CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Defense and 3-point shooting were the name of the game in the Lee University women's basketball 98-37 victory over Covenant College on Monday evening inside Walker Arena. The Lady Flames held the visitors to 13 points in the entire second half and knocked down 16 triples in 40 attempts (40%) as they improved to 6-0 on the year.
Lee will celebrate Thanksgiving and open Gulf South Conference play on Thursday, Dec. 5th when they travel to the University of Montevallo. The Lady Flames will continue the road adventures on Saturday, Dec. 7th as they move down to Montgomery and face the Warhawks of Auburn University at Montgomery. The GSC home season begins on Thursday, Dec. 12th when West Alabama visits for a doubleheader beginning at 5:30.
Twelve Lady Flames played double-figure minutes in Monday's win. Mallory Hampton made 7-of-8 shots from the field (one 3-pointer) in finishing with 16 points. Mia Hurst came off the bench and nailed 5-of-8 3-pointers in tallying 15 points. Haylee Johnson followed with 13 points and dished off nine assists. Haley Cameron also played in a reserve role and rounded out the double-figure scoring with 12 points.
Kara Williams and Mia Alexander each hit a pair of triples and tallied eight points while Susanna Rogers and Bailey Burgess joined Johnson with Lee's other 3-point shot-makers. Rogers tallied seven points. Anna Muhonen, Addison Smith and Baylee Delbridge led the rebounding with five apiece as the Lady Flames outrebounded the Scots 46-28.
Overall, Lee made 36-of-76 shots (47%) and made 10-of-14 free throws. They had an impressive 25 assists to only 10 turnovers. The Lady Flames forced Covenant into 10 floor mistakes that resulted in 51 points. Lee also outscored the Scots 38-12 in points in the paint and 55-11 in points off the bench.
Breezy Savage had the hot hand early and was 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and finished with a team-high 12 points. Lucy Benson was the only other Covenant player in double figures with 11 points. She also canned three 3-pointers. Emma Kaye Fuller came off the bench and tallied eight points. Savage was also her team's leading rebounder with four.
The Scots made only 14-of-49 field goal attempts (29%). They shot better from 3-point range, hitting 8-of-25 (32%). The visitors went to the line twice and made one. Turnovers hurt the Scots as they made 30 overall.
Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts:
"Our depth pretty well controlled the contest, especially in the second half. Covenant was playing with a short bench and they got tired in the last two quarters. They have a first-year coach and she is doing a real good job with the program. Our fans got a good look at our younger wing players tonight and they showed they are going to have a bright future. We have several girls who can really shoot the basketball and depth could help us as we get into conference play. We will do some light work tomorrow and then practice on Wednesday before we send the girls home for Thanksgiving break. We want to make sure we come back ready to play against Montevallo and AUM. It is going to be two tough road games to open GSC play."
