#8 Lee Escapes Upset Bid by Brenau

Gainesville, Ga - The Brenau basketball team (9-6, 1-3) gave the #8 ranked Lee Flames (14-3, 4-0) all they wanted tonight before succumbing 61-50 in SSAC action at the Tiger Gym. A trio of Tigers tied for scoring honors as Freshman Brittney Wiley (Franklin County), Freshman Raveen Crawford (Stephens County) and Sophomore Nikki Reed (St. Pius) finished with 12 points each. Freshman Tatiana Khudiakova (Moscow, Russia) pulled down 10 rebounds to lead in that category.

Brenau started quickly, running out to a 13-8 advantage and leading through most of the first half, settling for a 32-28 halftime lead on the strength of .414 shooting while holding the Flames to .360 from the field. The second half was a different story with Lee shooting .391 from the field, while the Tigers could only manage .292, including 4-21 from the 3 point line for the game. Lee hit 9-21 from long range and that proved to be the difference. The Flames also won the rebounding war 35-30.

"I am extremely proud of our team for their effort tonight against one of the premier teams in the NAIA," said Coach Gary Bays. "If we had shot the ball a little better and made plays at the end of the game, it could have been a different outcome. If we can sustain this kind of effort, we will be a factor in the conference."

Brenau will travel to Cleveland on Saturday to take on Truett McConnell in another SSAC game.