VALDOSTA, Ga. – Junior Addison Smith moved inside the paint to nail a jumper with 20 seconds remaining and senior Morgan Carbaugh blocked a shot by Valdosta State's Tamiya Francis with 1 second left to help give the Lee women a rugged 56-55 victory over their GSC rivals inside The Complex on Thursday evening.  

"We got some huge stops down the stretch," said a pleased Coach Marty Rowe after the victory. "It was really good to see our girls play this way. It was a great road win for our team. We talked all week about toughness both mentally and physically. I thought we did a great job of that. November is not always pretty sometimes but you have to find ways to win, and we did that tonight. This has to be a big learning curve. I'm excited to see how we handle this weekend." 

The low-scoring contest was close from start to finish. Lee led 27-26 at the end of the first quarter and 42-36 at halftime. The Blazers outscored the Lady Flames 19-14 in the final period and the lead changed hands four times until Smith nailed the big shot to help Lee seal the victory.  

Mallory Hampton paced the Lee scoring with 20 points. The junior transfer from Samford University hit 8-of-14 shots from the field (3-of-4 treys) and had six rebounds. Haley Schubert followed with 13 points and four rebounds. Sophomore Anna Muhonen added 11 points and made 5-of-7 field goal attempts before leaving the game with five fouls.  

The Lady Flames shot 44% from the field (22-of-50), 35% from long range (6-of-17) but made just 6-of-12 free throws. They lost the battle of the boards to the rugged Valdosta team 38-29. 

Kate Tanner paced the Blazers with 15 points and Taylor Searcey added 10 points. The Lady Flames held Francis to just eight points. Searcey was the leading rebounder with seven, but four other Valdosta players went to the glass for six rebounds apiece. The Lee defense held the Blazers to 36% shooting from the floor and 24% from 3-point range. Valdosta went to the line 15 times and converted 13 to help keep the contest close.  

Lee moved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the GSC. The Lady Flames will move onto Pensacola, Florida and face another rival in West Florida on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. The men will follow at 8 p.m.