CLEVELAND, Tenn.-Led by 11 points from Anna Muhonen in the third quarter, the Lee University women's basketball team outscored visiting University of Montevallo 27-13 inside Walker Arena and went onto a convincing 69-51 victory in an important Gulf South Conference contest on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Flames improved to 12-7 overall and 10-5 in conference play while the Falcons slipped to 11-8, 9-7.

Montevallo jumped on top 17-16 after the first period of play. The contest slowed to an almost standstill in the second quarter and saw the Lady Flames only score 10 points but they held the Falcons to only four markers and led at the half 26-21.

Muhonen finished with a career high 15 points and pulled down six rebounds while Mallory Hampton tallied 21 points, grabbed five boards and dished off three assists. Overall, the Lady Flames outrebounded Montevallo 42-37 with Baylee Delbridge pulling six off the glass. Haley Cameron totaled six points and three rebounds. Haylee Johnson added six points and four rebounds while Keira Leffew tallied six markers and four boards. Kara Williams chipped in with six points and three rebounds.

Lee shot 46% from the field (29-of-63) but made just 6-of-23 triples (26%). They received seven free throws and canned five. On the other hand, the Lady Flames held the Falcons to 23% shooting (14-of-60) overall. They attempted 24 3-pointers and made seven (29%) but marched to the charity stripe 19 times and converted 16 in accounting for 19 of their 51 points.

Savannah Cook came off the bench and led the Montevallo scoring with 12 points. She also garnered five rebounds. Freshman Lia Edwards also came on in a reserve role and picked up nine points to go along with a team-leading six rebounds. Isabel Grimes added nine points and Anna Katherine Eastman pitched in with eight points.

Lee outscored the visitors 26-14 in points off the bench. The Lady Flames tallied 21 points off Falcon turnovers and gave up only nine, but a huge advantage came off points in the paint where Lee outscored Montevallo 44-14. The Lady Flames also had a 13-4 points better in second chance opportunities.

The Lady Flames return to the road next Thursday and Saturday, traveling to the University of West Alabama and on to Univeristy of Alabama in Huntsville for the next two GSC battles.

Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts:

"We did a lot of good things as a group today. We battled through a sluggish start in the first half but really found ourselves in the third quarter.

"It was great seeing multiple people step up in big moments. We've been battling having great energy for a complete 40 minutes in games, but today was much better.

"We are looking forward to watching how much more this team can continue to grow down the stretch."