CLEVELAND, Miss. - With one second remaining on the scoreboard clock, Delta State's Elisha Wilson drained a 15-foot shot from the baseline to give the Lady Statesmen a 52-50 GSC victory over the visiting Lee basketball team on Thursday evening. It marked the second straight loss for the Lady Flames who dropped to 7-2 in conference play and 9-4 overall. Delta State improved to 4-6, 6-8.
The hard-fought contest was loaded with ups and downs, especially in the latter part of the third period and in the fourth frame. The low-scoring game saw Lee leading 23-16 at the halftime break but the Lady Statesmen outscored the Lady Flames 24-18 in the third period to slice the margin to 41-40.
In the third period, Lee went up 40-31 only to see the Lady Statesmen score nine straight points and tie the contest at 40. Delta State went on top 46-41 to open the final frame, but Lee rallied quickly behind Mallory Hampton and cut the lead to 46-45.
The battle was tied at 46 when Wilson gave Delta a 48-46 lead at the three-minute mark and Grace Watson, who finished the evening with a double-double, scored to put her team on top 50-46. The clock continued to count down to the 28-second mark before Hampton sank another free throw to tie the game at 50.
The Lady Statesmen called a timeout and moved the basketball to their end of the floor. They counted the clock down and went for a shot that was missed with some five seconds remaining. The battle for the rebound went out of bounds and it was awarded to Delta State. The rest is history as the pass came into Wilson and she nailed the winning shot.
Watson paced the Lady Statesmen scoring, 17 points and was also the top in rebounding with 10. Wilson tallied 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds as Delta State outrebounded Lee 32-31. Madi Kate Vancannon rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11. It was not a great scoring evening by either team. The Lady Statesmen made 16-of-51 shots overall (31%) and 4-of-17 triples. They actually sealed the contest from the charity stripe by converting 16-of-19 attempts while the Lady Flames were able to make just 10-of-17 freebies.
Hampton was the only Lady Flame in double-figure scoring with 20 points. She also had five rebounds and five steals. Addison Smith finished with nine points and four rebounds while freshman Keira Leffew pulled down seven rebounds in the first half to lead Lee in that department. The Lady Flames shot 33% from the field, making 18-of-57 shots. On this evening they were able to convert just 4-of-22 3-pointers (18%). The Lady Flames turned the basketball over 13 times but forced 21 Lady Statesmen floor mistakes.
The road adventures continue for the Lee ladies on Monday at 5:30 when they travel to Carrollton, Georgia and face the University of West Georgia. Lee will return to Walker Arena next Thursday and will host Christian Brothers at 5:30. Admission is free to all Lee home games thanks to the good friends at Food City.
Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts:
"Delta State executed down the stretch better than we did and deserved the win tonight. This trip shows you just how tough the GSC really is, especially on the road.
"We played really hard but just made way too many mistakes, especially at the end of that third quarter when Mallory picked up her third foul. That's on me, I'll make sure we let her play through that situation from now on."
