Jumping out to a 24-8 lead after one quarter, the Lee University women's basketball team was never threatened in an impressive 70-47 victory over visiting University of Alabama in Huntsville on Saturday afternoon inside Walker Arena. The surging Lady Flames improved to 15-1 overall and 7-1 in Gulf South Conference play. UAH dropped to 7-7, 4-4.
Lee ranked No. 8 in D2 SIDA poll, will face another challenge on Thursday when they hit the road to test the University of Montevallo. The Falcons defeated Christian Brothers on Saturday and will trail Lee by only one-half game heading into the showdown.
Senior Abby Bertram and sophomore Haley Schubert led the Lady Flames offense. Bertram posted 20 points, dished off six assists, hit three triples and was 3-of-3 from the charity stripe. Schubert tallied 19 points and was 8-of-12 from the field, plus hitting a pair of 3-pointers. Senior Lindsey Roddy added eight points and tied Bertram and Camryn Grant for rebounding honors, five each. Lee won the rebounding battle 38-33.
It was the defensive play of the Lady Flames that pleased coach Marty Rowe. Lee held the Chargers to just 33% shooting from the field. UAH did not hit a 3-pointer in 16 attempts.
"We really defended with urgency and purpose from the tip. Today we fed off that great energy. A really good effort against a good team," said the coach. "I have to give a lot of credit to Coach (Jan) Spangler. She works on preparing a lot of our defenses."
Lee also held the Chargers leading scorer Aryn Sanders to only nine points. Alexis Woods came off the bench and made 4-of-5 shots to lead the visitors in scoring (10).
The Lady Flames led by 33 points before Coach Rowe went to the bench and used all 15 players. Overall, Lee shot a solid 47% from the field and made 9-of-23 triples. They only went to the line nine times but converted seven.
"Depth is the key to this basketball team and it showed again today. We just have to keep working and trying to get better each day," commented Rowe