Box Score CLINTON, Miss. – Life on the road in the Gulf South Conference continued to be tough on the Lee University women's basketball team as they dropped their second straight on Thursday evening to Mississippi College inside the A.E. Wood Coliseum, 65-58. The defeat dropped Lee to 4-4 in conference play and 8-5 overall. The Choctaws improved to 4-5, 5-9.
The Mississippi road adventures continue for the Lady Flames on Saturday afternoon as they move over to Delta State University for a 3 p.m. EST first tip. It will be the opening game of a doubleheader against the Lady Statesmen.
Lee started slowly and trailed 12-10 at the end of the first quarter and 29-26 at the halftime break. After being down by as much as 12 points in the third period, the Lady Flames finally got the offense going. A 3-pointer by Kara Williams cut the margin to 40-37, and her sister Milah Williams drilled another triple to tie the game at 40 apiece. Anna Muhonen was fouled right before the third stanza buzzer sounded and nailed a pair of free throws to give Lee their first lead at 42-40.
The margin reached 45-40 on a trey by Abby McFarland early in the fourth frame, but the Choctaws were far from finished and came fighting back to tie the game at 50 and then took the lead at 53-50 on a 3-point basket. It was all Mississippi College down the stretch as they lead by as much as eight in pulling out the big victory.
A total of 53 fouls were called in the game, 30 against Lee and 23 against the home team. The Choctaws knocked down 25-of-30 charity attempts while the Lady Flames hit 14-of-20, a difference of 11 points in the game.
Lee outrebounded Mississippi College 32-22, but the Lady Flames turned the basketball over 23 times to only 14 for the Choctaws. Thirty of the Mississippi College points came off the Lady Flames floor mistakes.
For the game, Lee made 19-of-46 shots overall (41%) and hit 6-of-19 3-pointers (32%). The host team made 17-of-43 shots from the field (40%) and canned 6-of-17 triples (35%).
The Lady Flames got 18 points and nine rebounds from Muhonen. McFarland came off the bench to score 14 points. She made 6-of-7 free throws and was 4-of-6 from the field. Libby Privett battled for eight points and Kara Williams finished with seven.
Mississippi College got what turned out to be a winning effort from Nia Coleman. She hit 6-of-9 shots overall and made 3-of-4 triples. More importantly, she made 9-of-9 freebies in finishing with 24 points. Valencia McFall followed with 13 points; most of her markers came on 7-of-8 free throws. Faith Quick also made 4-of-5 charity tosses and finished with eight important points.
Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts:
"We battled tonight, that's all I can ask from this team right now. Ultimately, it's not the result we're looking for and we have to continue to be committed to finding a way to keep improving. This league is brutal on the road and Mississippi College elevated its play late in the game and deserved to win. It won't get any easier this Saturday at Delta State. It's a great opportunity for our group to keep pulling together."
