LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Senior Jenna Scoggins drilled five 3-pointers and scored a career-high 21 points to lead the No. 25 Lee women's basketball team to a convincing, 74-38 victory at West Alabama on Saturday afternoon.
Scoggins made the most of her extended minutes with junior Abby Bertram sidelined with an injury. The Cleveland High School product went 8 of 12 from the field and 5 of 7 from beyond the arc to lead all scorers.
When asked about the play of his senior guard head coach Marty Rowe fought back the emotion, "she brings the same toughness and focus and gets after it every single day in practice. I've never been scared to play her and she knows that. But to see her teammates more excited than even she was, it was special. They see her every day and knows what she means to us. She was ready for the moment and obviously she's going to have an expanded role as we move forward but I'm just really proud of her and all of our seniors played well today and set the tone for us."
"I just wanted to come out and play tough defense and get stops for our team. Obviously Abby is a huge lost but we really focused on playing a complete game and focusing on every possession. This win gives us a big boost going into next week. We had a great week of practice and that preparation really helped us today. It was definitely a team win," said Scoggins.
The Lee defense dominated the Tigers, holding the home team to single digits in 3 of 4 quarters. The Lady Flames limited West Alabama to just 27.1 percent shooting from the field (13 of 48).
Lindsey Roddy added 13 points, Taylor Boggess had 12 and Haley Schubert scored 11 and had five assists. As a team Lee hit a sizzling 53.6 percent (15 of 28) from the 3-point line.
"We could have made a lot of excuses tonight and felt sorry for ourselves but we made up our minds that we are still a really good basketball team. We defended like crazy and rebounded like crazy and played with a lot of energy. Obviously the ball went in but toughness gets rewarded, the ball goes in when your tough on the other end and it did today," said Rowe.
Tazsa Garrett-Hammett led the Tigers with 11 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. J'Nyiah Daniels and Bria Dent each added 10 points.
The win moves the Lady Flames to 18-5 and 12-3 in the GSC. Lee remains in second place, two games behind Union. West Alabama drops to 10-13 and 7-9 as they try and chase down the eighth and final spot in the GSC Tournament with four games remaining.
"The last few games I thought we were disconnected but today we really rallied together and showed just how good of team we can be even despite the adversity and injuries we have faced," concluded Rowe.
Coach Rowe's club will wrap up a three-game road trip on Thursday at Alabama Huntsville. Lee returns home next Saturday as it battles Auburn Montgomery at 5 p.m.
