The Lee women's basketball team posted its sixth straight win and improved to 16-3 overall and more importantly 9-2 in Gulf South Conference play by defeating Shorter University 87-40 inside Walker Arena on Thursday evening. The Lady Flames will continue conference play on Saturday at 2 p.m. when they host Auburn Montgomery.
After leading only 39-24 at the end of the first half, Lee outscored the visitors 28-10 in the third quarter and built the commanding 67-34 lead in coasting to the victory.
"Tonight was good for our team," stated Lee head coach Marty Rowe. "We were able to get some valuable minutes for some players that really needed it."
Eleven Lady Flames dressed out and 10 put points on the board. All 11 of the players played at least five minutes and 10 over 10 minutes. "I thought we did some really good things on both ends of the court and that is what this time of year is all about. We need to continue to improve and try to work towards playing our best basketball down the stretch," stressed Rowe.
Haley Schubert led the Lee scoring with 19 points. She also pulled down five rebounds. Anna Muhonen converted 6-of-10 free throws and added five rebounds. The freshman finished with 14 points. Micah Black knocked down three treys and tallied nine points to go along with six rebounds. Hannah Garrett added eight points. Morgan Carbaugh followed with seven markers and teamed with freshman Haylee Johnson for four assists each. Carbaugh also had four steals.
Addison Smith was Lee's top rebounder with seven as the Lady Flames held a commanding 49-19 advantage on the glass. Lynnsey Keener gave the crowd a thrill when the post player knocked down the first 3-pointer of her career. In just over five minutes of action, Keener finished with five points as did Smith while Halle Hughes had six points and four rebounds.
Jasmine Gaines had all 12 of her points in the first half while Kelly Pickett finished with nine points for Shorter. The Lee defense held Shorter to 24% shooting for the game and 14% shooting from long range. The Lady Hawks did go to the free throw line 12 times and made 11. Lee shot a blistering 58% from the field (36-of-62) and made 7-of-19 3-pointers. The Lady Flames were awarded 12 charity tosses and converted eight.
