CLEVELAND, Tenn. - In what looked like the national tournament instead of an early season meeting between rivals Lee University and the University of Tampa on Saturday afternoon inside Walker Arena, Libby Privett came up with a steal and drove the length of the floor to convert a reverse layup right before the final buzzer sounded to give the Lady Flames a thrilling 47-45 victory over the Spartans. Lee completed the GSC/SSC Challenge with a 2-0 record while Tampa was 1-1.
It was a defensive battle from start to finish and Lee trailed by 10 points, 43-33, when the rally began to victory with 6:54 remaining in the contest. Privett scored on a layup to cut the lead to eight, but the Spartans went back up by 10 before Kara Williams made it a 43-37 affair at the 3:48 mark. Anna Muhonen, who played a key role in the win, converted a pair of free throws to make it a 43-39 game and then came back with a layup to cut the margin to two points (43-41).
Muhonen continued her six-point scoring run with two more free throws and all of a sudden, the game was tied at 43 with 1:11 remaining. Tampa moved back on top on a layup by Alanis Diaz (45-43). Privett took over and scored on a tough layup to deadlock the game at 45.
The Spartans called timeout and were ready to play for one last shot with 30 seconds remaining. Lee had fouls to give and used a pair wisely to count the clock down. With over three seconds remaining, Privett made the play of the game when she came up with the steal and drove the length of the floor for the winning reverse layup.
Statistics showed Lee winning the game with toughness on the defensive end. The Lady Flames shot only 32% overall (19-of-59). They made just one 3-pointer the entire contest (1-of-19) and hit 8-of-12 charity tosses. On the other hand, Tampa shot 39% from the field (15-of-39) and 25% from beyond the arc (5-of-11). They were awarded 14 freebies and canned 10.
The turnovers were even at 13 apiece, but Lee outscored the taller Spartans 22-12 in points in the paint. Tampa led 10-8 at the end of the first period. Lee bounced back to grab a 20-18 upper hand at the half. The visitors outscored the Lady Flames 20-8 in the third quarter and seemed to take command with a 38-28 lead. The margin reached 12 points in the fourth quarter before Lee's comeback began.
Lee won the rebounding battle 34-32 with Anna Muhonen enjoying a record-setting 16 boards. She also finished with 14 points. Privett was the game's leading scorer with 17 points, but six other Lady Flames got into the scoring act and Coach Marty Rowe called them all a key in the victory. Those six players also collected at least two rebounds with Baylee Delbridge leading the way with four.
The Lee defense held Tampa's leading scorer Ryan Franklin to only six points before she fouled out of the game. Olivia Davis was the Spartan top scorer with 14 points. Franklin grabbed 10 rebounds before drawing her fifth foul. No other Tampa player reached double-figure scoring.
The Lady Flames will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 22 and will host another one of the nation's top teams, Ashland University (Ohio) at 2 p.m.
Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts:
"Great job by our team today. We showed a lot of toughness down the stretch on both ends and just happened to make one more play than Tampa. It is a great sign for this team to be able to find a way to win, especially only making one 3-pointer. You cannot compete against teams of this caliber unless you are willing to defend and grind out possessions. Libby (Privett) and Anna (Muhonen) were great down the stretch and just made basketball plays, but we got great energy from our entire team."
