Lady Lions earn trip to Bowling Green with opening round win

February 21, 2023

by Dustin Semore, FHU Sports Information Director

HENDERSON, Tenn. — Drawing the fifth seed in the Mid-South Conference tournament, the (RV) Freed-Hardeman University Lady Lions took care of business against 15 seed Wilberforce (Ohio) University in the tourney's opening round. All 12 Lady Lions to touch the hardwood recorded points as FHU rolled to a 65-34 victory.

KJ White got the ball rolling for the Lady Lions, (20-9) draining a 3-pointer to open the scoring. After an answering jumper from the Wilberforce Bulldogs, the Lady Lions roared ahead with a 15-0 run that began with an Elli Chumley layup and featured a pair of 3-pointers from Rachel Satterly and Kelsey Bender. Wilberforce tacked on four more points to end the opening quarter with FHU leading 18-6.

The second quarter was much the same story with the Lady Bulldogs (2-19) being held scoreless until a layup with 5:53 remaining in the first half. On the other end, Freed-Hardeman would explode on a 21-2 run to comfortably lead 39-8 in the final two minutes of the half. Rees Berkey's layup in the final minute set the halftime lead for FHU at 41-11.

The Lady Lion scoring cooled off in the third quarter, with a pair of free throws from Satterly and Chumley bookending back-to-back triples from Madisyn Baugher and Kalea Fleming. FHU maintained a 51-23 edge moving into the final frame.

Utilizing his reserves in the fourth quarter, Coach Joshua Epperson had a jumper from Julieth Rivera Morales be followed by 3-pointers from Taryn Kile and Morgan Quick. The Lady Bulldogs put back-to-back buckets on the board, but the horn sounded with the scoreboard reading 65-34 to send Freed-Hardeman to the MSC Quarterfinal.

Nearly deadlock in the turnover category, Wilberforce coughed the ball up 17 times to the Lady Lions' 16. The difference was seeing the ladies in maroon and white tallying 26 points off of those WU turnovers while Wilberforce managed eight points off of turnovers.

In just 23 minutes of action, Madisyn Baugher led the Lady Lion offense with 12 points, followed by a 10-point, six-rebound outing from Kalea Fleming. 

Up Next

Successfully punching their ticket to the Mid-South Conference Quarterfinal, the Lady Lions will travel to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where they with match up with the fourth seeded University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) Patriots. The Lady Lions are on the hunt for their first win against the Patriots after falling in UC's barn 66-63 before dropping the home contest 78-59. Tipoff from Bowling Green High School is set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 23.