With Halle Hughes leading the way, the 12th-ranked Lee women’s basketball team improved to 5-0 and posted its first road victory, 78-52 over Trevecca Nazarene University on Monday evening inside Trojan Fieldhouse. The Lady Flames will head for Florida where they will spend the Thanksgiving holiday facing Barry University and Nova Southeastern in Fort Lauderdale on Friday and Saturday.
Hughes enjoyed an outstanding shooting night making 5-of-6 shots from the field, 4-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc and 5-of-6 free throws.
She finished with 19 points. Julia Duncan followed with 15 points and Haley Schubert got into early foul trouble but still managed to tally 14 points.
Addison Smith came on in a reserve role and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers for six points and led the Lady Flames in rebounding with seven. Anna Muhonen pulled down five rebounds and had six points, but Lee was outrebounded 44-33. Coach Marty Rowe was disturbed when he glanced at the rebounding totals. “We will address that in Tuesday’s practice,” he quickly noted. “That is the first time we have been outrebounded this year.”
The Lady Flames shot 44% from the field (27-of-61) and made 15-of-20 charity tosses (75%). The defense held the Lady Trojans to just 33% shooting (18-of-54). Alexa Smiddy had 11 points and Emma Palmer 10 points to pace the Trevecca scoring. Keeley Carter was the top rebounder with seven and added nine points.
Lee led by as much as 31 points late in the fourth quarter. The Lady Flames outscored the Lady Trojans 36-24 in points in the paint, 19-9 points off turnovers and 12-0 in fast break points.