CLEVELAND, Tenn. - After trailing for almost the entire game, Mia Alexander hit a 3-point shot with 17 seconds remaining in regulation and the Lee University women's basketball team forced an overtime period before claiming a thrilling 59-58 Gulf South Conference victory over Delta State University inside Walker Arena on Thursday evening.
The win earned the Lady Flames a spot in the upcoming GSC playoffs. Lee will host Mississippi College on Saturday afternoon (2 p.m.) and close out the regular home season. It will be Senior Day and Anna Muhonen, Bailey Burgess, Baylee Delbridge and Susanna Rogers will be honored.
In the overtime period, the battle was tied at 55 when Alexander came up with a steal and Delbridge made a layup with 39 seconds remaining to put the Lady Flames on top 57-55. However, the affair was not decided until Muhonen converted two free throws with 00:08 remaining to seal the exciting victory.
The win improved Lee's record to 12-7 in GSC play and 16-8 overall. The Lady Flames will have two conference road games remaining after Saturday in hopes of earning a host spot when GSC playoffs begin. Delta State fell to 13-7, 15-10.
The low-scoring affair saw Lee score only seven points in the first quarter and trailed 14-7 at the break. The halftime score saw the Lady Statesmen leading 29-17. The Lady Flames came battling back in the third quarter outscoring the visitors 18-9 and then sent the contest into overtime with an 18-15 margin in the fourth period.
Muhonen led the scoring and rebounding with a double-double, 22 points and 11 rebounds. She also had six steals and made 6-of-8 free throws. Libby Privett finished with 11 points while Delbridge contributed 10 points, eight boards and three steals. Abby McFarland added eight markers while Alexander tallied the two biggest 3-pointers of the game.
Lee struggled shooting the basketball, making 20-of-59 shots from the field (34%) and making 3-of-15 triples (20%). They made up the margin at the charity stripe by canning 16-of-19 (84%). The Lady Flames outscored Delta State 32-26 in points in the paint and scored 16 points off Lady Statesmen turnovers.
Delta State was led in scoring by Jariyah Williamson with 13 points and seven rebounds. Dakiya Toney finished with 11 points and seven boards while Kennedee Shelton also had seven rebounds as the visitors went to the glass for 41 rebounds while Lee had only 27. The visitors shot a solid 43% overall (22-of-51) and made 6-of-15 triples (40%). However, they struggled at the charity stripe, converting 8-of-16 (50%). They were guilty of 22 floor mistakes while Lee had 14.
Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts:
"This team just hung in there and hung in there all game. We talked about competing on every possession all week and to find a way to win down the stretch certainly feels good. We will need to regroup and refocus tomorrow because there is another good team coming to town fighting for a spot in the conference tourney."
