Red-shirt senior Maddie Long scored a career high 21 points and pulled down seven rebounds in leading the Lee women's basketball team to a hard-fought 68-62 victory over West Georgia on Saturday afternoon inside Walker Arena. The win gave the Lady Flames a two-game sweep of the series and now will face a bigger challenge when unbeaten Valdosta State visits Friday and Saturday.   

"Maddie played great," said Coach Marty Rowe after his team improved to 4-1 on the year. "It was a great weekend for our team, all things considered. We did a lot of good things that we can continue to build on but certainly have many things to improve on as well. Give West Georgia credit, they competed like crazy down the stretch which was great for us. It wasn't pretty basketball late but we will use it as a learning tool for next week."  

Senior Halle Hughes continued to play well with 13 points, five assists and four rebounds. Hannah Garrett tallied 12 points and five boards. Haley Schubert rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 markers. She also had six rebounds and four assists. Julia Duncan added eight points. Morgan Carbaugh came off the bench and led the Lady Flames with nine rebounds as they won a rugged battle of the boards 41-38.  

Reserve Morgan Perkins led West Georgia with 12 points and nine rebounds. Tahya Campbell, Siera Carter and Jayda Dooley pitched in with nine points each. Campbell also had six assists. 

Just like on Friday, the Lady Flames jumped out to a 19-12 lead after one quarter and then put 27 points on the board in the second frame and led 46-28 at halftime. "We let an 18-point lead slip away," noted Rowe. The Wolves out-scored the Lady Flames 13-8 in the third quarter and 21-14 in the final 10 minutes, forcing Rowe to order a couple of quick timeouts to settle his club.  

Lee shot 56% from the field in the first half (10-of-18) and converted 5-of-11 3-pointers (46%). However, in the third frame the Lady Flames made just 4-of-16 shots including 0-of-7 from beyond the arc. The Wolves made the late run by canning 41% of their shots in the fourth period and making 6-of-6 charity tosses.  

For the game, the Lady Flames still finished with an overall 43 shooting percentage and 40% on triple attempts. They were awarded only 10 free throws and converted six. On the other hand, West Georgia made 36% of their shots from the field and 9-of-27 treys (33%). Like the Lady Flames, they went to the line just 10 times and made seven.  

Two deciding factors helped Lee pave the way to victory with a 30-24 margin in points in the paint. They also had 11 fast-break points to just two for the visitors. The Wolves out-scored the Lady Flames 23-4 in points off the bench.