The Lee University women’s basketball team ran its win streak to four with a 66-57 defeat of the University of West Alabama Wednesday evening at Pruitt Hall. The Lady Flames (13-3, 6-2 GSC) held a 63-48 lead with 2:35 remaining and had to fight off a strong West Alabama (6-9, 3-5 GSC) comeback attempt.
Lee’s scoring over the final
2:49 of the game came courtesy of a free throw by Maddie Long and two freebies by Abby Bertram.
“This was one of those games where we weren’t all that good and we weren’t all that bad either, but we needed more energy and consistency,” said Lee head coach Marty Rowe. “Our rhythm substituting wasn’t very good because of the foul situation.”
The Lady Flames were called for 26 fouls, while the hosts were whistled for 13 transgressions. As a result, West Alabama went to the free throw line 29 times, although the Tigers made just 17 (.586). Lee was 8-for-13 (.615) at the charity stripe.
UWA won the battle of the boards 40-37 and grabbed 15 offensive boards to Lee’s 13. Both teams cashed in for 16 second-chance points.
Carrie Cheeks led Lee with seven rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Lindsey Roddy and Long grabbed five rebounds each.
“We couldn’t seem to get a big rebound when we needed it, especially when Carrie was out,” lamented Rowe.
Cheeks also was the Lady Flames’ leading scorer. The senior made 8-of-11 shots and finished with 17 points. Roddy was 6-for-8 on her way to 14 markers and Erin Walsh made four 3-pointers to record 12 points.
Long completed a well-rounded game with eight points, five rebounds, five steals and two assists. Bertram tallied seven points to go along with two rebounds, two steals and a game-high six assists.
Overall, the Lady Flames were 25-of-62 (.403) from the field and made 8-of-24 (.333) attempts from behind the arc. UWA was 19-for-50 (.380) from the floor and just 2-of-11 (.182) from long distance.
The Lady Flames return home on Saturday to host Shorter University at 5 p.m. in Paul Dana Walker Arena. A white out has been called for with T-shirts to be handed out to the first 500 fans in attendance. As an extra treat, the Air Elite Dunkers with be performing at halftime of both the women’s and men’s games.
“Hopefully, we’ll be ready on Saturday,” added Rowe. “Shorter will be hungry. They aren’t the same team we saw earlier in the season. They have won two straight (at West Alabama and at Montevallo), so they’re feeling good about themselves. Shorter wants to make you play how they want you to. We cannot get caught up in that.”