JACKSON, Tenn. - The Freed-Hardeman Lady Lions have relied heavily on defense and rebounding to put together 18 wins.
But tonight at Lambuth, it was the No. 4 Lady Eagles who used both to repay an earlier loss to FHU by the score of 65-60.
After 11 lead changes in the first 13 minutes of action, the Lady Eagles finally broke it open with 12-0 run to take a 31-20 lead with 4:46 to go in the half, taking advantage of seven straight FHU misses during the streak. Cold shooting plagued the Lady Lions for the entirety of the half, shooting just 24.2 percent (8-for-33) from the field and only made two of their last 11 attempts.
Lambuth, meanwhile, owned the boards and the paint, outrebounding FHU 26-17 and getting nine points inside from Donna Lavea.
The Lady Eagles picked where they left off at the beginning of the second half, extending their lead to 54-37 with 13 minutes left. FHU had a chance to make a run midway through the half as Lambuth went seven possessions without scoring but the Lady Lions could only muster four points, all from the free throw line.
FHU made a late push via a 12-2 run to pull within five points, but the clock ran out as Lambuth held on for the win.
The Lady Lions (18-6) fared slightly better from the floor in the second half but managed to make just 18-of-54 field goal attempts, nearly 14 percentage points below their season average. Whitney Johnson led all scorers with a career-high 20 points while Tara Deatheridge added 15 points, 12 of which came in the first half.
Lambuth (17-4) shot 40.7 percent (24-of-59) from the floor and out-rebounded the Lady Lions 43-28 and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds.
Freed-Hardeman returns to action on Saturday as the Lady Lions head to Blue Mountain, Miss., to take on Blue Mountain College in TranSouth Conference action.
