By Mike Gincel, contributing writer
It was senior night for the Lady Lions of the Women’s Basketball Team. The team honored their two seniors, Elise Clyburn and Christina “Hollywood” Granville. Both ladies have contributed massively to the program. Their efforts have been appreciated and will continue beyond long after the final game that they play.
The Lions squared off against the Eckerd Tritons in the last home match of the season. It was a highly fought battle as the lead changed six times during the course of the game and it was evident that Eckerd was ready to play. In this half, Teresa Manigrasso had 10 points and Chelsea Connolly was leading the team in rebounds with 4. Despite a good effort, the Lions were down 35-28 going into the locker room after the first half. Their work was cut out for them in the second half.
Manigrasso and Connelly gave amazing efforts in the second half to try and cut the lead that Eckerd had built up. With 5:27 left to go, Manigrasso connected on a beautiful layup, sending the Bowman Center into a frenzy. Lions were up 53-52. Eckerd then connected on foul shots and points, to be up by 4 with only 1:52 left on the clock. One last ditch effort was Manigrasso with a nice three-point shot with 1:36 left, cutting the lead to 1.
Hearts were racing as the final seconds ticked down, but the Lions could not pull up the upset with a 64-62 loss to Eckerd. Manigrasso led the pack with 19 points, and Chelsea Connelly with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The ladies had a great performance in this game, nearly leading in every statistic and a group effort was evident to the crowd at the Bowman Center. The ladies end their regular season 12-13 with 7-8 in the SSC. Despite a last place finish prediction earlier in the season, the ladies finished seventh in the conference and have a strong tournament run in front of them.
The Lady Lions will square off against the number 2 Lynn Fighting Knights on Thursday, March 7, at 5:00 p.m. at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, FL, as part of the quarterfinal action in the 2013 Sunshine State Conference Tournament. To follow the action for your Saint Leo Lions, be sure to check out www.saintleolions.com, like them on Facebook (Saint Leo Lions) or follow them on Twitter (@SaintLeoLions). Good luck ladies and as always, go Lions!
