PENSACOLA, Fla. – After dropping three straight road games and a heartbreaker to sixth-ranked Union University this past Saturday, senior Mallory Hampton helped Lee University claim one of its biggest Gulf South Conference victories of the season on Thursday evening when they defeated the University of West Florida 58-55 inside the UWF Field House. 

Lee improved to 11-6 overall and 9-4 in GSC play. West Florida dropped to 10-6, 7-5. The Lady Flames will continue their road adventures on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. when they travel to Valdosta to face a Lady Blazer team that Lee handed its only conference defeat of the season.  

The Lady Flames jumped on top 19-9 at the end of the first period and never trailed until 3:44 remaining in the final period. The Argonauts went on top 48-47 and increased the lead to 50-47 before Hampton took over. She hit a jumper to cut the lead to 50-49 and then tied the contest at 50 with a free throw. 

West Florida refused to go away and went back on top 53-50 on a 3-pointer by Claire Sutherland-Case. Hampton went to the free-throw line and canned two more freebies to cut the margin to one point (53-52). A pair of defensive rebounds by Haley Cameron and Addison Smith gave the basketball to the Lady Flames with 1:20 left. The Argonauts made the mistake of fouling the ever-present Hampton again. She immediately cashed in on the freebies and Lee regained a 54-53 lead. 

A key turnover by West Florida on a steal by Haylee Johnson gave the basketball back to the Lady Flames with 1:12 remaining. Lee counted the clock down to 0:41 and Hampton drove off a pick for a layup. The Argonauts scored to cut the lead to 56-55. Coach Marty Rowe immediately called a timeout and put the basketball in the hands of Hampton and with 0:34 remaining. Hampton's teammates cleared the floor and she drove for the bucket and scored to salt the sweet victory away. 

Hampton finished with 30 points, making 12-of-13 free throws. On the evening the Lady Flames converted a solid 14-of-15 from the line. Johnson and Kara Williams knocked down a pair of key 3-pointers and finished with six points apiece. Williams had four rebounds and again Smith led Lee on the boards with six, including three offensive rebounds.  

The Lady Flames lost the battle of the boards 29-28 to the taller Argonauts, but gave up only five offensive boards. Lee shot 34% from the field (18-of-53) and made 8-of-23 triples (35%). The Lady Flames turned the basketball over 13 times but forced West Florida into 19 floor mistakes. 

Sutherland-Case came off the bench to tally 19 points and grabbed six rebounds in the loss for the Argonauts. Brooke Kane tallied 11 points and a team-leading nine rebounds. UWF shot 41% (16-of-39) overall and made only 4-of-16 3-pointers (25%).  They stayed in the contest with the Lady Flames by marching to the charity stripe 22 times and making 19. 

Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts: 

"Great road win for our team. I feel good for our players because they have just continued to battle over the last couple of weeks and it's nice to see them excited about finishing a good road win against a really good team. 

"We will enjoy this one tonight and then get to work on Valdosta State Saturday."