CLEVELAND, Tenn. - The Lee University women's basketball team opened Gulf South Conference play on Thursday evening inside Walker Arena and struggled at times to find a way to post a 59-52 victory over visiting University of Montevallo. The win improved the Lady Flames' overall record to 4-1 while the Falcons dropped to 1-4.
Lee will remain home and host Auburn University at Montgomery on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the opening game of a GSC doubleheader.
Anna Muhonen battled foul trouble but recorded her fourth straight double-double, 16 points and 12 rebounds. Keira Leffew came off the bench and tallied 11 points while grabbing seven rebounds. The Lady Flames outrebounded the Falcons 42-31.
Baylee Delbridge pulled down nine boards to go along with six points while Mia Alexander also came on in a reserve role and connected on a pair of 3-pointers and had five rebounds.
The low scoring first half saw Lee leading 12-10 at the end of the first period and found themselves in a 24-24 tie at the half. The Lady Flames outscored Montevallo 19-11 in the third frame and led 43-35. The Falcons tallied 17 markers while holding Lee to 16 in the rugged fourth quarter.
Elyse Hughes had 16 points in pacing the Falcons. She was also her team's leading rebounder with five. Emily Mouser pitched in with 10 points and four boards while Julia Susia added eight points to the final total.
It was not a great shooting night by either club. Lee made 18-of-48 shots overall (38%) and converted 6-of-18 triples (33%). For the first time this season they struggled at the charity stripe, hitting just 17-of-25 attempts (68%).
The Lee defense held the Falcons to 34% (19-of-56) shots from the field. The visitors made 7-of-21 treys (33%) and also had their problems at the free-throw line, converting 7-of-15 (47%).
Each team committed 16 turnovers, but Lee came up with 12 steals and Montevallo had six. The Lady Flames' bench played a role in the victory, outscoring the Falcons 20-12, but Montevallo had 11 points off fast breaks and Lee nine.
Coach Marty Rowe's thoughts:
"Good to find a way to win tonight. We've got numerous players trying to adapt to roles they've never been in before, so we're going to have to continue to patiently push this team into the right direction."
