Lady Flames fall to Embry-Riddle

The Lee University women’s basketball team lost for the first time in five games this season Friday, 86-66 to Embry-Riddle in the Nova Southeastern Thanksgiving Classic at Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Lady Flames play Nova there today. Embry-Riddle (5-0) led 20-8 after one quarter and maintained control as seniors Sabrina Whiting and Tara Fields scored 28 and 20 points on combined 15-of-18 shooting from the field and 14-of15 success from the free-throw line. The Daytona Beach team hit 19 of 23 free throws compared to 13 of 18 for Lee. Whiting’s only miss of any kind was one of her five 3-point shots. Erin Walsh and Maddie Long had 19 and 12 points and three steals apiece for the Lady Flames, and Taylor Boggess added 10 points.

GOLF

› The three men’s golf early-period signees announced this week by Lee coach John Maupin were Parker Gray from nearby Walker Valley High School and two Georgia standouts, Dustin Demersseman from Oconee High in Athens and Brock Nixon from Allatoona High in Acworth. Demersseman was the GHSA Class AAA individual state champion in 2015 and the runner-up in 2016, and he also has a runner-up finish in the Southeastern Junior Golf Tour event in Dalton to his credit. He was seventh with a 72-hole 152 in the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships. Nixon was GHSA all-state as early as his freshman year and has a first and a third in SJGT events and a third and a fourth in American Junior Golf Association tournaments. Gray was all-state this fall and a member of the 2017 Tennessee Junior Cup team, and he won the statewide Sneds Tour Tournament of Champions and Masters 2 Day event. “We’ve known Parker for a long time, and I’m just really impressed with what he’s been able to accomplish over the years,” Maupin said in a Lee release. “He comes from a great high school program at Walker Valley, and he’s been a leader on his team. He’s just a high-character young man. Parker had a great summer, and I think he has only just begun to understand how good he can be.” Gray, who has a 3.7 grade point average, also considered Division I member Tennessee Tech. “I love the (Lee) campus and also the direction Coach Maupin has his team going,” Gray said.