Lee University coach Marty Rowe, shown during an exhibition game at UTC, will lead his Lady Flames in the NAIA national final tonight.The Lee University women’s basketball team left the NAIA as its Division I national runner-up last year. By late Saturday afternoon this year’s Lady Flames hope to be one notch higher in Division I of the National Christian College Athletic Association.
They have been ranked No. 1 much of the season and are seeded the same for the national tournament, but their opening game today at 5:15 p.m. at Winona Lake, Ind., is against the host team, Grace College.
Lee’s only loss in its last 17 games was last Saturday night, 68-65, to host Union University in the NCCAA Mid-East Region tournament final in Jackson, Tenn., and Union (22-6) is the No. 2 seed at Winona Lake. Because of their Burbridge Rating, the Lady Flames knew before the regional that they would be the top seed for the national tourney no matter what happened at Union, a longtime NAIA power that like Lee is now a provisional NCAA Division II member in the Gulf South Conference.
Six of the eight teams in the NCCAA nationals this week are making a similar NAIA-to-NCAA transition.
“I would’ve liked to have won that game, but everything about that game should help us this week,” Lee coach Marty Rowe said Tuesday by phone. “And playing Tennessee Temple the night before was good, too. We hadn’t played in 12 days, and Temple played us as hard as they could for 40 minutes. Then to be in that atmosphere we were in against Union was great preparation for the national tournament.