ROME, Ga. - The Shorter Lady Hawks defeated the Lady Flames of Lee University, 57-46, on senior night.

Senior Shakierya McClendon turned in a stellar performance for SU, scoring 20 points, including 13 in the second half. "I thought her biggest contribution tonight was using her speed to break the defense down and get to the rim," head coach Vic Mitchell said.

Although the Lady Flames opened the game with a 3-pointer, the Lady Hawks quickly answered with a 12-0 run. Taylor Adams' layup and subsequent free throw tied the game at three, before McClendon's 3-pointer gave Shorter its first lead of the contest. The home team never relinquished the lead. Up 6-3, the Lady Hawks extended their lead to 12-3 – Adams scored four more points, and Madison Rice added a layup.

Following Shorter's run, the Lady Flames fought back. Lee (19-9, 15-7) got as close as 14-12, but Adams' layup with 3:12 remaining in the first quarter sparked another Lady Hawk run. After a Tamarr Williams three and two free throws by Kayla Tillie, McClendon scored with under ten seconds on the clock, giving Shorter (19-7, 16-6) a 23-12 lead. The double-digit lead was short lived as two free throws by the Lady Flames made the score 23-14 in favor of the home team.

In the second, Lee got no closer than seven. With her team up 23-16, Adams went on a 5-0 run herself, pushing the Lady Hawks lead back to double-digits via a layup with 4:28 remaining. The basket by the junior forward was the last of the period for either team as both squads struggled to score, managing only nine points between them. At the intermission Shorter led, 28-18.

The Lady Hawks opened the third quarter with a 4-0 run in only 30 seconds. Layups by Adams and McClendon put the home team up 14, forcing the Lady Flames to burn a timeout. Lee's timeout periodically broke Shorter's momentum as back to back 3's by the Lady Flames pulled them with six. After McClendon scored four straight points, the Lady Hawks lead reached double-digits, 36-26. Shorter led by double-digits until the final seconds of the period when a Lee putback cut the Lady Hawks advantage to eight heading into the final quarter.

Shorter led by as many as 15 points in the 4th, in large part due to the play of Adams and McClendon. Adams, the only player in the Gulf South Conference to average a double-double, scored five points in the final quarter, while pulling down 7 of her game-high 16 rebounds in the 4th.

Adams led all players with 23 points and 16 boards. McClendon added 20 for the Lady Hawks. Carrie Cheeks led Lee with 13 points.

 With the win, Shorter secures the #3 seed in the Gulf South Conference tournament. The Lady Hawks will host six seed Alabama Huntsville on Tuesday, March 1st. Tipoff of the GSC tournament quarterfinal game is set for 7 PM EST from the Winthrop-King Centre on the campus of Shorter University,