The Lee University women's basketball team began its 2017-18 regular season schedule with an 84-53 win over Saint Leo University Friday evening in Paul Dana Walker Arena. The game was part of the Gulf South Conference/Sunshine State Conference Challenge.
The Lady Flames (1-0) jumped out to a 12-1 lead just three minutes into the game thanks to two layups by Carrie Cheeks, another layup by Shelby Brown and a 3-pointer each from Abby Bertram and Lindsey Roddy.
"We established Carrie right off the bat," explained Lee head coach Marty Rowe about his team's quick start. "We made a couple relocates to her and she made a couple really nice plays. Getting her established really opens things up, because we can shoot."
Cheeks finished the game with 11 points and eight rebounds. Brown added three rebounds to go with her six points. Bertram finished with seven points and a team-leading four assists. Roddy tallied eight points and dished out two assists.
Erin Walsh was 5-for-11 from behind the arc on her way to a game-high 19 points. Taylor Boggess gave Lee three double-digit scorers with 10 markers. The sophomore added six boards and two assists.
Saint Leo (0-1) was led by Gina Brierley with 16 points. Ragen Dotson and Day Jackson were the next two leading scorers with eight and seven points, respectively.
Lee outrebounded the Lions by a 44-31 margin and turned 16 offensive rebounds into 20 second chance points. Saint Leo mustered five second chance points. The Lady Flames turned 19 Saint Leo turnovers into 27 points, while the visitors scored cashed in Lee's 14 floor mistakes into 12 points.
Overall, the Lady Flames were 34-for-69 (.493) from the field and made 10-of-29 (.345) 3-pointers, while the Lions were held to 30-percent (15-for-50) from the floor and 3-for-14 (.214) from distance. Saint Leo held an advantage at the free throw line, making 20 shots in 29 trips (.690). Lee was 6-for-11 (.545) from the charity stripe.
The Lady Flames play Florida Southern College Saturday at 3 p.m. The Mocs (1-0) were a 77-63 winner over Shorter University in Friday's opening game.
"Florida Southern is a really good team," said Rowe. "They play a different style. They attack one-on-one and from the elbow with their post players. We have our work cut out for us, because our big lineup has to be able to move their legs and do some things. With this quick turnaround, hopefully our depth will pay off. We didn't have to stretch too many people out and were able to get quality play out of a lot of people today."
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