The Lee women's basketball team bounced back from a Saturday loss to West Florida and defeated visiting Valdosta State 56-45 on Monday evening inside Walker Arena. The Gulf South Conference victory improved the Lady Flames record to 2-2 and 9-2 overall. The Lady Blazers dropped to 2-1, 7-2.
"Tonight, we just played hard and competed for 40 minutes, that's really what it boils down to," explained Lee head coach Marty Rowe. "Valdosta State is extremely long and athletic, and defensively they disrupted a lot of things we wanted to do offensively, but we just kept competing and getting stops."
Lee took control early outscoring the Lady Blazers 22-4 in the first period and held their biggest lead of the game early in the second period (a 19-point advantage). Valdosta State fought back to cut the lead to 28-17 by the end of the first half but it was all the Lady Flames the rest of the evening.
Lee's defense forced Valdosta State into 22 turnovers and led by Haley Schubert (5) and Halle Hughes (3) came away with 15 steals. The visitor's defense was also tough as the Lady Flames turned the basketball over 16 times. Lee outscored the tall Lady Blazers 26-20 in points in the paint and 14-5 in fast break points.
"These are the types of games that toughness wins out and I'm proud of tough plays we made tonight. Bouncing back like we did after a disappointing loss says a lot about the character of this bunch and we can continue to grow from this," pointed out Coach Rowe.
The Lady Flames went to the bench often in the win. Schubert, who got into foul trouble, still led the Lee scoring with 12 points. Hannah Garrett and Julia Duncan had 11 points. They paced the rebounding with five each as Lee finished with 32 boards compared to 33 for Valdosta. Anna Muhonen added eight points while Morgan Carbaugh gave Lee 27 solid minutes off the bench. Addison Smith and Cam Grant also played their role well.
Kwajelin Farrar paced the Lady Blazers with a double-double, 15 points and 14 rebounds. Lili Long was the only other Valdosta player in double figures, hitting three 3-pointers and totaling 11 points. The Lady Blazers missed a chance to get back into the game by making only 12-of-24 free throws while the Lady Flames were converting 16-of-20 attempts.
Lee swings back into action on Saturday, closing out the preseason schedule when it hosts Alabama Huntsville. The important GSC contest is slated for a 2 p.m. tip
