YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Despite jumping out to a 17-2 lead after the first quarter of play the Lee women's basketball team suffered a 49-47 road defeat to Young Harris College on Tuesday evening.
The Mountain Lions regained their footing after a disastrous start that saw the Lady Flames open the contest on an incredible 16-0 run before surrendering a basket.
Young Harris went on to outscore the Lady Flames 47-30 in the final three quarters, including holding a 23-13 advantage in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Flames had an opportunity to tie or win in the final minute of the contest but missed their final six shots.
"Most teams would have packed it in down 16-0 in the first quarter so I give Young Harris a lot of credit tonight," said head coach Marty Rowe. "They were a lot of tougher than us tonight, especially down the stretch and made more plays than us and deserved to win."
YHC's Halie Shope hit a 3-ball with 1:48 left to give the home team a 47-45 advantage. Becca Cheeks tied things up for the Lady Flames on a lay-up with 11 seconds later before Shope split four free-throws in the waning moments to give the Mountain Lions the comeback victory.
Lindsey Roddy was the only Lady Flame to crack double-figures with 11 points. Abby Bertram added nine points to go along with nine rebounds. Kayla Tilley, Haley Schubert and Cheeks each tallied six.
Lee shot just 26.4 percent from the field for the game and connected on only 4 of 33 (12 percent) 3-pointers. To add to the shooting woes the Lady Flames connected on just 2 of 10 foul shots in the second half.
"We missed a ton of high-percentage shots tonight and were just not very good from the foul line," added Rowe. "This type of loss should sting and we need to get a lot tougher moving forward."
Shots were tough to come by for the Mountain Lions as well. Scoring just two points in the opening quarter, YHC finished the half just 6 of 16 from the field. They were only 7 of 24 in the second half but converted 11 foul shots and four triples.
Shope finished with nine points and 13 rebounds in the winning effort. Lindsey Caudell had 11 points and Pamela Diokpara registered a double-double with 10 points and 12 boards.
The Lady Flames secured 40 rebounds while Young Harris snatched 50. Lee forced an astounding 31 turnovers and committed just 15 floor mistakes but poor shooting loomed large down the stretch as coach Rowe's club failed to put Young Harris away.
The Lady Flames fall to 5-2 on the season while the Mountain Lions improve to 2-5. Lee will look to get back on track on Saturday as they host Fort Valley State at 2 p.m.
