The Lee University women’s basketball team extended its winning streak to five games with a 71-67 win over the University of Montevallo Thursday evening. Lee, ranked No. 9 by the WBCA and No. 7 in the D2SIDA poll, remains tied with Union University atop the Gulf South Conference standings with an 8-1 conference mark. The Lady Flames improved to 16-1 overall.
The Lee win snapped Montevallo’s three-game win streak to drop the Falcons to 12-3 (6-2 GSC) and a third-place tie with Delta State.
The Lady Flames outscored Montevallo 26-18 in the second period to hold a 10-point lead at the halftime break.
The Falcons shot 50-percent in the third quarter on their way to a 21-14 period score to cut the Lee lead to three. Lee won the fourth period 15-14 to supply the final margin of four points.
“This is the best road win we’ve had this year,” said Lee head coach Marty Rowe. “It was a good win against a good team. We came out early on and missed a lot of open shots. I told them to hang in there and the ball would start falling in.”
Abby Bertram was Lee’s top scorer. The senior poured in 16 points to go with four rebounds, four steals and two assists. Nicky Widenski was 5-for-5 from the field, including a 3-pointer, to supply 13 points. Haley Schubert and Camryn Grant were the final two Lady Flames in double-figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Schubert dished out six of the team’s 16 assists. Widenski was credited with three assists, while Grant and Taylor Boggess passed off two assists each.
The Lady Flames gathered 44 rebounds to 31 for the host team. Lindsey Roddy led Lee with nine boards. Grant, Widenski, Boggess and Becca Cheeks amassed five rebounds each. Montevallo was led by Shyan Flack’s nine rebounds. Kiya Sain and Kourtnie Smith were next with four each.
Paige Ward was one of two Montevallo players in double-figures with 17 points. Ward was 5-for-8 from behind the arc and 2-for-2 at the foul line. Sain added 14 points in the loss.
Lee was 28-for-63 (.444) from the field and made 9-of-27 (.333) 3-pointers. Montevallo was 25-for-60 (.417), including 7-for-22 (.318) from distance. The Lady Flames were 6-for-9 (.667) from the charity stripe, while Montevallo made 20 trips to the line and converted just 10.
“This is one of the toughest stretches of games this season against physical and athletic teams. We need to be ready to play on Saturday,” added Rowe.
The Lady Flames travel to Livingston, Alabama for another GSC battle with the University of West Alabama on Saturday. The contest is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. EST.