Box Score VALDOSTA, Georgia – Coach Marty Rowe and his Lee University women's basketball team kept climbing up the hill and falling back in a tough loss to Valdosta State University at The Complex on Saturday afternoon. The 58-50 loss leaves the Lady Flames at 3-3 in GSC play and 9-3 overall while the Blazers improved to 3-2, 8-3. Lee will break for the holidays and return to action inside Walker Arena on Jan. 4 when they host Trevecca Nazarene.

The Lady Flames got off to a slow start in Saturday's loss, trailing 15-4 in the opening minutes. Coach Rowe's troops rallied to cut the margin to 20-15 at the end of the first quarter. The Blazers moved right back to a 26-15 lead with 6:35 remaining in the second period.

After a timeout, Lee rallied and outscored Valdosta State 13-9 overall in the second period and trailed 29-28 at the break. Three key 3-point shots by Bailey Burgess and another by Mia Hurst helped cut into the Blazer lead.
Valdosta State came right back and held the Lady Flames to only eight points in the third quarter and put 15 markers on the board to claim a 44-36 lead. Lee would fight right back and on two occasions in the final period cut the Blazer lead to only two points.

Key free-throw shooting by Aryana Hicks and Mary McMorris in the final minutes helped spell the difference. They went to the line and nailed all four while Kiersten Nelson hit a layup right before the final buzzer sounded to give Valdosta the final deceiving margin on the board.

Burgess made 4-of-8 triples to lead the Lee scoring with a career high 12 points in her first start of the season. Anna Muhonen and Hurst also finished in double-figures with 10. In an off-shooting day, Mallory Hampton finished with a season low three points but she led the team in rebounding with seven. Haylee Johnson made 4-of-6 shots from the field and tallied eight points. She also dished off five assists. Haley Cameron pulled down five rebounds as Valdosta outrebounded the Lady Flames by only 25-24.

Lee made 19-of-45 shots overall (42%) and hit 7-of-20 3-point attempts (35%). In the rugged contest they went to the line only six times and made five. Valdosta was led in scoring by Hicks with 14 and McMorris with 10. Hicks also led the rebounding with eight. The Blazers made 22-of-47 shots overall (47%) and 4-of-14 triples (29%). After hitting the key freebies late, they finished by making 10-of-15 for the game.

Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts:
"I'm really proud of our team today. We battled and fought for 40 minutes and that's all we can ask. Wins usually take care of themselves when that happens. The break is hitting us at a good time, but we will look forward to getting back to work after Christmas. There is plenty of season left and much opportunity left for this team."