CLEVELAND, Tenn. -Coach Marty Rowe and his Lee University Lady Flames used a variety of defenses in holding the visiting Covenant College team to only 22 points in an 85-22 exhibition win on Homecoming afternoon inside Walker Arena on Saturday afternoon. Lee will return to action on Monday at 6 p.m. and host Maryville College in a final exhibition game before traveling to Florida to open the regular season on Friday and Saturday (Nov. 11, 12).
Coach Rowe used 13 players in the victory and 10 scored. Sophomore Anna Muhonen came off the bench and played over 17 minutes in leading the scoring with 17 points. She made 7-of-11 field goal attempts and was a perfect 3-of-3 from the free-throw line.
Hannah Garrett scored Lee's first eight points of the game and finished the game with 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds. She also shot 7-of-11 from the field. Haley Schubert rounded out Lee's double-figure scoring by tallying 11 points. Morgan Carbaugh and Ally Weifel added nine points each while Mallory Hampton in her debut as a Lady Flame had eight points and a team-leading eight assists.
Lee dominated the rebounding stats 41-29. Hampton also had eight boards to lead that category. Garrett followed with seven and Mia Hurst, in her first contest as a Lady Flame, had five rebounds. All totaled the Lady Flames dished off 22 assists while committing just 10 turnovers.
The short-handed Covenant team had two players, Karis McIntosh and Ruthie Moore, score five points apiece. Moore was also her team's leading rebounder with five. The Lee defense forced the visitors into 36 turnovers.
"I thought we did a lot of good things this afternoon," commented Coach Rowe. "I really like the energy our reserves brought into the contest when they entered the game. This is what we have been looking for and didn't have last year. Also, having Mallory (Hampton) at the point guard allows us to move Haley (Schubert) off the ball and free her up more. That is going to pay more dividends for us down the road."
Rowe added that Maryville will give his team a different look on Monday, but he noted that this team will work the same in practice whether they are going against a man defense of a zone. "Our girls are going to continue to play fast and move the basketball. We think we have a lot of girls who can help this team this year and we are excited to see what happens as we move into the rugged season play."
