LAKELAND, Fla. – In a grind-it-out defensive battle the No. 14 Lee women's basketball team fired past host Florida Southern, 55-43 on Saturday afternoon from George W. Jenkins Field House.
The Lady Flames led by as many as 19 in the fourth quarter but the Mocs would not go quietly, cutting the lead all the way down to nine at 46-37 with 3:31 remaining, forcing coach Rowe to call a timeout.
Immediately after the timeout the Lady Flames connected with Haley Schubert, breaking the press for an easy lay in to stop the bleeding.
Sophomore forward Camryn Grant continued to show her maturation as she paced the Lady Flames with 17 and nine boards. Showcasing her versatility, the 6-footer popped out and connected on 3 of 6 from the 3-point line.
The stingy Lee defense limited the Mocs to just 30 percent shooting (15 of 50) for the game. Lee finished 20 of 54 (37 percent). The Lady Flames forced 19 turnovers and turned them into 21 points while committing just 12 floor mistakes.
Sophomore point guard Haley Schubert tallied 13 points, dished off three assists and swiped three steals. Abby Bertram registered 10 points and finished the weekend with 30 total.
"We were able to push it right at them especially in the first half and that helped us slow them down and enabled us to push away," said Schubert. "Our transition offense really works when we play well defensively because we have such great speed and can make things happen when we are able to get up and down the court."
The Lady Flames frustrated the Mocs in the first half limiting Florida Southern to just 21.4 percent shooting (6 of 28) from the field as Lee took a 27-19 lead into the intermission. Schubert scored nine of her 13 points in the first half while Grant had seven points and five rebounds in the first 20 minutes.
"We really bought in to what we were trying to do defensively and played as one unit out their today," said Lee head coach Marty Rowe. "We didn't shoot the ball well but we played together and played with such energy on the defensive end and if we do that we have a chance to do some special things this year."
The Lady Flames improve to 2-0 on the young season after claiming victories in both games of the Gulf South/Sunshine State Challenge. Florida Southern drops to 1-1.
Lee will host Trevecca on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in its regular season home-opener from Walker Arena.
