With a 72-50 win over The University of Alabama in Huntsville Wednesday evening in Paul Dana Walker Arena, the Lee University women's basketball claimed its 14
th-straight 20-win season. The Lady Flames (20-6, 13-5 GSC) also earned the right to host one of the GSC Basketball Championships opening round games on Feb. 27 due to tonight's losses by West Florida, West Georgia and West Alabama.
Erin Walsh made 5-of-8 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 17 points. Abby Bertram added 12 points, five rebounds and six assists. Carrie Cheeks supplied nine points to go along with seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
Maddie Long, Lindsey Roddy and Taylor Boggess three in eight markers each. Long also had seven rebounds and two assists.
The Lady Flames jumped out to a 23-16 lead after the opening 10 minutes before UAH (12-13, 6-12 GSC) pulled back to within two to go into the halftime break 33-31. Lee quickly regained the upper hand, outscoring the Chargers 21-5 in the third period, and extending the lead to 54-36. Lee supplied the final 22 point margin with an 18-14 score in the fourth period.
"We stopped pushing the basketball and it allowed them to slow it down and get a little more comfortable in the offensive end," said Lee head coach Marty Rowe. "We didn't finish the first half really well. We talked about getting off to a great start in the second half and we did."
Lee made 28-of-60 (.467) shots from the floor and were 10-for-23 (.435) from behind the arc. UAH was 17-for-52 (.327) overall and 7-for-20 (.350) from distance.
The Lady Flames made eight trips to the free throw line and converted six attempts, while the visitors were 9-of-15 (.600) at the charity stripe.
After being outrebounded 18-16 in the first half, the Lady Flames turned the tables in the final 20 minutes to win the battle of the boards 40-28. Lee turned 10 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points, while UAH scored eight second-chance points off nine offensive rebounds.
Chandler Elder recorded a double-double to lead the Chargers. Elder was 7-for-9 from the free throw line on her way to 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Morgan Tipton added 10 markers to give UAH two double-digit scorers.
The Lady Flames hit the road for the final two games of the regular season with their first stop being Cleveland, Miss., for a GSC showdown with Delta State on Saturday.
"It's a game that gets us ready for the conference tournament. They're still fighting to get in. You have to be able to play on the road against a good team. We'll have to be really good when we go down there," added Rowe.
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