FLORENCE, Ala. - Life on the road can be difficult in the Gulf South Conference and the Lee women's basketball team found that out on Saturday afternoon as it fell, 72-60 to the University of North Alabama.

The two clubs exchanged blows for much of the first half before the Lions went on a 17-5 run to end the opening half up, 37-24. The Lady Flames appeared to be set to make another big comeback as they cut the deficit to four with 11:40 remaining on an Erin Walsh triple but would draw no closer.

Christina Johnson paced the Lee offense with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and pulled down seven rebounds. Shelby Brown and Kayla Beavers added 10 points each. Beavers was 3-of-5 from 3-point range.

Lee's two leading scorers were held in check by the pesky North Alabama defense. Emiliegh Swafford managed just four points and did not play in the second half while Walsh was held to seven points.

"We had a lot of key people that weren't ready to play today," said head coach Marty Rowe. "I don't think we handle success very well right now. Our focus was not good today and that's pretty frustration. Some teams can handle success and that comes with maturity."

The Lions did most of their damage from the foul line as they converted a near perfect 22-of-23 (96 percent). Lee finished just 10-of-18 from the charity stripe.

Janae Lyde led the Lions with 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Lyde was 4-of-4 from the foul line and dished off six assists. MeKena Randle tallied 14 points. Jessica Brown grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and Corinne Wright pulled down eight.

"You've got to give North Alabama credit they played harder and better than we did," said Rowe. "They have a really good point guard who got into the lane and we didn't do a good job of stepping up and taking charges like we worked on in practice."

The Lady Flames connected on 40 percent (22-of-55) from the field and made six treys. The Lions matched Lee at 40 percent (23-of-58) and made four 3-pointers. UNA held a huge advantage on the glass out-rebounding the Lady Flames 44-28. Lee was playing without forward Carrie Cheeks who was out with injury.

"We got out-rebouded by 16 and that's all effort and determination," Rowe said. "We really missed Carrie today. She is long and really helps us on the glass and as a rim protector. Hopefully we can get her back next week."

The loss drops Lee to 13-7 on the year and 10-7 in the Gulf South. The Lions improve to 12-9 overall and 9-8 in league play.

The two clubs split the season series. Lee won the first meeting of the year, 80-72 in Walker Arena on Dec. 18.

Rowe's club will look to get back into the win column on Thursday as they travel to Livingston to visit West Alabama at 6:30 p.m.