LIVINGSTON, Ala. – With Bellah Machen leading the way, the University of West Alabama handed the Lee University women's basketball team a 62-56 defeat inside Pruitt Hall on Thursday evening. It was the first Gulf South Conference loss for the Lady Flames who dropped to 2-1 and 5-2 overall. It was the first conference win for the host Tigers who improved to 1-2, 3-4.
Lee will continue its road adventures on Saturday afternoon, traveling back up to the University of Alabama in Huntsville for another tough GSC contest against the Chargers. The opening tip is slated for 3 p.m. EST.
Machen finished with 27 points. She made 5-of-8 3-point attempts during the evening, but one came just as the halftime buzzer sounded to give the Tigers a 34-30 lead. Down the stretch in the final period, she nailed a pair of key treys that helped turn back the Lady Flames' comeback attempt.
West Alabama held Lee to only seven points in the third period and led 46-37. The Lady Flames cut the lead to four points on two occasions in the final period but costly turnovers and the 3-pointers by Machen helped the home team pull out the key victory.
While Machen was her team's leading scorer, Callie Cowan tallied 12 points, and Haley Nichols gave the Tigers a big lift down low with 10 markers and a team-leading seven rebounds. Overall, UWA out-boarded Lee 39-37. Neither team shot the basketball well. The Tigers hit 19-of-51 attempts from the field (37%) and made 7-of-18 triples (39%). In winning, they made just 17-of-30 free throws (57%).
Libby Privett had 19 points to pace the Lady Flames scoring. Anna Muhonen followed with 12 and a team-leading seven boards while Milah Williams turned in a solid outing with nine points and six rebounds. Lee shot 36% overall (22-of-62) and made only 2-of-19 3-pointers (11%). While the home team went to the line 30 times, the Lady Flames were awarded 14 charity tosses and made 10.
Both teams were guilty of floor mistakes. Lee had 23 turnovers and West Alabama 21. The Lady Flames won the battle in points in the paint 36-18 while the Tigers basically used just six players in the entire game. Coach Marty Rowe went to his bench on and off in both halves and used 10 players before the contest ended.
Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts:
"There is a certain way you need to play on the road in this league to be successful, and we didn't do that tonight. We missed a ton of open shots, but I am not concerned about that, those things happen. What can't happen is getting outrebounded and turning the ball over, especially down the stretch. Again, we have a team and a group of players still trying to figure out our identity. It is just the next step in maturing as a team."
