ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Host Eckerd College took advantage of a 42-31 lead at the half and also had the Lady Flames in serious foul problems the entire first half in the opening round of the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament.
The Lady Flames battled back in the second 20 minutes and actually overcame an 18-point lead in the third quarter by the Tritons to close the gap to a 74-71 margin before the top-seeded club regrouped to advance to the second round of the tournament with an 84-77 victory.
The Tritons (27-4) champions of the Sunshine State Conference will face the winner of Florida Southern and Rollins College. The season ends for the Lady Flames at 20-11.
"I was disappointed with some of the officiating, especially in the second quarter," remarked Lee coach Marty Rowe. "I've never been in a situation where we had that many quality players in foul trouble in the first half. But, I'm proud of our team and the way they battled back. Eckerd has an outstanding team and they deserved to win but this will be a great experience for our team."
Freshman Abby Bertram paced the Lady Flames scoring with 22 points. She made 9-of-17 shots from the field and hit 2-of-2 free-throws. Despite being saddled with foul problems, junior Carrie Cheeks still managed a double-double, 16 points and 10 rebounds. Junior teammate Erin Walsh made 3-of-4 shots from beyond the arc and totaled 15 points.
Shelby Brown and Taylor Boggess added eight points to the Lee total, while Lindsey Roddy, who also faced foul problems the entire game, finished with six markers. Bertram and Walsh had five assists apiece.
The Tritons were paced by a balanced scoring attack. Victoria Vine led the way with 21 points. Ashley Folsom canned 6-of-6 free throws and followed with 14 points and a team-leading eight rebounds, while Kacie Juday and Anna Deegan rounded out the double-digit scoring with 13 apiece.
While Lee shot 48 percent from the field and the Tritons made 45 percent, both teams were solid from 3-point range. The Tritons making 10-of-20 and the Lady Flames making 8-of-18. The big difference came at the charity stripe. Lee did not shoot a single free throw in the first 20 minutes and finished the afternoon making 9-of-11. On the other hand, Eckerd marched to the line 34 times and converted 24, a difference of 23 points.
"I'm sure our girls will gain a great experience from this tournament and will work hard to get back next season," pointed out coach Rowe. "We had good wins in February and were playing our best basketball in March. However, a few mistakes in the fourth quarter costs us a chance to pull out a victory under tough circumstances against a very good team."
