Leading from start to finish and getting a break when North Alabama upset Valdosta State, the Lee women’s basketball team moved into a tie for second place in the Gulf South Conference standings with an impressive 60-44 win over visiting West Georgia.
The Lady Flames are 14-6 in the GSC standings and 19-7 overall. Valdosta State also stands at 14-6. Lee closed out its regular home season and celebrated Senior Day. The Lady Flames will hit the road for two challenging contests. Their first stop will be at conference-leading West Florida (16-4) on Thursday and then they will move back up to close out the regular season in what could be a showdown against Valdosta State on Saturday.
“We made a couple of adjustments at the beginning of the third period,” stated coach Marty Rowe after the victory.
“We went to a high-low offense, which we have not shown a lot and it paid dividends. Our overall team effort was excellent. In fact, it was one of the best of the year. Now we just need to take this into our final two regular season games.”
The Lady Flames outscored the Wolves 22-9 in the third quarter and led by as much as 24 points before the Wolves made a mild comeback after the contest was decided. “It was not one of our better shooting games, but defensively I thought it was one of our best,” declared Rowe.
Lee’s defense held the Wolves to only 29 percent shooting from the field. They did improve to 31 percent from beyond arc and managed 11-of-15 free throws. Lee shot 34 percent from the field and converted 7-of-26 3-pointers. They were awarded only nine freebies and canned seven.
The Lady Flames defense forced 18 West Georgia turnovers and committed only 11. They dished off 13 assists and won the rebounding battle 45-35.
Carrie Cheeks had 12 points to lead Lee’s balanced scoring. She also pulled down eight rebounds. Lindsey Roddy finished with 10 markers and four assists. Haley Cornellison six points and tied Cheeks for top rebounding honors with eight. Abby Bertram added seven points and four assists, while Erin Walsh also totaled seven points.