The Lee women’s basketball team bounced back from a Thursday night defeat and handed Valdosta State a 59-50 loss on Saturday afternoon inside Walker Arena. The victory ended a 13-game winning streak by the Lady Blazers. The last time Valdosta lost was back on Nov. 17 to the Lady Flames.
“It was a great job by our team bouncing back against a really good team,” said Lee head coach Marty Rowe. “We played with a sense of purpose and urgency today defensively. For us to be successful, that’s how we need to compete.”
Lee moved back into first place in the GSC standings 13-1 and stands at 15-3 overall.
The Lady Blazers dropped into second place in the standings (12-2) while West Florida and Union stand at 11-3.
The Lady Flames led at the end of the first break 16-14 and built a 33-25 lead at the half with some outstanding defensive play. The margin grew to 16 points with 1:33 remaining in the third period. Haley Schubert fouled out late in the final period and missed free throws allowed the visitors to cut into the final margin.
While the Lady Blazers were making 14-of-18 free throws, the Lady Flames were canning just 9-of-17 attempts. The Lee defense held Valdosta to 35% shooting overall and only 2-of-17 from beyond the 3-point line. The Lady Flames shot 44% from the field (23-of-52) but also struggled from long-range shooting (4-of-17), 24%.
The big difference in the contest came in the rebounding department where Lee grabbed 35 rebounds to 28 for the Lady Blazers. The Lady Flames outscored the visitors 34-22 in points in the paint. Both teams were guilty of 20 turnovers in the rugged defensive battle.
Schubert finished with 15 points, five assists and four rebounds before fouling out of the game. Hannah Garrett hit three big triples and had 14 points. Mallory Hampton totaled 12 points and dished off four assists. Macy Woodworth added eight points and led the Lady Flames with eight rebounds. Addison Smith finished with six rebounds and five points.
Coach Rowe praised the effort of Morgan Carbaugh who scored only three points in the game. “It doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but Morgan gave us almost 32 minutes of determined basketball, especially on the defensive end. Haylee Johnson also gave us some good minutes with Schubert and Hampton in foul trouble.”
Valdosta only had one player in double-figure scoring. Jirah Ards had 11 points. Taylor Searcey helped keep the Lady Blazers in the game with her rugged defensive play and countered with eight points and five rebounds. Kayla Frey came off the bench to score nine points as did Aleisha Curry who finished with eight points.