NCCAA Division I tournaments
Thursday at Winona Lake, Ind. LEE WOMEN 54, EMMANUEL 44Emmanuel (18-11) Trombley 6, Davis, Skelton, Coberly 10, Rogers 4, Reynolds 17, Scarbrough 2, McNeely 5, Fagin, Onyeneho.Lee (22-8) Walsh 18, Swope, Smith 4, Johnson 10, Brown 15, Beavers, Cheeks 7, Neuharth.Halftime: Lee, 34-20. COLORADO CHRISTIAN 88, LEE 74Colorado Christian (18-15) Squiers 7, Brown 26, McCullough 11, Trinkle 1, Shields 21, McLemore 17, Whitmore 3, Hanson, Hegarty 2.Lee (18-13) Wilson 2, Ford 17, Billingsley 11, Lee 16, Cullen 11, Burrows 11, Johnson 3, Copeland 3, Merian, Roberts, Farley.Halftime: Colorado Christian, 43-26.
The Lee University basketball teams won't be duplicating what the Cleveland school's soccer teams did last fall, but the winter Lady Flames still can join the soccer sides with a Christian college national championship.
Marty Rowe's women assured themselves of at least matching last year's national runner-up finish in the NCCAA Division I tournament at Winona Lake, Ind., with a 54-44 win Thursday night against Emmanuel College of Franklin Springs, Ga. Tommy Brown's Lee men will be playing Emmanuel at 10 a.m. Saturday, but that will be for third place after an 88-74 semifinal loss to Colorado Christian.
Both Lee teams were seeded No. 1 in the national tournament.
The Lady Flames (22-8) will play at 5 p.m. Saturday for the championship against Bethesda or Southwestern Christian, who played the late game Thursday.
Erin Walsh scored 18 points and Shelby Brown and Christina Johnson added 15 and 10 Thursday for Lee, which led 34-20 at halftime and by 18 points with 10:56 left in the game. Brown also grabbed nine rebounds, and she and Walsh made three steals apiece, while Alex Swope had five assists and Carrie Cheeks contributed eight rebounds.
Timia Reynolds scored 17 points for Emmanuel (18-11).
Colorado Christian (18-15) jumped to a 25-point lead late in the first half against the Flames (18-13) and got 26 points and eight rebounds from Michael Brown. Tyler Shields and Zach McLemore added 21 and 17 points while combining to make 19 of 22 free throws, as their team went 28-of-33 from the foul line compared to 9-of-15 for Lee.
Stedmon Ford and Chad Lee scored 17 and 16 points for the Flames, and Cory Billingsley, Chase Cullen and Stephan Burrows added 11 each. The team's leading rebounder was Cullen with five.