HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The University of Tampa displayed why it is one of the top NCAA DII teams in the country by rallying from behind in the second quarter and posting a 73-64 victory over Lee University in the South Region Crossover being played in Spragins Hall on the campus of University of Alabama in Huntsville on Friday evening. The Lady Flames will return to action on Saturday and will face Florida Southern in the second round of the Crossover at 2 p.m. (EST).
The Lady Flames jumped out to a 17-10 lead at the end of the first quarter but the Spartans fought back to tie the game by halftime at 27. In the opening two periods Lee was whistled for 15 fouls while Tampa was called for only three.
The third period was a huge difference maker. The Spartans came out and blistered the nets for five straight 3-point buckets and took a 50-38 lead and the Lady Flames were never able to overtake the margin. At the end of three periods of play Tampa had outscored Lee 28-11 and led 55-38.
The Lady Flames showed no quit in the last half of the final period and outscored the Spartans 26-18 in the period. Things evened out across the board in the second half, but again the foul situation had already piled up against Lee in the contest. They Lady Flames were whistled for 25 and Tampa only 13.
Lee's Mallory Hampton had an outstanding 30 points to open her senior season. She made 9-of-18 shots from the field including 4-of-8 triples. She was 8-of-10 from the charity stripe and also tied Baylee Delbridge for rebounding honors with six.
Haley Cameron totaled seven points and Haylee Johnson joined Kara Williams with six points each. Overall the Lady Flames shot a respectable 46% from the field (24-of-52). They made 8-of-25 3-pointers (32%) and were awarded only 10 free throws, making eight. Lee turned the basketball over 16 times and had 10 assists.
Zoe Piller, who was a standout at the University of West Florida last season, paced the Tampa scoring with 21 points. Sarah Jones made three triples and finished with 19 points while her running mate Audrey Ramsey collected a pair of 3-pointers and totaled 14 points. The Spartans shot 49% from the field (23-of-47) and 53% from beyond the arc (8-of-15). They went to the line 22 times and cashed in on 19. The veteran guard crew had 17 assists compared to 13 turnovers. Lee lost the rebounding battle to the taller Tampa club by only a 28-26 margin.
Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts:
"Tampa is one of the top teams in the country for a reason. They have tremendous guard play and their guards finally got hot in that third quarter. We've got a lot of work to do but this group has a chance to be good if we will keep learning.
"We will need to bounce back quickly because Florida Southern is really good and we will need to be better tomorrow."
