LAKELAND, Fla. – A furious fourth quarter run helped propel the No. 14 Lee women's basketball team to a season-opening 75-66 victory over a scrappy Saint Leo team on Friday afternoon at the George W. Jenkins Field House on the campus of Florida Southern.
After going scoreless over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter senior Abby Bertram took the game over scoring eight straight points over a two-minute period to jump start a 9-0 run after the game was tied at 58 with five minutes to play. Bertram finished with 20 points and six rebounds to open her final season with a bang.
The Lady Flames would salt the final minute and half away at the free throw line.
Camryn Grant poured in 15 points in the post while Haley Schubert had 13 and five rebounds. As a team the Lady Flames hit 24 of 57 (42.1 percent) and converted 23 of 30 (76.7 percent) from the foul line. Lee did struggle from deep, connecting on just 4 of 17 from beyond the arc.
The Lions were led by 21 points from guard Gina Brierley on 6 of 11 shooting from the field. Alani Gallagher followed with 12 and Amanda Ulrich tallied 11 points and nine rebounds. Alex Button was a force with nine points and 10 rebounds.
"Saint Leo had us on our heels and they have some talented guards that played well today. They are a much-improved team. I thought it was a well played game overall for the first game of the season," said Lee head coach Marty Rowe. "Our offense feeds off of our defense and we saw that today and in the fourth quarter in particular."
The Lady Flames crashed the boards and held a 42-30 advantage in rebounds. Lee got up and down the floor scoring 24 fast break points while limiting the Lions to just eight.
Lee was active defensively forcing 16 turnovers while limiting the Florida club to just 35.3 shooting for the contest.
Junior guard Halle Hughes provided plenty of defensive pressure in her 26 minutes off the bench, "We just focused on working on what we do best instead of what they do. We came together in second half and didn't worry about the foul trouble we got into in the first half," said Hughes.
Facing a talented Saint Leo club the Lady Flames got off to a sluggish start in the first quarter, shooting just 20 percent from the field as the Lions jumped out to a 19-11 advantage.
Lee stormed out to a 11-4 run to cut the lead to three at the second quarter media timeout and ended the half with a Widenski foul shot to tie things up at 31-31 at the intermission.
Saint Leo will take on Alabama Huntsville at noon on Saturday. The Chargers matched up with Florida Southern in the second game of Friday's Gulf South/Sunshine State Conference Challenge.
The Lady Flames wrap up the weekend Saturday afternoon as they take on host, Florida Southern at 2 p.m. Lee returns to Walker Arena for the home opener on Wednesday against Trevecca at 6 p.m.
