CLEVELAND, Tenn.-Lee University claimed its fifth straight victory with a 69-56 win over the University of Alabama in Huntsville on Friday evening inside Walker Arena. The Lady Flames improved to 5-2 overall and 4-0 in GSC play. The Chargers fell to 2-5, 1-3. 

Lee will return to action on Sunday afternoon and host the University of West Alabama. It will be the annual Jack Souther Classic and Mayfield Ice Cream Day. The doubleheader action is scheduled for a 2 p.m. tip.  

The Lady Flames never trailed, jumping out to a 17-10 lead at the end of the first quarter and increased the margin to 33-24 by halftime. The lead grew to 53-39 after three periods before the Chargers finally outscored Lee in the final period, 17-16.  

A total of 55 fouls were called. Two Lady Flames were forced to the sidelines with five fouls and two others were whistled for four. The Chargers were awarded 27 freebies and tallied 22 of their 56 points from the charity stripe. On the other hand Lee had 19 free throws and converted 15.  

It was another solid shooting night for Coach Marty Rowe's club. They knocked down 24-of-50 shots overall (48%) and canned 6-of-15 triples (40%). The Lee defense held the Chargers to only 17 field goals in 43 attempts (39%). The visitors did not make a 3-pointer in nine attempts. 

Mallory Hampton attempted only nine shots from the field and converted seven to finish with 18 points. She made 4-of-6 free throws and added five assists, plus four rebounds. Mia Hurst canned 3-of-5 triples and totaled 11 points. Haylee Johnson followed with nine points and four rebounds. Anna Muhonen and Haley Cameron managed seven points and five rebounds before fouling out while Addison Smith contributed seven rebounds and Kara Williams joined in with seven points. All totaled, Lee outrebounded the Chargers 29-23. 

Coach Rowe was disappointed with his club's 20 floor mistakes but the defense forced Huntsville into 23 turnovers. Jesse Jennings made 8-of-11 shots from the field and 11-of-12 free throws to lead both teams in scoring with 27 points. Della White was whistled for four fouls but still led her team in rebounding with eight. 

Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts: 

"I am proud of how our team hung in there all night. It was a tough game to play just because of the familiarity between our teams, but we did a great job of executing especially at the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth. 

"UAH is solid and got downhill on us too many times. We will have to continue to work on that defensively. 

"We are getting better every time out and we'll need to continue to do that on Sunday against West Alabama."