 Union University over the Lee Lady Flames, 69-50 on Friday afternoon in the semifinals of the Gulf South Conference Tournament from the Pete Hanna Center.
After trailing by eight at the half the Lady Flames pulled within three at 39-36 on a Carrie Cheeks layup with 7:02 remaining in the third but the Bulldogs would go on a 13-4 run to close out the third quarter.
Union held control in the fourth period to finish off the victory and punch its ticket to the GSC title game tomorrow afternoon. The Bulldogs are looking to repeat as conference champs after winning last year and will face either Delta State or Shorter in the title game.
Erin Walsh paced the Lee scoring effort as she as all season long with 17 points on 4 of 8 shooting from 3-point land. Walsh finishes her sophomore campaign with 17.7 points per game and has already accumulated 967 points in just two seasons as a Lady Flame.
"I thought our effort was good but I was disappointed in our execution today," said head coach Marty Rowe after the contest. "In order to win you've got to play better than what we did today but give Union credit they're the best team in our league and have been the entire season."
Playing in her final game, senior forward Christina Johnson cleaned up the glass with 11 rebounds, eight on the offensive end, to go along with six points. Fellow senior Jordan Neuharth stepped in with five assists and three steals to wrap up her four-year career with two very strong performances in the GSC tournament.
Rowe praised his four seniors (Kayla Beavers, Caroline Smith, Johnson, and Neuharth), "This is a great group of seniors. They stayed through the process with us going from NAIA to NCAA D2. They've played in three national title games and played in the GSC semifinals and have won 20 or more games each season. I'm very appreciative to them for of their hard work and dedication to our program and I'm especially grateful to their families for hanging with us and trusting us through this process."
Carrie Cheeks added 13 points and four boards while Shelby Brown tallied seven points for the Lady Flames.
Lee struggled form the field shooting just 29.7 percent (19 of 64) and attempted just 12 foul shots converting on seven. Union hit 43.8 percent of its shots (21 of 48) and were 20 of 27 from the free throw line.
Caldwell collected 13 rebounds and was 7 of 12 from the field in scoring her game-high 20 points for the Bulldogs. Jada Smith added 19 points and Kelsey Risner finished with a double-double 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Lady Flames committed just 11 turnovers while forcing Union into 15 floor mistakes. The Bulldogs held the advantage on the glass outrebounding Lee, 41-34.
"We had a good run this year and I was very proud of the way we went down to West Florida and got the victory (on Tuesday)," concluded Rowe. "We probably just ran out of gas today and I think we got everything out of our team that they had to offer. I'm looking forward to next year, we've got a tremendous recruiting class coming back next year and key players returning as well."
Lee ends its season at 20-10 marking the 12th straight season of 20-plus wins for the Lady Flames under Rowe. Union improves to 28-2 on the year.
