Big plays in the final two and one-half minutes proved to be the difference in Lee University's hard-fought 59-53 victory over rival Valdosta State University on Saturday afternoon in their opening game of GSC play. The win evened the Lady Flames’ overall record to 2-2 and they will continue conference play on Monday evening when they host University of West Florida. The opening tip is slated for 5:30 p.m.
The visiting Lady Blazers led 49-47 with 3:19 remaining in the rugged defensive battle.
Haley Johnson was fouled at the 2:44 mark and missed the first of two charity attempts. She made the second to cut the Valdosta lead to 49-48.
Senior Mallory Hampton came up with a steal and Johnson nailed a huge 3-pointer to put Lee on top 51-49. The Lady Blazers tied the game at 51 and Hampton scored to give the Lady Flames a 53-51 advantage. After a turnover by Valdosta, senior Addison Smith came up with one of the key plays of the game, that resulted in a power layup to put Lee on top for good at 55-51 (00:54).
The Lady Blazers came back with a layup by Aleisha Curry to make it a two-point game, 55-53 (00:45), but Hampton sealed the deal with two free throws. All totaled she was of 10-of-10 from the charity stripe and finished with a game high 23 points. The All-American candidate also had seven steals.
Anna Muhonen also made a pair of charity tosses to make the final margin read 59-53. The Lady Flames marched to the free-throw line 18 times and converted 17. They lost the battle of the boards to the talented Lady Blazers 27-25.
Valdosta State led after one period 19-16 but the Lady Flames toughened up on the defensive end and held the Lady Blazers to only six points in the second period and gained a 26-23 lead at the halftime break. Valdosta fought back to tie the game at 38 after the third frame and set up the thrilling final period of play.
Muhonen was Lee’s leading rebounder with six while Smith garnered five. Johnson finished with nine points while Kara Williams came off the bench to score seven. Lili Long paced the Lady Blazers scoring with 14 points, 12 coming on four made triples. Taylor Searcey added 12 points and Curry finished with 10.
Valdosta shot a solid 45% from the field (18-of-40) but made only 4-of-13 triples (31%) and 13-of-18 free throws. The Lady Blazer defense held Lee to 40% shooting from the field (19-of-48) and the Lady Flames struggled from beyond the arc 4-of-16 (25%), but made up the difference with the excellent free-throw shooting. Lee’s defense also forced Valdosta into 25 turnovers and came up with 14 steals.
Coach Marty Rowe’s thoughts:
“It was a great effort by our team today. We have the utmost respect for Valdosta State and how well prepared they are each time we play. This is what GSC basketball is all about, two really good programs giving 100% on both ends of the court.
“We made some big plays down the stretch and credit our team with big stops when we needed them.
“We will enjoy this win but know that we’ll need a short memory to get ready for a really good West Florida team on Monday.”