ROME, Ga. – The Lee women's basketball team exploded for 49 points in the first half before cooling off and posting a 78-60 victory over host Shorter University on Sunday afternoon in Gulf South Conference action. The Lady Flames improved to 8-2 overall and 7-0 in conference play. 

Lee will return home and face a pair of GSC opponents on Friday and Sunday. Delta State comes to Walker Arena for a 6 p.m. contest on Friday followed by the Sunday 2 p.m. affair with Mississippi College. The Lady Flames will break for Christmas holidays and return on Dec. 30 when they host Johnson University. 

Five Lee players scored in double figures. Mia Hurst led the way with 18 points. It was the second straight game in which she tallied a career high. Hurst made 8-of-14 shots from the field. Haley Schubert added 13 points. Hannah Garrett followed with 11 points and was 5-of-6 shooting. She also joined Hurst with five rebounds. 

Morgan Carbaugh continued to ring the bell from long range, knocking down 4-of-10 triples for all 12 of her points. Mallory Hampton had a team-leading five assists and tallied eight points. Macy Woodworth collected 10 points and made 4-of-6 of her shots as the Lady Flames shot 47% on the day (32-of-68). However, they only made 10-of-33 3-point attempts and 4-of-10 free throws.  

The Lady Hawks outscored the Lady Flames 38-29 in the second half and shot 40% (19-of-47) from the field. However, the Lee defense limited the Shorter club to just 15% shooting from long range. The Lady Hawks managed to put 20 points on the board by converting 20-of-24 free throws. 

The Lady Hawks outrebounded Lee 32-26. Lee scored 40 points in the paint to 34 for the losers but Shorter outscored the Lady Flames 35-32 in points off the bench. Sarah Wisniowski was 8-of-8 from the charity stripe and finished with a team-leading 14 points for Shorter. Tiara Lewis chipped in with 12 and Katelyn Richards added 10 points. Tylia Kemp was her team's lead rebounder with seven. 

The Lady Flames had 22 assists to just 12 turnovers while Shorter turned the basketball over 19 times while dishing off just 13 assists. Lee's biggest lead came in the first quarter when the Lady Flames led by 30 points. 

"For the second straight game we got off to a good start in the first half and didn't finish the game the way I would have liked," said Lee Coach Marty Rowe after the contest. "We will take some time to talk about that but right now we will enjoy another road win and get ready for Delta State on Friday."