Lee finally bests Aussies

STAUNTON – For the first time in four years Robert E. Lee beat the Northern Territory NITCP (Australia) USA Basketball Tour team 77-57.
The score was kept close throughout most of the first half and the quick paced Australians ran the Lee Ladies out of the gym. Though Northern Territory had speed on their side, Lee had muscle. Power houses like Daquaa Scott and Angela Mickens controlled the boards underneath.
“That’s another difference between European ball and American ball,” said Robert E. Lee coach Jeremy Hartman. “All the players do the same drills over there, posts run guard drills and guards run post drills, we like to split it up. We had to use our bulk to our advantage.”
Bulk wasn’t the only thing Lee used. The Australians couldn’t grab many rebounds away from the Lee Ladies and a lot of Lee’s points were from put-backs and post moves. Lee’s Angela Mickens also tore up the Australian guards with her fancy ball handling.
There were a few things that Northern Territory team through at the Lee Ladies, like the euro step.
“Our girls aren’t used to that euro step, where the go in for a layup and step one way but shoot the other,” Hartman said. “You always have to adjust to a new style.”
The first quarter was intense for both teams and Lee’s early full-court press made it even worse. Kemani Crawford dominated the scoring for Lee, earning 12 of the 17 points scored that quarter. Australia had points across the board with a little bit coming from everyone, granted they had only seven players.
Lee took off in the second quarter, this time with most of the points coming from Scott from underneath the basket. Her powerful spin moves proved to be too much for the Australians, who resulted to sloppy fouls.
The teams went into the half with Lee leading 38-30.
“They let Northern Territory get away with some aggressive stuff that we can’t get away with,” Hartman said. “It’s just different fundamentals.”
In the third quarter it was all about the Lee defense, offering no fouls and keeping the Australians to only 10 points. The Lee Ladies weren’t lacking on offense though. The numerous give-and-go plays took Lee to 20 more points.
Northern Territory started to show fatigue late in the third, but found the strength to push the ball up the court every time. The Australian offense changed direction from driving in for the layup to taking wide outside shots, but the ball couldn’t find the net for Northern Territory.
  The deep bench for Lee helped in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, but the Australians had no one to turn to. Northern Territory shot only 50 percent from the free throw line the in final quarter, compared to 86% in the first three quarters.
“We have a pretty good group of girls, young girls,” Hartman said. “They still make bone head mistakes from time to time, but mostly they want to win.”
Lee (2-1) travels to Spotswood on Friday.
“I expect to see constant full court pressure.”